Valentines in the Key of B (Mine)

[Blitzen]

Sam moved her way through the people, buzzing with excitement about Valentine's Day, a slight crease furrowing her brow. She looked around and saw Jai and Stasi, Nix and Bryan, hell, even Tiffany and Nick were huddled together like two spies conspiring over something. She hadn't seen Jason all day, and the day was near over. Returning to her locker for the fourth time today, she peevishly opened the door.

Helium balloons tied to the top inside of her locker sprang out, bobbing up and down in a red and white spray, and glitter fell from them when they reached full height. One balloon bobbed lower than the rest, and the words written in white said "Pop me"

Sam beamed a smile at the display, laughing and rolling her eyes slightly as glitter fell from the balooons. It was exceptionally a Jason-ish thing to do, she thought with delight. A curious look crossed her face at the one balloon hovering below the rest, the one bearing the instructions “Pop Me.” Biting her bottom lip and smiling, she drew a pencil out of her backpack, and squinted her eyes as the point touched the side of the ballon in anticipation of the loud “bang” which followed.

A small rolled up scroll, tied with a red ribbon dropped from the exploding rubber, falling to Sam's feet. Picking it up with a grin, she untied the ribbon and unrolled the small parchment. In neat calligraphy she read:

Sam, Please meet me at the beach in Talos, just down from Spanky's Boardwalk.

“The beach?” She said aloud with a smile wide enough to make her cheeks ache. She absentmindedly placed the rest of her books in her locker, glad he had the foresight to do this at the end of the day. She’d have burst like the balloon she’d popped if she had to sit in class all day in wonderment. She reread the note again, giggling before grabbing her backpack and balloons, slamming the locker shut.

The tram was crowded and near by patrons were less than happy with the balloon bouquet, but Sam barely noticed, a curious grin plastered on her face as she made her way to the beach in Talos. One thing was for sure, Jason always managed to keep her on her toes, and she wouldn’t change it for anything.

[Blitzen]

Sam made her way down the boardwalk and onto the beach, looking for Jason with a big smile of anticipation on her face. That smile turned to confusion when she saw the balloon wafting back and forth in the breeze. On the balloons face she saw one word. "Sam". The balloon was anchored by a small weight, a box, and a letter.

Opening the box, she found a scarf. Pulling it out, she let the length of it trail down. Bringing it to her cheek, she felt the soft, warm fabric, and grinned. It had to be some sort of wool. Opening the letter, she saw Jason's familiar writing

You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you? The next part gets a little better. Riddle me this: A hot spot, or a haute spot? Gated, but not when you're around.

Find me there.

Love,
Jason

Sam re-read the clues and laughed. “The gates were like that when I got there.” She said to no one in particular. She put the scarf around her neck enjoying the feel of the soft material next to her skin, and held tight to the second “clue,” grinning from ear to ear at the treasure hunt. Once again, she thanked whatever lucky star led her to Jason.


“That’s gotta be the hot tubs in Faultline." She decided with a nod. Still leary of the school transport to the donut shop of horrors, she took a short cut through Pocket D, taking painstakingly great care to not destroy the gates at the entrance of the hot tub as she looked around.

Sam climbed the short flight of steps and saw to her amusement, a balloon tethered by a ribbon in the middle of the hot tub. About 1/2 way up the ribbon, and above the water was another note. Using the hook pole, she snagged the balloon.

Opening the note, she found another card:

Sam,

Happy Valentine's Day! Time for another clue: I gave a performance for you once that you thought was American Idol worthy. Have fun.

Love,
Jason

Sam groaned lightly, but smiled. “The American Idol incident.” She could feel her cheeks turn a little crimson. Luckily, Eric was the only other witness to that. “Under the yellow risers.” She said, placing the note with the others in her backpack. She couldn’t help but giggle again at the game as she boarded the tram and headed to Atlas.

Sam hustled down the ramp to the risers, and there, an anomaly against the plain risers were a red and a white balloon, both tied to a card, which was tethered to the risers.

She opened the card with a smile.

So far so good. Riddle me this: Notes and Music, where you got your own.

It gets a little tougher.

