Late Valentines Day (Aimee)

[puppy]

Santiago never knew why he did these things. Was it supposed to be good for his image? He honestly failed to see how signing up for these stupid events was supposed to make him look good. Not he would ever look better than a group of large cocky superheroes… even if he tried. Sure he was quite well known around the school, but it wasn’t as though as if the students would suddenly start respecting him the second he started going around to events. Well he always participated in events but… half of the older more influential students still gave him funny looks when he passed them in the halls. Actually they didn’t really give him funny looks so much as they didn’t really give him the respect he felt he deserved as a part of the student council. Okay maybe he was just having high expectations because he felt like the student council would give him some kind of boost in popularity and friends. It certainly did boost his popularity, but it did nothing to increase his amount of friends.

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and looked at the time. He said that they should meet at the polar bear exhibit by one. It was now two-thirty-three. He had arrived at two. He was worried that he was running late… but now… now he could say he was worried that something had happened to his date. What if she had gotten hurt on the way over? What if someone had attacked her and she was lying in some alleyway cold and helpless!? Why was he even worrying so much!?

Heck, he’d been waiting by the polar bear exhibit for exactly twenty-six long minutes. There must’ve been good reason for her to be running late! He couldn’t just automatically assume that she was murdered or beaten to a bloody pulp could he? Maybe she just had other more… important engagements to worry about than him. Which he could totally understand. He couldn’t always be the most important person on someone’s list could he? But then again these Valentines Dates had been planned for a while now…

Maybe it would be best if he just calmed down a bit. Settled his nerves by sitting down until she showed up. After all, it was quite a warm day, even for Florida in the February and he should’ve just let himself enjoy a good time at the zoo instead of freaking out just because a girl he’d been waiting to meet for a while now hadn’t shown up to their date yet. Worrying was for people who didn’t have anything better to do. He had something better to do.

…If that something better to do was sit on a bench waiting, then he was totally down with it. All he had to do was wait. Waiting wasn’t hard. Nope. Not at all. It was only hard for a restless person… and he wasn’t restless… nope… he-he wasn’t… He pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his head in them. He definitely could do this. Anyone could.

Oh… maybe he couldn’t… sleep sounded nice! No. Falling asleep would be rude! He had to wait patiently for her until she either called or texted him saying that she wasn’t going to show up. Maybe she wasn’t sure which dress to wear. He’d heard that girls could take hours upon hours trying to find clothing. Yeah that was it. She was just trying to find out which dress would be best to wear is all! He shut his eyes a moment, and soon he drifted off to sleep… in the middle of the park.

[seychelles]

Aimée felt pretty excited when she woke up. Today was going to be fun! It was rare to have this kind of weather in this time of the year; usually it was raining or just cold. Aimée didn't mind the rain, as she loved water. But the freaking cold disturbed her!
Well, no need to worry about that now. The sun was shining happily at Aimée as she stepped outside. She patted her favourite blue dress down, took her bike and headed off to the zoo.

Yesterday Aimée felt like it was the biggest mistake ever to sign up for this event; how could she suddenly have a date with a person she has never even seen? There would probably be lots of awkward silences. And she would do stupid, clumsy things that would make the boy think; 'How did I get to have a date with this idiot?'. And he would laugh at her, and tell her that it was stupid of her to come her.
But today was her day. She was going to have fun, and if not, she could always just leave.

When the pig-tailed girl arrived at the place were they would meet, she looked around. The only people here were parents with their kids, and an old couple watching the polar bears.
Aimée looked at her watch. She was 5 minutes too early. The girl sat down on a bench where she could overlook everythings that happened around her.

1 PM. No one appeared yet.

1.10 PM. Still sitting alone.

1.20 PM. Aimée was slightly annoyed. Why did that boy keep her waiting like this?

1.30 PM. Did she mistunderstood the time? Were they supposed to be meeting elsewhere?

1.40 PM. DID SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAPPEN?

1.50 PM. "So I've been stood up to?" Aimée didn't understand. How could she already have been rejected without ever meeting the guy?
Aimée rose herself from the bench, and looked around. She didn't need anyone else in the zoo; the animals were fascinating enough to enjoy herself alone. She took her bag and wandered off to were she thought the fishes were.

