#like. he is in the GYM. intentionally putting mass on. eating specially. because this doesn’t just HAPPEN

[the-mighty-het-speaks]

[pen-masta]

A night to remember!

Happy Valentine’s day to all you cool cats! Hope you’re spending it with the person or people you should be :) wishing you lots of love and happiness! Peace yo!

He sits at his desk staring at his calendar reading the date over and over again. February 14th, to the rest of the world this day was Valentine’s day full of love and happiness. But to him this day marks the bane of his existence, the day he dreads the most out of the year, the day he wishes could be erased from calendars, and the day his dreaded nickname started. This day has haunted him since the sixth grade and it is still hanging on to him four years later.

He contemplates faking sick so his over protective mother will force him to stay home. But she can always tell when he’s sick and when he’s not. “It’s in your eyes,” she’d always say before making him give up the act and go wherever he had to go. He sighs and slings his book bag over his shoulder before heading down the stairs.

He walks into the kitchen to find his parents well...making out like teenagers. His mom sits on the counter wearing his dad’s police hat, his dad is in front of her. Her legs cradling his hips snugly, his hands around her waist, and her arms are around his neck. Castel smirks a little at the fact they haven’t noticed him so he goes to the cabinet to get a coffee mug. The creaking of the cabinet door is enough of a noise to jolt his parents apart to stare at him like two deer caught in some headlights.

“Cassie!” His mom exclaims before running her hands through her hair knocking the police hat off, in an attempt to fix her frizzy hair, while his dad clears his throat and fidgets with the black tie of his uniform. “We were just um...”

“It’s alright Moman,” Castel smiles and pours some coffee into the mug. “I’m sixteen I’m not stupid.” He shrugs, “You don’t have to make up some excuse for showing your affection. Besides I know what day it is.” He shrugs and takes his mug to the kitchen table.

His parents look at each other before smiling again and his mom hops down off of the counter. They smile at each other and his dad kisses her cheek before taking his hat off the counter and securing it on his head. She winks at him before she walks up behind Castel, hugging him tight, and planting a kiss on his cheek.

“Happy Valentine’s day Cassie,” she says and he smiles rolling his eyes.

“You’re only supposed to say that to Papa, Moman.” He chuckles and adds a few sugar cubes to his coffee.

“She can say it to you too,” his dad chuckles and ruffles his son’s already messy curls.

“Yeah yeah,” Castel shrugs as his parents sit with him at the table. “So what are your plans to celebrate?”

“We are going out to your mom’s favorite restaurant,” his dad says and sips his own coffee. “You know the swing restaurant with the big band. We’ll stay there and eat and dance and then maybe go to the park--”

“So you’ll be gone for a while is what you’re saying,” Castel smirks.

“Yes,” his dad laughs. “We’ll be gone for quite some time. You’ll have the house to yourself if you don’t already have plans.” His dad says and raises a brow hoping his son did have plans of his own with someone special tonight.

Castel shakes his head, “Nah I think I’ll just stay in tonight. Watch some cheesy horror movies. Order a pizza maybe.”

“What about Joy?” His mom asks

“Oh she’s gonna go to the Valentine’s Day dance our school is having,” Castel says and waves his hand dismissively. “She was on the decorating committee and she’s gotten like five guys who’ve asked to dance with her so she’s gonna go.”

His parents exchange a look before looking back at their youngest.

“Don’t you want to go Cassie?” His mom asks gently.

“I’m not into the whole social scene Moman,” he shrugs and smiles. “Besides I have a bunch of movies I’ve been wanting to watch for a while now. It’ll be nice to have some time alone.”

They’re all silent for a moment before his dad clears his throat, “Alright well if that’s what you want to do Cassie.” He smiles kindly, “I hope you have fun.”

“You too Papa,” Castel smiles and his watch beeps. “That’s my cue.” He says and downs the rest of his coffee. He puts his mug in the sink before giving his parents a kiss. “Have a good day.” He says as he walks out the door to meet up with Joy to walk to school.

===========

He walks down the hall with Joy at his side, heading to their lockers.

“I’m so excited for tonight,” Joy pipes bouncing over to her locker. “The gym looks amazing! I think you’re going to love it Casanova!”

Castel sighs and opens his locker as some random guy comes up next to Joy. A few words are exchanged and then the short conversation is completed with Joy agreeing to share a slow dance with the guy. The guy then disappears into the crowd of adolescents once again and Joy hums as she gets the books out of her locker.

“Joy,” he says and bites his lip. “I’m not going to the dance.”

SLAM!

Castel jumps a little when she slams her locker shut and he turns to look at her shocked face. She stares at him with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open slightly.

“You’re what?” She asks in bewilderment

“You know I don’t like dances,” he says and takes his AP chemistry book out of his locker. “I don’t like going to any dances and I certainly don’t want to go to a dance held on this day.”

Her face softens and she sighs, “Ok I know Valentine’s day isn’t your favorite holiday--”

“It is my least favorite holiday.” He mutters and closes his locker.

“But Caaaaaas I worked so hard on the decorations,” she whines. “Can’t you come just to see my work. We’ll go as friends, it’ll be fine I promise.” She pouts deeply, widens her eyes, and rests her chin on his shoulder. “Pwetty Pwease Cassie.”

He looks at her and sighs smiling a little.

“Alright alright,” he concedes and she lets out a husky, victorious ‘YUS!’. He grins and narrows his eyes at her, “Just so you know the puppy dog pout will not always work.”

“Blasphemy!” Joy shouts and Castel laughs.

================

Castel hates his pottery class. He really was not the artistic type, but the school required him to take some kind of elective and pottery sounded the easiest. And it would be easy if he had some kind of artistic talent like Joy, but he doesn’t. He’s fifteen minutes into his class and he’s still staring at his blob of clay. All of his classmates have already started molding and spinning their pottery wheels. He can’t stand the thought of his GPA being ruined all because he’s not Van Gogh.

He’s just about to attempt some kind of shape when someone sits down next to him at the table. He looks up to see a curtain of strawberry blond waves, light green eyes, and a sweet smile--Tiffany Hanson. One of the most popular girls in their school. Athletic, artistic, intelligent, President of the debate club, and Castel’s latest crush.

She smiles, “Hey.”

He blinks and looks around the room before looking back at her. She giggles and nods.

“Yes I’m talking to you.” She says and folds her clay on the table. “Castel right?”

He blinks and looks around the room again to see if anyone is pointing or laughing or whispering or anything--but he sees nothing. He looks back at her and nods.

“Yes, y-yes my name is Castel.” He says and she smiles.

“I thought so,” she says. “Joy talked about you all the time while we were decorating the gym for the dance.”

Oh...of course Joy had something to do with this. Maybe not directly or intentionally, but it wasn’t like Tiffany had sought him out. ...then again she kind of did considering they’ve never spoken or even met before.

He smiles a little, “Yeah?”

She giggles, “Yeah sounds like you two are the best of friends.”

He nods, “Yeah we sure are.”

They are both silent for a moment before Tiffany scoots closer to him and smiles shyly.

“I know it’s really kind of late to be asking but...do you have a date for the dance tonight?”

He blinks feeling a warmth rise in his cheeks at her close proximity.

“Um...no no I don’t,” he stutters out.

Tiffany looks shocked, “Really? You’re such a great guy though, I was sure some lucky girl already snagged you.”

The warmth in his cheeks spreads and he chuckles nervously, “No, no I was just going to go with Joy as friends is all.”

