Luke's POV

Today is February 14. Valentine's Day.

I've never really liked Valentine's Day that much. Or at least, the whole idea of it. I don't see why we need one day for someone we love, it should just be everyday.

But this year, I'm actually looking forward to today. I planned out the whole day for Delilah and me. I just hope it all works out. It could go perfectly or it could be a disaster.

I want to make today special so Delilah knows how much she means to me. We haven't been on an actual, official date yet, so today is the day. To say that I'm nervous is an understatement. I'm also extremely excited to the point where I can't tell if the butterflies in my stomach are because of anxiety or happiness. I think it's a little of both.

I told Delilah yesterday to be ready at 12 o'clock. It's 11:30 right now and each minute seems to move by slower. I just want it to be time to go already.

"Is everything all set?" my dad asks me, noticing me pacing through the house and double checking everything.

I nod. "I think so. I hope so."

"I left some money on the table. Oh, and make sure you're not out all night," he says, grabbing his car keys.

"Okay, we won't," I assure him.

My dad is leaving for three days for work. He's going on a business trip somewhere. I don't really know what my dad's actual job is, I think it involves accounting or something. All I know is that during baseball season, he's usually coaching little league. I'm surprised my dad actually trusts me to stay by myself for the next three days.

Delilah calls me a few minutes after my dad leaves. "I'm ready, is now good?" she asks.

"Yeah."

"Okay. Am I driving?"

"No, we can walk. Where we're going isn't far."

"Okay. Where-"

I hang up before she can ask any questions and make my way to her house. She's been questioning me every day for the past week trying to find out what I planned for today. I want it to be a surprise though.

It was very hard to plan something with such a low budget. I didn't want to make my dad spend a lot. I feel bad having him pay for everything. I promised him I'd get a job so I can start paying for my own things.

I knock on Delilah's front door, and she opens it after a few seconds.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" we say in unison.

We both laugh.

"So, where are we going?" Delilah asks, reaching for my hand and intertwining her fingers with mine.

"It's a surprise," I tell her for the hundredth time, quickly kissing her.

She rolls her eyes and smiles. We start walking downtown, with Delilah asking constant questions. Each time we turn down a street, she asks another question.

"Is it fancy? I'm not dressed fancy," she says.

I laugh. "No, it's not fancy. I can't afford fancy."

"It's not a movie, right?"

I shake my head.

Delilah and I wait for the light to change so we can walk across the street. I hug my arms around her waist and lean my head on her shoulder.

"Tell me where we're going. You know I don't like surprises," she tells me, turning around so she's facing me.

"Too bad. I like surprising you. The light changed," I say, pointing across the street.

She doesn't move for a second and just smiles at me. She quickly turns around and reaches back for my hand before walking across the street.

"Which way?" she asks.

"Right."

She continues to follow my directions for the next few minutes.

"Luke, it's cold. You said it wouldn't take long," Delilah says. Her nose has turned slightly pink from the cold wind, but she looks cute.

"Then it's a good thing we're here," I say, pointing to the restaurant in front of us.

"Here?" she asks.

I nod. "Am I not pointing to here?"

"Just making sure," she says laughing.

We walk inside, and there's a lot of people waiting. Delilah looks at me hesitantly.

I smile and walk up to the host.

"Reservation for Luke Hemmings," I say, smiling at Delilah.

"You made a reservation?" Delilah asks quietly while the host grabs some menus.

"Of course! I was thinking ahead," I tell her.

The host shows us to our table. It's in the far corner of the restaurant, away from most of the people. I like being in this area because it's more personal.

The waiter comes over and asks what we'd like for drinks.

"Root beer and a Coke, please," I answer.

"How'd you know I want root beer?" Delilah asks once the waiter leaves.

"I know you," I tell her, reaching across the table to hold her hand. "So, wanna know what we're doing now?"

Delilah nods.

"After lunch, we're going to go across the street to that bakery and get some stuff to bake. Then, we'll go back to my house and bake. And I'll give you your present."

"This isn't my present?"

I shrug. "It's part of it."

"I thought you said you weren't spending a lot."

"I'm not. Promise."

"Your present is at my house by the way. I'm giving it to you later," Delilah tells me.

"Okay. Guess what?" I ask.

"What?" she says, tilting her head to the side and smiling.

I shrug. "I'm really happy for today."

"You seem really happy."

I'm about to say something else, but something catches my eye outside. "Oh my God, look out the window," I tell Delilah, pointing outside.

"What am I looking at?" she asks, not seeing what I'm talking about.

"Look at that horse drawn carriage thing. I'm taking you on that afterwards."

"Luke, that's so awkward!"

"No, it's not. It looks like fun! It's very Valentine's Day worthy."

Delilah laughs. "If you say so."

