1.
Nini has always loved Valentine’s day. The chocolates, the flowers, the specialized love letters; everything about it was so exciting and romantic to her. As a kid Ricky was always Nini’s valentine and that obviously continued into the years of them dating. Even though they’ve been broken up and Nini is well over that (and a lesbian) she can’t help but resent the fact that Ricky has someone special this year and she’s all alone. Now don’t get her wrong, she adores Ricky and Gina and thinks they’re absolutely perfect for each other, but now, standing in the halls of ehs and watching Ricky give Gina a box of chocolates, she can’t help the nauseous feeling running through her body. As Nini turns to start her walk towards class she thinks she might pass out from seeing the girl she really wants to be spending the day with giving flowers to the girl she considered a close friend. Nini swears she's happy for them and she is, they both look happy when they’re together and that's all Nini could ever want for Maddox. And Ashlyn of course (but mainly Maddox). Just as Nini feels tears start to form she gets snapped out of her thoughts by someone tapping on her shoulder.
“Hey Neens, you good?” Nini turns back to see Ricky and Gina hand in hand.
“Hey- yeah… yeah i'm good. Why do you ask?” Nini tries to come off as normal as possible like she wasn't about to have a breakdown five seconds ago.
“Oh you know, no reason except for the fact that you’ve been staring at Maddox and Ashlyn for way too long.” Both Ricky and Gina are now staring at Nini with a smirk and knowing look on their faces. As they stare at her waiting for her to come up with some excuse as to why she was staring at the happy couple for an inappropriate amount of time, she can’t help but regret telling Ricky and Gina about her crush.
She had never planned to tell anybody about her crush on Maddox, she was just gonna bury it deep inside of her and ignore it until it eventually went away. Except the thing is it never did go away and now it feels like it's eating her alive. She had only meant to tell Ricky about her crush, after finding out that Maddox and Ashlyn became an official couple she rushed over to Ricky's house with tears streaming down her face and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. As soon as Ricky opened the door she just ripped the bandaid off, confessing to Ricky about her crush on Maddox. Ricky just looked at her wide eyed and in shock and Nini was so focused on saying what she needed to say she didn’t even register that Gina was sitting on the couch behind Ricky, now also holding a similar expression to Ricky’s. And that was how Nini ended up telling the couple about her and Maddox's long history, all the way from when they first met as kids at Camp Shallow Lake and every summer after that up until the summer she ruined it all.
Gina notices the uneasy look on Nini’s face again and tries to comfort her the best she can, “Look Nini, i know it all sucks right now, trust me i’ve been in your shoes before, but you’ll be ok I promise.”
Nini giggles reading in between the lines of what Gina really meant there and takes a deep breath before replying, “Thanks Gina, but I don’t think i’ll get as lucky as you two,” Nini spares Ashlyn and Maddox a quick glance as she sees them walk past the three of them, “ I think I fucked up too much to be deserving of a second chance.”
“I mean, I once thought the same thing about myself,” Ricky adds in, “but look at me now.” Nini looks back at Ricky to see him with the biggest smile on his face while looking at Gina with heart eyes.
Nini rolls her eyes and laughs at the two of them. “I hate you both so much,” the three of them all share a laugh, “but yeah I guess you're right Ricky.”
“Well we love you too,” Gina says just as the bell for class rings.
“You guys are the best. Have a happy Valentine's Day you two.” Nini hugs the two of them and they all walk off their separate ways.
As Nini walks to class she really thinks about what Ricky said to her. Maybe she and Maddox could have a second chance one day, of course not anytime soon, but Nini hopes that one day maybe she can get the chance to make things right. However, until that day comes, Nini now despises Valentine’s day.
2.
“Love, are you almost ready to go?'' Maddox says as she peaks her head into the bathroom to see Nini doing her makeup.
Nini giggles as that was the fifth time Maddie has asked the same question in the past two minutes. “Yes angel, I just gotta get my jacket.” Nini places a quick kiss on Maddie's lips as she walks past her out the bathroom and towards her closet to find a light jacket.
Nini and Maddox have now been dating for 4 months and both girls couldn’t be more excited to spend their first Valentine’s Day together. After graduating from east high Nini was finally ready to start professionally pursuing her music career out in LA. Even though Maddox loved Salt Lake City she can’t deny that she felt a little homesick, so she decided for school she was gonna go back to California. Maddox is now at USC studying journalism and minoring in photography. The two girls agreed to keep in touch once they both got to LA since it’s always nice to have a friendly face around.
Maddox and Ashlyn decided to do long distance since Ashlyn got into NYU and she eventually wants to be on Broadway one day. They gave long distance a try for the first couple of weeks, but it ended up taking a bit of a toll on Maddox. Being so far away from Ashlyn while phone calls became few and far between, Maddox thought it would be for the best if they just broke up so that they could both focus on school.
Nini was there a lot for Maddox after the break up and they ended up getting really close again. They were even able to finally talk about what happened between them at Nini's last year summer of camp. Nini laid it all on the table for Maddox telling her about how she was scared to come out and even though she reciprocated Maddie’s feelings she was terrified to actually do something about them which led her to dating the “safe” option. She even told Maddie about the night she found out that her and Ashlyn were an official couple during senior year of high school and ended up a crying mess while telling Ricky and Gina all about their history (she was too scared to leave anything out and she wanted to be completely transparent with Maddie). After that, a couple weeks later, Nini and Maddox went on a real date and they’ve been together ever since.