“Oh,” she says and deflates a little. “You’re Joy’s escort then?”

“Yeah,” he nods and rubs the back of his neck. “B-but I can still dance with you.”

Her face brightens and she smiles, “Alright that’ll be great Castel.” She bounces a little in her seat, “Meet me by the snack table ok?”

“O-o-okay,” he grins.

She stands up, taking her clay with her, “I can’t wait Castel.” She says and kisses his cheek before disappearing back into the classroom.

He sits at the table his eyes wide as his face burns red.

===============

“It’s too tight,” Castel complains as his dad ties his neck tie.

“Oh stop complaining,” his dad chuckles and loosens the tie a little. “You always have got to have something to fuss about.”

“Not true,” Castel smiles as his dad finishes the tie. “Thanks Papa.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiles and steps back to look at his youngest. The gray suit, pink dress shirt, and red tie making his young sixteen-year-old look twenty. The only thing that reminds him he’s still a young boy is the unruly mass of brown curls and the patchy peach fuzz on his son’s face. “You look very handsome Cassie.”

Castel smiles and adjusts his collar, “Thanks Papa.”

“You’ve got your phone and your key?” His dad asks as they walk down stairs.

“Yes Papa,” Castel nods and walks out into the living room.

His mom is sitting on the couch when he walks in and she smiles when she sees him. She stands and looks him over.

“Qui est ce beau jeune homme? Who is this handsome young man?” She asks and Castel blushes a little. “Surely it can’t be my little Castel who is just going to sit at home watching cheesy horror movies all evening. Could it?”

Castel chuckles and his mom hugs him.

“Have fun tonight Cassie,” she says.

“You too Moman,” he smiles.

They say their good byes and he heads down the street to Joy’s house. He waits in the living room for her while she finishes getting dressed. When she comes down she’s dressed in a beautiful, cutesy, short pink dress with white frill on the skirt of it and tiny white hearts spotted over the pink. Her hair is curled and has a red headband in the middle of the sea of curls, white heels dawn her feet, and her nails are painted a vibrant pink with little white hearts to match her dress. Her make up is soft and a little red heart sticker is dotted by her right eye. Dangling from her ears are little red hearts and around her neck is a red choker with a red heart in the center of her throat, leaving space for her slight cleavage bare. She looks utterly...breathtaking and the sight of her causes his heart to skip a beat. His best friend is gorgeous in every sense of the word, beyond all comprehension. 

She smiles and pulls on her coat, “Ready to go?”

Castel blinks realizing he’s been staring at her. He shakes his head and smiles, “Yes I’m ready.”

Her parents wave them good bye and they walk to the school.

“You excited for tonight?” Joy asks as they near the high school.

“I can honestly say I am,” Castel smiles. “I still can’t believe Tiffany wants to dance with me.”

“And why not?” Joy smiles, “You’re a great guy Cassie! I’m not surprised she asked you.”

“Well I should have asked her,” Castel says sheepishly.

“Yeah but you’re too much of a socially awkward and nervous dork!” Joy teases giggling and Castel sticks his tongue out at her. “Trust me Cassie, this is gonna be a night to remember!”

When they walk into the gym Castel stops and marvels at the decorations. Red, white, and pink streamers, heart balloons tied to tables and floating in the air, pink table cloths, confetti hearts, the room is even lite with red and pink lights. He smiles seeing all the snack cookies shaped into hearts and the cupcakes iced with red, pink, and white icing--ones he recognizes from their day of baking a few days ago. He had helped her bake hundreds of cookies and cupcakes for tonight, even though at the time he wasn’t sure if he’d even be going. But now he’s here and man Joy did a fantastic job! Everything is perfect right down to the music being played.

“Wow Joy,” he smiles at her. “You really went all out huh?”

Joy blushes a little, “Well I am an excellent party planner.”

“That you are,” Castel smiles softly at her.

A guy comes up and greets Joy, she smiles and he takes her hand.

“Cassie I’ll be back alright? Go have some fun.” She smiles, “Go find Tiffany and dance.”

He nods and watches her disappear into the crowd. Soon he is alone, his only security was Joy and now she’s gone. He stands there for a moment feeling awkward and nervous, before he looks around for the snack table again. He spots it and walks over to it hastily, feeling his nerves start to kick in. He stands by the table trying not to look so awkward as he tries to casual alternate between sliding his hands in and out of his pockets, and checking him watch. He taps his foot to a beat unfit for the song being played and he pops one of the heart shaped candies from the table into his mouth--just to give him something to do. He checks his watch again seeing he’s been standing here for fifteen minutes...ok more like thirteen, but so what.

His mind starts to whirl thinking perhaps she wasn’t going to make it to the dance. What if she was in an accident, or got jumped on the street? What if she was hurt and needed help and everyone was at the dance and no one was there to help her? No, no she lives right next to the high school on a very populated street. That and all the lights would be enough for some passerby to see if she was in trouble. His mind shifts from fear of her being hurt to fear that maybe she had changed her mind. What if she was standing him up? Not like anyone would know she even asked him, so at least he wouldn’t be embarrassed...but still ouch!

He chews his bottom lip and scans the room again, still no sign of her. He runs his hand through his hair and shifts his weight from one foot to the other. Maybe he should just leave. Joy is off having fun and he had seen her work, without Tiffany here his night is pretty much over. Maybe if he hurries he could catch the second part of The Monster From the Deep, the pizza place stayed open until midnight so he could still have some actual dinner...eehhh maybe he’ll just wait a few more minutes. The seconds tick by and as his watch shines that he’s been standing here for almost thirty minutes he decides it’s time to leave. Unbuttoning his suit jacket and stuffing his hands in his pockets again he turns to leave, but he’s cut short. There she is! In a dark red sparkling dress with heels to match she walks into the gym. She’s here!...Half an hour late by still she’s here!

He smiles and waves to her, when he catches her eye she smiles and walks in his direction. He can feel the muscles in his body relax as she nears him and he starts to feel the excitement bubbling in his gut again. Joy was right it was going to be a night to remember. Some guy walks into him from behind, knocking him off balance a little.

“Watch it dude,” the guy says gruffly over his shoulder as he takes Tiffany’s arm. She smiles and kisses his cheek leaving Castel stunned. 

He walks closer stepping in front of the two.

“Can I help you?” The guy asks but Castel ignores him

“Tiffany what gives?” Castel asks calmly

She smiles in mock sympathy, “Oh please Castel did you really honestly believe I’d be caught at a dance with Catch Less Cassie?”

Castel can feel his face heating up, but he’s not sure if it’s from frustration or embarrassment.

“So what,” he gives an airy laugh. “This was all just a big joke then?”

“No, no dear.” Tiffany laughs, “If I’m going to make a joke I’m going to do it right. No you see this,” she says wagging her finger between Castel and herself, “was a set up to get you here. The joke is that you actually fell for it.” She smiles her eyes twinkling with fire, “And this is the punch line.”

And before Castel can even register what it is she’s talking about, he finds himself drenched in liquid. Gasps and shocked sounds fill the room and the music is stopped. He can’t see it due to the punch bowl blocking his sight, but he knows every eye is on him. Red, sticky liquid covers him; the red droplets roll down his cheeks dripping off his chin, landing in the red puddle that surrounds his feet.

