The green of the trees blurred as we raced down the roads, the winds chill nipping at my fingers. Kate's grip on my stomach was light, her fingers interlocked above my bellybutton. I could feel the rise in her chest as I speed up, her grip slowly tightens against me. The road became smaller and rough as we turned into the forest, the thick green surrounded us growing to the size of towering spires of leaves and branches. The road slithered through the trees and branching into different directions with the only light coming from the Nighthawk. As the forest grew denser the faint sound of music could be heard in the distance, then scarlet lights pierced from the tree lining as the road grew slowly. Rows of cars appeared parked in the trees, some with people still in them doing God knows what, outside a large open area with trees surrounding it and a clear view of the sky.

I parked the bike as close to the entrance as possible so if I had to leave it would be simple. The clear area where the party was had been completely renovated, there was a DJ booth in the far end of the field with giant speakers that blasted music and flood lights with a red filter to create a romantic setting. In the left side of the field was a row of games booths and a prize shack close to the entrance. There were couples laughing as they throw skee balls and winning prizes for each other. In the far right was a white tent with the mouthwatering smell of cooked goods emerged from it, there was a whole buffet of food placed out with drinks on the side. The food looked especially good since I hadn't eaten yet and I've been trying to hold in the temptation to eat the garlic bread that for some reason Kate was still carrying at her side. Right next to the food tent was a larger tent where I guessed was where you would eat. People were already sitting at tables with their dates or friends eating and chatting.

One of the closer tables sat Juan and Pepper with a giant teddy bear in front of her, Juan was wearing a green tux that matched his glasses with a black bowtie and his moppy hair was still messy like he hadn't even tried to do it. Pepper was wearing a purple dress that glistened in the red floodlights, her arrow necklace glinted in the lights and her brown hair was tied in a bun, but one loose strand of hair curled in front her right ear. They were having a heated conversation about something and Juan seemed to be losing, but they looked like a couple that had been together for years. I took Kate's hand and we strode towards their table through the crowd of people, and once we got to where they were locked in an intense stare off.

"Hey guys, I wanted you to meet Kaitlyn," I said interrupting their death glares. Juan was the first to look away, but he looked shocked rather than pleased to see Kate. Pepper, on the other hand, was ecstatic to meet her.

"Thank God, a tiebreaker. I can never trust Oliver as one because he always sides with Juan, but finally a neutral." Pepper squealed.

"Is this how they always are?" Kate asked as Juan and Pepper began to bicker again.

"Sometimes, other times they somehow get along, very confusing," I whispered back to her.

"Okay, so basically this walking sack of potatoes believes that killing animals for food is good," Pepper said.

"When you say it like that it sounds bad. Really, she's saying we should all be vegans"

"No, not vegans, vegetarians. Why kill animals for your own personal gain when you can have freshly grown goods."

"Okay, so I'm guessing you are a vegetarian then." Kate interrupted them.

"Yes."

"That's good, killing of animals isn't always amazing. Especially how they are treated before the slaughter and all the drugs they are given to give more meat..."

"Ha." Pepper scoffed at Juan.

"But," Kate continued. "meat does contain the necessary vitamins need for growth and other things that us humans do need..."

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Juan scoffed back with a cheesy grin on his face.

"But, I think either way we are still human. Vegetarian, meat eater, even vegan." Kate finished and grabbed her garlic bread from the box and took a bite out of eating.

"Oliver, I don't know where you found this girl but she's smart. Don't mess up." Pepper said offering Kate a chair next to her. "I think we will be good friends."