Now the two are headed out to dinner to their favorite restaurant in LA to celebrate their very first valentine's day together. The day started off with Maddox waking Nini up to breakfast in bed and a beautiful bouquet of apple blossom flowers. Nini gave Maddox a card she wrote that made her cry (happy tears of course) and also gave maddie a bouquet of cherry blossoms. Nini, however, has one more gift up her sleeve that she planned to give Maddox at dinner.
They spent the duration of their dinner enjoying the food and talking about anything and everything under the sun. conversation just came so easily to them, they could talk for hours and still have more to say to the other. In the middle of a heated debate over apple and orange juice the waiter comes to set down their dessert and the two girls reply with a thank you before he turns to walk over to his other tables.
“Can I just say,” Maddox begins, “I'm so glad that we got a second chance to do this right,” she says while gesturing between the two of them with her hand.
Nini gently grabs ahold of her hand and intertwines their fingers while resting both their hands on top of the top, “thank you for giving me a second chance to prove myself. I know I may not have deserved it but-” she starts but quickly gets cut off by maddox.
“Nini.” Maddox gives Nini a stern but loving look. “Of course you deserved a second chance and you never need to prove yourself to me Nini. I see you for who you are; I know you have a good heart. It’s one of my favorite things about you.” Maddox sees tears fill Nini’s eyes knowing those words meant a lot to her, “But hey, no tears. Happy night remember." Maddox quickly adds on with a smile, happy to see that it made Nini laugh and her tears go away.
“You're right, happy night.” Nini says while kissing the back of maddie's hand. “Oh and before I forget, I have one more gift for you.” Nini lets go of Maddie's hand to reach into her purse and pull out a small black square box.
“Nini-,” Maddox starts.
“Before you say anything, yes I know we said we wouldn’t go overboard with the spending on gifts, but once I got the idea for this I just had to get it for you.” Nini sees that maddie looks skeptical about it, “Will you please just open it?” She finishes sliding the box across the table to her girlfriend.
“Fine.” Maddie gently picks up the box and takes the lid off of it to find a charm bracelet with 4 charms dangling from it. She looks back up to Nini with a questioning face.
“So the ‘M’ and the ‘N’ are obviously our initials and then the flashlight is for all the nights at camp as kids when we use to stay up way too late hiding under the covers on your bed talking all the way up until sunrise and even though it got us in trouble multiple times you said that you just had to have the flashlight on cause you liked being able to see my face while I talked,” Nini recalls with a small smile on her face and a look of fondness in her eyes, “and then uh,” Nini takes a deep breath before continuing, “the paintbrush is for that one summer at camp when i was helping you paint the sets and we started goofing off and getting paint all over each other and we both ended up so close to each other…” Nini trails off lost in the memory.
“That was the time I almost kissed you.” Maddox finishes Nini’s sentence, remembering that summer all too well. “Then Val interrupted us cause she needed help fixing a set that broke during rehearsal.”
“Yeah.” Nini nods along with a distant look in her eye before refocusing back on Maddox to finish explaining the meaning of the charm. “That was the summer I realized I liked you more than a friend.” Nini sees tears forming in Maddie’s eyes and unsure if they’re happy or sad tears Nini quickly adds on, “And girls in general, but mainly you,” Nini trails off with an airy laugh as she focuses on the bracelet in Maddie's hand instead.
Maddie looks at Nini with wide eyes, shocked that she remembers these moments. Moments that Maddox once had to convince herself that Nini didn’t look back on or remember even, cause at the time it hurt too much to think that nini could remember those times and then go and date somebody else. Moments that Maddox spent countless hours thinking back on wondering how she could have possibly misread the signs this wrong. Moments that meant everything to her that she thought meant nothing to Nini. Only to find out that Nini did remember those moments, Nini did feel the same way Maddie felt in those moments, those moments meant just as much to Nini as they did to her.
“I love you.” Maddie says quickly, realizing that she hadn’t said anything in over a minute since Nini finished her explanation.
Nini looks up at Maddox not expecting to hear the words she just said. “Wha-,” before Nini can finish, Maddox cuts her off.
“I know we haven't been dating very long, but if i’m being completely honest i’m pretty sure i’ve been in love with you since we were kids. It’s just… those memories you were talking about, those are some of the memories I used to replay in my brain during the school year when we were apart. When everything sucked at school I would say to myself ‘a few more months and then you can see Nini’ and then when summer came around you were always just as excited to see me as I was you. I never had that before, I never had someone excited to see me. But you always were, every single time. But then that summer happened and I thought that everything that happened between us was one sided and that it all meant nothing to you. So now hearing you re-tell those memories, hearing you say that those memories did in fact mean something to you it just… I don't know what I'm trying to say, but the point is that I love you. I love you, I have always loved you, and I will probably love you for the rest of my life.” At that last part both Maddie and Nini share a laugh and nini reaches over to wipe maddies fallen tears.
Nini, with tears of her own streaming down her face, but has a look of the utmost of love in her eyes says, “God I love you so much Maddox. I’m so sorry that I ever hurt you, I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
“You don't have anything to make up for, I forgave you a while ago. You should forgive yourself too, my love.” Maddox holds both of Nini’s hands as she says this and gives Nini a look telling her that she's being serious.
Nini nods knowing that her girlfriend is right. “I know, I know. I'll try.”
“Good. Now let's eat this dessert. I have a girlfriend I need to go cuddle and cheesy rom coms to watch.” Maddox smiles as she picks up the spoon digging into the dessert.
“Hey! you said you liked watching cheesy rom coms.” Nini feigns disappointment as she picks up the other spoon on the plate.
“Of course I said that. I’m madly in love with you, I would do anything you wanted.”
