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February 14th.
Valentine's day. The day of love. Day of sweetness and hearts, gifting (and getting) chocolates and candy, and spending time with your loved ones.
Coincidentally, it was also the day Ryan and Nick had scheduled to record a video together.
The mere thought of spending that oh-so special day with his friend Nick made his heart race, and he couldn't quite put his finger on why.
It wasn't anything special—I mean, for him, it was. After (not so) subtly telling Nick he wanted to go camping with him, he gave in. He was so happy when Nick sent him a text, inviting him to record a video together where they went with the idea he'd spent so long thinking about.
Love. That word wouldn't escape Ryan's mind. He loved many things in life, but when it came to people, love was a strong word to use. It carried a lot of meaning, and he wasn't sure whether he could say he loved Nick.
It was just a coincidence.
He can't let it get in the way of the real reason they're hanging out: recording a video.
But he couldn't focus on that when the date was the only thing on his mind. February 14th.
Maybe a little can't hurt.
February 14th.
The date hadn't left his mind ever since they scheduled it, and now the day had finally come.
Despite feeling his heart beating on his head and it being all he could focus on, he tried to put his nervousness aside. They were going to record a video, and he had to be a little professional.
He walked through the streets of Boston, switching his gaze from his phone to the city constantly. One contained a text message from Nick with a list of things he had to bring, the other had buildings and stores, which were filled with red and pink heart decorations.
Gosh, they're so pretty, Ryan thought to himself, he then remembered he doesn't have a date, and got a little sad.
He entered a nearby convenience store. Most of the stuff on the list were just basic ingredients and a few other things, he figured he could get most here. He opened the text one last time and put his phone in his pocket.
“Apple, soda, noodles…” he muttered under his breath in a sing-song-y tune to remember the items.
He ran through the isles, picking up ingredient after ingredient. His smile and excitement grew bigger by the minute, along with his unpredictable heartbeat.
Ryan exited the store, the song that was playing in it still stuck in his mind.
After confirming he did get all the stuff on the list, he looked up from his phone and, in front of where he had just been, he saw a chocolate store, decorated of course in pink and red.
And he got an idea.
I could get him a little gift.
It won't take much time.
The store sold other stuff, it's Valentine's Day, of course. But he only needed one, tiny thing. On the counter, he saw it.
A heart lollipop. Nothing too special. He's given tons of heart lollipops to classmates at school years before, it's the least you can give.
Valentine's Day is also the day of friendship, he told himself as he took some coins off his wallet to pay.
Nothing weird about giving your friend a lollipop on Valentine's Day.
“Thank you so much, have a great day!” His hand trembled as he took the heart lollipop.
He stuffed the lollipop in his pocket and made his way outside, his heart beating fast. The landscape of Boston suddenly turned pink in his eyes, and he couldn't walk. His body was frozen in place, lollipop in his pocket. He just has to give this to Nick, he won't think much of it. Why was he making such a big deal out of this?
He forced himself to grab his phone and dial an Uber.
He fidgeted with his hands and sunglasses while he waited for the Uber to arrive.
Eventually, it arrived. He got inside and gave the address to the driver. Ryan looked out the window, chin resting on his palm, as his mind still wouldn't let him rest.
Is it really okay? He kept thinking and thinking, which always ended wrong. He remembered the times he gave most of his classmates candy, it's not a big deal. Nick is just his friend.
His heartbeat grew faster and faster, it was the only thing he could hear in his mind, which muddled the thoughts, luckily. His heart jumped more at the mere thought of Nick, maybe there was some deep in-sight about himself he'd have to deal with later.
He closed his eyes, and waited.
He opened them back up about half an hour later, probably. The car shook a lot, indicating they had reached the destination, the forest.
When the car parked, he got off it and looked around for Nick.
He grabbed his phone and saw a notification, a message from Nick that said: “Look behind you ;)” and above it, today's date.
February 14th, 2026. It felt like the entire world was reminding him what day today was and how he had no one to celebrate it with, if you didn't consider—
He looked behind, as he'd told him, and saw Nick standing there, with a bag on his shoulder, waving at him.
He awkwardly put his hands on his pockets and he felt — the heart lollipop. Was right now a good time to pull it out? Nope. He walked to Nick and used his right hand (the hand that had been in contact with the lollipop) to wave back.
“Hey, Nick!” He said.
“Hey!” Nick said, wearing a smile on his face. He opened his arms and they had an awkward hug.
Ryan pulled away first. “You're looking great, dude.” He smiled a little too much, and Nick did too at the compliment.
“The place is a few miles away from here,” Nick signaled with his arms. Ryan looked up at Nick, gazing lov– kindly at him, “we'll have to walk a bit, but nothing too rough.”
“Fine by me,” he chuckled, “by the way—” he reached for the lollipop but quickly stopped himself, he couldn't do it. Not right now.
“Mmh? You said something?”
