Mason and Sam 25 years old, the day before Valentine's Day

Mason Maloney

My eyes began to burn from staring at my computer for so long. I rubbed my eyes for a few moments before going back to the essay I was grading. This was what my life had turned into after becoming a high school English teacher. Grading, grading, and more grading.

I glanced at the time to realize it was already past ten, meaning I definitely wasn't going to get through the rest of the essays tonight and would have to finish tomorrow. On Valentine's day.

Sam was already fast asleep considering he gets up by six every morning to go work out even though he's going to end up going later in the day as well. Since football season was over, he tended to get bored very easily. I would always find him fixing things around the house that didn't need to be fixed or annoying the shit out of me by rearranging our things. But his paycheck for being the quarterback for the Giants was quite hefty, so I wasn't going to complain much.

"Why are you still up?" Sam asked in a raspy voice, sounding as if he had just woken up. I turned to see that he was standing behind the couch, looking down at me and rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Trying to get through the last of these," I answered, turning back to my laptop.

"It's late," he said, coming around to sit beside me on the couch.

I rolled my eyes. "It's not that late."

"It is when you have to be to work by seven-thirty," Sam pointed out with a knowing look.

I groaned, throwing my head back and shutting the laptop. "I hate grading. I should just stop assigning things."

Sam chuckled. "I'm sure your students wouldn't mind that but you might get fired."

"Then I could just be a gold digger and you could be my sugar daddy," I told him with a playful grin.

"That would be okay with me," Sam said, returning my grin.

I gave him a quick peck on the lips before leaning my head on his shoulder and letting out a sigh.

"I really have to start enforcing stricter page limits on my students. I say at least five pages and some of them hand in fifteen," I said, causing Sam to laugh.

"Couldn't be me in high school. I was doing bare minimum," Sam replied.

"Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with them," I muttered, sliding the laptop off my lap and placing it on the table.

Sam stood up from the couch, rubbing his eyes once again before holding his hand out for me to take. I let him pull me off the couch and into his side, kissing the side of my head.

"Let's go to sleep," Sam suggested, shutting the living room light off and leading me to our bedroom.

After doing my nightly routine, I climbed in bed next to Sam and tucked myself under his arm while he scrolled through his phone.

"Did you see Nathan's instagram post?" Sam asked, tilting his phone toward me so I could see.

The picture on the screen was Nathan with his arm around a pretty brunette while she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Who is that?" I asked, tapping the picture to see if he tagged her. Of course, he didn't.

"I think she's a model," he replied. "There's probably going to be an article about them by tomorrow."

"Why wouldn't that asshole tell me he got a girlfriend?" I asked in an annoyed tone. "I talked to him like two days ago."

"I talked to him today and he didn't say anything about it," Sam said. "Maybe he wanted to wait until he saw us?"

Nathan played for the Philadelphia Eagles so he was only about two hours away. Luckily we were able to see him often. He had moved back home for the offseason which was just over three hours away from us. We couldn't go back until the summer since I worked at the school.

"Then why would he post it on instagram?"

"True."

I sighed. "I'll give him an earful about it later."

Sam laughed and put his phone down on his nightstand and soon enough the two of us were asleep.

***

"Mr. Maloney do you have any plans for Valentine's day?" one of my students, Abigail, asked during homeroom.

I didn't have a chance to see Sam this morning before I had to leave for work. He had already left the house for his first workout of the day. So I had gotten to school without having said "Happy Valentine's Day" to my boyfriend.

"Yeah, uh," I stuttered, looking away from my computer to face her. "I'm going to cook my boyfriend some dinner and, uh, ask him to marry me."

I thought back to the ring I had hidden in my sock drawer. I spent every day hoping Sam wouldn't find it.

"You're going to propose?" Abigail exclaimed, slamming her hands down on her desk and gaining the attention of the whole class.

"OMG. Mr. Maloney!" another student, Kelly, squealed. "How are you going to do it?"

"Just ask?"

