Her hair was like the sun itself woven into brilliant ribbons and falling to her waist with an almost gentle violence. Her smile was a thousand times more radiant still. A choir of songbirds couldn't help but sing praises from somewhere green enough that her red wouldn't breach. A dull ache anchors itself to the space between Oliver's ears and his thoughts are hazy. He remembers rounding a corner and crashing into this girl head first but that's about all he seems to remember as his shattered thoughts slowly coalesce. Papers are scattered like autumn leaves against a grave of concrete as the restless wind begins to stir, threatening to drag them unwillingly further down the sidewalk. The girl's nervous hand brushes copper loops of ruddy hair away from her tired eyes as she begins fumbling around for her stray things.
"Excuse me..."
The soft velvet tones of her voice utter out no more than a social courtesy aimed in his general direction. Oliver's teeth clenched in response to the blinding pain as it settled, running a hand through his mud-colored hair and wincing as his fingers traced a new bump. The less civilized and infinitely more spiteful part of himself seriously contemplated asking the girl if her hard head happened to match her personality... however, he was acutely aware of how late he was already running on his daily commute to work. Better to save the arguing for the customers. Her voice once again gently broke the harsh silence between them.
"Sorry. I hope I didn't cause you any trouble..."
The warm treasured notes of her sincere apology hung gracefully onto Oliver's ears as she began to organize her dropped possessions into a modest pile. Her shining blue eyes slowly fought the weight of gravity to reach his brown ones like the sky teasing the soil from a safe distance, one afraid to fall and the other afraid of high expectations. The world seemed to slow and begin operating inside the space of a heartbeat. This was the moment that true love was supposed to take root and blossom...but it never did.
Valentine watched the two from a respectful distance. Her fingers anxiously combed through and harassed her long pink hair that resembled a mantle of cherry blossoms. Valentine had only been a cupid for 3 years but in that short time she had risen swiftly up the ranks to the number one spot. She had never failed, in fact she was who you called when everyone else had. Her colleagues had warned her about this boy. "The most clueless and spiteful jerk to ever have the audacity to breathe our shared air!" was how the last cupid assigned to him had described him while snapping his bow in half and throwing it violently and repeatedly into the wall until the room was an awkward flavor of silence seasoned and drizzled with the most obscure and niche swearing. To no one's surprise that particular cupid in question was promptly fired after his outburst. Valentine's body suddenly tensed as she watched Oliver lean down and help gather the redhead's belongings. Things were going according to plan. Now was her chance to deal the killing blow. She closed the distance while hiding her presence with heart magic. The two of them both began reaching for the same discarded piece of paper when Valentine 'accidentally' nudged one of their hands with her foot causing the two potential lover's fingers to briefly touch. Valentine giggled mischievously as the two froze with soft blooms of radiant scarlet spilling into their cheeks.
"And here I was worried over nothing."
Valentine uttered to herself in relief as she turned to walk away. She didn't make it very far. Oliver began sweating profusely as a revelation set in. He had finally connected all the dots. The bumping into him, the looking at him, the adulterous hand touch... it was all so clear now. This must be that 'flirting' thing he's heard so much about! Oliver's mother warned him that this day would come ever since she sat him down and had 'the talk.' Oh yes, he knew the day would come when lusty maidens and devilish knaves would thirst for his innocence and purity. It was probably too late for him, he let his guard down for a moment and now his entire future was in jeopardy! After all, momma said even the slightest hint of premarital physical contact could cause someone to come down with "the pregnant." and leave him on the hook for 18 years of child support! That's what happened to his parents after they held hands in the back alley behind the church and just look how that turned out! Oliver cursed himself for not wearing protection due to his latex allergy though to be fair gloves are quite expensive in this economy. There was only one remedy for this situation. He was going to have to let this girl down easy and then grab a pregnancy test from aisle six after clocking out. Luckily Oliver was great at failing tests, a skill he honed to perfection throughout middle and high school. Mustering up every ounce of self-worth he was (mildly) sure he had, Oliver hit this unsuspecting girl with a line his mother made him practice a thousand times.
"I only like you as a friend."
The utter shock and confusion coloring the pretty redhead's face let Oliver know that his words struck true. Oliver dusted himself off and left the girl to pick up one last thing off the sidewalk as he went on his way. Her shattered, broken heart. Valentine stood deathly still watching as the hopeless boy walked in the opposite direction of his hand picked happily ever after while wearing what had to be the goofiest expression she's ever seen! A gross amalgamation of confident wrongness and pureness to the point of degeneracy. Her own face was a deep shade of disbelief as she turned her stupefied gaze toward the bright clouds that had suddenly grayed over. It only ever rains when a cupid's love spell fails. This rain was hers? No, that's not possible. The sky must be crying for someone else. Valentine angrily gritted her teeth. Had her perfect record just been destroyed? No, it was clearly some kind of fluke. It obviously didn't count, her flawless record was still intact.
"So, you want to play hardball? Game on."
Valentine's breathless voice sputtered out. She was an ocean of rage and this rain was anything but soothing. Her mind was a sea of schemes when the soft buzzing of her wristwatch tore her back to a harsh reality. You see, love spirits can only use heart magic for seven minutes a day. Worse even still, those seven minutes begin counting down the very moment a spell is cast and the timer doesn't stop until it hits zero. In other words, there's no saving a little bit for later, like love itself it is all or nothing. The magic slowly faded (in a way that was almost reminiscent of a dying marriage) and Valentine quickly left for solitude as her invisibility began to wear off. She made a mental note to make damn sure the red-headed girl whose day she probably just ruined did NOT text her jerkass ex Brad tomorrow in a classical case of rebound. No, she definitely and under no circumstances would forget to make sure that didn't happen. Making it into an alleyway as her spells wore off, Valentine pulled up Oliver's file again on her wristwatch and began studying her newfound adversary for the eighth time this week. Everyone has a weakness so what was his? Long ribbonous hair? Short and untamed hair? Glasses and a complex multifaceted intelligence? A muscled body so ripped that even duct tape can't hold their fraying personality together? Apple bottom jeans and snazzy boots? Perhaps things went south because of a lack of actionable intelligence embedded into his unusually short and bare-bones file. A warm glow found its way back inside her cold stare as she let her arm drop and realized that her next move was clear. It was time to resort to the totally legal and not creepy tried and true method of stalking. Of course, she had already been stalking her adversary profusely but now she would expand the very definition of the word...expand it uncomfortably. Her face lit up with the darkest of smiles as she slowly began to walk to where she already knew Oliver would be. Her stride as she walked towards his place of employment was measured not in distance but in confidence and purpose.
"Just remember Oliver...All is fair in love and war."
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