Summary: Christine's always had bad Valentine's Days. Her eighteenth starts out just as bad as all the rest, but will it get better, by the end of the day?

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It was exactly 6:39 in the morning and I was already having the worst day of my life. Why? It was Valentine’s Day.

Every Valentine’s Day has been torture for me. The first one I can remember was when I was nine. You know how every kid in the class was supposed to get a piece of candy even if they didn’t have candy to give to the other kids? Well, I still got nothing.

The next year I glued my hands together trying to make a card. I was using superglue.

After that I had a crush on a boy in my class. He knew and sent me a horrible Valentine’s card that told me I stank. He gave my friend a card that said he thought she was beautiful.

The year after that I was ignored. My friends didn’t even get me anything. Some friends they were.

I decided to try the Valentine’s Dance a year later. Nobody asked me to dance and I spilled punch all over myself.

The next year was Sunday, so I thought I was safe. My skirt ripped in the middle of church.

After that I thought that being ignored was the best way to go. The next year my friends thought they would be nice and paint my locker pick and red. I spent the day cleaning it all off. I actually forgave my friends for that, but when I got home, I learned that my grandfather had died. That was the worst Valentine’s of my life.

The year after that wasn’t so bad. I decided to stay home from school and told my mom I was sick. I spent the day in bed watching TV. I forgot to call work, though and I got fired.

The next year some guy tried to force himself on me. I don’t want to know what would have happened if I wasn’t able to get away.

And finally, last year, I had a boyfriend and I thought that maybe Valentine’s Day was going to work out for me. He broke up with me that morning.

My eighteenth Valentine’s started out just as bad.

My alarm was set for 5:00 so that I could have enough time to get ready before leaving and get to work on time. Somehow it got turned off and I ended up waking at 6:39. That left me twenty minutes to get ready and be at work.

As soon as I was out of my bed, I landed face first on the floor. My shoe was digging into my stomach and an old sock was right next to my nose. I groaned and got up. I got dressed and opened the door to a bucket of freezing cold water.

“Ethan!” I yelled. My little brother was quite the prankster.

I heard him laugh as he came out of his room. “Have fun at work today, sis.”

He smiled at me and ran, but I would hunt his little butt down after work.

I walked into the bathroom to see what could be done so I looked at least a little presentable and was met with pink.

I don’t mind hot pink and maybe a dark pink that was almost red, but light pink I hated with all my might. I was covered in it. My hair was pink, my clothes were pink, my skin was pink, everything was pink. Ethan must have put dye into the water.

“Ethan, you are so dead!” I yelled. I didn’t have enough time for a shower so I grabbed a towel and tried to get as much of the pink off. It didn’t work very well. I put different clothes on and pulled my hair into a ponytail. I looked at my watch. I had five minutes to get to work. I wasn’t going to make it, but I hoped that my boss, Patrick, was in a good mood.

“Bye mom,” I called as I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door.

“You’re not going to have breakfast?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes. “No, I’m already running late.”

“Ok, well happy Valentine’s Day,” she called as I walked out the front door.

“Yeah right,” I mumbled and looked at my car. “The world hates me.” Someone had egged my car. I couldn’t believe it. If it wasn’t Valentine’s Day I wouldn’t have been as peeved as I was, but it was Valentine’s Day and everything bad that could have happened did. I wasn’t in the mood for this.

I climbed into my car and realized I left my keys in the house. After climbing back in with my key I tried to start the car. It tried, but it didn’t turn on. I turned the key a few more times before finally quitting.

I hit my head on the steering wheel. “This cannot be happening. This cannot be happening.”

I got out of my car and ran into the house for the second time.

“Mom, I need to use your car.”

“Oh, I’m sorry honey, but Ethan’s taking it to school today.”

“What happened to his car?” I asked glaring at him.

“It’s in the shop,” Ethan said.

“I need it,” I complained. “Can’t Ethan walk to school? It’s closer than Jimmie’s is.” Jimmie’s is where I worked. It was an ice cream shop that also served burgers and fries.

“Sorry, but I promised my friends I would pick them up,” Ethan smirked, getting up from the table, where he was eating.

“Just ride the bike to work,” Mom said.