“No– It was nothing, really.”
The walk there was uncomfortably silent. Ryan would trip, catching himself at the last second, and they'd both laugh lightly.
On the way there, Ryan gripped the lollipop tightly, wondering if it was the right time to give it to him, only for his doubts to get him and make him let go of it. His mind always made him back down.
Will Nick misunderstand what I mean? But what was there even to misunderstand? They were friends. He kept repeating that over and over like a broken record. But Ryan was even beginning to doubt—
“And we're here.”
Ryan looked up, confused. He'd got so lost in his thoughts he didn't even realize they'd gotten so deep into the forest.
“You like it?” Nick looked at Ryan. “My uncle and I used to come here every week.”
“That's crazy,” Ryan said, “it's really pretty.” He smiled.
Nick dug on his bag, pulled out something and began to set up the place they'd record in: a tent. And a folding table outside.
Ryan quickly offered to help, not letting him answer before he helped him set up the tent. The fresh air made the experience way nicer. At least here he didn't get constant reminders of what day it was. But the lollipop remained hidden in his pocket.
Right now wasn't the right time. Too much movement; between building the tent (which he'd been failing at for the past half hour), setting up the camera, preparing the ingredients and going over what they were going to do, he couldn't find when to bring up the date and the small gift he'd gotten him.
“Don you need some help over there? Sounds like you're really struggling with that thing.” Nick said, you could hear his smile, or maybe it was the fact that he was laughing. Was it that obvious?
“Yeah, dude. Can't find one of the rocks.”
“You mean this?” Ryan looked up to see Nick smiling wide, holding up one of the rocks, his rock, the one he'd specifically deemed heavy enough for the job.
“Give me that!” He ran towards him.
A time like that wasn't the type of moment where you'd just pull out a heart lollipop and give it to your friend, saying ‘Happy Valentine's Day!’. None of this was.
After that, they started recording.
Nick held his phone away enough from his face so Ryan could also watch. “This hack here says to empty a watermelon, fill it with coal, and use it as a grill.”
“That's insane,” he laughed. “It would be crazy if it really worked.”
“Do you think it won't?” He looked at him. Ryan couldn't deal with this, Nick's stare sent butterflies to his stomach, and all he could muster up to say in his flustered state was:
“Maybe.”
“Should we try it?” Nick said, trying to hype up the video.
“Yeah! Let's do it.” He placed his hands to his side, hearing the rustle of the wrapper of that damn lollipop at the very slight touch of his pocket.
And they did that weird camping hack.
He enjoyed spending time with Nick in this calm, peaceful space. He wouldn't trade it for anything else. They were finally camping together. And that reminded him:
“Are we staying the night here?”
Awkward silence filled the air, cut by a small chuckle.
“Time for trying this thing out,” Nick ignored Ryan's question.
Spending time with your loved ones. That was part of Ryan's meaning of Valentine's Day, that date that had been causing him so much stress.
He looked out to the forest. It was getting late, the sun had just started to set, and the air was slowly getting colder. He had to get this done before the day was over.
The recording was almost coming to an end. They had one last hack left, then they would be done with this video.
“You know, most of these have been so difficult, let's end on a simple one.” Nick said, as if reading from a script (which he maybe was).
Ryan took a deep breath, and before Nick could say anything about the video, he opened his mouth to say the words he'd been thinking about all day.
“Nick— By the way, real quick, I wanted to give you this.” He finally pulled out the heart lollipop. “For Valentine's Day.” He extended his hand, handing it out to him. He was shaking.
“Oh?” Nick said. He couldn't tell if it was the good kind of ‘oh?’ or the bad kind of ‘oh?’. His heartbeat was the fastest it's ever been, he swore Nick could see it popping in and out of his chest. “Was that why you were so nervous the entire time?” So it was that obvious. He was smiling, that was good.
Nick took the heart lollipop and stuffed it in his own pocket. It had found its new owner.
“Thank you.”
Ryan's vision turned a bright pink. Nick's surroundings weren't a forest anymore, they were splashes of pink and red and hearts, all forming a beautiful painting that wrapped around him. And an involuntary smile formed on his face, the purest of smiles.
He looked up at Nick, and before he could realize what he was doing, he stepped forward and hugged Nick. A warm, genuine, not awkward hug. He didn't know why he was doing it, maybe he really loved Nick, but as he buried his head in Nick's chest, he couldn't help but feel a sense of calmness.
He pulled away and looked up at Nick, still with that same smile.
“You're welcome. Happy Valentine's Day.”
Nick shared that same smile, and it felt like time stopped at that exact moment, even though it really didn't. It was those kinds of beliefs that made life better.
Ryan liked to believe all of this was fate. It could be childish to think like that, but it made him happy. This kind of thinking made him part of who he is today. Maybe fate did bring them together to record a video on this very special day, this day of love, and made him buy that heart lollipop. But he for sure loved Nick.