The girls gave me unamused looks.

"No," Abigail said with a deadpanned look.

"What do you mean no?" I asked with an incredulous expression.

"You have to, like, hide the ring in the food or something," Kelly said to which Abigail nodded in agreement.

"That'll make make it dirty," I said, shaking my head. "Or he'll eat it." Sam tended to inhale his food so I would be too nervous to do that.

"You have to do something special!" Abigail whined.

"I am. I'm asking on Valentine's Day," I told her with a grin.

Sam and I weren't a very romantic couple and that was fine with me.

"You have to tell us how it goes on Monday," Kelly said, just as the bell ending homeroom sounded. "Please, please, please."

"I will tell you," I confirmed. "I promise."

The two girls squealed before they left the room. I only had about a minute until people from my first class came rushing into my room.

"Mr. M!" one of my students, Bryan, exclaimed as he scurried over to my desk.

"What's wrong?"

"Did you grade my essay yet?" he asked with wide eyes.

I groaned. "I didn't get to it yet."

He let out a loud groan. "If I don't get at least a seventy-five I won't be able to play basketball."

"I know. You tell me this every day."

"So I need to know!"

"I'm sure you did fine," I assured him. "You know, when you actually do your assignments, it's good work."

"I know but I hate doing it," Bryan complained.

"I know. And I hate grading it," I said. "But I still do it."

"Because you're better than me."

"No."

"Mr. Maloney!" another student, Leon, said as he came up to my desk to stand beside Bryan. "Did you bring chocolate?"

I nodded, grabbing the bag of candy out of my bag and handing it to him.

"Let everyone have some, Leon," I said in a warning tone.

"I will, I will," he said. "What do you do for Valentines if you're single?"

"Nothing."

"Leon, go away. We are talking about my grade," Bryan said in an annoyed tone.

"Both of you go sit," I said.

I really liked my students, but if I let them get their way, we would just spend the whole class period talking.

"I heard you're getting engaged tonight," another student, Sophie, said in an excited tone.

"It traveled that fast?"

That was all it took for the whole class to start excited chatter about my plans for the evening.

"Okay, quiet down," I said, standing up from my desk and heading toward the board.

"You can't just drop that news and expect us to be able to focus," Sophie said with raised eyebrows.

"You dropped the news," I pointed out. "Plus, he has to say yes for me to get engaged."

"He's gonna say yes!"

"Open your books," I said, beginning class.

"This book is wack, Mr. M," Bryan said as he opened to the page. "I'd rather hear about you getting engaged to Sam Knight."

"Oh my God," I muttered.

"Did I tell you he was my QB for fantasy football?" Bryan asked.

"You told me every week. We're starting class now."

"I had Nathan Maloney," Leon added.

"Guys," I said in a stern tone. "Focus."

"This book is so romantic," Sophie stated with a smile. "Everything he does is for Daisy."

Bryan scoffed. "He's an obsessive weirdo."

Those two were always the most vocal in my class and they rarely ever agreed on anything. I couldn't tell if they hated each other or just loved to argue.

Sophie glared at him. "Well maybe she thinks he's romantic."

Bryan just rolled his eyes. "She just likes the attention."

Sophie looked as if she was going to start yelling so I quickly put a stop to their debate.

"Sophie's right. Gatsby is romantic," I interjected. Sophie gave Bryan a boastful look while he looked at me like I was crazy. "He's a romantic because he romanticizes his life. He sees everything as how he wishes it is and not how it actually is."

"So he's delusional," Bryan said.

I nodded. "And you're right. He's obsessive. He's obsessed with the romanticized version of his life. Obsessed with who he thinks Daisy is, the version of her he has in his head."

"Is Nick in love with Gatsby? Because that's what I'm getting from this," Leon called out in a slightly confused tone.

"A lot of people read it that way," I confirmed.

"But do you think he is?"

"I think there is definitely queer subtext. It might make more sense for people to read it that way. Sure."