An hour passed, and Kate and Pepper were still getting to know each other. Stephy had finally made it to the party about fifteen minutes earlier wearing a knee-length black dress with sleeves and no male could peel their eyes off her. She didn't come with a date, but she hung out with Casey, who was wearing a long emerald green dress, and her boyfriend, who have been together since the beginning of time, and Megan. The storm, that was now overhead, had turned from random flickers of pink lightening to an ocean of strawberries. The clouds were the colour of candy floss with white streaks flashing in the night. It brought out the whole Valentine's mood out, although taffy-like clouds aren't normal no one seemed to care, they were all enjoying so much that they didn't even notice. Megan sat by herself on a table while Casey danced with her boyfriend and Stephy got drinks, but she was being bombarded by guys asking her to dance. Meg was wearing a short sapphire blue dress with blue converse, her curly red hair was more controlled as it flowed carefully down her head and behind her ear, light sparkling off her eyes like a chandelier. I was compelled to go to talk to her and before I could process it I was already walking towards her. She saw me coming and immediately frowned, then I sat down her table next to her.

"Hey, Megan. You look nice in that dress." I said trying to break the thick ice between us.

"Don't you have a date to compliment." She said bitterly.

"Okay I'm sorry, but what did I do to you to make you hate me so much," I asked as it was finally beginning to bother me.

"Are you trying to act innocent. Cute."

"I really don't know what you are talking about."

"Do you remember when we dated, the first eight months were great. You were great boyfriend, you once got me a bouquet of flowers and waited at my locker until I got out of class, you left class early and waited for me outside my class to congratulate me on a test, but one day you just went distant and started to hang out Pepper more. At first, I wasn't bothered because I was happy with being with you then it got worse and worse, you started talking to her more than you did to me, walking her home, taking her to the movie when we were supposed to be on a dating. It didn't take long for me to figure out how you felt about her."

"I've never had feelings for her."

"You can lie to other people and maybe yourself, but not me." she looked at me with her oak wood eyes. "That's not why I'm angry though. I'm angry because you just disappeared and just assumed we were broken up, you didn't even say the words. You avoided me like I was old news. It hurt. Now, four months later you start talking to me like it was nothing happened. We never even officially said we were over."

"I... I didn't know."

"Yeah, love usually blinds you."

"Megan, I'm sorry. I really am. It wasn't like that."

"Just... leave me alone." Her voice was shaking as she said that, I felt terrible and I wanted to keep her company, but I think I am the last person she wants to comfort her. I left her at her table as I walked away feeling like crap. As I walked back to the table Juan was talking to Kaitlyn on a separate table and they seemed to be having a serious conversation about something, Pepper, on the other hand, sat on the table by herself with her phone in hand. An uncomfortable feeling washed over me as I got closer, trying to warn me of something but I wasn't sure what. Pepper didn't notice me until I sat down next to her.

"Seems our dates have run away." She said as she put her phone on the table. Her brown eyes flashed red as the light hit them, they fixed upon mine with a glow of joy in them.

"Shame for them, all the fun's here," I smirked turning my head towards them, they were still talking bodies close together like they knew each other but they didn't have a single speck of joy on their faces. "What do you think they are talking about?"

"Something serious like politics or something." She suggested.

"Why talk about something so boring to someone you just meet?"

"I don't know it's Juan, he ranted about why the camels are the key to human extinction once."

I looked back at them, one more time and all I could see was Juan waving his hands around, a common thing for him to do, and Kate just stone-faced. She shifted her glance and widened her eyes like Please save me, but it was short lived as Juan started snapping his fingers at her to get her attention and continued. "Yeah, you're probably right. He does do crazy things like this." I said as I turned back to Pep. "I'm going to get a drink; do you want anything."

"Ginger ale please," she said as I walked towards the snacks tent. The tent was packed there, people had made three separate lines that seemed to snake to the DJ's booth. The line for food was the longest one, then the dessert and the shortest out of them was the drinks line but it was still a while wait. By the time I was at the front of the line Juan and Kate were back on the table with Pep.

"EGHHHEM!" a voice bellowed from in front of me. It sounded like gears grinding against rusted metal and when I looked at where the noise had come from, I was lost for words. A grizzled man with a think orange beard towered over me, his red hair curled into knots on the side of his head. He had basil green eyes that looked like they were imagining me dead in eighteen different ways. He wore a red flannel shirt under a white apron with grease stains on it.

"Hi, can I get uhhhhh..."

