Roses and Red Paint

Written for RaeKitano's prompt: how do your characters express love?

Alice has a problem.

There are a dozen red roses on her bed and she's sitting on the duvet with her gift bag, trying to work out if the chocolates or the bath bombs should go in first because it's clear she's bought far too much. Maybe it's a little excessive but it's the first time she's spending Valentine's day in a relationship and she thinks she should go all out. It wasn't something she'd meant to do but she couldn't help thinking that the lace dress in the window looked nice and that the card was so cute and didn't that perfume smell good?

"Do you think I got her too much?" she asks, frowning at her collection.

Natasha, her roommate, looks over from where she's sitting, "I don't know, I think it's sweet of you but it does depend on whether she got you anything back. It's not a big deal but, if it happened to me, I'd feel like I cared more."

"Yeah, Lacy said that she didn't really like Valentine's, thought that it was stupid that people were falling for a commercial holiday."

"Wow, that sounds romantic."

"No," Alice says quickly, because she feels like she said it wrong, "she is a romantic but she thinks that you should show your love every day, rather than on just one day of the year."

Natasha tilts her head in consideration, "I can understand her thinking but I don't think it's like that for every couple. Valentine's is just another opportunity to demonstrate your love, it's not the only one."

"So do you think she'd be mad if I gave her gifts?"

"Hm, maybe just give her the flowers and the card and then play it from there. You can always save the rest for another time, right?"

"Thanks, Tash, you're the best."

She smiles at her, "I know."

Natasha's confidence and easy acceptance of compliments had surprised Alice the first time she met her but she'd quickly learnt that she liked it. University was refreshing in the people she met, because no one was quite like Natasha at home, and she hadn't missed a beat when Alice casually mentioned she was a lesbian. It was something that she'd worried about, moving away from home for the first time and having to share her private space with another girl, but it was all for nothing and she wasn't sure why she'd been scared in the first place.

"What are you doing for Valentine's day?" Alice asks.

"I'm volunteering on campus and playing Cupid. For the princely sum of a pound, we're delivering cupcakes and short messages to the students and it's all in the name of charity."

"That sounds like fun."

"Yeah, I only have two lectures that day and I thought it'd be a good thing to take part in. Maybe not as exciting as your day with Lacy but I love it."

She proves that the next morning when she wakes up at seven thirty to shower and get dressed. And since they sleep in the same room, it's a given that Alice wakes with her.

"Do you think I should wear my red dress or is that too cliché as a Cupid?"

"What about the new leggings you bought? They look great on you."

"I wore them yesterday and they've got quite a distinctive pattern," she picks them up from the floor anyway and holds them against her legs, "maybe, I don't know."

She settles for the red dress in the end, paired with her canvas shoes, and makes Alice promise to visit her on the concourse later. It's not like she can miss her, not when she's wearing a metallic red.

Alice sleeps for another hour before her alarm goes off and it's Valentine's so she spends a good twenty minutes making sure her make up is perfect before leaving. It means she's a bit late leaving but she just manages to catch the bus so she feels like today's going to be a good one.

The feeling carries on through her first two lectures and she has a one hour break before her class so she goes to see Natasha.

"Hey, Tash, have you been busy this morning?"

"Not too bad, actually, we're only delivering to certain buildings so we're selling more cupcakes than we're getting requests for them. We've also made a surprising amount of money from the facepainting," and she gestures at the white and red that glitters on her skin, "do you want to give it a try?"

"Go on, then."

She gets a glittery red heart on her cheek and Natasha kisses her on her other, looking pleased with the lipstick stain she leaves behind.

"There, you look great. Now go get your girl."

"You mean go get to class."

Natasha laughs, "And then get your girl."

The mood on campus is infectiousness and Alice is impatient for class to end, even though she normally enjoys it, and she's out of the room as soon as it does. Since Lacy studies Adult Nursing and she's on placement, it means Alice hasn't seen her girlfriend for four days and she's really excited about it, going straight back to halls to wait for her.

It doesn't take long for Lacy to text asking to be let in and she's down the stairs and at the door in less than a minute.

"Hey," Lacy says, soft and fond, "have you been back for long?"

"No, I've only been here for thirty minutes, at most," she says, letting them into the flat, "how was your day?"

"Tiring, I just want to eat takeout and cuddle."

"I could be down for that."

They go into her room, because the kitchen's cold and the chairs not as comfy, and Lacy immediately notices the roses and card on her bed. The other gifts are in her closet and hidden away but she's hopeful and they're packed neatly in a bag.

"Oh, are those roses for me?"

"It depends, do you like them?"

"I love them."

"Then they're yours."

They're something of a stereotypical flower but Alice can't bring herself to care about that when Lacy brings them to her nose and smiles into them.

"No one's ever given me roses before, have you ever seen something so beautiful?"

Alice thinks the same thing but she's not looking at the roses.

They end up ordering pizza and wedges and snuggling with each other under the covers while they watch a film on Alice's laptop. They've been together for four months and she still gets butterflies in her stomach from holding Lacy's hand and that's what's most important.

When she wakes up the next morning, surrounded by her teddies—because her friends know her well and give her all the toys—and with Lacy's arm around her waist, she can't help but think her first Valentine's date gone well.