It was this type of class that made me love being a teacher. The students were engaged and genuinely interested in what we were doing. I always did my best to make my class interesting and when it worked out, it made it better for everyone.

After a long discussion about Gatsby, the bell rang to end class and my students packed up their things to leave the room.

"Good luck tonight, Mr. M," Bryan said with a smile. "Let us know how it goes."

I smiled back. "Will do."

***

I was anxious to get home after getting a text from Sam.

Wish I got to see you this morning. Can't wait for you to get home. I LOVE YOU

I didn't want him to ruin my plans for tonight by doing something extravagant for me. I had to get there to stop him before he got too far along.

After stopping at the store to pick up flowers and the other things I needed for my plan, I made my way home. The house was quiet when I got there, making me suspicious.

I quietly tiptoed through the house to get to the bedroom and put down my things in my closet. It was then that I noticed the smell of food. My eyes widened and I rushed out of the room and into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" I asked in a slightly panicked tone when I saw Sam cooking in the kitchen.

"Well hello there, love of my life," Sam said with a wide grin.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm making you a Valentines dinner," Sam replied as if he was stating the obvious.

"I wanted to do that for you," I said, a slight whine in my tone.

"You always cook for me," Sam said, raising an eyebrow. "Let me do this for you."

I couldn't stay annoyed at him as a smile crept onto my face.

"Okay," I said, going over to him to give him a peck on the lips.

"How was work?"

"Good," I said with a content sigh. "Don't come into the bedroom."

I didn't give him a chance to reply as I left the kitchen and went back to the bedroom to set up the rest of my plan. I pulled the bags out from the closet and started spreading the rose petals I bought around on the bed.

Once it looked how I wanted it to, I set up the candles around the room and put some in the bathroom connected to our bedroom. A while later, there was a knock on the bedroom door.

"Dinner is done. Are you all set?" Sam asked through the door.

"Don't come in here!" I said, rushing toward the door.

"Come to the dining room."

I waited a few moments for him to walk away before I left the room with his flowers in my hand and the ring in my pocket and headed into the dining room.

Sam was standing at the head of the table with a bouquet of roses in his hand. He had the table set up with the food and a bottle of wine and the lights in the dining room were dimmed and a candle was lit in the center of the table.

"Are those for me?" he teased, gesturing toward the flowers in my hand.

"No, they're for my other boyfriend," I said with an eye roll, going toward him to take the roses out of his hand.

"He's a lucky guy," Sam replied, picking up the vase he already had ready for the bouquet.

I let out a snort of a laugh and stuck the flowers in the vase and gave Sam a long kiss. He smiled into the kiss before pulling away and then pulled out the chair for me to sit.

Sam poured me a glass of wine as I filled my plate with the pasta he made for dinner.

"This is really good," I said as I took a bite of the food. Sam was good at making his own sauce and it was one of the only things he could make but I loved it.

"Good," he said, taking a sip of wine.

"You know, I was going to make you salmon," I told him with a grin, knowing how much he loved it.

"You can still make it for me tomorrow," he said, returning my grin.

I laughed, smiling as I brought my glass to my lips. "I guess I could do that for you."

When we finished dinner, Sam cleared off the table and brought out a chocolate cake he baked.

"You spoil me," I said as he cut me a slice.

"It's what I live to do," he replied, kissing the top of my head.

After cutting himself a slice, he sat back down and all of a sudden a wave of nerves hit me. I placed my fork down on the table and took a deep breath.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked with a look of concern, placing the back of his hand on my forehead to check my temperature.

"I'm okay."

The ring in my pocket seemed to weigh a ton as I thought about what I wanted to do next.

"You seriously look pale," he said.

I took a deep breath and stood from my seat, Sam giving me a look of confusion. I grabbed his hand in mine and got down on one knee, Sam's eyes widening.

"What are you doing?" he rushed out. "Get up! Get up!"

"Sam–"

"No! You aren't seriously going to ask me to marry you right now?"