"This is a drinks kiosk, not a Starbucks. What do you want?" he said in a deep and thick Scottish accent.

"Um ok, two ginger ales, one Fanta and a Coke Zero."

"Them ginger ales better be for some lassies because that ain't a man's drink, neither is the coke zero. I mean who even orders a coke zero." He rambled as he rummaged through a giant cooler. "Thank Jesus. We don't have coke zero so have a normal coke. Now $40." He said as he handed me the drinks.

"WHAT!"

"If you don't like the deals, don't come to my kiosk. NEXT!" He shouted.

"Okayfine, but this is a rip-off," I said as paid for the drinks and walked off.

"DON'T FORGET TO TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT KABIR'S KOOL KIOSK." He screamed after me.

It was about 10:30PM when Justin Wong arrived with his gang. He wore a blue blazer with a plain white shirt buttoned to the middle of his chest, almost like a bachelor at his own party. The bruises on his chest were slightly visible through his clothing and his face was still as banged up as it was at school, he was quite obviously drunk telling from his swayed movements and silver liquor bottle that sparkled in his blazer pocket. He shuffled through the crowd of people and cut into the front of the food line. Even with the protesting people, he continued with a smile on his face. From there he gave his food to one of his cronies and stumbled toward the tables, then he saw me, and his smile turned into a devilish grin. "STARK NAKED! THERE YOU ARE!" he shouted as walked to us, tripping over nothing.

"I think you made a Wong turn, so why don't you go away," Juan said from beside.

"HAHA, that's just *burp* hilarious." Justin started to pull out the liquor bottle. "Want some Serrato, takes the edge away."

"I'd rather not take anything that you have, don't want my intelligence to drop to your standards," He replied back calmly.

"Fine *burp* be a stick, what about you *burp* wonderful ladies" Justin turned to Pep and Kate, they looked at each other concerned that the other would reply.

"You know what, why don't you just go party somewhere else. Away from us." I said to Justin as he started to come towards the girls with the silver bottle glinting in the bright lights.

"Stark didn't I tell you to stay in*burp*side tonight." He said turning to me. I sat in my chair as he stumbled towards me.

"And when have I listened to a word you've ever said."

"So, you want a repeat of yesterday then, huh?" he was hovering over me and I could smell the alcohol in his breathe and all over his body.

"You mean, me beating you up until your walking lumps of clay grabbed me. Yeah, I'm willing to go," I said as I stood up to match him. I could see the cuts on his face bulge as the blood coursed through his veins. Justin started to shove me until a short figure pushed itself between up. It was Kate, her eyes fixated on mine as she pushed Justin away from me but instead of stumbling back he collapsed on the floor, unconscious. His two thugs, that I forgot were around, just sighed and picked him up in their arms to drop his body who knows where. Kate was still holding me and when I looked down at her, she was looked up at in disappointment, expecting more from me. She moved her hands off me and went back to her seat next to Pep and whispered something to her, and Pep gave me a glance and nodded. The whole table sat in silence for a while until a pink mist rolled over the ground, the thin bubblegum steam rose slowly but didn't go very high. People on the dance floor began to cheer and danced more energetically, the mist seemed to cover the forest floor to the point where even the grass was a coral pink colour. "What the..."

"Valentine's Haze." Kate softly muttered. "It's more beautiful than I thought."

"This is normal?" I asked

"Only for tonight." She said as the DJ changed the song.

"Okay ma dudes, take it real slow in the presence of the haze, so grab a partner and hold them close to this slooooooow tune. This is DJ Rayzier, find me on the social networks as TheRayzier69. Over and out." The song the DJ picked out was a gentle slow song, everyone on the dancefloor turned to their partners and started to slow dance in the haze, even my sister found someone.

"Juan, we are going to dance," Pepper announced as she stood up and held her hand out.

"Why not." He replied as he took her hand and they disappeared into the haze.

It was only Kate and I left on the table, I was still afraid she was upset with me, but I took a chance. "Hey... uh, ...do you uh..."

