Valentine's Peer Pressure

Steve’s alarm started blaring. Per usual, it could wake the dead and annoy the living to death. He reached for his phone to turn it off and saw it had added little hearts to the date. February fourteenth. Oh no. It was Valentine’s Day and he didn’t have a present for…

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead!” Stacy backed into the room to open the door and revealed a tray with a homemade meal. “It’s breakfast time!” Dang it, thought Steve. She’s already one upping me and I haven’t even rolled out of bed yet.

“Oh, thank you!” Steve said. Stacy unfolded the tray’s legs and placed it in front of Steve. The scrambled eggs were a mix of runny and charred. It was beginning to soak half of the paper plate bearing this feast. The bacon had already shattered because it was so crispy and there also appeared to be a… yes, small pile of salt which made the rest of the salt on the eggs all the clearer. The toast looked good though, albeit with a lot of butter. “Does this come with milk, too?”

“Oh, shoot! It sure does!” Stacy shuffled out of the door to the kitchen in their small apartment while Steve poked at the food. She came back with his savior: A glass of milk. She even used one of the biggest cups they had. “I also cleaned your work clothes and laid them out for you.”

“Thanks, Stacy. You’re the best!” Stacy leaned down and Steve gave her a kiss.

She then left the room while Steve gathered his courage by taking a few breaths. Maybe the breakfast isn’t that bad. He tried some of the eggs. The salt really gave the runny side some texture, but it didn’t make it much better. He’ll have to go all in. He shoved most of the eggs in his mouth and began his best impression of a pelican feeding followed by deep gulps of milk to ensure it went down. The bacon was next. It wasn’t bad except for the occasional dagger assaulting his gums. The toast was a reprieve, but Steve did have to lick up the extra butter from his fingers. He dabbed his mouth with the napkin and wiped his hands. Getting out of bed, Steve found the work clothes Stacy had laid out for him. After changing, he took his dishes to the kitchen.

“Oh, you actually ate it?” Stacy asked from the couch. “I thought it was a little too salty.”

“Bah! I love waking up to food!”

Steve opened the trash to throw away the napkin and found Stacy had thrown her breakfast away. If only he was that brave. They said their goodbyes and Steve left for work. He still needed to find something for her today.

Just to remind him of his forgetfulness, the universe decided that nearly every one of his coworkers would receive flowers, cards or some other type of gift while working today. Three times while walking in the aisles between cubicles Steve had to shimmy by the largest bouquet of flowers he’d ever seen, all of them going to separate people. The peer pressure was certainly building.

“Hey, Jim,” Steve called for a coworker in the break room. “How much do those things run?”

“Those bad boys?” Jim brought up his phone and showed the price tag of flowers which made Steve visibly grimace. It was way past his budget. “Oh, come on. Can you really put a price tag on love?”

“I can put a price on flowers, and I can’t buy them for that,” Steve replied.

“You could always resort to a status quo gift of chocolate hearts maybe?”

“It’s status quo for a reason. Everyone does it.” The thought of chocolate made Steve’s stomach growl. He had forgotten a lunch. “I need something that represents us.”

“Alright, well you can’t go home empty handed,” said Jim lifting his hands in submission. Steve swirled his paper cup of water from the office water cooler. Through the blinds, he could see yet another person had received a bunch of balloons.

“Well, what are you doing?” Steve asked.

“Me? I got a reservation at that new fancy restaurant downtown at seven o’clock.”

“Which one?”

“The Trunchbull!” Jim leaned his head back and smirked at Steve. Steve was impressed and nodded his head in acknowledgement.

“Wow. Very nice. I heard they’re a little strict over there. But I hope you and Jeanine enjoy yourselves!” Steve went back for more water while Jim took a moment to think.

“Tell you what, Steve. There’s a little shop I know that specializes in days like today. It’s on your way home, too. On the corner of Matilda and Bruce. I’m sure you’ll find something in your price range for Stace.” More balloons passed by the window.

“I’ll give it a look. Thanks.”

After the workday was over, Steve punched out once he found a path through the colorful forest under the canopy of balloons. He started his car after a couple of tries and pulled into the street. Sure enough, there was a busy little store right where Jim said it would be. It probably was bustling with patrons in situations like Steve. He found a parking space and walked inside.