I scowled at him. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Sam sighed and got out of his chair, getting down on one knee in front of me and releasing my hand to pull a small box out of his pocket. This made me understand his reaction from before. We really had planned a proposal on the same night.

"You're ruining my plan," he said, gesturing toward the box.

I pulled the ring box I had out of my pocket. "You're ruining mine."

We shared slightly annoyed looks with each other for a few moments before we both burst out into laughter.

"I guess we don't even have to ask the question," I said, opening up the ring box.

"I guess not," Sam agreed, opening his up.

Surprisingly, the rings complemented each other nicely. They weren't the exact same ring, but they looked like they went together.

Sam smiled and took my left hand, slipping the ring on my finger before I did the same for him. We stood up and I immediately tossed my arms around his neck and brought him in for a kiss.

"I can't wait to marry you," Sam said in a breathless tone against my lips.

All I could do was stare at him with a loving look and kiss the corner of his mouth before pulling away to stare down at my ring.

"I love it," I told him.

"I love mine too."

"Nathan helped me pick it," I admitted.

"He did?" Sam asked, looking confused. "He helped me pick yours."

"That asshole," I muttered, grabbing my phone out of my pocket and Facetiming my brother.

Nathan's face popped up on the screen within a few moments.

"I'm kinda busy right now, Mase," he answered the call.

I held my hand up, showing him my ring.

"I'm engaged," I said.

"I know," he replied.

I panned the camera over to Sam and showed him his ring.

"Sam is engaged," I said.

Nathan laughed and I turned the camera back toward my face.

"You knew we were planning to propose at the same time!" I exclaimed.

"I did," Nathan said with a laugh.

"Why didn't you say anything?" I asked.

"And ruin the surprise?" he wondered with a playful smile. "I thought it would be funny. You're lucky I made sure the rings would look nice together."

"He has a point," Sam interjected. "He couldn't say anything about it because then he would ruin it."

"Thank you, Sam," Nathan said.

"I guess," I sighed.

"Anyway, I know you don't want to spend your Valentine's day talking to me especially after you just got engaged," Nathan said.

"You're right."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Okay. Congratulations to both of you. Can't wait to be best man at your wedding."

"Wait, wait," I stopped him. "Who was that girl on your instagram?"

"Okay, bye Mase! Bye Sam! Love you guys!" Nathan hung up.

"He's unbelievable," I said with a scoff, shaking my head and placing my phone down on the table.

"Maybe it's just not serious yet," Sam suggested with a shrug, moving closer to me and running his hands on my shoulders.

I nodded in agreement. "Come on."

I grabbed onto his hand and pulled him with me to the bedroom. His grin was wide when he saw how I had decorated the room.

"Very romantic," he said, kissing my cheek.

"Come on," I urged, pulling him into the bathroom where I had placed a plate of chocolate strawberries and candles around the tub.

I turned the tub on and poured the bubble bath inside before turning back to Sam.

"You went all out," Sam said with a slight laugh.

"Well, you ruined the rest of my plans so..."

Sam rolled his eyes, lightly shoving my shoulder before starting to unbutton my shirt. Once he was done, he pushed it off of my arms and let it fall to the floor. I gave him the same treatment and as soon as we were undressed, we left our rings on the counter and got into the tub.

"Want a strawberry?" I asked, picking one up from the plate behind me.

Sam hummed and nodded. I held it out to him and he took a bite out of the strawberry.

"Did you get those from that place?" he asked.

"The place that you like, yeah."

"Mm, they're so good," he said with a smile, leaning over to kiss my lips.

We spent a while in the tub before getting out. Sam wrapped a soft towel around my body and we made our way into the bedroom.

"Wanna try out the bed?" Sam asked in a teasing tone.

I laughed and lightly pushed him. "You're gross."

"You love me."

"I do."

**

I know it's two days late, but Happy Valentine's day!

I didn't get the idea for this until the day before Valentine's so I worked on it for a couple days. Better late than never!

Let me know what you think!