Valentine's Day Sucks

“I know. I will.”

Dad waved and pulled away from the curve.

“So what movie should we see?” Jake asked as we walked up the steps to the front of the twelve-plex.

“I don’t care,” I said truthfully. “I’ll watch anything. As long as it’s not about divorce. I’m full up on divorce right now.”

Jake grinned. “I know what you mean.”

I vetoed the artsy choice. “Nothing with suicide either.”

“Agreed.” Jake stuck his hands in his jean pockets and studied the marquee. “How do you feel about action?”

I loved it when he stood that way. So GQ. “Action’s good. But no horror.”

We settled on a Jackie Chan movie. Humor and action were always a winning combination in my book. I got the exact ending time and called Dad.

Since we’d skipped dinner, we got popcorn, candy, and drinks. We passed on the withered hot dogs, but decided to risk some nachos. I didn’t have to pretend I never ate much, because I didn’t have a chance in hell with Jake anyway.

Obviously, I’m always trying to find the up side to everything. The up side to being a witch was that I could help people with my potions. The up side to a movie with Jake, even as a friend, was that I got to go to a movie with Jake. Usually, I sat on the other side of Anya when they let me tag along on their dates. Tonight, it was just the two of us, and while it wasn’t a date, at least I wasn’t the third wheel. The role of pathetic dateless friend had grown old.

We found seats in the auditorium and dropped the armrests to situate our drinks and snacks. Jake slouched down in his seat, adjusting his long legs in the aisle.

His hottiness wasn’t just about looks. He had this energy about him that kind of radiated. Sitting beside him was like being wrapped in his energy field, and it felt really good.

The previews had finished and the lights had dimmed when a couple came in. They climbed to the row in front of us as the screen grew brighter. My jaw dropped to the floor. Jake tensed.

It was totally Anya and Brad. And they were sitting right in front of us.

“Oh my God,” I muttered.

“You got that right,” Jake said.

“Should we move?”

“No,” he said. “We’ll just ignore them.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“This sucks,” he mumbled.

It really did. I felt sorry for him.

Then Anya noticed us. She twisted around to see us better. “Hey,” she said. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We bailed on our parents,” I said before Jake could answer.

“Oh,” Anya had the grace to look a little embarrassed. “Well, um.” She looked at Brad and then at Jake. “This is weird.”

“Hey, dude,” Brad said to Jake.

“Hey,” Jake answered.

They turned around to watch the movie and I crossed my fingers that we wouldn’t have to watch them make out. If they started kissing, I might have to use one of my trump cards. I didn’t want Jake to suffer.

Jake grabbed a handful of popcorn and stuffed it into his mouth. He didn’t seem happy at all. I really doubted he could concentrate on the movie.

We made it twenty minutes before Brad put his arm around Anya. Jake choked on a nacho. I didn’t hold out much hope for them not kissing. I’d have to get a card out. I could only do the spell while holding the card. Of course, I also had to choose one. The vomiting spell held a lot of appeal. Anya spewing up her dinner would definitely stop the making out with the added bonus that Jake would be disgusted. Using the charm that way would be more self-serving though, and the punishment would be worse. I could probably make it out of the theater in time, but I’d rather hang out with Jake.

Jackie Chan had defeated about half the bad guys by the time Anya decided to kiss Brad. Jake kicked Brad’s chair. Brad didn’t notice, so Jake did it again harder.

“Dude,” Brad said.

Jake growled.

Brad went right back to kissing Anya. Not good. A sneezing fit would break up their little tongue-swapping fest also. I could save Jake the pain without ruining Anya and Brad’s relationship. I reached down to dig for my wallet. One sneeze attack coming up.

“Should we leave?” I whispered to Jake to distract him.

“No,” he said, leaning closer to me. Suddenly, he didn’t seem as stressed but more like his old self. “I think I should kiss you.”

“What? No!” Oh my God! I dropped my wallet back into my purse.

“Why not?” he asked in a low voice that sent shivers through me.

I made myself look at him as I whispered, “Because you don’t want to kiss me, you just want to bother Anya. And she’s my best friend.”

