(First posted here.)

Nirvana and I had just finished telling a freshman that we once smuggled some geese from the lagoon and into the BA library and was going to ask the neophytes to retrieve one come second sem. The truth is even stranger. We routinely smuggled geese from the lagoon as some sick competition about who can do it without anybody pinning the prank on either of us. We’d give the goose thirty minutes of freedom in the second floor of the library, sack it back into whatever the goose first came in, and released it back into the wild. I’m not sure what this accomplished.

The girl was no longer in the room but Nirvana and I were still looking at each other, waiting for the dam to burst.

“What?” Nirvana said finally, smiling that exact smile that sent us kissing over a teacher’s table the first time we met each other.

“The girl has no idea what she’s in for, has she?”

“If she talks to the right people, maybe,” Nirvana said.

We laughed.

Something occurred to me watching the rainbows and glittery ribbons radiating from that winning smile.

“We should give everyone flowers on Valentine’s Day,” I said. I’m not sure what inspired it. I was in a good place then, and I felt everyone deserved some joy, however fleeting. Mr. Sanchez was leaving, the guy at the photocopier had liver cancer, there was sadness all around. I could not bear it.

Nirvana nodded. “We totally should. But then that’s easy. I don’t do easy.”

A challenge. My mind recognized this and immediately geared up. She’s right. Flowers are cliché. You really want to make someone’s day? Tell them why they’re fabulous. “Let’s write them love letters.”

“That’s more like it.”

“Let’s write them sincere, non-malicious, love letters–”

“–So they’re not exactly being fucked over–”

“–And yet it’s not exactly serious.”

“This’ll take some heavy-duty verbal skills, bud.”

“Then we better get started.” I grabbed her arm and led her outside the tambayan. We checked our funds, computed the cost, texted Keebs for support, and got ready with a list of people we’d want to make deliriously cheerful on Valentine’s Day. It was kind of fun.

On our way to the Shopping Center I thought about holding her hand. I thought about bringing her some place special on Valentine’s. But her mind was already on the project.

“There’s this girl, Marie. She has disarming eyes.”

I nodded and took notes.