His Tiny Dancer [COMPLETED]

XXXIII

~Monday February 14~

I've never been particularly fond of Valentine's Day. I don't hate it, but I've never had a reason to appreciate it or enjoy it anymore than the average day. Of course, I did enjoy when I was younger and we would all exchange valentines in classes. Only a monster would turn down an offer of free candy.

Today is no different. I walk into school side by side with Olivia, her fishing kiss after Hershey's kiss out of her jacket pocket to hand to me and eat herself. It's only been Valentine's day for a few hours, and I've already eaten at least twenty, but I have the excuse of it being a holiday. Olivia's locker is located closer to the front entrance than mine, so we get there first.

"So, what are your Valentine's Day plans with Cameron," I tease her, wiggling my eyebrows.

"We're going out for dinner, his idea," Olivia says, smiling proudly.

"You guys are cute. I'm glad things are working out so far," I say, happy for her.

"If you heard yourself saying that a month ago you would have thought you had gone insane," she responds with a laugh.

"True," I agree, laughing as well. Olivia finishes up at her locker and we continue down the hallway, towards mine.

"And what are you up to tonight?" Olivia asks me.

"Hmm, let me think..." I say sarcastically, pausing at my locker and tapping my chin with my finger. "Oh, that's right! Dance. As usual." Olivia rolls her eyes at me.

"Oh come on, you don't have anything planned with Noah?"

"With Noah?" I ask incredulously. "Why would I have a date with Noah? There is nothing going on between us, we're just friends. In fact, I'm surprised I can even call him my friend. It took a lot to get there."

"Sure," Olivia responds, unconvinced. "What about when Andrew was attacking you and he practically exploded, or when he was complaining about Jessica and you suddenly became a genius about relationships. You guys have been really close lately. I don't know what, but something definitely happened." I pause for a moment, glancing over at Olivia, before continuing to spin the lock on my locker.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I say, not really believing myself.

"Don't think I don't see that blush! Something is going on, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it," Olivia says, crossing her arms. I roll my eyes and open my locker door.

The first thing I notice when I open the door to my locker is not the pile of textbooks, nor the few random pencils. Not the little magnetic mirror, or the pictures of my friends taped to the back. Rather, it's a single coral rose sitting in the middle of it all.

"No way," I whisper.

"What?" Olivia say, peeking her head around the metal door. I carefully pick up the rose, bringing it out of the dark locker. As soon as Olivia sees it she gasps. "No way!" She repeats my words, but significantly louder. "Hold on a second," she says as she pulls out her phone, as if I was going anywhere. I stare down at the rose, slowly spinning it between my fingers. "Theresa, you're not gonna believe this. The meaning of a coral colored rose is desire, and the meaning of one single rose is love at first site. You've got yourself a keeper."

I try my best to hold in a smile. "I swear, we're just friends."

"I'd believe you if you were holding a yellow rose in your hand, which according to this means friendship, but the rose you're holding right now screams more-than-friends."

"I'll bet he didn't even think about what the color meant, he probably just thought I would like it. Or maybe it was all they had left. And we don't even know for sure it was Noah," I try to convince both Olivia and myself.