Valentine for Summer

”Give me that! ” Carol snatched the phone out of Summers hand as she sat in a daze during their lunch break at work. ”Stop spacing out already! ” She reprimanded, it was enough that the whole company buzzed with anecdotes about the marketing department being under the watchful eye of the CEO, no one needed to deal with gossip about Summer being drunk while working.

”Mhm, ” Summer made an approving noise to appease her colleague, ”What do you want with my phone anyway? ” She asked in an accusatory tone when Carol started typing something there.

”You
e going out on a date, ” Carol stated.

Summer grimaced, ”I already told you that Im still thinking about it, ”

”Hoho, no honey, you were talking about a different date when you told me about the guy who couldn keep his eyes off you yesterday, ”

Summer groaned, she had no idea that her colleagues and her ended up going to the same restaurant but sitting on different levels, they sat as one big group on the second level with a full view of the first level that she sat in and saw her passionate discussion with Patrick then wondered why she stormed out alone. She told Carol all about the trap Gabe set for her, and while Carol believed her, the rest of the team was slightly annoyed about it.

”They
e still convinced that you took your date to the restaurant we agreed on trying just to rub it in everyones face, ”

Summer scowled, ”Rubbing what in whose face now? ” She had vivid images of what she would like to rub on her colleagues faces now. It wasn pretty.

This could become a serious issue if she didn address it swiftly, especially since Mr. Hosek surprised everyone by accepting the departments invitation and was there at the same restaurant but didn stay for long.

”You know? The fact that you blew everyone off to meet your date in the restaurant that everyone planned on going to thing? ”

Summer was flabbergasted, ”…Doesn everybody know that I am mentally challenged when it comes to directions?! How could I possibly know that the restaurants were the same? ”

Carol knew that, in fact, she defended Summer yesterday using very similar words, she tapped fiercely on Summers phone screen now.

”What are you doing anyhow! ” She asked Carol, exasperated.

”Damage control, ”

Summers crappy mood was worsening by the minute, she had to figure out what to do with Patrick and hoped she could do that in her lunch break before she was bombarded with news about all the gossip that was going on around her.

”All done~ ” Carol held Summers phone with a wide grin. It looked and sounded extremely suspicious to Summer.

”What exactly is done here… ” Summer asked with the corners of her mouth taking a dive down.

”You just asked a colleague out! ”

Summers jaw dropped slightly, ”Excuse me? ”

”You
e welcome~ ”

Summer snatched her phone back from the insane womans hand. Because Carols personality was very peculiar, Summer sometimes couldn tell whether her friend was joking or not.

”Who did YOU ask out… ”

Carol rolled her eyes dramatically, ”Haven you been listening to anything? As if theres anyone else to ask at this point, ”

”Who! ” Summer barked at Carol.

”…Andy, ”

Summer slapped her forehead, What a horrible way to go, what a cruel way to go,

”Why are you being like this, were you even there yesterday? I might not have been there but I heard how he defended you in front of the friggin billionaire CEO of this entire place! What more do you need to understand that he is THE true love mentioned in the prophecy? ”

Summer looked at Carol with Id rather die eyes.

Carol crossed her arms against her chest defensively, ”Well, if you don care about your life, I do. And don even think about canceling with him, you invited him out on our group chat, ”

Summer clenched her teeth; she fought the urge to throw her phone at her friends stubborn head.

”Do you even know what you started? ” Summer was hurt and disappointed by her friends overbearing behavior.

”Don be such a drama llama, you didn even read the invitation, do you doubt my impeccable communication skills? ”

Carol did have good communication skills, and to give her the benefit of the doubt, Summer went into the group and read the message.

”… ”

Anyone who knew Summer even a little bit could immediately tell that she wasn the one to have asked the devil out, the text was too aggressive, letting everyone know that she heard the rumors flying around her, that they were baseless because she is a single woman still, and that the man they saw her with was a childhood friend who tagged along with her brother who was the man she originally intended to meet with. To make a point out of everything, she offered to ask Andy out as a small thank-you for how he spoke in the name of their entire group yesterday and made them look better in the eyes of Mr. Hosek.

Summer couldn find a flaw in the text except for the lack of reaction toward it. Carols message was double ticked in blue which means that everyone had received and read it, yet, nobody dignified it with an answer. The best case scenario right now would be for Andrew to see through the message and know that his cousin was the one to have sent it, he would naturally and politely decline or turn it into a group event. He was, after all, one of the most aggressive team leaders out there and the perfect candidate to call Carol out on what she had done.

*DING!*

An ominous notification showed up on Summers screen. She placed a palm on her eyes.

”Carol…I can , you read it out for me, ” she demanded. It was the least Carol could do to Summer at this point.

”Hmm, thats quite interesting, ” Carol mused.

Summer removed the palm of her hand from over her eyes, ”Who said that it was interesting?! ”

”No, no, I mean the message that Mr. Hosek sent is whats interesting, ”

Summer narrowed her eyes at Carol, ”Is this a joke? ”

Carol shook her head twice with a serious glint in her eyes.

”Mr. Hosek isn even a part of this gr-… ” Summer couldn finish her sentence with Carol shoving the phone in her face.

”Is it true that he had asked you to call him Valentine? ” Carol asked with an undercurrent that Summer completely missed.

She groaned. The universe doesn want me not to have regrets when I leave this world,

***

Right by the end of the working hours, Summer had sunk deeper into her computer screen and was all but surrounded by a bubble of steel when someone made her flinch out of her concentration.

”Your signature please, ” the delivery guy said as he placed the basket on her table.

Summer frowned but signed at the same time, red roses and blue violets, whod send those? She picked out the card and read it silently.

Roses are red, violets are blue, you didn have to ask me on the group chat, still, I will go out with you,

The note crumpled in Summers angry hand that squeezed hard over it. She threw it away in the trash bin beside her table. Her hand searched her pockets frantically to find her phone, she was determined to set things clear in front of everyone on the group chat before this goes more out of hand than it already has. I shouldn have ignored it in the first place.

*Ping!*

Her eyes snapped to where her phone had been buried beneath a pile of papers. She rescued it out of there and saw the new message on the group chat. Summer buried the phone back under an even bigger pile of papers this time.

The sender was none other than Andrew, and his message was an image of the very same card that she threw in the bin a moment ago.

Summer swallowed back a scream!