[42]

                                    

                                          
           
                          
The approach of Valentine's Day didn't make my situation any better. I had always hated this day because it was cheesy and expensive and significantly unequal when you considered the fact that girls expected to get pampered even though they didn't have the plans to return the behavior for their beau. Part of me always considered that I would get into it more if I wasn't single and had someone to share it with, but there was absolutely no chance of that at this point.
                          
Even though I had come to terms with the fact that my ex-boyfriend was actually a standup man who still loved me (without reciprocation considering I wasn't going to do that to his actual soul mate), I still had a big ass soul mate problem myself—the fact that he apparently didn't want to be with me even though he had apologized suggesting otherwise and didn't dare step up to my challenge considering he had steered clear from me since that interaction. More than that he kept conveniently getting excused from the classes we still had together—that he couldn't transfer out of. Wes and Eli told me it was because he had "an internship" that excused him, but no amount of Billy-excused letters would let me believe that.
                          
I didn't believe it any more than I believed what I saw on Valentine's Day.
                          
When I arrived at my locker, a card dropped out of it. By the time I bent down to pick it up, there were hands covering my eyes which defeated the purpose. Instinctively, I wanted to kick and buck the mysterious person because the last person who did that to me was Micah on Halloween, but I also had an instinctive guess about the warm hands they belonged to. I guessed it was Wes so I went along with it. I allowed them to walk me through the loud hallway and I was pulled off somewhere much quieter because I stopped hearing the foot traffic. 
                          
 "Um—"
                          
"Shh," I was silenced and then I knew it wasn't Wes. I pulled the hand down and glared up at Chase. 
                          
"I'm guessing this is from you," I said, holding up the card in the red envelope. 
                          
"You are correct," he smiled. His eyes were bright and gorgeous despite all the reasons my scowl could give him to indicate it wasn't a joyous occasion. I gave him a suspicious look because instead of suppressing my feelings with him with my utter disappointment and anger, his apparent happiness was lightening my own mood. 
                          
He smiled as if something I said was amusing and I had communicated that our feuding would be over. It was strange. I added the back of my hand to his forehead to feel for a temperature. He had to have a temperature...aneurism...something. There's no other reason he would act this way out of nowhere. 
                          
 "Something is wrong with you," I finally commented. His composure stayed content and he reached his hands up to mine and brought it down to his lips, where he kissed the heel of my palm that had just neared his forehead. Even though it tingled, I hesitantly pulled it away. "Chase...?"
                          
Green tints of color danced in his eyes and I was getting freaked out. It had been nearly a month of nothing between me and him yet he was acting all weird! He should've (literally) kissed up to me a long time ago. As if he read my mind, he suddeny grabbed my waist and placed me against the wall.
                          
"Chase, what are you—"
                          
"Just shut up and stop looking at me like I'm crazy," he commanded. I shut my mouth with his hard eyes. "Today, you're mine."
                          
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked confused. 
                          
"On Halloween you let Wes believe you two were together before you even were," he reminded, his dimples having a shadow to them as he down to me. Part of me wondered if Wes had told him about my theory of me being a theoretically good Valentine, but I knew better than that. Wes wanted me and Chase to be together because our imprint dictated so, but he wouldn't make it all that easy for Chase. He created a bar on the left side of my face. "It's Valentine's day. It's my turn to treat you like that."