Candy Hearts

This wasn’t what I expected. At all.

I was in a nice restaurant with a relaxed ambiance and in front of me sat one of the ugliest men I’ve ever seen in my life. Okay… maybe ugly was a little hash but did I lie? The man in front of me was nowhere near a Brad Pitt. His hair was long and stringy with grease, he wore oversized glasses that nearly covered his whole face, with a crooked nose. 

How did I end up here you ask? Let’s rewind to the beginning of February the 14th.

Ah, Valentine’s day.

A day for all the couples to shower their partners in love and affection.

It was a day I despised to the fullest.

People would always ask me, “What are your plans for Valentine’s day?” When I told them that I was single, they would be surprised. “A girl as beautiful as you should never be single,” they said.

Relationships and I never got along. Everytime I found a guy who I thought was decent, I was somehow proven wrong. By the time Valentine’s day rolled around, I was single and this Valentine’s day was no different. My Valentine’s day plan consisted of finishing my homework, and attempting to eat a whole pizza by myself. I was open to casual dating, but my main focus at the moment was school and cheerleading. 

“Hey, Ruby?”

I glanced up from my laptop screen to look at Rain. Rain Riverwater was the first friend I made when I started my education at Western University. Our personalities were complete opposites, she was more outgoing and carefree while I was more reserved and cautious. I wasn’t sure if our friendship would last long, but here we were, 3 years later and she was in my dorm room keeping me company while I tried to write a paper.

“Yes?”

“What are you doing tonight?”

I rolled my eyes. Here we go.

“I’m going to finish up this paper, then order a pizza and watch a show.”

She sat up in my bed and looked at me incredulously, “Pizza and a show?”

Sighing, I answered, “Yes. I just want to relax.” My schedule is always packed so I cherish the free time I have between my cheerleading and classes. 

“It’s Valentine’s day and you want to stay home? What about Rick?”

Rick was a guy who Rain set me up with a couple weeks back. He was lean and tall, with curly black hair, and a chiseled jaw. But his looks didn’t make up for his terrible personality. He was the epitome of a douchey frat boy, who did nothing but talk about himself and check out girls on our date.

“Rick and I aren’t going to work out,” before she could question me about Rick further, I switched the topic.

“Do you have any plans with Ryan?” The easiest way to distract Rain was to mention Ryan.

Ryan was Rain’s boyfriend of 2 years. Ryan was captain of the football team and since cheerleading and football were closely related, I became quite friendly with him. I noticed that he would stare at Rain every time she came to watch cheer practices. Thanks to me playing Cupid, the pair became friends, then lovers.

“Yeah, he’s taking me to that fancy French restaurant in the city.”

Rain began yapping on about her date, which was fine by me. She wasn’t drilling me about Rick, so she could keep talking about Ryan. It was a win-win situation for me. I listened to her talk about her date as I continued to type out my paper.

A couple of hours passed and I finally finished my paper. Thank goodness. I didn’t realize how much time passed until I looked outside my window, it was nearly pitch black. Suddenly there was a knock at my door. Who could it be? I walked over to the door and opened it, being greeted by Rain’s smiling face. She looked great, in a skin-tight red dress, with a long black coat on top. Her long dark hair was pulled into a tight bun, and she wore light makeup.

“You look great!” I exclaimed.

“Thank you. And happy Valentine’s day, Ruby!’ Rain exclaimed as she pushed something in my hand.

I looked down to see what was in my hand. Candy hearts. They were my favorite candy. It was the only thing I liked about this time of year.

“Thank you, Rain.”

“I don’t know how you can eat that stuff. It tastes like chalk.” She said as she shimmied her way into my room, plopping down on my armchair.

“Now I feel bad I didn’t get you anything,” I said, placing the candy on my nightstand. It was going to be my dessert to the pizza I was going to order. Forget fancy dates, junk food and sweets were the best way to spend Valentine’s day. 

“Don’t worry about it. I have something else for you.” The sly grin on her face made me slightly suspicious.

“I don’t see anything else in your hands...”

“What if I told you that I got you a date tonight?”

“You what?” Only Rain would do something as crazy as setting me up on a blind date after I told her I didn’t want to do anything fancy tonight.

“Hear me out. He’s a nice guy and it’s just dinne-.”

“You have to cancel on him,” Flopping on my bed, I turned my tv on to my favorite channel. “Ballet Moms is on tonight.”

“I already made the plans. So you better get ready because he’ll be here by 7, so you only have 40 minutes to get ready.”

I started protesting, but Rain ignored me as she walked to the door.

“Remember to enjoy yourself, babes.” She called out as she exited the room, blowing me a kiss.

I sighed as I sat down and weighed the pros and cons of going on this date.

I really don’t feel like leaving.

But I can’t cancel on the guy, that would be mean.

But my pizza!

At least I’ll have an opportunity to dress up.

Overall, the fact that I didn’t want to look like an asshole by cancelling on the guy and the opportunity to wear a cute outfit made me decide to go on the date. With my mind made up, I did a natural makeup look, which consisted of a winged eyeliner, blush and sheer lipgloss. 