Nini jokingly rolls her eyes as a blush crawls up her face. Maddox gives her an expectant look waiting to hear what nini’s comeback to that is gonna be. “Just shut up and eat your dessert,” Nini says lovingly and Maddox gives her a smug look. Nini takes a second to look at the girl across from her and just marvels at how far the two of them have come since they first met.
Maddox looks up to see Nini staring at her and just as they make eye contact again Nini says once more, “I love you.”
“I love you.” Maddox repeats back to her.
Nini doesn’t think she’ll ever get tired of hearing maddie say that, this girl is definitely gonna be the death of her.
3.
“MADDIE WHERE’D YOU GO!” Nini yells out into the apartment.
“I’m sorry, I'm sorry.” Maddie says running up to her girlfriend, handing Nini more tape to hang up the banner. “Jet called. He needed to tell me all about his plan for his and Kourt’s date tonight.”
“Aw that’s sweet.” Nini says finally finishing hanging up the banner and begins getting down from the step stool she was on. “Soooo, what does he have planned for her tonight.”
“I don’t know, he never actually told me.” The two girlfriends share a laugh at that and Maddie continues, “He started to, but then just somehow ended up going on a tangent about how pretty Kourtney looks in the outfit she picked out for tonight. I don’t know, I stopped listening halfway through.”
At that Nini lightly slaps Maddox on the arm and gives her a fake look of shock. “Maddie be nice, he’s your brother.”
Maddie scoffs dramatically, “Please, it’s not like he listens to a word I say when I start going on tangents about you. Matter of fact, I know he doesn’t listen to me so one time I told him that he was gonna have to repeat back to me everything I said after I was done.”
“Geez Maddie, that's brutal. I’ve overheard you talking about me on a phone call before and that call lasted two hours.” The two share a laugh as Maddox nods her head. “Well how’d it go? Did he repeat back everything you said?”
“Yup, and then I yelled at him for saying ‘Nini is the most perfect girl to ever exist’ when he has a girlfriend.” Maddox had slowly walked closer to Nini and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's waist, Nini resting her arms around her shoulders. “Then I told him I was gonna tell Kourtney and he hung up on me.” Maddie finishes recalling the story with a laugh.
“Oh you’re so evil.” Nini smiles as she tries to hold back a laugh.
“Yeah, but you love me,” Maddie says teasingly as she stands on her tippy toes to be able to put her forehead against Nini’s.
Nini lightly smiles as a blush creeps up her face. “Yeah I do. I love you.” Nini leans in and places a gentle kiss on her lips and before she can pull away Maddox quickly moves her head back in for another kiss. Nini moves her hands from Maddie’s shoulders to her neck to steady herself and Maddie’s grip on Nini’s waist gets tighter pulling their bodies closer together. Nini starts to pull away so she can speak, but Maddie begins slowly kissing her jaw before making her way back to Nini’s lips, momentarily distracting Nini from her thoughts.
“Maddie.” Nini’s voice comes out weak and airy. She puts her hands back on Maddie’s shoulders and gently pushes her away so she can speak and lets out a giggle at her girlfriend's whining. “Angel look, I finished the decorations.”
Maddie backs up from Nini to look around their apartment.
Around a month ago the couple decided to finally get an apartment and move in together. Maddie was now in her senior year of university and just last month (around the same time they decided to move in together) Nini released her debut album. The two girls had only just moved into the apartment last week, but Nini insisted on putting up decorations for Valentine’s Day (let’s be real, Maddie didn’t fight her on it). The apartment was a cute little one bedroom right outside of LA and not too far from Maddie’s school. Nini had decorated the entire living room area in pink and red. Hanging from wall to wall was a banner with pink and red alternating hearts. On each end of the couch were heart shaped balloons and Nini even went as far as to buy Valentine’s Day themed decorative throw pillows for the couch. On the coffee table were two vases of different flowers that the couple exchanged with each other earlier in the morning. Maddox had gotten Nini a pretty bouquet of tulips and Nini gave Maddie a bouquet of carnations. They both shared a laugh when exchanging flowers and noticed that both bouquets had little balloons with the cheesy phrases that you would typically see on candy. Maddie, being Maddie of course, picked the balloon that said ‘Kiss me’ and Nini had picked the balloon saying ‘Be mine’. The balloons sparked an interesting conversation between the couple with Nini claiming that she doesn’t have to kiss Maddie just because a balloon told her too and Maddie claiming that if she doesn’t then it’s bad luck and that the balloon works the same way mistletoe does. Nini did end up kissing Maddie, but more so because she looked so cute trying to plead her case and definitely not because a balloon told her to.
“I can’t believe you did all this just for Valentine’s Day,” Maddie says looking back at Nini after observing all of her girlfriends hard work.
“Well since we’re staying in this year I figured we’d at least have some fun decorations. Plus look at these cute pillows.” Maddie looks over to their couch and she admits the flower and heart shaped pillows are very cute.
With the couple just moving into the apartment and spending way too much money on furnishing the place they decided to stay in this year and not spend any money on the other (flowers aside).
“Are you sure you don’t want to go out?” Maddie says to Nini worried that she may be disappointed with not doing something more fun. “Because we can totally go do something more fun if you want.”
“Maddie,” Nini gently takes Maddie’s face into her hands, “any time I get to spend with you is a fun time. We could literally be doing the most boring activity in the world like watching paint dry and I'd still have fun just because I was doing it with you.”
“Ok, I believe you.” Maddie places her hand on top of Nini’s, which was still holding her face, and slightly turns her head to kiss the palm of her other hand. “I love you. So much”
“I love you.”
Maddox leans in this time kissing Nini hard as if she was the air that she needed to breathe. Truth is: Nini was that to Maddie. Nini was exactly who Maddie needed in life. Someone that would tell her how loved she was every day and mean it. Someone that would always stick around even when things got hard and prove to her that she was never too much to handle.