I think it would be cool to go in the carriage. Then we may not have to walk home, too. It seems romantic, I guess.

Our food comes out after a few minutes. I've never been to this restaurant, but I heard it was good. The food is really good and Delilah seems to be enjoying it too.

A few months ago, I never would have thought that I'd be enjoying Valentine's Day with a girl that I really like. I would never have imagined that I'd be sitting across from Delilah, in Maine, talking and in a relationship. It's like one of those things that is almost too good to be true. Like maybe this is all a dream, and I'm going to wake up in a few hours and all of this will be gone. But this is real, and it's not a dream. My life changed from a nightmare to a dream right before my eyes.

I smile as Delilah tells me a story about something that happened at school the other day. I like listening to her tell me things. I could listen to anything and everything she has to say without getting bored. That's what a true relationship should feel like.

After lunch, Delilah and I walk across the street to the small bakery. I thought it would be fun to bake something together. Delilah smiles widely when we walk in and starts pointing at all the cupcakes.

"Look at this one," she says, pointing to a cupcake with an Oreo on top. "That looks so good!"

After a few minutes in the bakery, we decided on getting some cupcake mix of our own to make cupcakes. We bought confetti cake mix and vanilla frosting. Delilah also insisted on buying two of the Oreo cupcakes, just incase ours don't turn out well.

As we're walking out the bakery, Delilah notices Ashton down the street with a girl. It's a different girl than the one I met a few months ago at the school's dance.

"Hey, Ashton!" Delilah calls. Ashton turns around and walks towards us waving.

"Hey, guys!" Ashton says. "Amber, this is Luke. Luke, this is Amber."

I figure Delilah and Amber already know each other.

"Hi! Nice to meet you," Amber says, smiling widely. She is much nicer than the other girl I had met.

"Nice to meet you, too. So what are you guys doing?" I ask.

"We're going to that pizza place right there. You wanna come?" Ashton asks.

"We already ate," Delilah says.

"Oh, we did too! There's 24/7 karaoke and some Valentine's Day stuff going on so we thought it'd be fun," Ashton says.

Delilah looks up at me. "Wanna go?"

I shrug. "Sure, if you want to."

"Okay. I guess we'll go for a little. We still have all day."

We all follow Ashton inside and sit at a table close to the back. Amber and Ashton seem somewhat awkward around each other. I'm guessing this is one of the first times they've been out together.

"Are they dating?" I whisper to Delilah.

Delilah shakes her head. "Not yet."

I nod. "Oh, okay."

For Valentine's Day, aside from the karaoke, there's a chocolate bar, some raffles, and a couples quiz to see how much you know each other. Most of the people here are around our age.

"Ashton, go do some karaoke," I tell him.

He shrugs. "I'll go up if you go up," he tells me.

"Deal," I lie.

Ashton persuades Amber to go sing karaoke with him. He grabs Amber's hand and pulls her up front, causing her cheeks to turn red. She seems shy, which is the complete opposite of Ashton.

They pick a song called Earned It, which I recognize from the radio.

"This is such an awkward song for them to sing," I tell Delilah.

Delilah laughs. "She's just going to giggle the whole time, watch."

Delilah's right. Ashton is singing all alone the whole time. Amber giggles and laughs while her cheeks get more red every second. Ashton keeps nudging her with his shoulder, making her laugh even more. Ashton also tries to sing well and add some weird dance moves. It's not working out for him.

"Are you really going to go up after them?" Delilah asks.

"No, are you kidding me? I just wanted to see Ashton do this. I thought it'd be funny and I was right."

They come back and sit with us when they're done.

"You kinda suck," Delilah tells Ashton, laughing.

"Hey! It's not in my range!" Ashton says, laughing too. "I'd like to see you do better."

"No, that's okay," Delilah says.

"Now it's your turn, Luke," Ashton says.

I shake my head quickly. "Karaoke isn't my thing."

"We made a deal!"

"Well, I'm taking it back."

"C'mon. I'll pay you."

"No," I tell him laughing.

"We just embarrassed ourselves, so you can too," Ashton says.

Amber nods in agreement.

I roll my eyes.

"You wanna? I'll go with you," Delilah says.

I shake my head. There is no way I'm doing karaoke.

"A deal is a deal," Ashton says matter-of-factly.

I roll my eyes. "Fine. Let's go, Delilah," I say, nervously standing up and grabbing Delilah's hand.

"Seriously?" she asks, following behind me.

I smile. "Why not embarrass myself in front of a bunch of people I don't know." I really don't want to do this, but I know if I don't, Ashton will bug me for the rest of the day about it. I might as well get it over with.

Delilah laughs.

I quietly tell the DJ what song I want so Delilah doesn't hear me.

The music starts playing and Delilah smiles widely.

"You didn't," she whispers.

"I did."