“Mom! Look at me! I can’t ride a bike to work like this!”

She barely glanced at me. “Well, you’re just going to have to live.”

I growled and stomped out the door, grabbing the keys. If they wouldn’t let me have it, I would steal it.

Before either of them noticed, I was out of the driveway and down the street. Mom was going to kill me when she found out, but that wasn’t on my mind. I was so late to work and I knew that Patrick wouldn’t forgive me for it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he fired me.

I got to the shop at around 7:40 with morning traffic. I looked through the window and I could already tell that Patrick was in a bad mood.

“Christine!” Patrick yelled as soon as I was in the door. “Where have you been? You are eleven minutes late. You’re lucky I’m in too much of a good mood to fire you. And I need you to work until closing today.”

I cringed as I put my apron and hat on. A fellow employee, Andrew, whispered, “ The only reason he hasn’t fired you yet is because he’s already fired Mary and Carter. That’s why we have to work until closing.” He was close and I got a little uncomfortable. Andrew was hot. Very hot. He had dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He was a football player, so he was very fit. He was very tall, about 6’ 5”. I’d liked him since we had met.

“Why?” I asked, pushing my feelings away. Mary and Carter were the best employees that worked at Jimmie’s. Carter was the assistant manager and Mary was one of those goody two shoes.

“He caught them making out in the kitchen.”

My eyes widened. Everybody that knew Mary and Carter knew that they had a thing for each other, but Mary was, like I said, and goody two shoes and shy and Carter was too blind for anything to happen. It’s too bad that now that something has, they got fired.

“Christine, quit standing there and get to work!” Patrick snapped.

Andrew walked back to the kitchen, but just before he entered he turned back around. “Pink looks good on you,” he said with a smirk.

I scowled at him and turned to my work, trying to hide the blush that was forming. Nobody was in the shop so I ended up washing the tables, even though they were already washed. Not long after I finished, a couple walked through the door. I was immediately jealous. They were making it obvious that they were together as they walked up to the counter where I was standing.

I smiled at them as I pushed the jealousy away. No need to ruin their good mood. “What can I get you?”

They ordered their ice cream and went to sit down while I prepared it. Soon, another couple came in and I attended to them. After about an hour of people coming and going, I still had my smile on. Most of the people that came in were couples. It was very discouraging to see that many people together.

I had thought that my Valentine’s Bad Luck had slowed down by nine, because nothing bad happened since getting to work. I was actually starting to get into a better mood even with all the couples. That is, until he walked in.

My ex-boyfriend, Roger, was a jerk. I didn’t really realize it until we had broken up, but after we did, my best friend, Kaylee, pointed out all the things dumb things he did. I never paid attention to them because I had wanted a boyfriend so bad I just took what I got. Yeah, I was pretty desperate.

So when he walked through the door with a very beautiful woman hanging off his arm, my good mood just disappeared. I scowled and turned around to the kitchen.

“Andrew, I need you to take the next couple’s orders,” I said through gritted teeth.

Andrew looked up at Roger and his date, turned to me with a raised eyebrow and headed for the cash register. I sighed in relief. Andrew usually would make a big scene and embarrass me before agreeing to do what I asked. I’m glad he didn’t this time.

“Christine!”

I jumped at the shrill voice calling my name and turned to Patrick. “Yes?”

“I need you to clean out the restrooms,” he said. He was on the other side of the counter, standing right next to Roger. Roger looked at me with a smirk.

“Both of them, sir?” I asked. Please don’t say yes, please don’t say yes.

“Yes.” And with that he turned away. I grabbed some cleaning supplies and headed for the woman’s bathroom. I was almost there when someone else called my name.

“Well, Chrissy.” I cringed at the nickname. He was the only person who called me that and I disliked it from the beginning. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

I turned around with a blank face and said, “Don’t lie, Roger. We both know that you and I met here. Now if you’ll excuse me, some people have college to pay for.” I turned to go.

“But I miss you, Chrissy.”

I laughed and turned back around. “I haven’t seen you in a year and I don’t miss you.” I looked at the blond. She was glaring at me. “And why would you miss me when you have her?”

Roger looked at the girl like he had forgotten she was there. I turned to go into the bathrooms again, but then I heard Roger say, “Angela, baby, I need to be alone for a minute.”

