::Brook::

When I woke up the morning of Tuesday, February fourteenth, that's all it was. Tuesday. February. Fourteeth. There was nothing special about this day and especially nothing about it that should have made me miss Alex even more than I already did.

Of course, there was no escaping what this day truly was. When I finally dragged myself out of bed and walked into the kitchen, Jenny had made heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.

A memo had gone out at work a week earlier suggesting all faculty members dress somewhat festive. It was their way of promoting school unity and school spirit so I had to dress the part. Normally, I would be all for that but this time around, I was irritated.

On my drive to work, the radio played nothing but love songs and there was a sign on every corner advertising discounts for bouquets on a dozen roses.

While walking into work, I tried to hold my head high. Balloons, flowers, candies and stuffed bears flooded the hallways. Girls squealing to their friends on how their boyfriends had surprised them one way or another with Valentine's Day goodies.

Meanwhile, I had a boy who, I guess, was my friend, that had yet to make mention that he wanted to be my boyfriend and he acted as if he didn't have a clue Valentine's Day even existed, let alone was coming up anytime soon.

Normally, I didn’t care one way or another about Valentine’s Day. That was probably because for the past few Valentine’s Days, aside from this one and the one before, I was with someone. When you have someone, it’s easier to pretend Valentine’s Day isn’t also Singles Awareness Day or just a Hallmark Holiday.

This year I was particularly leaning towards Singles Awareness Day. Yes, I was single and he owed me absolutely nothing but it would have been nice if Alex acknowledged the day in some way.

I'd dropped a few hints in our conversations the past few days but all he was concerned about was how February fourteenth this year marked the six year anniversary of All Time Low signing their first record deal. Sure, I was happy for him and all he'd achieved in this time but I was still a stupid girl and I wanted the boy I let sleep in my bed with me and take care of me while I was sick and kiss me goodbye to acknowledge Valentine's Day and send me nonsense that I knew I didn't even need.

"Good morning, Brook," Sandy chirped when I walked into the Guidance Office.

"Morning Sandy," I forced a smile, noticing the vase of roses on the corner of her desk.

"Happy Valentine's Day, darling," she smiled, handing me a white envelope taped to a small heart shaped box of chocolates. "Just a little something to show my appreciation for you."

"Thank you, Sandy," I smiled, a little more real this time. "Did your husband send you those?" I reluctantly asked, gesturing towards the flowers.

"Yes, he did. Twenty six years later and he still surprises me. He's been acting like he had no idea Valentine's Day was even coming up," she gushed, playing with some of the roses in her vase to rearrange the display.

"Yeah," I shrugged. "There seems to be a lot of that going on," I mumbled to myself as I walked towards my office.

I rested my hand on the door knob, half turning it before Sandy called my name from the front desk.

"I'm sure he didn't forget," she assured me. "He's just busy."

"Yeah," I shrugged before pushing the door open and I gasped loudly, my jaw almost hitting my knees. "Oh my God."

I walked further into my office to find it full of balloons. There were bouquets of roses, in a variety of colors everywhere. A bunch of different boxes of chocolates were spread across my desk. Sitting in my chair was a gigantic big, brown and white teddy bear with an envelope and a single red rose in its lap.

"Told ya!" Sandy chirped from behind me, causing me to jump.

"How did he..." I trailed off.

"Girl, that boy must be smitten. Do you know how much roses like that can cost by the dozen? And don't get me started on the delivery boy. He told me he was practically paid double to cart all this stuff in here and have it set before you came in this morning," Sandy said with an approving me smile on her face.

I kept opening my mouth to try and speak but I was speechless. I really couldn't believe that Alex had gone this above and beyond for me. It was incredible.

"There's an envelope on the bear's lap. I have a feeling you want to read that," Sandy urged me.

I nodded. "O-Okay," I stuttered out and walked over to the stuffed bear and picked up the envelope, carefully ripping it open with my shaking hands.

Dear Brook,

Surprise! You didn't actually think I forgot Valentine's Day, did you? It was my plan all along. Don't be mad, okay?

I'm really sorry that I can't be home in Baltimore to take you out for real tonight, so promise me when you're having your Chick Flick and Junk Food night with Jenny, you'll be thinking of me. Just know that whatever I'm doing today, I'll be thinking of you.

You're a really special girl, Brook and you deserve special things.

I miss you soooo much and really cannot wait to see you in a few more weeks.

Happy Valentine's Day, Brook.

XoXo,

Alex

PS. Please call me after you get this - I don't care how early it is. <3

I wiped a tear out of my eye after I'd finished reading the letter. It was handwritten - which means Alex had to go through extra trouble to get it to me.

