loud silence

nine

A little over two weeks and it's Valentine's day. Probably my least favorite Holiday because everywhere I look there's people being all couply. Even my brother and my best friend have someone this year. Alex considered skipping school today and spending the day with Derrick, but one look from me said she needed to come.

Now I've been single my whole life, seriously. And the closest thing I've ever had to a girlfriend was Alex. Neither of us are about to brave the halls of a public high school alone on the holiday of love and one look made her realize she wouldn't force anyone to either.

Alex drives us to school in her shiny, silver Volvo like every other day. I smile as I notice Logan waiting for us at the door of the school. I feel my smile dip as I notice Hanna isn't with him.

"Looking for your girl?" Alex whispers in my ear. I can almost feel the smirk in her voice.

STFU, I sign and walk into the school. I go to my locker and put in the combo. A piece of paper falls out at me and I jump back to avoid getting hit.

"Damn, Mel," Logan says. He and Alex walked in after me. "You acted like that was way bigger than it is."

I shrug, glad to know my fight-or-flight response is in perfect condition. I lean down and pick up the paper and unfold it.

'So you're probably wondering I am on this lovely day, well you'll see later'
-H.

Do you two know about this? I ask my two friends that are present. If Hanna isn't here today, she probably got one- or both- of our other friends to help her with it.

Logan and Alex both shrug with small smirks on their faces. I narrow my eyes at them and close my locker.

"Love you, bitch," Alex says enveloping me in a hug and kissing my head. She releases me and skips down the hall to her first class.

Jerk, I sign after her and I turn back to Logan. You're both jerks.

"Love ya too, Mel," Logan says smiling. He takes my hand and we walk to our first class off the day. We sit in our usual seats at the back of the room. Today is a quiz day and after the quiz we have nothing else. Logan brought cards again so we play Speed for an hour.

After every class I've had a note in my locker so I know one or both of our friends are in on it too. Someone, Alex, decided it'd be funny to tape a note to me when I got a new one. The only reason I haven't ripped them all off is because I find it slightly funny also.

I walk out of the doors of the school and find Alex and Logan leaning on Eddie. Talking. Logan is the first to notice as I walk toward them.

"Mel," Logan says. "You probably wanna get home so I'll move."

Not particularly.

"Logan!" Alex hisses hitting him on the shoulder. "Shut the hell up!"

"Oh, I wasn't supposed to say that," Logan chuckles. "Ignore that."

I cock my head to the side. So my surprise is at home. And both Logan and Alex are in on it. Awesome. I'm not curious or anything.

Me and Alex climb into her car and Logan walks away to his own car, a sleek, black Mercedes Benz. Why his parents got a seventeen year old a Mercedes, I will never understand.

"Starbucks?" Alex asks me.

You read my mind, I sign grinning. I get a blackberry shaken ice lemonade tea infusion. I figure it's more Valentine's daysy than my usual. Alex gets her usual mocha cookie crumble frappuccino. We sip on our drinks as we drive to my house. We pull into my driveway and my brother hears us.

He got off of work early today so he'd be home when me and Alex got home. He leans on the doorframe with a small smile on his face. Alex jumps out of the car and runs to the front door when she sees him. I climb out and walk to the door. They both seem a bit occupied so I sneak past them and into the house.

I go to the kitchen and pour some Cheez Its into a paper bowl. Only when I get to my room do I realize how bad of an idea that was. I see a figure on my couch and I jump back, spilling about half of the contents of my bowl onto my desk. I reach for the light switch and breathe a sigh of relief when I see it's only Hanna. Hanna looks over at me with a smile.

"Surprise?" She says more like a question.

Have you been here all day? I ask.

"Just since an hour ago and your brother was home to let me in," she explains. She stands up from the couch and kneels on one knee in front of me. I'm not lying when I say my eyebrow shot up into my hairline. "I'm not proposing so you can calm down."

I chuckle when she pulls a ring pop from seemingly nowhere. She struggles to pull off the wrapper and I chuckle. She holds it up to me like a peace offering.

"Melody Cook, will you be my Valentine?" She asks me. I chuckle again and I nod my head. She slips the ring pop on my ring finger and she stands up to hug me.

Did Alex and Logan help you with this? I sign when she releases me.

"Maybe..." She says with her finger to her chin.

Explains how you knew my favorite ring pop flavor is cherry, I sign sticking the unrealistically large ring in my mouth. Twenty seconds of courage, right? I take the ring from my mouth and stand on my tiptoes and I'm still looking up to her. I look into her eyes for a second to make sure she's okay. I feel my twenty seconds running out so with no hesitation, I press my lips to hers.