Nini kisses back with just as much fire behind it giving Maddie what she knew she needed. Nini never knew that she could be loved like this. Loved in a way where she felt free, but also secure. It was never hard with Maddox, being loved by her felt so right for Nini. It felt like she could finally breathe for once and it felt so damn good.
Maddox pulls back with a smile on her face and takes a second to just take in her beautiful and perfect girlfriend. “Ok let’s start baking so we can spend the rest of the day watching movies and stuffing our faces.” Maddie was bouncing on her feet in excitement as she dragged Nini to the kitchen with her.
Almost two hours later (they got distracted a lot) they’re finally done baking and decorating the cookies. They decided to make heart shaped sugar cookies and decorated them with pink frosting and sprinkles. Their kitchen is an absolute mess, but that’s a problem for later.
“So movie time?” Maddie asks as she finishes putting the cookies on a plate.
“Yeah. You can choose the movie and I’ll make us popcorn.” The two girls share a kiss and Maddox takes the plate of cookies into the living room leaving Nini alone in the kitchen.
Nini watches her girlfriend walk away and as soon as she’s out of sight Nini quickly gets out the popcorn tossing it into the microwave before sneaking off to their bedroom to get Maddie’s gift. Nini has sort of made a tradition out of getting Maddie a new charm for the bracelet she got her for Valentine’s Day three years ago. She didn’t originally plan on making it a tradition, but around the time of their second Valentine’s Day together Nini was walking through LA when she passed by a quaint little jewelry store and decided to take a peak in. When walking through the store she found a little section filled with what must’ve been hundreds upon hundreds of charms. She starts looking through all of them just to see what was there when her gaze landed upon a guitar charm. Nini picked it up to get a better look at it and realized that it would be the perfect charm to add to her girlfriend's bracelet (just a couple months ago Nini released her debut single, of course about Maddie, and for the track Nini had Maddox play the guitar). Thus beginning the tradition of Nini getting Maddie a charm each year to add to her bracelet. Last year Nini got a little rainbow charm to commemorate their first pride parade from the summer before.
Nini walks out of the bedroom putting the little box in her pocket and sneaks back into the kitchen. She grabs the popcorn out of the microwave quickly putting it into a bowl and heading out to the living room where she finds her adorable girlfriend on the couch wrapped up in one of the blankets and one of the heart shaped pillows in her lap.
“Oh finally, ok i’m stuck between two movies so help me choose,” Maddie says as she sees Nini walk into the room. Nini takes a seat on the couch right next to Maddie (personal space doesn’t exist with them) and places the popcorn bowl on the table, “your options are Lemonade Mouth and High Musical 3. Choose wisely.”
“Specifically HSM 3 only?” Nini gives Maddies a questioning look.
“Duh, it’s objectively the best out of all of them.”
Maddox gives Nini a very serious face and while Nini agrees, she loves seeing Maddie talk about the things she loves. The way her brows scrunch and her eyes light up. The wild gesturing with her hands that tells Nini whatever she’s talking about is something she’s very passionate about.
“I mean come on; ‘Can I Have This Dance’, ‘Right Here Right Now’, ‘I Just Wanna Be With You’.” As Maddie said “I Just Wanna Be With You” she sat up a little straighter in excitement and placed her hands on Nini’s thighs so that she could be up close to her face and look her in the eyes. “Never mind, I already decided. We’re watching HSM 3.” Maddie picks back up the remote that was sitting in her lap and scrolls through Disney + to find the movie.
Nini laughs at her girlfriend, not saying a word about the movie choice (she was gonna pick that one anyways). The movie starts playing and Maddox moves to sit back against the couch. Nini brings the popcorn bowl to her lap, moves her legs to lay across Maddie’s lap, and lays her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. Maddie lays one arm across Nini’s legs pulling them in closer on her lap and rests her head on top of Nini’s.
The movie plays and the two girls snack on the cookies and popcorn. Maddie, every few minutes, places a kiss on her girlfriend's forehead. Eventually the movie gets to the part where Troy tells Gabriella to meet him on the roof. Maddie lifts her head from Nini’s and looks at her knowing what song is about to come next. Maddie moves the hand that was placed on her head and brings it under Nini’s chin. Using her thumb and pointer finger, Maddie gently grabs Nini’s chin moving her head so that her girlfriend was looking at her. Maddie kisses her very softly then pulls away a little to look Nini in the eyes.
“Let’s dance my love.” Maddox begins to stand while moving Nini’s legs off her lap. Once she’s standing she holds her hand out towards her girlfriend who looks slightly confused.
Nini absolutely dazed from the way Maddox just held her chin and kissed her looks at the outstretched hand in confusion. “What?” Nini’s voice comes out very soft and quiet and if Maddox hadn’t been watching her every move she might’ve missed it.
Maddox giggles seeing how flustered one simple kiss made Nini (but Maddox has no room to talk, she’s just as bad). Reaching down to grab Nini’s hands to pull her to stand up Maddox asks again, “Can I have this dance my love?”
The song from the movie starts playing just as Nini nods her head and Maddox pulls her over into the open space of the living room. Maddox wraps her arms around Nini’s waist and Nini rests her hands on either side of Maddie’s neck, her fingers intertwining on the nape of her neck. The couple starts to sway in rhythm to the music, a small smile on their faces. Maddie pulls herself closer to Nini resting her head on her girlfriend's chest and her arms wrapping fully around her waist. Nini’s arms move to go around Maddie’s shoulders as she rests her head on top of Maddie’s. Nini starts quietly whispering the lyrics of the song, the couple now completely lost in their own world. The song comes to an end, but the two girls don’t even realize and continue to sway in the other's arms. Nini turns her head slightly, placing a kiss on top of Maddox’s head.