"Yes." She said as she stood up and came to me, when I stood up she wrapped her arm in mine and we walked into the pink haze with everyone else.

I did not know how to dance, much less slow dance, but Kate guided me. My hands were at her waist while hers interlocked behind my head. She stood close, but I could still feel the distance between us, yet her smile was telling me something completely different. It was full of hope and happiness, maybe she liked the song or maybe it was me, but I couldn't tell with her. Her emerald green eyes stared into mine the way Juan would stare at a replica of the death star.

"Do you know what the clouds are called tonight." She asked out of the blue.

"Fluffy?"

She giggled "Valentine's dream. It's supposed to represent what Valentine would have wanted with the world, he wanted the air to be filled with love and hope, that's why they are pink." She said staring into the sky, the clouds still glowed a bright taffy colour, but the silver bolts had subsided. "The Haze is God's gift to Valentine, it is Valentine's dream brought to us to give us hope. Some stories say that it gives certain people gifts from God to show he is there and he loves them. I don't believe that, but I do believe that it gives hope." She said as she came closer to me and put her head in my chest. Along the fine edges of her skin, I noticed the trace white scars were etched into her body. Some longer than others than others but none the less there from across her arms to down back.

"I'm sorry," I said for the second time tonight. "about earlier with Justin. He's just... he's just..."

"The worst."

"That doesn't cut it, he is a lot worse, I'm just glad that you stopped us, two fights in two nights isn't fun."

"Yeah, that is why I stopped it, for you. So that you don't, you know, hurt yourself."

"You care what happens to me, how thoughtful."

"Don't get ahead of yourself Oli." She said as we swayed to the music, the mist swirled around us. She kept her head buried into my chest while I lay my head on her's. The mist began to subside, but it was still there, the air was stained with flamingo pink pigment, the music began to die down and people began to wade their way to the exits.

"That's it for the St. Valentines Storm party." The DJ announced on the speakers. "I'll see ya'll in another twenty seven years. This has been DJ Rayzier playing the sick beats tonight, catch me on all the social media as TheRayzier69, and on a side note, any items left behind will not be returned. Goodnight everyone."

The place was a mess by the time everyone was gone, napkins and plates all over the grass, the games were looked like they had a terrible night as one of the basketball hops had been ripped off. The damaged phone I managed to get working vibrated in my pocket and I had a message from Juan, saved as Burrito Jr, and my sister, who was obviously saved as twiddle dumb. Juan had taken Pepper home and my sister was riding home with Casey and Meg, leaving Kate and me alone in the middle of the abandoned party ground. We walked back to the bike, all the cars had left except for a few, Kate got on the back of the bike and I drove her to the convenience store because she didn't want to tell me where her house is and she had also said she had a ride waiting for her. The clouds were still balls of pink cotton candy floating blissfully in the sky and the air was still a little hazy, but the drive was serene. When I pulled up to the shambles of the convenience store, Kate slid off the back of the bike on to the curb.

"So, I guess this is goodbye then." She said with a whisk of her hair.

"Yeah, I guess so." I replied as I shut the motor off. "This was a fun date."

"It was until that drunk guy came along."

"Well he's just a rich prick so it's the usual"

"But after that and dancing in the haze, that was amazing."

"Can I ask you something?" I asked while playing with my fingers.

"Go ahead."

"What exactly are we? Are we dating now or is this like a onetime thing?"

She looked at me with her emerald eyes, no emotion in sight, not even phased by the question. I began to panic because awkward pauses leave me nervous, my palms would sweat and my knees knock but this time I was on a bike so I just got sweaty palms. From nowhere she walks towards me and kissed my cheek with a silenced giggle. "We will talk about it, but just not right now, okay. Go home and say hi to your mother for me."

"Um, yeah, okay." I stuttered. I started up the engine and turned back to her. "How do I find you though."

"Don't worry about that, I'll find you. Now go." She said with a cheeky smile. I started to ride off when I turned my head to see a puff of blue smoke rise from where Kate had been standing.