He holds his breath and dares to lift the bowl a little to look out. He sees every one of his peers staring at him in shock, Tiffany and the guy are standing next to two of the jocks from the baseball team--Castel would venture to say they were the ones who flipped the bowl on him. And then it starts. The laughter, the pointing, and ‘Catch Less Cassie’ is thrown into the air in several different sentences. He feels like he’s in sixth grade again when that horrible nickname had started...only he wasn’t at a dance covered in punch then. No he just hadn’t received any valentines that day--he would have gotten at least one from Joy but she had the flu all that week and never got to give hers out.

Each year after that he had taken refuge in the valentine she’d give him--the only valentine he’d ever receive from anyone. She was his foundation, she held him steady. Even now as he stands soaked in the festive drink, his eyes search through the crowd of laughing teenagers for her face to have some kind of anchor to grip to. But when his eyes finally lock with hers, he’s not comforted. Her eyes are wide and full of shock staring at him with a dumbfounded expression, her mouth hanging agape as everyone else splits their sides.

“Get it punch line!” Tiffany laughs as he carefully takes the bowl from his head and tosses it to the ground.

His eyes stay locked with Joy’s as she stares back at him not believing what she just witnessed really happened. He watches the guy next to her laugh hysterically before turning to Joy.

“I can’t believe you’re friends with that dweb!” The guys cackles pointing at Castel.

Castel’s heart pounds hard in his chest, pricks grow behind his eyes, and he’s unable to stop the tears that spill over. The humiliation, the trickery, the wretched nickname it’s too much to handle. He straightens his tie before and decides to not add anymore humiliation to this scene by running out like a little kid. No, instead he’d just walk out calmly like an adult. Be the bigger man in this situation. He takes a step and his shoes squeak as he walks with his hands in his pockets. His curls hang down sopping into his eyes, dripping red punch with each step he takes.

He’s just about reached the door when he trips and stumbles into a few folding chair, before face-planting. He looks back to see one of the baseball guys had stuck his foot out, tripping Castel. That does it! Forget not wanting to look like a little kid, he needs to get out of here. Now! The laughter rings in his ears as he scrambles to his feet and takes off out of the gym, out of the school, and down the street--he recognizes Joy’s voice calling after him, but he doesn’t stop.

A night to remember indeed...

=============

He’s reached the street of his home when he drops to his knees completely out of breath. Panting, crying, hiccuping, and dripping wet he sits there on the sidewalk. He drills the palms of his hands into his eyes forcing the never ending tears to stop briefly. He looks up to see his house down the street, the light in the living room is on...his parents haven’t left yet.

He looks down at the only good suit he has and grimaces. He dreads the fact he’d have to explain to his parents why he would have to have it dry cleaned now. He sniffles and wipes his nose on his sleeve contemplating on whether or not he really wants to deal with that right now. He’d ruin their night, his dad would be fuming and would drill him for the names of the punks, and his mom would coddle him saying nice things and make him hot tea. They’d both forget their plans and stay and comfort him...and as nice as that sounds in this moment, he doesn’t want to take this night away from them.

But sitting on the side walk in the cold in a soaking suit is not the best idea either. He glances to his left to see the Curtis’ house, no lights are on. Unlike his parents, they’ve already got the jump on the night. He could go inside until his parents left and then go to his home...if he had remembered to put the extra key they gave him on his landyard. He sighs and runs his hands through his doused curls. That leaves him with one choice.

Hopping over the backyard fence he makes his way to the big oak tree behind the Curtis’ house. When he puts his hands on the faded yellow rope ladder the hard fraying rope pricks his hands--a reminder that he needs to replace it soon. He rubs the feeling away on his pants before hauling himself up. Shoving the floor’s door out of his way he hoists himself into the little house, slamming it shut again behind him.

He stands up nearly knocking his head into a low hanging beam. Even with all the despair, degradation, dejection, and dread he’s feeling, the sight of this little room brings a sunny smile to his face. Walking through the wall of rainbow colored multi-shaped beads, he plugs in the rainbow colored christmas lights that line the room and bring life to it. Two beanbag chairs sit snugly near the window across from a very small very outdated 12′ television set--covered in all kinds of stickers-- compete with a VHS player, all perched on a green milk crate. Posters of funny kittens, puppies, or movie quotes are scattered on the walls. Leaning against the wall covered in pictures of them--ones that have been taken throughout the years--waiting for the heatwaves of summer sits a big pink fan.

A CD player sits on top of a small set of plastic drawers--stuffed with paints, yarns, clays, and all kinds of crafting supplies, it sits sandwiched between an enormous stack of books and videotapes. Despite the fact that he put those drawers in here to keep the room semi-organized, she has managed to stuff each drawer to the max and even more sketch books, colored pencils, and paints lye in a pile in the corner. Finally a small round, fuzzy, shag, purple throw rug sits in the center of the room “pulling everything together” she had once said to him.

He smiles at the warm feeling this room brings him and he sheds his jacket and vest, tossing them to floor with a SLOSH sound. He shivers a little feeling the cool February breath latching to his body like a leach. He vaguely remembers her stuffing one of her need-to-release-some-aggravation-crafting-projects in one of the plastic drawers last summer, and he pulls it open to look for said project. He smiles in victory when he pulls out the half finished sweater and yanks it over his head. The red fabric only came down to his belly button, but it’d be enough for now.

Sitting in his blue leather bean bag chair, he crosses his arms and closes his eyes. He’d been played. She had played him and he fell for it! In front of everyone! Yet another Valentine’s day disaster he can add to his continuously growing list. Tears prick his eyes again and he sniffles as he sits curled in the cozy, comforting glow of the christmas lights. He bites his lip forcing himself not to break into full on sobs at his stupidity and utter humiliation, but the swallowing of his sorrows just causes him to hiccup. He opens his eyes to find more tears have broken through while he tried to contain himself.

He sighs audibly. He needs to take his mind off of this whole night. His eyes fall on the stack of tapes that lye on the floor. He was really in the mood for a cheesy horror film--watching the dumb pretty boy get his face eaten off by a poorly constructed werewolf would really lift his spirits right about now. But he had taken most of his videos back home at the end of the summer--figuring it’d be too cold to sit in the tree house and watch them. So all that’s left is all of Joy’s movies--almost all of them musicals. Which he really doesn’t mind at all, but it’s really not something he’s interested in right now. However he does recall one that was very nicely done in his opinion, a true American rock musical horror comedy film with just a splash of sci-fi; one that he could enjoy even in this moment.

Popping in the tape he relaxes back into the bean bag chair content to drown out this horrible evening in the wonderful work of Frank Oz. Just as the soft music begins to play the floor door is thrown open with a loud THUD. He jumps a little at the sound and looks over to see her scrambling up inside. The low beam that he now has too avoid by ducking, just brushes against the top of her head as she walks over.

She smiles kindly at him before dropping a towel and a sweater into his lap. She then plops into the rainbow Tye-dyed bean bag chair next to him, and tosses her heels off to the side. He nods his thanks and takes off the nearly completed sweater--careful to not pull her stitches. He dries his hair and shirt on the towel and pulls on the new sweater she’s given him. They both sit in silence for a moment as the music begins to fade out getting ready for the narrating voice over.  

‘On the twenty-first day of the month of September, in an early year of a decade not too long before our own...the human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence...and this terrifying enemy surfaced as such enemies often do in the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places...’

“Ah Little Shop of Horrors,” Joy grins at the little screen. “Excellent choice Casanova.”