Suddenly remembering the gift Nini still has yet to give her, Nini brings her hands to the sides of Maddie’s face gently pulling her head from her chest. “I have something for you angel.”
Maddie tilts her head to the side giving her girlfriend a questioning look.
Nini reaches into her pockets pulling out the little white box. “It wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day if I didn’t give you another charm to add to your bracelet.” Nini holds the box up for Maddox to see.
Maddox’s smile widens, not even bothering to be upset that Nini once again didn’t listen to the ‘no gifts’ rule. Maddox knew how special these charms were to Nini, she knew cause they meant just as much to her as it did Nini. Maddox takes the box in her hands quickly taking off the lid too excited to see what Nini has found for this year. She opens the box to see a small and dainty key charm.
“Cheesy answer: you hold the key to my heart,” Nini begins making her and Maddie giggle, “real answer: the key is to commemorate us finally moving in together,” Nini finishes with a soft smile and look on her face.
“I love it.” Maddox kisses Nini as thank you for the gift. “Help me add it on?”
“Of course, come on.” Nini takes Maddox’s hand leading her to the kitchen to grab the pair of jewelry pliers.
Nini drops her hand once they reach the kitchen so she can search through the drawers and so that Maddie can take off the bracelet. Maddie leaves the bracelet on the counter and Nini comes back over, taking the charm and opening the chain it's on so she can put it on the bracelet. Once Nini finishes clasping the chain around the bracelet she holds the open ends of the bracelet in her hands and looks to Maddox.
“May I?” Nini asks with a cheeky smile.
“Yes you may.” Maddox answers, holding up her wrist for Nini to put the bracelet on.
Nini clasps the ends of the bracelet together and looks back up to see Maddox looking at it.
“It’s perfect.” Maddie looks back up to her girlfriend with the most sincere look on her face.
“It ran out of room,” Nini says sadly, “we won’t be able to fit any more charms on it.”
Maddox looks back at the bracelet and realizes that she’s right. “Well-” as Maddie looks back up she can tell how sad Nini is about this. Maddox takes Nini’s face into her hands and finishes her sentence, “it’s ok love. I mean if you think about it, it’s kind of fitting that the bracelet is filled up by senior year. The bracelet started in freshman year and now it’s ending in senior year, it’s like the ending of a chapter you know?” Maddox see’s that Nini is still pretty upset about it so she tries again, “But just like any other book there's still many more chapters to come, our story only just started. It’s like, and I can’t believe I'm about to say this, it’s the start of something new.”
Nini lets out a full belly laugh at that and wipes away the tears that had started to fall. “Yeah you’re right. Start of something new.”
Maddox steps closer to Nini and leans in to kiss her, her hands going to Nini’s shoulders and slowly moving up to the back of her head where Maddie’s hands tangle in her hair. Maddox holds her head in place so Nini doesn’t move.
“Maddie… we’re missing… the movie,” Nini says in between kisses, but most of it comes out mumbled.
“Who cares about the movie.” Maddox breaks away for a second so she can respond to Nini before going back to kissing her. Maddie moves from her lips and begins trailing kisses along Nini’s jaw.
“I thought it was your favorite?” Nini asked.
Maddox pulls away completely so she can look Nini in the eyes when she says, “No, you’re my favorite.”
At that Nini goes back in to kiss her perfect girlfriend, the movie long forgotten.
4.
“Mads,” Nini says, dragging out the ‘s’ and pouts while letting out a sob as tears slowly roll down her face.
“I know, I’m so sorry my love, but there’s nothing I can do. There's supposed to be a ton of snow all up in the Northeast. All flights going there are canceled.” Maddox lets out a sigh wishing more than anything that she could just be able to hold her girlfriend in her arms, wipe her tears, and kiss away all her sadness.
Nini is currently in New York and is set to perform a special Valentine’s Day show that’s also being broadcasted on national television. Since Maddox is new to her job she couldn’t take the whole week off to go with her girlfriend, so she planned to get an early flight the morning of Valentine’s Day. However, after the flight being delayed 3 times the airline just canceled the flight and all other flights heading to New York.
“No no, it’s not your fault. I’m not upset with you, just the situation.” Nini lets out a sigh wishing that her girlfriend would just magically appear in front of her.
“Well, at least I’ll still get to see you perform tonight.” Nini sits up a little straighter at hearing Maddie say that and immediately her frown is gone and replaced with a wide grin. “How are you feeling about being on national television superstar?”
Nini blushes and looks away for a moment before returning her gaze back to her phone trying to bite back a smile so as to not look too excited. “I’m really excited Maddie,” Nini says with a soft look, letting her smile take over her face. “There’s gonna be so many people watching, this could be huge for my career angel.”
“I’m so proud of you love. You deserve this so much.” Maddie tries not to tear up thinking about how far Nini has come and that she’s achieving all her dreams. It’s moments like these where she’s taken back to the time where it was just the two of them cuddled up in her bunk at camp. They’d hide under her covers, face to face, and Nini told her all about her dreams of how she wanted to be a star when she got older. Maddox was the first person that Nini could tell that too and not receive a look as if she was crazy. Maddox had always been Nini’s biggest fan since they were kids, she’d always known that the other girl would be a star. Maddie feels so lucky that she gets to watch Nini achieve all her dreams right before her eyes.
“I love you so much sweetheart.” Nini hears her name get called and looks away from her beautiful girlfriend for a moment. She has a quick conversation with the person before saying to Maddie, “And as much as I would love to keep talking to you and looking at your beautiful face, I have to go to soundcheck now. Then after that I have to get ready for the show and then do the actual show,” the two girls share a laugh, “so if you text me and I don’t answer, that’s why.”
