Peggy and Jim had become the best of friends over the past few years. Both had terrible pasts, and when they met each other, the healing process had begun unbeknownst to them.
They knew each other extremely well, every secret, every quirk, and that only made their love grow stronger. They were aware of the fact that they were more than best friends, but neither of them openly admitted it.
Jim recently moved to the same city where Peggy worked. They were both overjoyed, and had decided to share an apartment, to be roomies. From then onward, their weekends were extremely fun – they cooked, went for long walks, went dancing. They cracked the lamest jokes, and would laugh uncontrollably for hours. They only needed each other.
It was February, and Valentine’s day was just around the corner. Both Peggy and Jim despised this day, the “commercial twist on love”, they called it. They always wondered why people couldn’t spend every single day of their lives adoring their significant other, instead of only on this one day.
On Valentine’s day, like on all weekends, since most of their friends were out on dates, Peggy and Jim would leave work early too. They’d rent a movie, cook something new, and enjoy each other’s company.
However, this Valentine’s day, Jim had urgent work at the office, and told Peggy that he wouldn’t be able to leave work early.
Peggy felt sad, but decided to pack a small picnic, and surprise him at his office.
Valentine’s day arrived.
Jim left early for work, while Peggy stayed in bed, as she had taken leave from work. She got out of bed an hour later, cooked a new Moroccan dish, and baked a yummy chocolate cake. She went to the store and bought a bottle of champagne, and a cute picnic basket. She packed everything, and headed out of the house at four o’clock.
Peggy parked her car in Jim’s office parking, and took the elevator to the twentieth floor. But he was nowhere to be seen, neither in his cubicle, nor in the conference room. She asked the receptionist what time he had left, and was told that he did so at noon.
Peggy’s heart sank. She knew that something was wrong. Did Jim finally ask that cute co-worker out? Was he seeing someone all this time? How could she be so ignorant? How could she make such a stupid mistake?
Tears trickled down her face as she pressed the elevator button to go back down to the parking. For the first time in years, she realised how foolish she was for pushing Jim away. She loved him, but now he loved someone else.
It was seven o’clock by the time she reached home. She looked like a mess. Her makeup was ruined with the crying, her head ached terribly, and there was chocolate cake all over her dress.
‘But who cares’, she thought, ‘there’s nobody waiting for me at home.’
While unlocking the front door, Peggy decided to take a painkiller and sleep. Just then, Jim called. She wiped away her tears, and answered the call, trying to sound as normal as she could.
Jim said that he had gone out for lunch, and would be a little late. He apologized for ruining her Valentine’s day, and not being there to spend time with her as they always did. He sounded different, a little sad. She wondered why, wasn’t he on a fun date?
Jim asked Peggy where she was. She told him that she had gone grocery shopping, and had just returned home. She could hear him sigh, a happy sigh. He requested her to go up to the terrace and bring down the clothes he had put out to dry, as it was threatening to rain that night. She agreed, changed out of her clothes into boxer shorts and a tee, wiped off her makeup, tied her hair in a bun, and proceeded up to the terrace.
She opened the terrace door, and there was Jim, standing next to a table set for two. The weather was perfect, and jazz music was playing in the background, their favourite.
Peggy stood there in shock. What was Jim doing there? Why did he make her come to the terrace when he was with his date? Did he want to introduce his date to her? Well, that’d be awesome, she looked terrible!
But Jim looked at Peggy differently. He loved the girl who dressed like a tomboy – wearing boxer shorts and a tee. He slowly walked up to her, and she kept looking around for his date.
“Where’s your date, Jim?”
“She’s right in front of me.”
“But I’m the one in front of you!”
“Well, yes, you dumbo!”
With all the crying, and the crazy headache which refused to go away, she couldn’t understand a thing. She was still depressed about having lost the chance to be with the guy she loved most in the world.
Jim took Peggy’s hands in his, and looked deep into her eyes. She knew this expression, it was the same one that made her fall for him all those years ago. Suddenly her headache disappeared, and there were butterflies in her tummy.
“Peggy, I know that you are fed up of relationships, but I cannot spend every waking hour wondering whether I should ask you out on a real date or not. I told you I had work today, but I left work at noon, went to my colleague Bob’s house, and cooked us a fancy dinner. I wanted to surprise you, but when I came home at five o’clock, you weren’t there. My heart sank, and I assumed that you had gone out on a date. I came up to the terrace, and cried for awhile. After an hour, I set up that old table which always lay in the corner. I figured that even if you did go on a date, we could still enjoy dinner like we do every weekend.”
“Jim, that is so sweet of you. I love you!”
“You do?”
“Yes, I do. And I’m tired of denying it”, Peggy said, looking away, a little embarrassed.
“How in the world do we always think alike?”
“I have no clue, but I’m glad that I have you!”
“So, just to be clear, you aren’t dating anyone?”
“Good Lord, NO!! And what about you?”
“No, you dumbo, I’m all yours.”
And that’s when they kissed for the first time. All those years of secret feelings, let out in one terribly romantic, slow kiss.
“Jim, can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, babe, anything.”
“I’m hungry, can we eat?”
THE END.
Thank you for reading! Stay blessed!
©TheKindTempest