The lyrics pop up on the screen in front of us. I have to sing when it's blue and Delilah when it's red. Of course I'm the one to start.

I quickly clear my throat and feel my cheeks heat up. I but people can hear my heart pounding through the microphone. I quietly follow along with the song. "Hey, there Delilah, what's it like in New York City? I'm a thousand miles away, but girl, tonight you look so pretty. Yes, you do. Times Square can't shine as bright as you, I swear it's true..."

I hear Ashton start laughing and look over at him. He gives a thumbs up.

I nervously look over at Delilah, who is smiling widely. The chorus comes up and the lyrics change to purple, which means we sing together.

Delilah sings quieter than me. In the car, she always sings loudly to the radio to annoy me. But now, she's actually trying to sing, and it's cute. Her voice is quiet and gentle. It's nice.

Before I know it, the song is over and I notice that people are actually paying attention to us, unlike when other people were singing. My cheeks turn red again as we walk back to our seats.

"That was so cute!" Amber says when we sit down.

Delilah laughs. "Thanks. I should've known you'd pick that song."

"I saw the chance to use it, so I did," I tell her, leaning my head on her shoulder. "But I never want to do it again. That was so awkward with people looking at us."

"But you're a good singer!" Delilah and Ashton say in unison.

I laugh. "No, I'm not!"

Amber nods. "You kind of are, actually."

I shake my head. "You guys are just saying that."

"I swear I'm not. I always tell you that you can sing," Delilah says, turning to look at me.

Some girl comes over to our table that looks about our age. "You guys are a really cute couple. The way you looked at each other up there was, like, really cute," she says.

"Thanks!" Delilah says, smiling. She squeezes my hand.

"Yeah, I just wanted to tell you guys. It's nice how in love you are. Happy Valentine's Day!" she says, walking away.

I find it weird that she thinks we're in love without even knowing us. Is love that obvious to people? I don't even know if we're in love. We haven't said it yet, but I think I feel it, maybe. If love feels like being surrounded by happiness and racing hearts and knowing the ins and outs of someone, then I think I'm in love.

After we head to the chocolate bar and decide to skip the couples quiz, we head back to my house. Ashton and Amber decide to stay downtown. The horse drawn carriage is nowhere to mean, sadly, so we have to walk home. That's okay with me though, because it means more time with Delilah.

"Do you think what that girl said was strange?" I ask Delilah as we walk home.

"What girl? The one who came up to us after karaoke?"

I nod.

Delilah shrugs. "Haven't you ever looked at a couple and seen how in love they are? She could just tell, I guess."

"But I never thought I'd be in a relationship like that. Where you could tell we're in love."

Delilah stops walking and looks up at me. "You think we're in love?" she asks, smiling.

"I mean, I don't know if I know what love is. I thought I did but then I met you and everything feels kinda different than my past relationships. But maybe," I say nervously.

"A good different?" she asks quietly.

I nod. "A really good different."

We continue walking the rest of the way in a comfortable silence, just swinging our hands together as we walk. Delilah stops at her house to get my present before we go to my house. When we get back to my house, it's almost 6:00. We were out for a really long time.

Delilah and I sit on my bed and she places a gift bag in my lap. I reach inside and pull out a picture of us. She decorated the frame, too.

"We actually look cute in this photo," I tell her, laughing.

"There's more!" she says.

I reach inside again and pull out a bunch of envelopes tied together.

"What's this?" I ask her.

"You're supposed to open them when you need them. One of them is for when you're sad and one is for when you miss Australia. Stuff like that."

I smile widely and hug her tightly. "This is so awesome."

I grab Delilah's gift from my desk. It's nothing big, it's just some Valentine's Day Skittles and a teddy bear. Her actual gift was everything we already did today.

"Wanna go bake the cupcakes?" Delilah asks when we're done opening presents.

I shake my head. "Not yet." I move closer to her and kiss her gently.

"Okay," she says quietly, putting her arms around my neck. "I like this better."

I pull her closer while we kiss. I can feel my heart beat start quickening each second. I open my eyes for a brief second and smile.

"What?" Delilah says, pulling away a little.

"Nothing. Just happy."

She laughs lightly and leans back in.

"Wanna just stay here?" I ask her.

"Yeah," she whispers, laying down and pulling me beside her. She runs her hands through my hair while we continue to kiss.

I think I'm in love.

HA YOU WERE PROBABLY EXPECTING SMUT SORRY DON'T BE MAD AT ME THAT'S SO UNCOMFY FOR ME TO WRITE

I hope you find this as cute as I do

TWEET ME WHAT YOU THINK @singsongash

also if you wanna make a trailer for this or rtf, go right ahead.

and if you know people who read rtf, make sure they know about taking chances. some people don't seem to know?

love you!

-Ashley