Rays of soft, evening light bled through trees and faded in intensity as they filtered through the darkened restaurant window. Valentine watched her newfound adversary puzzled and mortified from an adjacent booth, as he somehow demolished his fifth family basket of Charlie's Chicken. Every so often she caught him staring at her with his eyes narrowed and he'd bellow out something random.
"Man, the food here is terrible! Someone should really close this place down for good..."
He would then make his way back up to the counter with the audacity to order another family-sized basket of chicken. This has been the routine for the past six hours and thirty-seven minutes. Valentine let the full weight of her head drop into the soft cradle of her hands as she attempted to separate the world from her overcrowded senses if only for a moment. She hadn't gotten much information on Oliver during his shift, admittedly Valentine lost herself in the candy aisle. A sudden tantrum of soft chimes began ringing from Valentine's wristwatch and her head whipped back up so hard she swore she felt her brain rattle. Unfortunately, she already knew who was calling her and how the conversation would go. Her stomach began to twist into knots and her breath seized underneath a sudden shock of anxiety. Her finger slowly pressed accept call before she held the underside of her watch to her ear.
"H.. Hello?"
Valentine was unprepared for just how shaky her voice would sound as she whispered the greeting. A familiar voice as dry as the desert rang uncomfortably through her right ear. The voice of Cupid himself.
"Is that a question of some kind? You sound unusually confused my dear daughter. In fact, I suspect that to be the case considering you were supposed to check in over three hours ago."
Valentine felt her heart leap into her throat and she shifted uncomfortably in her booth. She could feel Oliver's still single self staring at her from 15 feet or so away which made matters worse.
"Hi, Dad... sorry for not checking in. Time got away from me and I was checking the leaderboard and..."
A stream of panic rambling began to jettison itself from her mouth before she was abruptly cut off.
"Is the assignment finished or not?"
Valentine felt her heart stop beating from the hollowed-out cavity inside her chest. Her father was never the type to suffer idiots or failure. The fact that she was his daughter and therefore the heir to his throne had only served to make things even more difficult for her. She loved her job of course but in the back of her mind, she worried that her job was the only reason her father loved her. She wanted so badly to tell him the truth, that for the first time, his perfect precious daughter had failed miserably. The words hung in her throat until they died. Lies always come out so much easier.
"Oh! Uhm, well the thing is..."
Her whole world felt as if it would slowly unravel itself. The next words out of Valentine's mouth surprised even her.
"He's actually engaged! It's just... work seems to be getting in the way of their wedding planning. You know how it is... but they'll be tying the knot soon, no worries!"
Her voice tapered off and she felt as if the blood welled up inside of her cheeks could boil at any moment.
"Is that so? Well of course I should expect nothing less from my own daughter."
A sigh of relief.
"Of course, I'll be stopping by tomorrow so you can show me the details... this one caused quite a bit of trouble before you managed to sort things out."
A sigh of panic.
"You can't!"
Valentine nearly ripped herself out of her seat, causing a few stares from intrigued strangers. Her voice sputtered as she searched for anything to ward off the impending disaster. She had to buy more time! If she only had more time she could fix this mess.
"...You can't because I've decided I'm putting in all of my saved-up vacation! Effective immediately upon your approval. I just need some time to myself after this one. I'll be more than happy to show him and his fiance off to you and go over the details afterward of course..."
She held her breath, under no illusions her father would buy such an obvious lie.
"All of your vacation? You've never taken a single day off before...You're lucky we have such an amazing rollover plan. 3 months have been approved. I will be eagerly awaiting the hour. Oh, and Valentine... Tell the fiance congratulations for me will you?"
As the call finally came to an end Valentine felt herself breathe for the first time in minutes. She had three months to fix this whole mess. Oliver was going to fall in love no matter how much it hurt, in fact, the more it hurt the better. She glanced over to her adversary as he went up to order more chicken. He was struggling this time, his feet dragging across the floor as he cradled his stomach. If only he was this passionate about breasts and thighs outside of the restaurant. After ordering four more family-sized baskets to go, Oliver stumbled outside and began to walk home. How could someone be so utterly hopeless? Valentine wasn't positive the poor guy would even make it back to his apartment at this rate. She let out a disappointed huff as she got up to follow him. After all, she can't have him ending up dead somewhere right? Her thoughts became an anxiety-colored haze as she tailed him, weaving through the moonlight that had just begun to spill over the horizon to mix with the aimless shadows that stretched from their permanent fixtures towards whatever remnants of dying light they could manage to reach. The irony of the fact that Oliver lived on Lover's Lane was in no way lost to her as his apartment complex finally came into view. She soon said goodbye as he began walking up his lonely flight of stairs knowing full well he was too far away and much too chicken wasted to ever have a shot of hearing her. She watched the lights of his apartment flicker on for five or so minutes before fading back into a dark oblivion.
"Sleep well Oliver, I'll be seeing you tomorrow."
She said to no one but herself in particular.
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