He nods as the opening song begins to play and Joy quietly sings along as they watch the singers dance on the screen. Soon the song ends and the dialog begins leaving the two in comfortable silence...but he feels the bottled up emotions swirling in his chest. He swallows thickly and gulps down his feelings.

“How did you know I was here?” He asks without looking away from the television screen.

“Well I had run after you when you left and I managed to stay with you for a while. Until I ran out of breath and had to stop,” she says and plays with the frill of her dress. “By the time I reached our street I had lost you. But I saw your parents getting in their car and I knew if you had gone home they wouldn’t be leaving you in your condition. When I tried my house I found the door was still locked so that only left one place where you would go to hide. Once I figured it out I came here...of course after I went into the house to get you the towel and something to keep you warm.”

He nods and wipes his nose on the sleeve again, “Thanks again.”

“No problem dude,” she says.

Silence again...well except for the music of Skid Row which Joy hums along with. He glances at her and looks her over. She’s curled in the rainbow colored bean bag chair with her knees to her chest causing her dress to billow around her ankles. Guilt rips through him. She’s in a dress, she bought that dress especially for this dance, she had painted her nails in that special pattern. She had worked so hard on the gym, put so much effort into all the decorations. She had done so much, she even baked half of the treats at the snack table. She got all dressed up to go to the dance...only to leave to come after his sorry butt.

Tears well in his eyes again and he looks down, hiding his eyes behind his droopy curling bangs.

“I’m sorry,” he says and she turns her head to look at him so fast she’s positive she just cracked her neck.

“Cassie,” she says quietly.

When he doesn’t respond she pulls his bean bag chair closer to hers until they are squished together. She frowns when he doesn’t look at her and hugs his body more. “Cas...why are you apologizing? What could you possible have done to be sorry for?”

He sniffles and fidgets in his chair trying his hardest to withhold his tears. She’s already seen him broken once tonight he won’t let it happen again.

“For everything Joy,” he says his voice shaking. “For making you leave the dance early, for going to the dance in the first place,” his breathing gets heavier as he tries to contain his tears. He can feel his face heating up from the exertion as he’s determined to stay calm, “You got all dressed up just to leave the dance because of me, and I ruined your fun. And now you don’t get to dance with all those guys you wanted to.” Tears are rolling down his hot cheeks now as he trembles and pants trying to hold tight to the last shred of control he has, “I’m sorry I made a fool of myself in front of everyone and I probably embarrassed you and--”

His rambling is cut short by a smack across his face. He blinks and finally looks up at her. She had smacked him, it hadn’t hurt and it wasn’t that hard of a hit but it has startled him. She sits staring back at him, her shoulders squared, her eyebrows knitted together, her lips pursed as her face is scrunches up.

“Seymour, you’re hysterical,” she says in a high pitched voice mimicking Audrey’s squeaky voice played by Ellen Greene.

Castel blinks as Joy relaxes a little, but doesn’t lose her sour expression.

“Now are you keep talking nonsense and apologizing for stuff that isn’t your fault?” She asks sternly in her normal voice.

Castel shakes his head still shocked that she had slapped him.

Joy nods, “Good. Now you just sit there and listen to me. You didn’t make a fool of yourself, you reacted to their bullying in the way a normal person would.” Her expression softens as her brows unknit themselves, “What they did to you was horrible and in no way your fault.”

He opens his mouth to speak, but she covers it with her hand.

“Save all incorrect objections til the end please,” she says and he begrudgingly nods. “You didn’t make me leave the dance I left out of my own free will.” Her face scrunches up again, “I was not going to stay there with a group of people who humiliated my best friend. You’re my nerd the only person who gets to mess with you is me.” She smirks and points to herself.

Castel smiles a little and chuckles at that. Hearing him laugh brings a sweet smile to Joy’s face. His smile falters and he looks up at her again, she can see the unshed tears glistening in his chocolate brown eyes.

“But you worked so hard on the decorations...just to leave.” He says his voice wobbling.

She smiles compassionately and shrugs, “So what? So I decorated the gym, who cares? You’re more important to me than some silly dance decorations.”

He smiles weakly and sniffles, “What about all those guys you wanted to dance with?”

She waves her hand dismissively, “They’re just random big dumb guys Cas. I hardly know any of them and after all of them laughed at you I didn’t want to grant any of them my attention.” She says and runs her hand through his wet curls, brushing them back out of his face. “There’s just one big dumb guy I want to give my attention too.” She sticks her tongue out at him.

He chuckles, “That’s so cheesy Joy.”

“But it’s za Gouda!” Joy says trying to have an Italian accent.

Her awful accent causes both of them to burst into laughter. As their giggles subside he smiles at her again starting to feel better, but he still feels terrible at the same time.

I can’t believe you’re friends with that dweb!

The pricks behind his eyes return with a vengeance and he swallows thickly before looking down at the floor boards.

“I’m sorry that we’re friends,” he blurts out.

Joy blinks not understanding his statement, “What?”

He sniffles, “I mean because when stuff like this happens to me...people look at you.” He rubs the back of his neck, “They associate you with me and say things like I can’t believe you’re friends with that guy...I’m an embarrassment...I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to be friends with me anymore.”

Joy sits there for a moment taking in what he’s said.

“Have I ever told you that you’re an embarrassment?”

He shakes his head, “No but--”

“Then I’m not embarrassed to be your friend,” she says sternly. “The only people I’m embarrassed by are the people who do chizz like that to you. I’m embarrassed by them because I call them my classmates.” Her voice softens and she cups his cheek, turning his head to look at her. “But I will never be embarrassed to say you’re my best friend.”

He sniffles and smiles a little and she smiles back. Her expression turns teasing and she raises an eyebrow.

“And look dude you need to like dial your ego back a little, Mr. All AP Classes. People do not associate me with you, okay? They associate you with me.” She says in mock arrogance.

He snorts and chuckles as she continues in her fake rant.

“And what’s this I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to be friends anymore shtick? You are not going to get rid of me that easily Cubs.” She grins and pokes his chest as he giggles. “I gave you my purple pen with the little tuff of feathers on the eraser, in kindergarten that was the symbol of our friendship. When you accepted it you ceremoniously agreed to be my friend.” She twists her grin to look psychotic, “Now you’re stuck with me for life pal! And no amount of punch is gonna change that!”

He laughs and smiles, “You know I still have that pen.”

“You do?” She asks surprised and she can feel a warmth lite in her chest.

He nods, “Yeah it’s in my pencil cup on my desk.” He smiles, “That’s the symbol of our friendship hm?”

“That’s right boi!”

“And as long as I have that pen I’m stuck with you?” He smirks

“Like fleas on a dog,” Joy sticks her tongue out at him.

He nods before looking up at the ceiling with a questionable look, “But what if I gave the pen back?”

Joy gasps before smacking his arm playfully, he laughs as she jokingly pouts and turns her back on him.

“Aw I’m just teasing,” he smiles and puts his head on her shoulder. “I’ll always keep that pen.”

“Darn right you will,” Joy smirks before turning around and hugging him.

He chuckles and buries his head into her mess of curls. His smile falters as the teasing plays through his head, Catch Less Cassie repeats over and over and over until the tears he’s been keeping at bay fall.

He shudders in her arms and his shoulders shake. Gritting his teeth he spits out, “I hate that stupid nickname!”

Joy frowns and hugs him tightly, “I do too.”