“Ok superstar, have fun!”
Nini jokingly rolls her eyes at the nickname Maddox has been calling her for years, ever since camp, “I will gadgett,” Now it’s the other girl's turn to roll her eyes, “I love you and happy Valentine’s Day angel.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day my love, I love you.”
The two girls hang up from the call, both of them letting out a sigh of sadness at not being able to physically see the other. Nini just hopes that her plan will make up for the distance.
About 2 hours later…
Maddox makes herself comfortable on the couch, turns on the TV, and turns to the channel that's broadcasting her girlfriend's performance. She’s all snuggled up in the Valentine's themed blanket Nini bought last year and wearing one of Nini’s hoodies for comfort. Maddox spent the first hour crying her eyes out about being away from her girlfriend and then decided to cheer herself up by baking cookies, which only led to more crying since Maddox had got used to a cheery brunette sitting on the countertop and talking her ear off. Maddie took the past 10 minutes to collect herself and get ready to enjoy watching her girlfriend sing her heart out.
When Maddox finally gets to the channel the camera is currently panning over the crowd that’s chanting Nini’s name as she is set to get on stage any minute now. Maddox feels tears in her eyes again, but this time for a different reason. This crowd must have thousands of people in it and Maddie can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride for her girlfriend. The lights over the audience start to dim and the spotlights on the stage turn on as the intro to Nini’s first song begins. Maddie smiles recognizing the song instantly and her smile gets even bigger as her girlfriend runs out onto the stage. She honestly can't be shocked that Nini was asked to do this show. Her entire discography consists of love songs that are, of course, all about Maddie. So to say the least, Nini headlining a Valentine’s Day show is very fitting. Maddie tunes out the music as she watches her girlfriend shine on the stage and she can’t help but think how good she looks in her outfit, it’s probably her favorite tour outfit yet.
Nini is wearing a cute little black tank top that has a big white heart on the front and outlined in red plaid frills, her skirt in a similar red plaid design. She has fishnet stockings on as well and fishnet gloves. Nini’s hair is down and in their natural waves. Maddox thinks she looks gorgeous, Nini is always stunning in Maddie’s eyes, but there’s just always something about Nini being on stage and looking so happy and carefree that makes her look even more beautiful than she already is. Maddox has been so focused on Nini’s outfit that she didn’t realize she already missed the first two songs. Maddie tunes back in to Nini talking to the crowd and tries to fight back tears over how cute her girlfriend is (doesn’t matter that they’ve been together for years Maddox still can’t believe she got so lucky).
Nini takes a deep breath before she begins speaking to the crowd, “Hey guys! How are we feeling?” The crowd yells back in excitement and Nini’s face lights up as she looks around at all the people. This was Nini’s biggest show so far and she was feeling very excited, but also nervous. “Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!” As soon as Nini says this she sees some of the couples that are there hold on to their significant other a little tighter. The singer can’t help but feel jealous that so many people are here with the ones they love most, meanwhile her person is all the way across the country. “I feel so honored that you guys chose to spend this day with me. I hope I can make a good one for you all!” The intro to Nini’s next song starts playing and Nini tries to get through the rest of the set without thinking about her girlfriend which has proven to be very difficult seeing as every song she sings is about Maddie (maybe Nini should've listened to her when she told her to write a song about something else for a change).
Finally, it’s time for the last song. This is the song, even though it's a cover, Nini is most excited for and she saved it for last for a reason.
“So, sadly this next song is gonna be my last song,” the crowd yells out a series of whines and complaints before Nini continues, “Usually, a cover would be in the middle of the set, but I begged and pleaded with my team to let me do this last.” Nini and the crowd let out a laugh, “So, as some of you know I have a wonderful girlfriend and she was supposed to be here tonight, but because of the snow her flight got canceled.” The crowd boo’s and Nini lets out a giggle as she joins in for a moment.
Maddox perks up at hearing her girlfriend mention her and wonders what she's about to do.
“And we're both sad about not being able to spend today together, so on the count of the 3 can you all say ‘happy Valentine’s Day Maddox’ as loud as you can?” The crowd yells back in agreement and Nini starts the countdown and the crowd repeats what the singer said.
Maddox feels tears fill her eyes for the umpteenth time tonight and the lets the tears fall this time, no longer having the strength to hold them back.
“One of the songs that we love most is Lover by Taylor Swift,” the crowd lets out a loud cheer, “we dance to it in our apartment all the time and I thought I’d do a special cover dedicated to her. So here it is.” The band starts playing the intro to the song and Nini begins the song on her cue.
Maddox is full on sobbing at this point and all she can think about is how she can’t wait to call her girlfriend after the show is over and tell her how much she loves her. There is nothing better than getting to hear the love of her life sing one of her all time favorite love songs. Except just as Maddie finishes wiping her tears she looks back to the screen and her jaw drops.
Nini lets out a sigh of relief when she starts the bridge and sees the screens around the venue filled with pictures and videos of her and Maddie. Nini had been meticulously planning this with her team and the venue ever since she found out she was doing this show, she wanted to make this the best Valentine’s Day yet. Of course this was originally planned with the mindset that Maddie would physically be there to see this, but Nini just hopes that it feels just as special for Maddie to see at home. She looks back to the crowd and see’s everyone looking at the screens in adoration and Nini feels so proud to be able to show her girlfriend off to the world. Nini sings the last lyrics and after takes a deep breath just taking in the crowd applauding her for a moment. She says her goodnight and goodbye with a wave before running off stage where she’s met with her team praising her show well done. She manages to escape the circle that formed around her after throwing out a few thank you’s and races back to her dressing room. As soon as she gets back in there she pulls out her phone and immediately calls her girlfriend.