Love,
Jason

Sam scrunched her face up a bit, reading the card. “Notes and Music, where you got your…” A smile crossed her face. “Music room!” That’s where he’d asked her to meet him. He’d sang her two of his original songs, signing the sheet music to the latter. She kept it in the plastic box under her bed which kept most of her other prized possessions. “My Metro card is getting a great work out.” She giggled as she placed the note in her backpack and boarded the tram heading back to the school.

[Blitzen]

Sam tried not to have her sneakers squeak as she ran around the corner to the music room. Jason sat at the piano, the room's lights low, and a lit candleabra on top of the piano. He didn't look at her as she came into the room, but she could see, and sense the grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. She listened finally, and recognized the music as "Music of the Night" from Phantom.

“His voice filled my spirit with a strange, sweet sound. In that night there was music in my mind... And through music my soul began to soar! And I heard as I'd never heard before.” Sam recited as she sofltly walked up next to the piano and let her grin turn into a smile. She threw her arms around his neck as he sat on the bench, giving him a light hug and a kiss atop his head. His smile grew broader, but he didn’t miss a beat of the song he was playing. “You are something else.”

"Well that's good, I'd hate to be the same as something already there." He grinned. "I wanted to do something incredibly extravagant, like dinner in Paris, but thought that'd be just too cliche'd. So...." He pulled a black cloth cover off of something on the piano, and Sam saw it was a full dinner, "I figured, I'd just bring a dinner here, and I can be Ze entertainment, madmeoiselle." He said with a small laugh. He bounced off the stool, to the covered dishes uncovering them just long enough that Sam could get a hint of flavor and aroma from each.

"Tarte a la Flamme Alsacienne to start, then Bisque de Homard for soup, Salade de chevre chaud for ze salad, Filet de boeuf grille, sauce au poivre noir Gratin Dauphinois et haricots verts for the main dish, and finally Tarte au chocolat for desert, with Chantilly vanilla cream and praline sauce." He laughed, "Hope you're hungry. That's why I kinda ran you around, to make sure you'd build up at least a little bit of an appetite."

She giggled at his perfect but overemphasized accent, then tilted her head to the side, drinking in the moment. She had little clue as to what they were about to eat, but it smelled delicious, and by now, she trusted his tastes.

“Starving.” She replied, a bright smile still lighting up her face. “But, I did get you a little something, too, well, sort of, anyway. Feels sorta silly now, I mean, I didn’t set up anything elaborate like this.” She grinned. “But… I did get this paper cut while wrapping it.” She held up her index finger for him to see, causing Jason to laugh in response.

“A little tougher than you look, huh?” He kidded, planting a soft kiss on the fabric bandage she had wrapped over-dramatically around the first knuckle of her finger.

“Yeah.” She said, sheepishly. “Bring on the freaks and the council, but a tiny sheet of paper?” She over emphasized a sad face and pointed to her finger again before laughing. “But let’s eat first. I don’t want our Chevy salad wilting or anything.”

The aroma of the prepared foods didn’t do them justice. Throughout dinner Jason and Sam kidded around as she tried to repeat after him the names of the food in French, then guess what each one was from tasting it. Like Bisque de homard she tasted and knew was a fancier name for lobster bisque.

And true to his word, as she swirled praline sauce around a plate with a desert spoon, he sat back down at the piano, warming up with a series of ornate scales before settling in to a tune she recognized but couldn’t place, the lyrics being in French. The large piano resonated throughout the room. He stared into her eyes during the refrain and she felt the heat rise to her cheeks, not understanding the words, but getting the sentiment none-the-less, and softly smiled back at him. “Feel free to tip ze piano player.” He kidded after the last note died away. Sam stood up and crossed the room, planting a deep kiss on his lips as he jokingly played a one-note-at-a-time version of heart and soul, making her break the kiss by giggling.

“This was perfect.” She told him, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. “Absolutely perfect. If I could say it in French, believe me I would.”

“Parfait.” He smiled back, in a perfect accent. “And I’m glad you liked it.”

“Mine isn’t quite so impressive.” She said, almost apologetically, causing him to smile, kiss her on the forehead and remind her that it wasn’t a contest. She brightened and nodded, breaking the hug to retrieve her backpack, and hand him a wrapped shirt-box sized present.

