This...this is so late... ;~; I'm sorryyyy!!!
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Priscilla, as a general rule, did not believe in Valentine’s Day.
To be fair, it was not an outright dismissal, but it was true that she did not subscribe to the notion of Valentine’s Day. Shameless advertisements, cheesy infatuation and tacky, overpriced gifts? Hmm. Not to mention the air-headed obsessions with valentines from secret admirers going on. So this year, she finally set her foot down.
“I’m not going to celebrate Valentine’s Day anymore.” she informed Aristotle and Hobbes. Aristotle twitched his whiskers and blinked wisely, while Hobbes eagerly meowed his approval, then just as eagerly meowed for dinner.
“I’m not going to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year,” she declared to Isabelle over the phone.
“Um, how?”
“I’m going to celebrate Singles Awareness Day, of course!”
“...I don’t quite follow.”
“Don’t you see? I’m just trying to prove that romantic relationships aren’t necessary to be happy!”
“And you call me the jaded cynic.”
Talking to Gilbert wasn’t much better either.
“Y’mean you’re not celebrating Valentine’s Day this year?”
“Nope. It’s Singles Awareness Day for me!”
“That’s not very awesome of you.”
“Shut up, Gil. Don’t judge me.”
The morning of 14th February found Priscilla armed and ready for what was to come. This was not another sappy, commercialised Valentine’s Day for her, nope, this was going to be a rip-roaring, fantastically awesome Singles Awareness Day!
Or it was going to be, after she had assembled all the necessities for camping out the day. A stack of her favourite dramas? Check. Warm, cushy blanket? Check. Two adorable cats to snuggle up with? Check and check. Ready supply of hot chocolate and vanilla ice cream? Che- Hang on, the supply was running pretty low.
With an annoyed tut, Priscilla tugged on her coat and shoes, locked the door, and headed for the nearest supermarket, zeroing straight for the ice cream section while politely elbowing others out of the way. She wanted her vanilla ice cream, and nobody, absolutely nobody, was allowed to get in the way of that. (Unless poor Hobbes had gotten his head stuck in a box. Again.)
Ordinarily, Priscilla would have just taken a tub, or two (or even three, but hey, it pays to be prepared, right?) of her favourite vanilla ice cream and scooted off – after paying at the cashier first, of course, it would be shoplifting otherwise – back to her cosy nook, content and replete. But now, there was one thing preventing her from just taking the ice cream and leaving.
That thing was Francis Bonnefoy, romantic soul, heartbreaker, every woman’s dream and every man’s nightmare, who also happened to be Priscilla’s best friend. How they managed to keep their relationship platonic for so long was a mystery to everyone, even to Priscilla herself, but that wasn’t really the point. The point was that he was in her way to the cashier. Priscilla waved a tentative hand in greeting.
“H-hey Francis.”
Francis flashed his trademark brilliant smile, all languid charm that had girls swooning left, right and centre. Except for Priscilla. Well, she did flush a little, but that didn’t count! “Priscilla! I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
Priscilla scrunched up her nose and stuck out her tongue at him. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here either. What are you doing here anyway?”
Francis feigned surprised innocence. “What, you mean I’m not allowed to do a little grocery shopping once in awhile? Besides,” His eyes took on a mischievously sly gleam as he leaned in closer. “It’s Valentine’s Day today, isn’t it? So, gotten yourself a valentine somewhere?”
Priscilla spluttered and turned a little redder as she smacked a laughing Francis on the arm. “N-no! No, I don’t have a valentine!” Drawing herself up together with a little more dignity, Priscilla continued. “Anyway, today isn’t Valentine’s Day for me. It’s Singles Awareness Day!”
An arched eyebrow and an amused smirk were her answers. “Singles Awareness Day?”
Priscilla gave a firm nod. “Yep. You don’t need to be in a romantic relationship to be happy, you know.”
Francis still looked unconvinced, but humoured her. “Oh? Well, that is too bad then, I came here to find my valentine for myself.”
Now it was Priscilla’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “You’re here to meet your valentine? In a supermarket?”
Francis raised his hands defensively. “I didn’t actually plan to meet her here, but hey, plans have to be flexible.”
Priscilla thought hard about this. “Oh. Is she pretty?” Because she was curious, as any best friend had the right to be, and most certainly not because she was jealous or anything, no!
“Beautiful. One would even say…perfect.” Hmmph. Francis was being a starry-eyed idealist again.
“Do I know her?”
A definitive nod and the annoying smirk showed no sign of abating.
“Uh-huh.” Priscilla still wasn’t buying this. “So where’s your get-up? The roses, chocolates and the whole shebang?” Francis, romance and roses were practically synonymous, it wasn’t like him to be without the stipulated bouquet of red roses if he really was here to meet a valentine.
“That’s a secret.” Priscilla flashed him a skeptical look.
“So who is this mysterious valentine of yours?”
Francis winked at her and grinned devilishly, but no answer was forthcoming. His best friend huffed again in slight annoyance. “C’mon, you don’t need to be so secretive about it!” She reinforced her point with strategic, if incessant, pokes in the ribs. “Tell meeee!”
“Ackk!! Alright! Alright!” Francis chuckled as he dislodged a very insistent Priscilla. “I’ll tell you this much: a little bird told me to meet my valentine here. And guess what?” At this he leaned in closer, and Priscilla involuntarily flushed as she noticed, not for the first time, just how blue his eyes were, “That little bird was right.” Then he finally closed the last few inches between them.
Priscilla’s eyes flew wide open when he kissed her, vanilla ice cream completely forgotten. The world turned blurry and she didn’t care that a supermarket was not a socially acceptable place to make out and the kiss was wonderful, marvellous and everything else in between and her brain wasn’t functioning very well anymore. By the time they broke apart, Priscilla was fairly sure she was positively glowing by then. Not to mention that she was light-headed and unusually giggly.
“Well then, Francis, I forgive you for your annoying antics before this, but don’t think for one moment that I’m not mad at you.”
She smirked at his horrified face and smacked him on the shoulder.
“You just ruined my Singles Awareness Day plans.”
---OMAKE---
Two figures, skulking in a discreet corner, were watching the proceedings with considerable interest.
“Kesesese, I knew this would work out!”
“Ahhhh they’re so adorable together~”
“They’re so awesome together!”
“...Hey, isn’t that Lili? Quick, go say hi before she walks away!”
Despite his noisy protests at being not-so-gently shoved out of their hiding place and something about free choice, Gilbert blushed.