Maddie picks up as soon as she hears the first ring and Nini is met with a tear stained face. “Happy tears?” Nini asks, giving the other girl a soft look.
“Very happy tears Neens,” Maddie giggles and wipes her tears, “Nini that was beautiful, I loved it so much.”
“I’m glad you still liked it, I was worried it wouldn’t have had the same effect with you not being in the room.”
“Nini it was perfect, you are perfect love.” Maddie says putting emphasis on the ‘you’ while giving Nini heart eyes.
Nini blushes and giggles, no matter how many years pass, that's just the effect her girlfriend will always have on her.
“Also,” Maddox continues, “I love that little genderswap you did on the lyrics ‘I take this magnetic force of a man’ line.”
“Well duh I had to be accurate.” The couple shares a laugh and they stay on the phone for the rest of night until eventually (to no one's surprise) Nini falls asleep.
Maddox whispers a soft ‘I love you’ before hanging up the phone and going to sleep herself. The two girls dream that night about being able to see the other again very soon.
5.
“Ok so how should we do teams?” Nini looks around to the other three as they all ponder the question for a moment.
“Should we do couple vs couple or bffs vs bffs?” Gina asks to which she receives a scoff from Ricky.
“Uh, what about Maddox and I versus you two?” Ricky gestures between Gina and Nini as he says the last bit as if his idea wasn’t the obvious option.
“I’m with Ricky on this one,” Maddox looks at Nini who is giving her the look, “What?” Maddox continues to look at Nini confused.
“The last time you and Ricky were on the same team it ended with a flipped Monopoly board and a broken flower vase.” Gina nods in agreement with Nini as Ricky and Maddie shy away from the look their girlfriends are giving them.
“Ricky broke the flower vase.” Maddox points to him accusingly.
“You flipped the Monopoly board.” Ricky looks at Maddox annoyed.
“One is clearly worse than the other Richard.” Maddox now equally as annoyed.
“ENOUGH!” Gina says already annoyed with the two of them. “You two can be on the same team, it's fine.”
“Well now I don’t want to be on the same team as her.” Ricky crosses his arms and turns away from Maddox and at the same time Maddox lets out a scoff.
“Too bad,” Nini quickly says before Maddie can respond, hoping to avoid an argument between the two. “Gina and I already decided we wanted to be on the same team anyways.”
Maddox looks between the two girls confused, “When did you decide that?”
“Just now.” Gina responds for Nini, “While you two were arguing.”
“But you guys didn’t speak once.” Maddox says, turning to look at Ricky who has the same look of confusion on his face.
Nini just shrugs and Gina turns to go put on the laser tag gear, the three eventually following her lead. The couples had the genius idea to have a double date this year for Valentine’s Day. Gina and Nini were now regretting that idea, seeing as they forgot that their significant others act like children when they’re together. Nini and Gina walk to one end of the space after putting on their gear while Ricky and Maddox walk to the opposite end, the two still bickering with each other.
Gina looks back to the two of them and rolls her eyes before looking back to Nini. “Why do we put up with the two of them?”
Nini laughs, the two girls come to a stop and turn to face each other. “Because, unfortunately for us, we love them.”
“Yeah you’re right-,” the two girls turn to look back at their partners who are now in what appears to be a cat fight, Gina turns back to Nini, “It is unfortunate for us.” The two share a laugh before getting in their spots as the countdown begins.
45 minutes later…
“Oh my god that was awful.” Nini bends over slightly and puts her hands on her knees while taking a deep breath. Gina stretches her arms up and intertwines her fingers while placing them on top of her head, her breathing pattern similar to Nini’s.
“Please, you're just mad you lost.” Ricky laughs at the two girls and he and Maddox share a high five.
“Lost?!” Nini looks at Ricky annoyed, “I feel like I just ran a marathon Bowen.”
“Oh don’t be so dramatic SalRobs.” Ricky rolls his eyes at the now angry brunette.
“I’m gonna ki-”
“OK!” Maddox interrupts her girlfriend as she stands between the two. “How about water?”
“Yes please,” Gina turns to go grab one of the waters sitting out and Ricky follows behind her leaving the other couple alone.
Maddie puts her hands on Nini’s shoulders and Nini immediately feels more relaxed at the feeling.
“Are you ok love?” Maddie gives her such a genuine look that all of Nini’s anger, for Ricky, melts away.
“Yeah, I just hate Ricky.” Nini stands back up straight and takes one last deep breath.
Maddox giggles at her, “Well we still have to go eat so do you think you can spare one more hour of being around him.”
“I mean I guess.” Nini sighs dramatically.
“That's my girl.” Maddox places a quick kiss on Nini’s lips before the two girls turn to join the other couple.
Ten minutes later the 4 friends are sliding into a booth at a quaint little diner that Ricky and Gina picked out.
Nini looks around taking in the ambiance of the place, “This place is so cute. Have you guys been here before?”
Gina nods, “We found it when we were just walking around one day and now it’s our favorite place.” Gina leans her head on her boyfriend's shoulder and Ricky places a kiss on her forehead.
“Ugh, you guys are still just as disgusting as you were in high school.”
“Please you act like you two are any better Neens,” Ricky says using his hand to gesture between the two girls in front of him.
“Yeah, but we're lesbians so we can do whatever we want,” Maddox stares down Ricky as she says that and Nini nods her head in agreement.
The three girls are now all staring at Ricky waiting for his response. “Fine you win,” Ricky says defeated.
