RomCom Cliché

Chapter Twenty-Two

Valentine's Day arrived quickly, when things were still a little fragile, a little tentative, and Rebecca had booked Il Palazzo for dinner, debating the reasons why they should have dinner at her favourite - and coincidentally, most expensive - restaurant in National City and she should foot the bill. 

Freen agreed, somewhat reluctantly, and only because Rebecca said she hadn't had the opportunity to frequent it since she'd been taken off the market. 

Her go-to date spot, with its Michelin Stars and vintage wines, was not entirely favourable to Freen, who was too proud to let Rebecca fork out hundreds for a steak - butterflied, medium-rare.

Pleased that she'd won that fight though, with the vague, nagging thought that Freen had relented as a small way to make amends for everything that had happened over the last two months, Rebecca indulged herself in her first Valentine's Day in an actual relationship. 

Sure, her friends had cheered her up with Valentine's Day bottomless brunches and flowers and movie nights watching Titanic and other romances, which Rebecca was always grateful for, but she felt a slow-burning satisfaction in the careful planning of their weekend.

"How many flowers is too many?" Rebecca asked Irin as they Facetimed one night.

"A dozen roses is fine. It's classic, it's the standard."

"I'm above the standard. I can't be doing the same as everyone else, can I? That's not a very grand gesture."

"Babe, less than a month ago you thought you were single. Don't you think you should... ease back into it? Not to spoil your fun--"

Nam snorted beside Rebecca, leaning across to put her face into frame, "didn't she buy you a hundred roses when you hit a hundred days together?"

"Do you see how we're not together anymore?"

"Because of the roses?"

"Because sometimes two people want different things. Maybe she doesn't like Valentine's Day."

"Who doesn't like Valentine's Day?" Rebecca scoffed, frowning as she airily gestured.

"I don't know, maybe someone who literally had their first meaningful relationship at thirty-one?"

"You're always the voice of reason," Rebecca said with a light laugh, glancing at her screen and giving her friend a wry smile. "Don't you like her anymore?"

Rolling her eyes, Irin took a sip of her white wine and glanced at the TV as the flickering light played over her face. 

"Of course I do. I told you when I met her, and... unfortunate circumstances didn't change that. It's kind of a dick move to judge someone for lying about something like that. I just worry that there's only so much a relationship can take--"

"And a thousand red roses to fill her apartment is the straw to break the camel's back?"

"Well... it's a little excessive, is all."

Rebecca pursed her lips and reached for her wine, a faint flush creeping up her neck as she cleared her throat.

Nam let out a resigned sigh. "You already ordered them, didn't you?"

"Well, I wasn't going to wait until the day of, was I? I'd be hard-pressed to find even a dozen decent roses by then."

Taking a sip, she kept her eyes trained on the TV, the muffled volume of the true crime documentary they were watching together showing a gory scene that made Rebecca wince.