Sandy smiled and came up behind me, a small crowd of the other receptionists and guidance counselors gathering outside my door to get a peak of the spectacle my office had transformed to.

"Call him," she whispered in my ear before lightly squeezing my shoulder and heading out of my office, shooing everyone else away as well.

"Wow," I sighed, plopping down in one of the empty chairs in my office.

I took my phone out of my pocket and stared at it for a second. It was just after eight in the morning where Alex was and I felt really bad for calling and waking him up but he did request at the end of his letter that I call and he didn't care what time it was. So, I flipped my phone open and scrolled to his name and pressed the big green button.

"Hello," a sleepy, raspy voice answered.

"You're crazy," was the first thing that came to my mind to say.

"Good morning to you, too," he said, perking up just a bit.

"I can't believe you did all of that for me, Alex. No one has ever done anything like this. It looks like Valentine's Day threw up in here," I rambled, looking around my office again.

"It does? Oh no! I told them to make sure it didn't look cheesy! Dammit!"

He was fully awake now.

"Alex, no. Relax. It's perfect. It's absolutely perfect," I assured him.

"Really?"

"So much in fact I actually feel terrible about the corny E-Card Valentine I scheduled to be sent to you sometime today," I sighed.

"Don't worry about that," he said quickly. "I wasn't looking for anything from you today."

"Well I wasn't looking for anything from you today either!" I argued even though it was sort of a lie.

"No, you weren't but it doesn't mean you don't deserve it."

I smiled. "I wish you were here right now so I could hug you," I confessed.

"I know, Brook. I wish I was there, too."

"Happy Valentine's Day," I said, giggling a bit realizing neither one of us had said that yet.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Brook," he said and I was sure I detected his smile.

I looked around my office again, shaking my head in disbelief at what it looked like.

"I still can't believe you did this."

"Why can't you believe it?" he asked with a chuckle in his voice.

"I don't know," I shrugged to myself. "I didn't think we were like that."

He was silent for a lot longer than I was comfortable with. I suddenly feared I said something wrong.

"I think it's more like that than you realize."



::Alex::


I barely slept the night before Valentine's Day. I was so nervous about Brook's surprise getting screwed up and being so far away and not being able to control anything hands on just made it that much more nerve-racking.

Despite the lack of sleep I had, I was more than happy to be awaken by eight thirty that morning with a phone call from Brook. I was so happy and so relieved that she liked what I had done for her and I just hoped that she really did like it and wasn't sparing my feelings.

I wished more than anything that I could be home with Brook tonight but since I couldn't, I was happy to be with my band. It was hard to believe that we signed our first record deal six years ago. The things that we have seen and done and achieved in this short time was mind blowing to me and I couldn't feel luckier and more thankful.

Since we had a late bus call that night, the entire band and our crew decided to go out to this nearby bar to celebrate with some of the friends we had made over the years touring in this area.

I didn't really plan on drinking too much. I wasn't really feeling it this night. I was just content to spend some time with my friends, celebrating all we've been through together.

"Oh my Gosh," I heard someone gasp from behind me.

I spun around on my bar stool and came face to face with a young blonde. I recognized her from somewhere but I couldn't place it.

I thought, at first, she might have been a fan.

"Alex, I can't believe it's been so long," she continued when I didn't say anything.

I guess not a fan...

I racked my brain for anything that could remind me who she was.

My eyes focused on her neck and I noticed "Amy" in swirly, shiny, gold lettering attached to a gold chain. It suddenly dawned on me who she was and why I knew her.

She was friends with our show promoter in this area of Canada and I'd met her the last time we toured here about a year and a half ago. Maybe longer.

It was during a time where things were shaky with Lina and I was feeling lonely and had too much to drink and ended up taking her back to my hotel room for the night.

Naturally, she had taken the night to mean more than I intended it to mean and I made a few empty promises to her that I never intended to keep. I wasn't proud of this, of course. It was in my past and it was something I really had no intention of reliving.

"Amy. Hi," I forced a smile. "How've you been?"

"Oh, I've been good. I'm a lot better now that you're here," she said, whipping her hair over her shoulder and sitting on the stool next to me, crossing her legs and turning in my direction.

I tried not to roll my eyes. "Oh. Well. Great," I shrugged. "I should get going back to my friends," I said standing up, grabbing the beer I'd just ordered.

"Wait," she said, sliding off the bar stool and positioning herself in front of me. "I'm going to be completely honest with you."

"Look, Amy I-"

She interrupted me, closing the space between us and practically pressing her breasts into my chest.