[Blitzen]

Jason wore his trademarked impish grin as he shook the box, pretending to be deep in thought as to what could be inside. The contents easily slid back and forth with each motion.

“It’s too heavy for board shorts…” He decided with a nod and a grin. “Unless there’s a dozen pair in there.” She gasped.

“It’s highly breakable!” She laughed as his face turned reddish and his smile faded. “Okay, it’s not, but no fair guessing. Just open it!” Jason narrowed his eyes for a second in mock anger and began to unwrap the package. Inside, wrapped in red and white tissue paper he found a hard bound 8X8 book. In the center of the cover was a photo of the two of them hugging in the center of Times Square, the brightly lit bilboards shining on all sides of them. Below the photo was a series of stick on letters and numbers, spelling out “PHANTOM TRIP” and the date.

“It’s a scrap book I put together from New York.” She explained with a smile, sitting down next to him. The book was colorfully decorated, an interwoven display of photographs, various cut outs, and checkered cab prints. “See?” She said becoming more animated, her voice reflecting the excitement of the trip itself as she opened the book with him. “That’s you, I snapped it looking out my dorm room window. And here, this is Doug and the car when he came to pick us up. And this is the inside of the car when I first got in….” She went through the book with him, pointing at the photos and laughing at the memories. There were two pages dedicated to Valentina, with pictures of racks of clothing, Valentina herself complete with measuring tape, and a photo of Jason lounging in a cushy looking chair as he waited. There was a photo of her that Jason had snapped as she goofed around, giving him her best model-on-a-catwalk look after trying on near a dozen dresses. The center of the book was a two page photo montage of the city itself, the famous land marks shot from different angles, photos of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Rockerfeller Center, the Statue of Liberty, Broadway, and Times Square bearing the words “I love New York!” emphasized with a heart. There were two pages dedicated to Four Seasons, where they’d stopped for a pre-theatre meal. It included a business card, photos of the menu, the pool room where they’d enjoyed a great view, their waiter as he grinded pepper on her salad, and a photo of Jason looking bemused as he took a sip of water. Another page was comprised of photos of the skaters and the herald angles in the plaza. “This one…” She laughed, pointing at a blurred photo of half the giant tree and half an arm. “This one I snapped by mistake when I near fell on my my face on account of that stupid toe pick, but luckily,” she grinned, thinking back to how he’d been there to catch her. “A hero was nearby.” There were four pages dedicated to the Phantom itself. “That’s the ticket stub I saved, still says founders circle and everything!” The pages included marquee style cut outs and the opera style mask the phantom wore. There were photos taken outside the theatre, in the lobby and then backstage. “Oh!” She said pointing at another page and laughing. “This is when those girls recognized you outside of the theatre, and I pretended to be one of ‘em asking for your autograph, too. So this is what you look like to your fans.” The photo showed him leaning in one direction, flashing a smile and speaking with someone while his hands signed an autograph book for someone else. Right below it was a photo of paper he’d signed for her, reading “From a big fan of yours, Jason Berenzhin” She chuckled again. “I couldn’t give you the real deal.” She continued. “I got that one in my own scarp book.” The final pages showed a photo of New York at night, taken on the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge to show the entire skyline. And on the inside back cover, there were two photos she’d ask Doug to take when they’d gotten back in the car. There was a side-by-side photo when they wore their best smiles, and an impromptu one Doug had snapped of the two of them facing each other, both wearing a softer look. At the bottom she'd signed in scripted ink: “This was New York through my eyes. Thank you for sharing it with me, Samantha.”

Jason ran his fingers over the cover and pictures softly, a warm smile covering his face. He reached over and pulled Sam close and kissed her warmly. Breaking the kiss, he brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. "Sam, I couldn't think of a better gift in the world. I should show my Mom and Dad. They'll love it. Thank you."

He reached down and cleared a spot in his bag, placing the scrapbook in on top of, and next to his music.

“Awww, they’ve seen all that stuff a million times.” She said, with a smile. “Well, except for your arm and the tree thing, I mean, hopefully they know how to use figure skates, but I’m glad you liked it. And this…” She waved her hand for emphasis. “I loved it, every second. It was the most parfait Valentine’s Day ever. Merci for everything.”


END