The girl rolled her eyes. “My name is Ashley.”

“Right,” Roger said uncaringly. She sighed and walked away.

“What do you want, Roger?” I asked.

“I want you back.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want you back. You dumped me a year ago; I don’t see why you would want me back now.”

He moved closer to me. “You’re different than all the other girls.”

I snorted. “Like I haven’t heard that one before. Go away, Roger. Nobody wants you here.”

I turned again, but this time Roger grabbed my arm, spun me around and planted his lips on mine. I pushed him away and stepped back.

“Leave me alone,” I spat out. “I don’t want you. When will you get that through your head?”

“Remember I was the one who broke up with you,” he called as I walked away.

“Then why are you trying to get me back?” I called back over my shoulder. I didn’t stop to hear his answer.

I finished with the bathrooms thirty minutes later. I almost threw up a couple times and I walked out of the men’s bathroom with a sour face. Why couldn’t Andrew have cleaned that bathroom? It’s not sanitary for woman to look in there let alone clean it.

“Have fun?” Andrew asked with a smirk when I put the cleaning supplies away.

“Shut up, jerk,” I said glaring at him.

“What?” he asked innocently. “I would love it if I got to clean the women’s bathroom.”

I rolled my eyes. “You would.”

“Hey, hey!” Someone called out as they walked through the door. “Mandy’s in the house!”

I held back a sigh as Mandy walked behind the counter. She worked with us and never came in until noon. The only reason she got away with it was because she was Patrick’s granddaughter. I was surprised that she came in early. I expected her to be later than usual.

“Mandy,” Patrick said, smiling and giving her a huge. They adored each other and I suddenly missed my grandpa. He was always there for me and he always managed to help me find the good in all my Valentine’s Days.

“Hey, gramps,” Mandy said. “¿Qué tal?”

No, she’s not Spanish. She always had a new language that interested her. Yesterday was Japanese. I don’t know how she knows all these languages though.

Patrick just laughed.

I shook my head, hoping we wouldn’t have to start talking in Spanish. It’s not that I have something against it; I just don’t understand any of it, except sí.

“Hola, Christine,” Mandy said, turning to me.

“Hi,” I said and grabbed a rag to go clean some tables. She turned to Andrew and started talking to him in Spanish. Apparently he knew it too. I was immediately jealous. Mandy could have any guy she wanted with her looks. I could never stand a chance.

I scrubbed the tables furiously. I hated my job, I hated Valentine’s Day, I hated my brother and his stupid pranks, I hated my life.

I finished getting all my hate energy out and went back into the kitchen. A couple customers were waiting in line. I smiled at them, told them I would be with them in a minute and walked in on Mandy and what looked like Andrew against the wall, kissing.

“Oh my gosh!” I yelled. “Get a freakin’ room!”

They broke apart and I saw that the boy wasn’t Andrew. I was relieved, but it was quickly replaced with anger.

“What is he doing back here?” I practically yelled.

“Chrissy, it’s not what it looks—” Roger was about to explain, but I cut him off.

“I don’t care what it looks like, I don’t care about you,” I said angrily. “I just want to know why you are back here. You can’t be back here unless you’re an employee. Can you not read the sign that says ‘Employees Only’?”

“I let him back here,” Mandy said. “Do you two know each other? I’ve never heard you being called Chrissy.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s my ex-boyfriend and just because you’re Patrick’s granddaughter, doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want.”

“What’s he doing back here,” Andrew asked coming into the kitchen.

I turned to him. “Where were you?”

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “I was going to the bathroom, if you must know.”

I looked away, turning a little red. “Roger, get out of here.”

“Chrissy, why won’t you give me another chance?” he asked.

I slapped him. “I can’t believe you,” I said through gritted teeth. “I just walked in on you making out with Mandy and you’re still trying to get back with me? Get out of my sight. I don’t want to see you again.”

Everybody stared at me in disbelief. Roger finally left and I turned around to see Patrick watching me from his office.

“Sorry,” I said. “I’ll go back to work.”

He stopped me just as I was about to walk past him. “I want to talk to you.”

He walked into his office and I stared after him, knowing he was going to fire me.