“Right,” he said, backing away. “I guess we shouldn’t then.”

Of course, I’d really hoped that he would say that he did want to kiss me and not only to bother Anya.

“Would it help that it would also drive our parents nuts?”

Hmmm. “Let me think for a minute,” I said. It would really mess with Dad’s head. And that excuse would be good enough for Anya. I already had a major crush. How much worse could it get? Glancing at Anya and quickly judging how dark the theater was, I said, “Okay.” I liked his plan much better than mine.

“Okay?” He looked at me funny, like he’d thought I’d say no.

“Yeah, do it already.” I didn’t want to lose my nerve. I mean it’s not every day the man you love offers to kiss you. The light from the screen flickered against his handsome face.

He handed me the colossal tub of popcorn which I balanced on my knee, and I moved my drink to the other armrest so that we could even get close enough to kiss.

Jake leaned in toward me, and I’m still not sure exactly how it happened, but my knee twitched. And the twitch tossed the extra large bucket of popcorn all over Anya and Brad. The sneeze would have made less of a mess.

Anya shrieked. Brad jumped up, and people all over the theater turned to glare at us.

“Jake, what do you think you’re doing?” Anya hissed. She swatted the popcorn kernels from her hair and blouse. “If you have a problem with me seeing Brad—”

“I don’t,” Jake snapped.

“Anya,” I said, lowering my voice and trying to calm the situation before they kicked us out. “It was my fault. You know how clumsy I am. Jake had nothing to do with it.”

Anya eyed me for a moment. In a testament to my sad clumsiness, she believed me. “Fine.” She turned to Brad, who was still brushing himself off. “We’ll just forget the whole thing.”

They sat down.

Jake leaned over to me and whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Thank goodness it was dark in there, because I knew my face had to be flaming red.

“Mortifying,” I moaned. “Absolutely mortifying.”

Jake shifted in his seat, then reached out and put his arm around my shoulder. “It’s my fault,” he said.

“It’s okay,” I said. Who knew a little em

barrassment could result in Jake putting his arm around me?

“I guess kissing you was a bad idea,” he said, squeezing my shoulder in a halfway hug.

“Yeah,” I said, starting to have trouble breathing. I couldn’t believe how close he was. And I still wanted to kiss him. I was dying to kiss him, bad idea or not.

Anya and Brad were back into their make-out session, and I felt a moment of anger at Anya for rubbing it in Jake’s face. There was still time for the sneeze card.

“Hey,” Jake said, reaching with his other hand to tilt my chin and see my eyes.

“Huh,” I breathed, as his blonde curls drew closer.

Then, he leaned the rest of the way and pressed his lips to mine. Oh my God! It was so much better than kissing my pillow.

I heard some kind of noise from my throat, and he deepened the kiss, exploring my mouth, and sending my head spinning. I forgot all my problems. I even forgot that Anya was right in front of us. I just focused on my lips. And Jake’s.

Apparently, he liked the kiss too because he didn’t stop for a long time. I threaded my fingers through his hair which felt better than I’d even imagined. My heart thumped like I’d run two miles, and my mind went all groggy while my skin felt on fire.

When Jake finally pulled away, he kept his arm around me. “Oh my God,” he said, sagging back into his seat.

I couldn’t even answer him. I couldn’t speak. I could barely breathe.

“I had no idea it would be that good,” he said quietly.

He thought it was good! “Yeah,” I managed, still trying to regain my composure. What an ending to a crappy week!

“I always thought it would be like kissing my sister or something,” he said.

Now, that didn’t sound good. “I’m not your sister.”

“No, I know.” He leaned over because Anya glanced back at us. Quietly, he whispered, “We’ve known each other forever.”

Then, it hit me that he’d thought about it before. “You’ve thought about what it’d be like to kiss me?” I asked.

He grimaced. “I know that’s bad, but I have.”

Cool. “It’s not bad.”

We sat in silence for the rest of the movie. I fought the urge to jump up and down.

When the movie ended, we gathered our trash and hurried out to avoid Anya and Brad. I was totally confused. I’d always wanted to kiss Jake, but now that I had, what we were supposed to do? Especially with his mother dating my dad.