"Happy Valentine's Day." Cale was leaning against my locker when I approached.

"Have you been waiting for me?"

"Maybe." He let out a laugh. "You have your game plan?"

"No," I quickly answered, knowing the response it'd bring.

"What?" He peeled himself from the locker as though his body were a magnet, and the effort took far more energy than it actually required.

"I'm going in planless," I confidently said. "That's my plan."

"Delly, I'd bet a million dollars that you had that outfit planned for at least two weeks, but telling your best friend that you like him is when you decide to go planless?"

"Do you like my outfit?" I smiled as I checked the tuck of my pink top with heart polka dots that I had, in fact, selected for Valentine's Day during winter break well over a month ago.

"I do, but not the point."

"I'm taking a page from your playbook; go with my gut, er, heart."

"Yeah, it's go-with-your-heart; if I went with my gut, I'd be like a thousand pounds."

"Aw, it's not your fault you're always hungry." I gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder.

"Thank you; no one understands the struggle." His brow furrowed to show how serious he was. "Anyway, before you go marching into your planless future." As he spoke, he reached into his pocket. "I made you something." He held up a colorful bracelet with a pink plastic roller-skate charm dangling from it.

"That's so cute. You made it for me?"

"Well, my little sister had a sleepover last weekend, and they were making bracelets. I saw the charm and couldn't resist."

"I love it." I smiled as I stretched it onto my wrist and shook it between us for effect. "It's so cute, and I got you something." I pulled out a fresh pack of highlighters. "You seem to be adopting my panache for organization, so..." I held them up.

"Woah, my very own highlighters." He let out a chuckle.

"You've learned well, Padawan."

"Highlighters and a Star Wars reference, Chris better lookout, or I might swoop in on him." He gave me a wink before pulling me in for a side hug.

"Speaking of your love life, is your secret crush going to be revealed today?"

He just gave me a look at the well-treaded conversation. I had been trying to get anything on the lady that had held Cale's attention for months, and he wasn't spilling. He had finally told her how he felt, but she wanted to keep it quiet. The mystery was driving me nuts.

"Fine, but this feels a little one-sided. Here you are, knowing everything about my pathetic love life, and I barely know anything about yours."

"I'm happy," he said with a teasing smile.

"Ugh, you're the worst at arguing," I grumbled.

"Because I win?"

"Happy Valentine's Day, Cale," I added, still with a tone of annoyance.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Delly," he said back to me in a sing-song tone.

By fifth period, there was a glaring hole in my planless plan; I hadn't seen Chris. I had seen him from afar once, but he was talking to Bella, and I didn't want to interrupt him. I figured I'd see him at lunch, but he was nowhere to be found.

Finally, after the last class' bell, I found him at his locker as relief washed over me that the key to my thin plan was back on track.

"Hey," I said, with a little more energy than I needed.

"Hey," he awkwardly replied.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" I pulled him in for a hug, but felt his body stay stiff in my arms. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, of course; happy Valentine's Day." He gave me a weak smile.

"I got you something." I pulled out a box of peanut butter blossoms.

"Oh wow, thanks. You didn't have to..." His voice trailed off.

"Hey, babe," Bella said as she slid into his side. "Oh, hey Dee," she added in a tone that I didn't care for, nor did I care for Chris being referred to as babe.

"Hey," and then, as though we were in an episode of The Twilight Zone, Chris gave Bella a soft kiss on her temple. "Dee made me cookies for Valentine's Day," he murmured as his eyes fell back to the cookies.

"Oh, how cute. You two are just the cutest friends ever." It should have been a compliment, but her scathing tone and overuse of cute made it clear that it wasn't anything close to praise.

"Yeah, well, I should get going," I awkwardly said.

"Delly." I had never been more grateful to hear Cale's voice or even be called Delly.

"Hey, I was just coming to look for you," I managed. One look at me, and he could see that I was barely holding it together.

"Sorry, I got caught up in Mr. Coal's class. You know how he can get talking." Cale tucked me into his side. "Hey, Chris. Hey, Bella," he added with a nod. "Happy Valentine's Day. Oh, hey, are those Delly's cookies? Mind if I..." he presumptuously grabbed one. "Thanks," he added as he chewed. "So good, right, Chris? I ate all mine by third period."

"Yeah, they're my favorite," Chris stammered in a mix of confusion at what was transpiring and annoyance at Cale's existence and proximity.

"So, we should get going," Cale added, looking down at me. "Big rom-com movie plans." He reassuringly squeezed my shoulders. "Catch you guys later."

He kept me tucked under his arm as we swiveled and headed for the door.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured as we crossed the parking lot. "I didn't hear until sixth period, and then I couldn't find you."

"They're together." It wasn't a question as much as a statement of disbelief.

"Yeah, I guess Bella's been after him for months, and then today, at lunch, he asked her."

"How did you find out?"

"Sophie Kim, she's his..."

"Capstone partner," I finished for him.