"I knew you were going to be here tonight and clearly the first time we met we had some kind of connection. I guess just not enough to keep you around."

I backed up from her a bit. "Yeah Amy, I-"

She stepped closer to me again and leaned up, her lips close to my ear. "This time I'll be sure to keep you around," she said into my ear, her voice dropping into what she probably thought was a seductive tone.

"No," I shook my head, stepping back again. "I'm not interested. Okay? I'm sorry about last time but it's not going to happen tonight," I said sternly.

"Oh come on. Everyone deserves a second chance, Alex. Give me a shot to redeem myself," she practically pleaded.

"I'm sorry," I shook my head. "It's just not like that, okay?"

"Okay. Then what is it like? Explain it to me," she insisted.

"I have a girlfriend," I told her.

She stared at me for a second, a mix of different emotions on her face. Hurt, confusion and then amusement.

"That didn't stop you last time," she shot back at me and I felt a little sick in my stomach. “Why should it this time?”

"Not that I owe you any explanation but this girl is different and I care about her very much," I told her.

"Whatever," she huffed. "Have fun with your girlfriend," she said, turning on her heel and storming off.

"Did you mean that?" Jack asked and I hadn't realized he was behind me watching the entire thing.

"Did I mean what?" I asked, turning to face him.

"That you have a girlfriend?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.

I sighed. "I don't know, Jack. I just wanted to get her to go away."

"Right," Jack nodded. "I'll buy that but if Brook's not your girlfriend, please explain why you spent nearly three hundred dollars on her for Valentine's Day."

I rolled my eyes. "Do I really need to say it?"

"It'd be nice to actually hear you say it out loud," Jack shrugged.

"I want Brook to be my girlfriend."

"So why the fuck isn't she yet?" Jack whined.

I sighed. "When were we supposed to talk about it, Jack? Before I left when I'd only known her two weeks? Or last week when I was home and she was either sick to her stomach or half asleep?"

Jack nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Are you going to talk to her about it when we're home in a few weeks?"

I smiled a little. "Absolutely."

"Good." Jack smiled. "Where are you going?" he asked as I dug my phone from my pocket and started in the direction of the bar exit.

"To call Brook. I'll meet you guys on the bus."

Jack nodded, giving me a wave as I walked outside and headed down the block in the direction of the venue we just played at. That was where we left the bus parked.

I quickly selected Brook's name in my phone contact list and pressed the phone to my ear. It didn't dawn on me until the phone rang about six times and Brook answered sounding very sleepy that it was just after two in the morning here, which meant it was after three in the morning by Brook.

"Hey Brook," I said softly, feeling kind of bad that I clearly woke her up.

"Alex? Is everything okay?" she panicked immediately.

"Yes. Everything is just fine. I'm sorry for calling so late. I guess I didn't realize the time," I said quickly.

"Oh," she said and it sounded like she was shifting in her bed and that made me feel even worse because she was fully waking up now. "You sure you're okay? You sound off."

I smiled a little. "I'm fine. Promise. I'm just a little tired. And I miss you."

"I miss you too, Alex," she said, breaking into a yawn at the end of my name.

"I'm sorry I called you so late. Go back to sleep; we can talk in the morning," I said.

"No. It's okay. I wasn't totally asleep anyway," she lied. "How was the show? How was going out with the guys to celebrate?"

"The show was great. Hanging with the guys was great, of course. I still can't believe it's been six years. I just kind of wish we could have celebrated it at home."

"Of course being home would have been better for an occasion like this but as long as you're all together is what matters. Where are you guys again tonight?" she asked.

"Edmonton, Canada," I answered, pressing the code on the bus door to unlock it and climbing inside and heading straight to my bunk where I climbed in and lied down.

"Right. It must be cold, huh?" she said, probably shuttering at the thought.

"Yes. It's freezing. You could never come here. You'd probably just instantly freeze and turn into a Brook shaped ice sculpture," I said, only half teasing.

"Good to know. You guys are going to have to start touring in places where it's warm. Give me a good excuse to come visit you," she said with a giggle.

"Oh. So now you need an excuse to go somewhere warm to come visit me?"

She was silent for a second.

"Honestly, Alex, if I could, I would layer up nice and warm and come visit you right now," she admitted.

I smiled to myself, resting back against my pillows. "You'd really come out to visit?"

"Of course," she said, almost sounding a bit put off that I would ask again. "But since I can't, you just have to hurry up and get your butt home."
***

Notes

Story title: Taylor Swift - Sparks Fly
Chapter title: Gym Class Heroes - Ass Back Home
Brook's outfit.