This zoo really had some interesting animals! Aimée sat down on a random bench for a small break, and smiled to herself. It really was nice to be here. Maybe she should come here more often.
Aimée looked down at her watch. 3 O'clock. As she looked up again, she noticed she was back at the polar bear exhibit again.
Maybe.. The girl looked around, and saw a boy sleeping on a bench nearby. Could he be..? He seemed to be her age, and fitted the description he gave her.
Even though it was really strange, Aimée couldn't help but smile at how innocently the boy was sleeping there. Really, in the middle of this zoo..

Aimée walked over to him and carefully pushed against his shoulder. "Hey, you.. Are you Santiago?"

[puppy]

Santiago was in the midst of a rather calming dream about sunshine and flowery fields when suddenly a light pushing against his shoulders caused him to bolt upright and cling onto a person’s arm. Oh no! What if some weird guy he didn’t know!? That would’ve been so awkward! But as his attention came to, he blinked the stars away, and glanced up blearily to the girl.

Oh! She was really pretty! Her hair has really nice red ribbons in them too, “Y-yes I’m Santiago!” He pulled himself upwards a bit and wrapped his arms around her, “Nice to meet you!” He planted two kisses on her cheeks, and then pulled away, suddenly feeling extremely guilty for being so late on her. Why couldn’t he ever make it anywhere on time!? He was such an oaf. “I’m sorry about being so late, I run late for just about everything… Even class… I don’t know why I can’t ever keep track of time…”

He was stupid. Stupid stupid stupid! This girl looked so kind and sweet! How could he let his stupid inability to get anywhere on time mess with his chances of actually being there on time for such a cute girl!? He just sincerely hoped she had it in her to forgive him. And forgive him again for falling asleep and being so welcoming. He was supposed to be helpful and always ready to give advice, and be prepared. Right now he must’ve looked like a royal mess.

Like a spoiled royal mess who ran late then fell asleep on benches right afterwards. Blah. He hoped he was able to make it up to her. Maybe he could but her some ice cream or something!

Sure it wouldn’t exactly cure the fact that he totally messed up big time, but maybe it would help if she did feel bad! And even if she wasn’t mad, then maybe it would just make him feel a bit better about his silly mistake. Plus he was feeling rather hungry himself. Yeah! That would do it! He could do it! Get some ice cream for her and do his best to apologize for his goofiness!

Afterwards they could actually get around to seeing the animals. This was Santiago’s second year at the zoo, and not one time had he ever gone to the zoo. Of course he did love animals and loved being able to see them up close, but for some reason he’d either, one, been too busy to, or two, never really given the zoo a second thought. But when Aimée suggested that they could’ve gone to the zoo as somewhere fun, he didn’t even give it a second thought, before he was jumping at the bit. He was really excited to see the polar bears for some odd reason too. So he told her that now was as good a time as any, and that they should meet by the polar bears. Too bad he told her the complete wrong time… what an idiot he turned out to be.

“Anyway, I was thinking! Since I was such an idiot and showed up an hour late on our first date, which probably leaves you with a very bad impression of me, I was… kind of hoping to make it up to you with ice cream… I know it’s not enough to pay you back for being so late, but I have enough money, and I was hoping that you’d accept it, as an apology of sorts… you- you do like ice cream, r-right!?” He didn’t know why he was suddenly rambling, but he found that he couldn’t exactly look into her eyes for more than two seconds because of his guilt. So maybe he was just trying to talk away all of his guilt or something, “I hope you aren’t allergic to peanuts or milk or anything because that would really suck!” He himself, lived off of milk and quite enjoyed peanuts, so if her were allergic to either, he would’ve probably curled himself into a tiny ball.

But that wasn’t the point. The point was, he needed to get this date on the road! He was getting nowhere! He grabbed her hand lightly, and smiled towards her again, “I hope you aren’t too mad at me that we can’t go on this date together?”