She pulls back a little and he drops his head to her chest as he sobs relentlessly. She frowns deeply and wraps her arms around him to hold him better as he weeps, letting purge himself dry. She’s seen him upset many times through the years of knowing him, but she’s never seen him so broken. She rocks a little as she holds him, carding her fingers through his curls, concocting a plan of revenge on those who hurt her friend.

His sobs start to mix with hiccups and coughs as he tries to catch his breath. Joy is pulled from her thoughts of scratching Tiffany’s eyes out when Castel starts to choke.

“Cassie Cassie hey,” she says worried and gently pushes him to sitting position. He coughs and gags, hiccups and cries all while trying to catch his breath.

“Alright alright Casanova you gotta calm down. You’re gonna make yourself sick,” she says as she lifts one of the loose floor boards.

The board had broken years ago and when they were going to put the new one in Castel had the idea to not nail it in place. Instead they’ve been using it as a secret hiding spot for drinks and snacks. Joy makes a mental note seeing their stash is running low as she pulls out a bottle of water.“Here drink,” she instructs handing the bottle to her blubbering friend.

He fumbles with the cap for a moment before he manages to get it open. He downs about half the bottle followed by several deep breaths. Once he’s got himself calm again Joy smiles a little.

“Better?”

He nods and downs the rest of his water, gagging a little when the liquid goes down the wrong pipe. Even though his insides are all a mess from this whole night, he does feel better. He wipes his eyes feverishly rubbing away any remaining tears.

She smiles at his flushed face, the red skin amplifying his freckles making them ‘pop’ more. His eyes are tinted red but they don’t look so hurt anymore and his lips curl into a weak smile.

“Good,” she says as he runs his hand through his hair, causing a few surviving red droplets to spring into the air. “Now don’t give it anymore energy, they don’t deserve anymore of your thoughts, feelings, or anything.” She smiles kindly.

He smiles and nods, “Yeah. Let’s just forget about the whole thing for a while,” he says and looks back at the television seeing Audrey 2 trying to convince Seymour to kill the jerky dentist boyfriend. “Let’s just watch the movie.”

“Sounds good,” she nods and looks back at the screen tapping her foot to the beat of Feed Me.

They are both silent for a while and Castel’s eyes shift from the little screen to the wall of pictures. He smiles at the bunch of photos taped and stapled into the wood; selfies, photobooths, parties, pictures their parents had take of them, some they had take of each other, and so on. He loves those pictures because she’s in them, she’s in each and every one with him. He smiles more thinking about how they’ve grown so much over the years, how they’ve each gone in different directions and yet they’re still together. He takes comfort in the thought that she will always be there for him.

His mind flows in and out of memories with her: messing around in class, passing notes, playing in the woods, hot summers spent in the tree house, cold winters curled up in their blanket fort having monster movie marathons, there’s not a single point in his life he can think of that doesn’t have her in it. Thoughts of his best friend flood his mind, their adventures, their games, their aimless drives. Her smiles, her laugh, her eyes, her asleep against him. Warmth pools in his chest as his stomach starts to swirl. And then an image of earlier tonight fills his brain, how she had looked when she came down the stairs. How beautiful she looked, how utterly perfect she looked, how amazing she looked.

His heart starts to beat in an odd tempo and he realizes a blush has appeared on his face as he sits here in his own thoughts. He glances at her hoping she hasn’t noticed--she hasn’t. He then looks down at his lap, thoughts like that had started about a year ago. And it wasn’t just thoughts, feelings were attached to those thoughts. He loved hearing her laugh or seeing her smile, or seeing her eyes light up or watching her paint. He loves how she smells like coconuts and orchids, soft and gentle with just a hint of sweetness. He loved when they’d watch movies for hours on end and they end up falling asleep together. He’d wake up to find her leaning against him using him as a pillow; when he was younger he’d wake her up before shifting to the floor and letting her have the couch. But now he finds he doesn’t want to wake her up, she looks so peaceful curled up against him and he just didn’t want that end by waking her.

His insides flutter and he tries hard to focus on the dancing alien plant on the screen as he feels the warmth spread throughout his body.

“You really kept that pen?” Her voice breaks his thoughts.

He blinks and looks at her to see her eyes are still glued on the screen.

“After all these years you still have it?”

He nods and rubs the back of his neck--starting to feel that maybe that was a weird thing to tell her. The pen had run out of ink years ago, but whenever he went to throw it out he couldn’t. He’d hold it over the trash bin staring at it trying to get his fingers to uncurl, but they just wouldn’t. He loves that pen. When he was younger it meant he had a friend, the best friend in the world. Now it means something different to him...something he’s not will to admit out loud. Every time he sees the sparkly purple pen with a tuff of purple feathers on the eraser end he thinks of her and how lucky he is to be in her life. He smiles every time it catches his eye when he’s doing homework, it makes his stomach flutter and his heart pound as he thinks of the beautiful, sweet, caring girl who gave it to him. He can’t throw it out.

“Yeah, yeah it uh...it means a lot to me.” He says nervously, “I’m sure that sounds silly but--”

“It’s not silly,” she cuts in still not looking at him.

“It’s not?” He asks surprised.

“No,” she says quietly. “It’s not silly at all.”

He blinks and watches her for a moment. She plays with the frill of her dress, her eyes glued to the screen, but she keeps fidgeting and shifting in her bean bag chair. He has no idea that the fact that he’s kept the pen from years long ago warms her. He has no idea how the fact that he won’t throw it out makes her heart beat funny. He has no idea how him holding on to that pen means the world to her.

“I mean I still have that key chain you gave me when we were eight,” she mutters quietly as she fidgets more in the chair.

He smiles a little, “The one little dolphin shaped one I got for you when we went on that field trip to the aquarium?”

She nods and he doesn’t fail to notice the faint pinkish color her cheeks are turning. Not feeling so weird anymore, his smile grows. That little key chain was so small and she never had a key to put it on, he was positive it would have gotten lost, misplaced, or thrown out. But she had kept it, she has made sure she always knew where it was. She had held onto it not because she liked it or anything, the little plastic dorky looking dolphin was worn out now; the tip of its snout chipped off, there are scratches in the faded tacky blue color, and it just looks like it should have had a proper burial years ago. But it’s for the same reason as him with the pen why she can’t throw it away. Whenever she goes through her thousands of key chains to find her house key she sees the hideous goofy looking dolphin. And even though the sight of it would make any other person cringe, it makes her smile and makes warm funny feelings course through her--because he had given it to her. And that’s all that matters.

He smiles brightly and looks back at the screen. Out of the corner of his eye he sees her body shake slightly before she runs her hands up and down her arms--the light jacket about as useful as a screen door in a submarine. Without a single word he wraps his arm around her, pulling her close to his chest. They had cuddled together more times than she can even count--watching movies, during thunderstorms, around the fire, this was not something new. And yet it makes her insides melt.

Being so close to him now her body is able to absorb the warmth he gives off. His arm wrapped tight around her, holding her close, and Good Golly Miss Molly does he smell good! His natural Cassie musk and the woodsy scent of his cologne is just hinted with the sweet fruity smell of the punch in the most intoxicating way. The image of him standing at the bottom of the staircase in that suit floods every brain cells. He had looked so handsome and dashing and grown up--nothing like the dork she’s lived down the street from. He very rarely strays from his t-shirt, ripped jeans, flannel, and cap combo so she was a little shell shocked to see him all shiny and fresh like that. Even now in a punch soaked dress shirt, tie, and sweater he still looks utterly striking and--dare she say it--cute! She’s unable to stop her blush from deepening in color as her eyes stay glued onto the screen.