I looked at Mandy and Andrew. Mandy was still looking a little shocked. Andrew smirked and mouthed ‘Chrissy?’ I glared at him and followed Patrick into his office.

“Shut the door and have a seat, Christine,” he said.

I did as he told and waited for him to start speaking.

“Christine, I want you to know that I am very impressed with what you did in the kitchen,” Patrick started. I stared at him in surprise. “As you probably know, I fired the assistant manager today and I need a new one. I was thinking of making Mandy the manager, but then I realized that she was always late to work and I let her do all the easy work. As much as I love her, the store would fall apart with her as manager. I need someone who can handle stressful situations well and who is very responsible. When I asked you to clean the bathrooms, and both of them, you never complained and you just did it. Also, you aren’t usually late and when you are, you never try to make excuses. I was having a conflict between making you or Andrew the manager. The way you handled the boy in the kitchen gave me my answer. I would like you to be the assistant manager. Do you think you could handle it?”

I stared at him, speechless. I never dreamed of becoming the assistant manager. This was amazing. I would get paid more and I could get the rest my money for college and then some. It was perfect.

“Yes, I think I could do it,” I said.

“Great,” Patrick smiled. “You have new responsibilities as a manager and I need to explain those to you.”

I nodded and he explained it all to me. Around twenty minutes later, I walked out of his office with a smile on my face.

Andrew smiled at me. “Hey, new manager. What do you want me to do?”

“How’d you know?” I asked.

“There was no yelling and you were in there for longer than two minutes. And you’re smiling.”

“I could be smiling because I finally get to leave this stink hole,” I reminded him.

“No, you wouldn’t.” He gave an arrogant smirk. “You’d miss me too much.”

I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t help smiling. “Dream on.”

The rest of the day went by fast. It was really good, nothing bad happened and I didn’t mind all the couples coming and going. My shift was almost over and I finished cleaning the tables, again. But then I walked past a table where a little boy had been eating and I forgot about the mess he made. Before I knew what had happened, I was on the ground, my head throbbing in pain.

“Christine! Are you alright?” Andrew asked leaning over me.

I sat up and held the back of my head, cringing. “Yeah, it’s just a little bump.” I looked where I was sitting and realized that I was sitting in melted ice cream. “Oh, man.” I tried to get up, but Andrew held me down. “What are you doing?” I asked angrily. “I’m sitting in ice cream!”

He smiled. “I know. You look cute when you’re mad.”

“Excuse me?”

Without saying anything he stood up and held out a hand. I looked at it and looked at him. “Do you want to sit in ice cream?” he asked smiling.

I blushed and took his hand.

“You also look cute when you blush,” he said. And before I could blush more or even say anything, his lips were on mine.

Needless to say, I was shocked. Here I was, standing in the middle of Jimmie’s with ice cream on my butt and customers watching, and a really hot football player was kissing me. I didn’t need anybody to tell me what to do before I was kissing him back.

There were a couple wolf-whistles, but that’s not what broke us apart.

“Christine and Andrew, get to work or I will do the same thing I did to everybody else I caught kissing,” Patrick yelled. We pulled apart and I blushed. Patrick shook his head and turned around. “You’d think it’s Valentine’s Day or something,” I heard him murmur.

I looked at Andrew, who had his arm around my waist. He smiled at me. “What do you say we go get some ice cream after work?” he asked.

I smiled. “Sure. Do you think Patrick will let us have a free cone or two?”

“I don’t know,” Andrew shrugged. “We’ll just have to see, won’t we, Chrissy?”

I groaned. “Don’t call me that please. Roger has stained that nickname for my life.”

We walked to the kitchen. “How about Chris?’

I thought about it. “That’s not bad.”

“Then Chris it is,” Andrew said getting me a washcloth to wipe the ice cream. “I could do that for you.”

I looked at him with a glare. “You wish.”

He sighed. “I never get what I wish for.”

I do, I thought with a smile. I get a lot of what I wish for.

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I had to stop there otherwise it would have just gotten boring and yeah. So, I hope you liked it. I don't. I'm wondering, is Valentine's Day a world wide holiday or does only the U.S. have it?

I meant to get this up on Valentines Day, but FP was down and our internet wouldn't work.