Peering at the price tag of even the smallest of items made Steve gasp. People were buying everything up though. Steve received a text from Stacy asking where he was. He responded that he was running a little late but on his way home. As he put his phone away, Steve’s eyes locked on a single slice of chocolate cake in the glass display case.

It seemed awkwardly out of place with all the other packaged items. Steve walked up and examined his potential prey. It was completely and utterly chocolate, dripping with the savory sludge. Then he saw the price tag. It had been marked down not once but twice. Too good to be true.

“Excuse me!” Steve called for help. A gleeful man appeared from behind the counter. “Why was the cake marked down? Is it expired?”

“Oh no, not at all!” the man replied with a grin. “You see, we just have so much stuff in the back we need to put out for today and this little guy is taking up space.” The clerk frowned down at the cake. “And we just can’t bring ourselves to throw away such a fine specimen of cake and this is the best place to keep baked items.”

“Uh huh…” The clerk and his answer seemed a little off, but Steve needed something. “I’ll take it. Does it come with a box or something?”

“M’yes!” the clerk reached behind without looking, grabbed a heart-shaped box, dumped out its previous contents and brought it forward. “This’ll do nicely!” Nicely? Steve thought. It barely fit but the cake was safe inside. Steve paid for his gift and returned to his car. He could certainly smell the chocolate.

When Steve approached a red light and started to brake, his car hitched for a moment and the box fell off the seat. Oh no! Steve carefully reached down to retrieve the box and put it back on the seat. The cake certainly moved inside and some of the chocolate leaked out of the top and got onto Steve’s fingers. The light turned green. As he drove forward, Steve’s eyes were drawn to the chocolate on his fingers. The smell made his stomach growl. He licked his fingers clean. Delicious.

He came to another red light. He felt he should check on the rest of the cake after its fall. Sure enough, it had turned over and the box was a mess. Certainly not presentable. Using his fingers, Steve wiped up some of the chocolate and turned the slice right side up. He was licking the chocolate off his fingers and thought the cake looked a little misshapen. It wouldn’t hurt that much to just shave a bit off here or there to make it look like a regular slice again, he thought. The chocolate melted in his mouth. It melted on his hands too, but he was taking care of that. This cake was… amazing. He became so engrossed in the act of chiseling the cake while he was driving, at one point he found himself just eating a handful of it rather than fixing it.

“Oh no,” Steve thought aloud. There was a massive crater in the cake now. He can’t fix this nor could he offer it as a gift! Steve licked his fingers while thinking of what to do. Before he came up with a plan, everything but crumbs and random streaks of chocolate was gone. Panicking, Steve looked to all the surrounding establishments. He was almost home and was running out of options. He put on his blinkers and changed lanes.

~~~

Stacy was scrubbing furiously away at a pan when she heard keys jingling.

“Shoot,” she muttered. She tore off her gloves, rinsed the pan and hid it in the sink. Steve opened the front door and stepped inside. “Hey, honey! How was your day at work?” She ran up to give him a welcoming hug.

“Just another boring day, sadly.”

Stacy saw the box behind Steve’s back.

“Is that for me?” Her eyes lit up.

“Yeah,” Steve sheepishly brought the box forward and hesitated to offer it to her. “Is… is something burning?”

“Nope!” Stacy ripped the box out of Steve’s hands and set it on their small dining room table. Steve looked down and tapped his fingers together.

“I may have eaten your cake…” Steve admitted. She opened the box, her eyes opened wide, and her mouth fell open. “On accident of course!” Stacy turned to Steve and threw her arms around him again.

“Thank you!” she screamed. She started jumping around with excitement, her legs pumping up and down. She reached into the box and pulled out a chicken nugget. “I’ve been starving all day!”

“How about we just stay in today and stream a movie?” Steve suggested.

“Yes, please!” Stacy managed through a mouth full of fries.

Steve sat down on the couch and logged into his brother’s streaming account. Stacy plopped down next to him with her little box of food. She took some fries and scooped up the residual chocolate. Steve found a movie and pressed play.

“Are you sure nothing is burning?” Steve asked again.

“It’s not burning anymore,” Stacy answered as she ate another fry.

“Oh. Alright then.”

Steve reached for the box, but Stacy swatted his hand away.

“You ate my cake,” Stacy replied. Steve shrugged in agreement and looked to the screen. Two fries floated into his view. “But I still love you.” She fed Steve fries and they watched their movie.