They are both quiet for a while, watching as Seymour cuts up the dentist and feeds him to Audrey 2.

“I wish I could feed Tiffany to Audrey 2,” Joy says bluntly her eyes darkening.

Castel snorts before chuckling and she can feel the rumbling in his chest--the tremors zipping down into her butterfly filled belly. She looks up at him to see he’s smiling at her, both his lip and eyes bright. 

“If anyone could do it and get away with it, it’d be you Joy.” He chuckles.

She grins before pursing her lips and placing her pinkie against the corner of her mouth--like Dr. Evil. This makes both of the teens laugh hysterically in their bean bag chairs.

Castel wipes a few mirthful tears from his eyes, “Some night to remember huh?”

Joy cocks her head, “What do you mean?”

He shrugs still smiling, “Supposed to be spending the night at a dance. Got all dressed up just to sit in a tree house watching Levi Stubbs intimidate Rick Moranis into committing heinous murders.”

“Well at least this is the one with the original ending,” Joy points out. “Not that lovey dovey happy ending Frank Oz wrote to appease the viewers.”

Castel laughs again and nods, “I have to agree the ending where everyone dies is a high point of this evening.”

Joy smiles and rolls her eyes before she bites the inside of her cheek.

“Well...tonight doesn’t have to be a total flop.” She says her eyes locked with the television screen.

“What do you mean?” He asks

“Well we are dressed up,” she says looking down at her dress. She shrugs, “We do have music and if we push the television back against the wall there would be enough space.” She smiles up at him jubilantly, “We can have our own Valentine’s day dance right here, right now!”

He smiles and shakes his head, “Joy I’m fine with just sitting here. Honest I am.”

“Nope too late it’s already in motion!” She giggles before springing to her feet and carefully moving the television and milk crate back against the wall.

He watches her turn the television off, spin around to the CD player, and turn it on. Pulling open the top plastic drawer she rifles through the numerous items that fill it, until she pulls out a cd case. She pops the cd in and presses play. Soon the tree house is filled with the soft melody of Don’t Know Why by Norah Jones.

“Come on Cassie,” she says spinning to face him.

He smiles and chuckles a little, “Joy I really don’t--”

“Oh woe is me!” Joy cries and puts her hand to her forehead dramatically. “I have come to this dance without a date!”

He chuckles more, “Joy--”

“And here I am in my dress on Valentine’s day without someone to dance with!” She cries in mock sadness.

He rolls his eyes smiling at her, “Joy I--”

“Oh if only I had some nice young gentlemen to accompany me this evening! Perhaps I’d have someone to dance with on this romantic night! But alas I do not!” She pouts deeply, dramatically sighing. “Harumph!”

He grins and decides if he tries to protest, or speak at all, she’s just going to keep this act up--and Joy can stay in character for hours on end. So he shrugs and figures ‘why the heck not?’. He stands and walks over to her clearing his throat. Joy’s eyes brighten.

“Oh happy day, a gentleman caller!” She says with a southern belle accent. “My aren’t you a tall drink of water Sir!”

Castel smiles and blushes a little before remembering to play along. Taking up his own southern accent he says, “I couldn’t help but notice you from across the way ma’am and I just had to come speak with you. You are looking very beautiful yourself tonight.” She giggles and he grins, “I wont stay too long for I’m sure your date will come looking for you, it is valentine’s day after all.”

“No need to worry dear Sir for I have no date.”

“A young pretty thing as yourself is here at this dance without a date?” He asks in mock surprise.

Even though she knows they’re just playing around she can’t help the way his words cause the butterflies in her belly to spin like mad.

“Afraid that is my fate,” she smiles. “Of course it could be fixed.”

He grins and pretends to look around at the imaginary people. “Well I don’t see anyone coming to snag you away from me. So in that case,” he smiles at her again before bowing slightly, “would you honor me with a dance young lady?”

Joy giggles and curtsies, “I’d be happy to oblige good Sir.”

They both smile as she takes his hand. He puts his other hand on her waist and she rests her other hand on his shoulder. They sway back and forth around the little room as the song shifts to Little Moon by MacKenzie Bourg.

He smiles, “What CD is this?”

“My own mix CD,” Joy smiles brightly. “A bunch of songs I like and they’re great for slow dancing.”

He chuckles and twirls her around. When they come back together they’re closer and she rests her head on his shoulder. He smiles and rests his head against hers. They sway back and forth to the beat in silence. Joy smiles into his shoulder.

“You’re a good dancer,” she says into his shoulder.

He smiles into her hair, “Well I had a really good teacher.”

Joy blushes a little remembering how she had taught him when they were ten and had gotten snowed in at her family’s cabin. He was really clumsy at first, but everything takes practice. Now they were fifteen and sixteen and he’s a lot smoother and more confident. 

“Tiffany really missed out,” she says before she can stop herself. Stupid mouth! Stupid brain!

She half-expects him to get all tense and flustered, but to her surprise he laughs. The deep noise rumbles against her chest causing her to blush more--she’s thankful he can’t see her face.

“I guess she did huh?” He smiles feeling his face start to heat up.

“Yeah,” Joy smirks. “But there is an upside to all of this.”

“What’s that?”

She giggles a little, “You smell like fruit now.”

He chuckles along with her as they dance. Her hands slide up to wrap around his neck and she rests her cheek against his shoulder. His hands automatically drop to her waist and he rests his chin on her shoulder. He starts to realize how close they are and his heart starts to pound hard in his chest. Gosh he loves her! He loves moments like this with her, but it’s a double edged sword. The more moments he has like this with her makes her feel like less of his best friend and more of his girlfriend...or at least he wants her to be. But he doesn’t want to risk the friendship they already have.

“Cassie,” Joy’s small voice says. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure Joy,” he says and he hates the way his voice falters on her name.

She’s quiet for a moment before she says, “Did you really like Tiffany?”

He pauses a moment to think about her question. “Well she’s pretty...”

“Is that it?”

He shrugs before he spins her again, “Well she seemed like a nice person. I guess I didn’t really like her per-say as I liked the idea of her.”

Joy nods with an odd expression on her face. He doesn’t get to ask what’s up because she hides her face in his shoulder again.

“So let’s say none of this happened tonight...let’s say you ended up dancing with Tiffany.” She pauses, “Do you think you would have asked her out?”

He scrunches his eyebrows together, “What does it matter Joy?”

She shrugs but he can feel her tense in his arms, “Just curious is all. Trying to have a conversation you know?”

He nods, “Well...I guess maybe. But I think eventually I’d find out what a horrible person she is and I’d break up with her.” He smiles into her curls, “Just cause someone is pretty on the outside doesn’t mean they’re pretty on the inside.”

Joy smiles a little out of relief at his answer. Ok Miss Joy next question.

“Alright well...what if someone else in our school liked you?”

He blinks and glances at her, “Joy what are talking about?”

“Well I know you’ve been asking out a lot of girls and they’ve been turning you down...” she swallows, “I’m just curious if someone came up to you and told you they liked you...what would you do?”

He contemplates her question for a moment, “Joy do you know something?”

“Castel just answer the question,” she says sternly.

He blinks and shrugs, “I-I-I don’t know...I mean it’d be great to know someone liked me. But the last time a girl came up and asked me out it ended with me covered in punch so...”