Gina laughs at her boyfriend and stares at Maddox for a moment before saying, “I’m gonna go wash my hands really quickly. Maddox come with?” Maddox nods and stands up, the two girls heading in the direction of the restrooms.
“That was weird right?” Ricky asks Nini, confused.
“Who cares,” Nini says waving them off, “When are you proposing to Gina?” Nini leans over the table slightly waiting to hear Ricky's answer.
“I don't know. I only bought the ring, I hadn’t planned anything else yet.” Ricky responds nervously, the topic of proposing to Gina terrifying him.
“She’s not gonna say no.” Ricky makes eye contact with Nini as she says that. “She's embarrassingly in love with you. I actually don’t think she knows how to say no to you.” Nini gives Ricky a comforting smile hoping to ease his nerves.
“I’m just waiting for the right time and it’s definitely not today.” Ricky is now the one that leans in on the table giving Nini a look. “But enough about me, when are you proposing? Or is Maddox gonna do it?”
Nini laughs at Ricky’s ridiculousness, “Well I mean whoever gets to it first, gets to it first. I don’t mind proposing though.”
“You have a plan,” Nini shakes her head in disagreement, “Yes you do. I know that look Neens, you have a plan.”
Nini looks towards where the bathrooms are just to make sure Maddox isn’t near. “Ok yes I have a plan. We booked a trip for next year to Paris and well…” Nini trails off already knowing that Ricky knows what comes next.
“Oh my god that’s perfect. What if she proposes to you before then?” Ricky asks.
“Well then screw my plan, obviously I'm gonna say yes to her.” The two share a laugh just as their girlfriends get back to the table.
“What are you two laughing about?” Maddox slides into the booth sitting right next to Nini so that their thighs are touching (personal space still doesn’t exist to them!).
Nini’s hand reaches over into her girlfriend's lap, intertwining their fingers and letting their connected hands rest in Maddies lap. “Just about how Ricky's an idiot.”
Once Gina sat back down Ricky put his arm around her shoulders, the curly haired girl leaning into his arm. “Hey! I didn’t even do anything.”
“You’ve always done something.” The three girls share a laugh as Ricky rolls his eyes at Nini.
This was definitely an interesting Valentine’s Day for both couples, but also one they’ll all remember for years to come.
+1
“OH MY GOD, angel look!” Nini points right to the Eiffel Tower.
“I know love, it’s even prettier in real life,” Maddie says, taking in all of her surroundings.
The two girls just got off their very long flight to Paris and decided that since it was almost midnight they wanted to go see the flashing lights on the tower. So as soon as they landed they went to the hotel to drop their bags off and change then made their way to the tower.
Nini looks back to her girlfriend and takes a moment to take her in while she’s distracted. She feels the ring box burning a hole in her pocket now. Nini was not planning to propose 20 minutes into their trip, but the moment feels too perfect. It feels right.
“Maddie, angel,” Maddox turns to look at Nini and grabs ahold of the hand she wasn’t already holding. “I wasn’t planning to do this so early into our trip, but you just look so beautiful and just something about this moment feels perfect so,” Nini lets go of one of Maddie’s hands to reach into the pocket with the box and pulls it out the box opening it. Nini doesn’t need to get down on one knee, there’s too many people around and neither of them would appreciate the attention, this moment is just for them. Nini opens the box before beginning again and hears Maddie let out a gasp, “My sweet angel, we’ve known each for what feels like lifetimes and I know it hasn’t always been easy for us at first, but everyday I thank my lucky stars that you gave me a second chance. You’ve been it for me since we were kids and it took me a while to realize that, but I know it now. So Maddox Linh, will you marry me?”
Maddox is now full on crying and can only manage to let out a strained, “Neens,” before she’s letting go of the hand Nini was still holding and reaching into her pocket pulling out a similar looking box to Nini’s and opens it to show her girlfriend. Nini lets out a gasp at the ring before looking back to Maddie. “I was gonna propose, but it looks like you beat me to it.” The two girls laugh at the craziness of it all.
“Well you still can.” Nini shrugs, giving the shorter girl a hopeful smile.
Maddie nods, trying to collect her thoughts before she starts talking. “Nini, my love, ever since I saw you at camp, that first day, all those years ago I knew you would be someone special to me. You were the first person that I could genuinely call my friend. Nobody knew me the way you did. After that last summer, when you didn’t show up, I never thought I would see you again. Who knew that all your friends would show up instead,” the two girls laugh and Maddie tries to wipe some of Nini’s tears, “Because of them I was able to find my way back to you again and everyday that I get to wake up next to you I feel so lucky. I’m so lucky that I get to be loved by someone that just understands me, that’s all I've ever wanted, and sometimes it doesn’t feel real just because you're so perfect. But it is real and you love me and you show me that every single day. You have never made me question your love for me and I just want to spend the rest of my life loving you the same way you love me. Will you, Nina Salazar-Roberts, do me the biggest honor and marry me?”
Nini nods her head and lets out a quiet, “Yes,” and Maddie takes the ring out of the box and slips it on her finger.
Nini goes to take the ring out of her box, but remembers that Maddox hasn’t given her an answer yet. “You didn’t answer.” Maddie gives Nini a confused look, “Ya know that question I asked before…”
The realization dawns on Maddox and she laughs at her girlfriend and her silliness. “Yes, yes Nini I will marry you.”
“Ok good.” Nini puts the ring on Maddie's finger and just as they kiss for the first time as fiance’s the clock strikes midnight and the lights on the Eiffel Tower flash.
Maddox and Nini have spent many Valentine’s Days together and this one has only just started but it’s definitely the best one yet.