"If it helps, Sophie thought it was completely random. She said he's been talking about you non-stop and even complained about Bella after the dance."

"Mmhmm," I absently mumbled.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride home," he said as he opened the passenger side door to his truck.

We were halfway home when I realized where I was. "Wait, you should be with your mystery girl." My voice filled with panic at his misstep.

"Relax. She knows I'm with you."

"But you shouldn't be. It's Valentine's Day. You should be with your girl."

"Dee, it's cool. She's cool. She's a good friend, so she isn't worried about me being a good friend."

"You called me Dee." My voice came thin.

"I thought you hated Delly?"

"I did, but..."

He let out a laugh and squeezed my knee. "Delly it is. So, any chance you'd be cool with stopping for shakes? I could go for a chocolate shake."

"What have you eaten today?" It felt good to talk about something other than the thoughts of Chris that were screaming in my head.

"Oh, a day of eating by Cale, where to start..."

"I'd start with not talking about yourself in the third person."

"Got it. So, I started the day with pancakes. I love pancakes. My little sister's are so good."

"Aw, she made you pancakes for Valentine's Day. That's so sweet. I'd be lucky if Cami made me cereal."

He let out a laugh. "Yeah, but if you needed someone to plot with, Cami's your girl. That kid has schemes about scheming. So, then I had a few brownies."

"A few brownies?"

"Yeah, Sophie made me some brownies, and I had to have a few... I wouldn't want to be rude."

"Right." I nodded with a chuckle.

"Then I had pizza at lunch. Oh, and chocolate milk. The only thing better than chocolate milk is a chocolate shake."

"Then I had a phenomenal peanut butter blossom cookie. So good..."

"It's amazing you haven't made yourself sick." I shook my head at him.

He just shrugged. "Does that mean you don't want a shake?"

"Oh, no, I do, but I haven't had all the sweets today."

"It's a holiday; it's allowed."

"That's not how the human body works."

Cale wasn't deterred from getting a chocolate shake. We settled in to watch Dirty Dancing. Cale slung an arm around me as we watched.

"Hey, are you sure Sophie won't mind that you are spending Valentine's Day with me?" I quietly asked.

"Nah, she knew the whole planless plan and was just as shocked as I was to hear about Bella."

I smiled at myself that he had accidentally admitted who his mystery girl was and didn't even notice.

"Hey, Cale," I started, but he cut me off.

"Hold on; this is my favorite part." As he spoke, his eyes stayed glued to the screen where Baby was carrying the watermelon. Once Baby and Johnny had finished their dance, he turned back to me. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"I just wanted to say I'm happy for you and Sophie."

"What? Oh, crap." He sunk back into the couch.

"I won't tell anyone."

"How did you figure it out?"

"Why else would she make you a special batch of brownies for Valentine's Day? And I've noticed you smelling like baked goods on more than a few occasions. Oh, and the conflict with the dance..." I met Cale's eyes. "She plays in the local symphony, right? And they have a lot of holiday shows..."

"First chair violinist this year; she had a solo and everything."

"I wish you would've told me. I would've loved to go with you to see her play."

"She was great; I went like a dozen times. She's so incredible." His eyes went distant as he thought of her.

"Go, I'll be fine," I prodded.

"Are you sure? She'd never let me hear the end of it if she or I thought I ditched you when you needed me."

"To be honest, I'm pretty used to people not liking me. It feels more natural than people liking me." I shrugged.

"Aw, that doesn't make me feel better."

"Well, being here when you should be with Sophie doesn't make me feel better. Love should win for one of us," I added.

"Okay, but I'm calling you later." He let his face drop so his eyes were even with mine.

"Deal."

"Thanks, Delly. You're the best." He kissed me on the crown of my head before pulling himself up from the building. "And make sure you answer when I call, or else I'll show back up!"

"Got it, answer the phone. I should be able to handle that! Now go," I shooed.

With a slight hesitation, Cale left. Even if I hadn't gotten my happy ending, I was pretty satisfied to have figured out the mystery girl in Cale's life and couldn't be more excited about him and Sophie. While they weren't an obvious match, the more I thought of them together, the more they fit. It made up for my train wreck of a holiday.

I watched Dirty Dancing alone in the dark and let my mind drift to Chris. Cale was right; I clearly had a crush on Chris. It was clear since the warm, happy feeling that filled me at the thought of Cale and Sophie was quickly replaced with frustration and something close to nausea when I thought of Chris and Bella. What was worse than the feeling of Chris moving on from me without us even having a chance was the fact that my best friend had a girlfriend and didn't tell me. Why wasn't I the first one to know or, as Cale pointed out, second at least? Had Chris and I ricocheted so far apart that we didn't discuss significant milestones? I tried to convince myself that it had been a spur-of-the-moment thing. Even so, Sophie Kim knew before I did. Part of me wanted to curse this stupid capstone project, but I would also discredit my friendship with Cale if I did. It was a spiral I needed to stop, so I pulled out my binders and continued to work on my fundraising goals for the gazebo.