“Well what if the girl that liked you wasn’t an evil witch in sheep’s clothing.”

He blinks and slows their swaying to a halt. He pulls back to look at her, but she refuses to meet his eyes. Instead she looks passed him at the cartoon dog poster on the wall that reads Lazy Dayz. Her cheeks are red and she drops her hands from his neck to his shoulders. She looks a little flustered as she stands here in front of him. He has no idea what’s brought this all on, but he does know if he asks without answering her she will only avoid the question. He decides to make a bargain with her.

“If I answer that question will you tell me what’s brought this all on?” He asks gently

Her eyes lock with his for a brief second before they dart to the floor.

“Yeah sure,” she says. “Now answer me.”

He nods and rubs the back of his neck, “Well...yeah if the girl wasn’t using me, or making a joke out of me, or just being mean...it’d be nice.”

She nods and shifts her eyes to the CD player, “Good to know.”

“Now your turn,” he says gently.

She nods and looks down at the floor before looking up at him. “Just curious honestly. You deserve someone who will treat you the way you should be treated, and not use you as a joke or just use you.” She looks down again, “That’s all.”

He nods slightly and pulls her close again and starts to sway. Joy bites her lip feeling her heart hammering in her chest. She’s so close! She could do it! It’s killing her, she doesn’t care about the risks anymore. She needs to tell him, even if it changes everything between them she needs to say it. It’s been driving her insane for months. Feelings that caused her belly to get all twisty and do flip flops had started months ago and have been eating her alive! She didn’t want to tell him for fear of losing him as her friend but...she can’t take it anymore! Moments like this make it so hard to swallow her feelings. She has to tell him. Just for her own sanity! And if things get weird they’ll work it out, just like they always have. Ugh, but she feels so mushy and gushy and shaky. But how can she even start to tell him how much she loves him? She blinks as an idea pops in her head. It could work...it’s risky, it’s a big leap, and he could react in some many different ways. But it’s so crazy it just might work!

“You know I haven’t given you your Valentine’s Day gift yet.” She says into his shoulder.

“Aw Joy,” he smiles a little. “Don’t worry about it.”

“No, no I want to give it to you,” she smiles nervously.

“Well we’ll worry about the gifts later okay?”

“No I have your gift is here,” she says quickly gripping his sweater tight in her fists.

“It is?” He asks surprised.

“Yes,” she says and pulls back. “I’ll get it.” She says and steps away from him.

His arms drops to his sides heavily and he forces himself not to pout at their separation--she’s so warm and he misses that warmth. He misses having his arms around her...and she’s only been away from him for a second.

“Alright,” he forces a smile. “Yours is at my house. My folks are probably gone by now, I can go get--”

“No!” She squeaks and clears her throat, “I mean no you can get it later. I want to give you mine now.”

He runs his hands up and down the sides of his thighs for a moment, “O-okay.”

She smiles, “You have to close your eyes first.”

He chuckles and smiles, “Alright alright I’ll play along.”

He closes his eyes and puts his hands in his pockets. He hears her soft footsteps against the hard wood of the floor. He feels her stepping closer to him and he assumes she’s coming to give him the gift. 

“Your eyes are shut tight?” Her voice asks

“Yes ma’am,” he chuckles.

“Ok keep them shut until I tell you to open them.”

“Understood,” he smiles.

“You promise?”

He pauses a moment unsure of why he needs to promise, but hey he’ll play along for Joy.

“I promise not to open my eyes until you say otherwise.”

“Ok,” she says quietly.

There’s silence between for a moment or two and he’s starting to feel a little nervous, considering he doesn’t hear her moving at all. Then suddenly he feels a pressure against his lips. It’s warm and soft, but pressure nonetheless. He’s a little taken back by this but...it feels good! But his surprise wins over and his eyes open.

He sees Joy...with her eyes shut pressing her lips against his! Surprise takes control and he ignores how great that felt as his heart rate kicks into double time. As soon as his lips pull back from hers, her eyes snap open. Her cheeks flush to a deep red and her caramel eyes are wide in shock.

“Hey,” she says timidly, “you promised.”

He blinks as she recoils away from him. She takes a few quick steps back from him, her eyes glue themselves to the floor, and she starts to play with her hair the way she always does when she’s nervous.

“I-I-I’m sorry Cassie. I just...I needed to...I didn’t know how else...” she stammers her heart beating so fast she could enter it in the Indy 500. The winged insects swirl in her belly like a hurricane as she starts to feel every part of her body begin to tremble. She takes a deep breath, “Look Cassie I’m sorry I just...I’m sorry this is weird and I understand if you never want to speak to me again but I’ve got to tell you.” She looks up at him her eyes filling with tears, “I love you.”

Castel just stares at her his mouth closed and his eyes...unreadable. The butterflies spin faster, but she continues.

“I don’t just mean as a friend. I’ve loved you for a while now and...I didn’t want to ever say anything cause I didn’t want to lose you, but it’s been killing me!” She stomps her foot, gripping her hair and shutting her eyes tight. “And then after seeing the way they treated you tonight and how broken you were I just couldn’t take it anymore! We can pretend it never happened, alright? I’m sorry it was wrong and I’m so so so sorry Cassie. Just please I don’t want to lose you and--” her babbling is cut off as he presses his lips against hers.

His hands are on her cheeks pulling her closer as he kisses her. Her eyes flutter closed and she wraps her arms around his neck. Their lips mesh together, exploring the other’s mouth. The pounding in her ears drowns out the lyrics of MacKenzie Bourg’s work as she falls into this sweet moment of bliss. 

He breaks the kiss and watches her eyes slowly open. And she stares back at him with a slightly dazed look. He smiles sweetly and he gently pushes the loose curls behind her ear.

“You’re never going to lose me,” he smiles, “ever Jo-jo.”

She blinks before a small smile tugs at her lips.

He chuckles, “You’re stuck with me, learn to deal with it.” He teases and sticks his tongue out and winks at her.

She giggles and smiles teasingly, “I’ll give it a try.”

They both snicker as she pulls him close to her kissing him again.

That night is spent listening to her slow dance mix track, sitting in his bean bag chair with her dress bunched up against him as she sits scrunched up next him. Thousands of kisses are shared in the soft glow of the christmas lights and it’s so warm in the little tree house the February breeze goes unnoticed. Things will forever be different between them, but different is good. It’s a different they’ve both secretly wanted for a long time. A different they’ve each fantasized about, a different they’ve dreamed about. But a different that they thought was completely out of reach. But now the unreachable was possible!

A wonderful, amazing, incredible night they will both forever remember.

[itsiotrecords-blog]

http://ift.tt/2sWzyei

When it comes to our health, we’d be dumb not to take it seriously. There’s a huge industry surrounding health, wellness, and fitness, and we’ve all invested in our health at some point. Some people do that by watching what they eat and keeping to a certain calorie count. Others do it by working out a few times a week and setting goals for themselves that they strive to meet. Still, others go out of their way to adhere to different health tips to jump start their own health. There’s no problem with doing any of these things or all of these things for that matter. However, problems will start to arise when you rely too much on health tips that seem like they work, but actually, don’t do anything to make you healthier. Some of those tips can even harm your health. We decided to take some of the biggest health tips out there that aren’t so healthy and debunk them. Some of these health tips, while not especially helpful, are pretty harmless because they don’t really do anything. However, some of these tips that have been passed down through the generations, sometimes over the course of hundreds of years, are actually quite harmful. The worst part is that a lot of people don’t know, or they’re unwilling to acknowledge it. While most of these tips aren’t “ancient,” they have been around for awhile, and old health tips die hard. Here are fifteen health tips that we should probably leave to history.