From the very back of my closet, I pulled out a long sleeve, shimmery black dress and strappy black heels. As soon as I fastened my last heel strap on my foot, I heard a knock at the door.

This is it.

I took a deep breath and went to open the door. As soon as the door opened, I almost closed it right back. The guy who was in front of my door looked like he rolled out of bed and got ready for this date. He was slightly taller than me with a pudgy build. He had long locks that seemed heavy with oil and oversized glasses. I know that looks didn’t only matter, but I didn’t see this date going well.

His face lit up when he saw me.

“W-wow! You look absolutely gorgeous. Ruby was it?” His voice was deep husky, which didn’t fit his outwardly appearance.

I gave him a tight lipped smile. “Thank you. What’s your name?”

“Roman. Roman Reed.” I couldn’t help but to chuckle. 

“What’s so funny?” he asked with a puzzled smile.

“It’s stupid, but my name last name is Redd. You know, Redd Reed.” He looked confused but still chuckled for my sake.

“Shall we?” he asked, offering his arm. I linked my arm through his and we walked out the dorms and to the parking lot. He directed me to a 2007 Toyota Camry and held the door opened for me as I climbed in. How chivalrous. The car ride was awkwardly silent as he focused on the wheel and I stared outside the window. 

We finally pulled up to the restaurant. I recognized it immediately. It was Chester’s, one of the best steakhouses in the city. We were seated by a pretty waitress who kept blabbing about the specialties as we sat down. It was incredibly awkward as we sat down, looking away whenever we met each other’s eyes.

“Do you know how much a polar bear weighs?” 

I snapped out of the daze I was in, looking up to see his big brown eyes looking at me. “I’m sorry?”

“Do you know how much a polar bear weighs?”

“No”

“Enough to break the ice.”

The joke was so corny and unexpected that I couldn't help but laugh. “That was so corny.”

“But it made you laugh.”

“Do you major in Dad jokes?”

“Who’s the corny one now?” 

I rolled my eyes. “Me? Corny? Never.”

He chuckled, “But to answer your question, I’m a nursing major.”

I know that men can be nurses but it was unlikely to find a nursing major, even more, a male nursing major at Western U.

“Why nursing?” I asked as I took a sip of my water.

“My mom is a nurse, my dad’s a nurse, my sister’s a nurse. It runs in the family.”

“To be honest, when Rain said she was going to set me up with one of her friends, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Really? Rain is my best friend, everyone knows that.”

“Yeah. You’re kind of… unapproachable.”

I wasn’t surprised that people thought I was unapproachable. I’ve never been much of a people person and gradually, I withdrew myself from the WU social scene completely.

“What can I say? I’m not a social person.”

“An unsocial cheerleader? That’s uncommon.”

“You don’t look like the most social person either.” I pointed out.

“What? Is it the hair?” He gestured to his stringy strands. “I was thinking of cutting it.”

“You definitely should. If not, invest in a decent shampoo and conditioner.”

“Do you have any recommendations?”

I began explaining different brands that I loved for my own hair as the waitress came over with our meals. The food looked amazing and I couldn’t wait to dig in. Before I could take a bite, my phone pinged. It was just an email notification, so I decided to look at it later.

“Light Yagami is your background?”

I looked at him surprised.

“You watched Death Note?”

“Of course, it’s one of the anime classics. Who’s your favorite character?”

I pointed to my phone. “My background wasn’t enough of an indicator for you?”

“Why Light?”

“Even though he went crazy with power, his overall goal was to help humanity and get rid of the evils in society.”

He pondered about it. “Who is he to deem what is evil and what good?”

As we ate our meal, we began to have a discussion about the show.

“Come on, I’ll drive you to the dorms.” As we got up and made our way to the front of the restaurant, I couldn’t help but notice how tall he was. He finished paying for the bill, we headed out. As soon as we exited the restaurant, I was hit with the cool brisk air. Dang, I should have worn a jacket, but I wanted to show off how cute my dress was. 

“You’re shivering,” Roman noted as we walked over to his car.

“Yeah because I’m freezing. It wasn’t this cold when I left the dorms.”

He then shrugged off his coat, handing it to me. “Here, I don’t want my date to freeze to death before the night is over.”

I blushed as I accepted the coat. I’ve never had anyone offer me their coat before. The car ride was comfortably silent, unlike earlier before in the restaurant. We arrived at the dorms and he walked me to my door.

“I wanted to give this to you during dinner but I didn’t find an opportunity to.” He pulled out a box of candy hearts from behind his back. “Rain told me these were your favorites.”

I felt butterflies in my stomach. Nobody’s ever given me a gift before. Even if it was a gift that cost nothing more than a couple dollars, it was still meaningful.

“Thank you.”

A red flush spread throughout his face, “Anytime.”

We lingered there for a couple of moments before he spoke.

“We should do this again, Ruby.”

I couldn’t hide the smile creeping on my face. “Only if you do something with that hair.”