#1 Eat Less, Move More While there is some truth to diet and exercise leading to weight loss, this adage is some of the least useful advice you could give someone who’s trying to take charge of their health. While health can depend on your choices, most aspects of health are beyond what we can control. “Eat less, move more” is the advice professionals have been giving for years. This advice doesn’t work though. Yes you have to do those things but telling people to do that in itself is useless. There are strong biological/environmental factors at play working against that very advice. “Having obesity isn’t just some decision that people wake up and decide on,” says Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, a physician that specializes in treating patients with obesity. It’s because of this that just telling people to eat less and move more is actively harmful. Willpower isn’t the answer to weight loss, positive reinforcement is. The people who successfully achieve their health goals do it not because they’re forcing themselves, but because they’re essentially being rewarded by their own health and wellness plan. The best way to take charge of your health is to figure out what works best for you and just do that.

#2 Don’t Eat After 8 PM One major dieting tip that many of us have heard is not to eat after 8PM. Late night snacking, according to people who support this, is the death of any diet. However, those people are wrong. A study published in 2015 in The Journal of Nutrition found that eating healthy food at night led to more muscle mass and strength gains. As long as you pick healthy food to eat at night, you should be totally fine. If you have a health issue like diabetes, you actually have to eat at night in order to stay healthy. You can even lose weight while eating at night, because it’s not about what time you eat, it’s about what you eat. If you’re not trying to lose weight, you can still benefit from eating at night: having a small snack before you go to sleep can actually help you sleep better.

#3 Get Stung On Purpose Because Bee Venom Can Fight HIV Some people have been intentionally getting stung by bees for the health benefits, sometimes in an actual therapeutic setting. Like a lot of different alternative health crazes, this one isn’t really backed up with scientific evidence. However, this hasn’t stopped people from claiming that it cures a ton of different diseases from allergies to psychological evidence to HIV. Seriously, a study found that a component in bee venom could help fight HIV. While this is certainly interesting research, we need to stress that this is preliminary research that could end up getting debunked as scientists explore this further. If someone trying to sell you on bee stings as a health treatment as a treatment for diseases as serious as HIV, know that they’re not nearly as informed about health issues as they think they are.

#4 Smoking Cigarettes Will Keep Your Weight Down Many smokers start smoking or continue the habit because they think it helps keep their weight down. This is actually true: since nicotine was first discovered, people have been using it as an appetite suppressant. Many people who quit smoking find that their weight ends up going up, and that can be really discouraging for those people who are trying to quit cigarettes but appreciated the lower weight that smoking gave them. While this is one of those things that works, this is one of those tips that you absolutely should not be using. While you are suppressing your appetite, making it easier for you to lose weight and potentially keeping it off, you’re also suppressing the health of your lungs and the rest of your body. This is a good example of unhealthy weight loss. Many people believe that all weight loss is actually good, but when you’re using cigarettes to keep your weight down, you’re losing weight at the expense of your short and long term health.

#5 Detoxing The detoxing myth has been pretty pervasive, especially over the last few years. People have been creating detox water recipes for years now, and many people who swear by it have said that it’s the best thing they could have done for their health. Unfortunately, a lot of this seems to be placebo effect. “Let’s be clear,” says Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University who sat down with the Guardian, “there are two types of detox: one is respectable and the other isn’t.” The respectable one, he says, is the medical treatment of people with life-threatening drug addictions. “The other is the word being hijacked by entrepreneurs, quacks and charlatans to sell a bogus treatment that allegedly detoxifies your body of toxins you’re supposed to have accumulated.” He’s right: if toxins actually built up in a way that our bodies couldn’t get rid of, we’d literally be dead. Detoxing is basically trying to fix something that was never broken in the first place.

#6 Cutting Out Fat To Lose Weight Fat-free foods have been around forever now because many people believe that you can lose weight by simply not eating fat. The truth is actually a bit more complicated than that. It turns out that eating fat helps you lose weight, not the other way around. The key to losing weight isn’t cutting out fat, it’s cutting out food that makes your body store fat. You want to eat food that helps you burn fat instead. Fat-free food tends to have more sugar in it, and if that sugar doesn’t get burned off, it gets stored in your body as fat. Processed carbohydrates are what cause you to gain weight, not the healthy fat that in foods like salmon and avocado. Just make sure you’re eating healthy fats, not unhealthy ones. The more natural healthy fats you eat, the better it is for your health: your blood sugar will stabilize and won’t trigger the insulin high that causes your body to store fat.

#7 The Tapeworm Diet While some diets are all about restricting the food you eat or even maximizing the food you eat, the tapeworm diet is all about the parasites you literally put in your body. While many people do subscribe to this, I hope it goes without saying that this is a very dumb thing to do. Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, the medical director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, wrote a health directive about it last year detailing why this diet is a terrible idea. “Tapeworms will cause you to lose weight because you have this huge worm in your intestines eating your food,” Quinlisk said. That goes without saying, but the effects are even worse. “Ingesting tapeworms is extremely risky and can cause a wide range of undesirable side effects, including rare deaths,” Quinlisk wrote in an email statement, according to the Des Moines Register. “Those desiring to lose weight are advised to stick with proven weight loss methods — consuming fewer calories and increasing physical activity.” Having a tapeworm in your body, aside from being extraordinarily painful, can cause human cysticercosis, which can cause eye damage and get spread very easily.

#8 You Need To Feel The Burn When You Workout Many people believe that the best thing to do during your workouts is to make sure you feel the burn afterward. You want your workout to hurt, or else you didn’t work hard enough, right? Wrong. Sure, you want to push yourself as far as your body can go to see the best results, but if you’re leaving the gym feeling terrible, sore and wrung out, that’s not the best results at all. This idea has already been debunked by doctors and experts, but this idea is still hanging around because we as people tend to conflate pain with success. If something is hard, then it’s worth doing, isn’t it? It’s not, and if you’re feeling real pain when you work out, you should stop and reconsider your workout plan. Your workouts should totally be challenging, but if they really hurt, it’s just going to discourage you from actually doing them and keep you out of the gym, which simply defeats the purpose.

#9 The Sleeping Beauty Diet The Sleeping Beauty diet is one that literally involves getting sedated to lose weight. Either you take pills to sleep, or you force yourself to sleep whenever you’re feeling hungry. Not only does sleeping a lot, let alone several days straight not help you get any thinner, using pills to sleep that much could cause you to get hooked on the very addicting sleeping pills. Sure, you can wake up a few pounds thinner from sleeping that much, but if you use chemicals to help you stay asleep and end up using too many, you might not wake up at all. Even if the pills didn’t cause health issues, sleeping too much can lead to diabetes, heart disease and an increased risk of death. It could even lead to weight gain, which is the opposite of the goal you’re trying to accomplish with this. Basically, this just leads to more harm than good.

#10 Over-Reliance On Essential Oils The essential oil craze has been everywhere these days. Essential oils are basically concentrated extracts from different plants that are known to have health benefits. While essential oils can be beneficial, they can be downright harmful if you use them wrong. Using undiluted essential oils on your skin can actually cause dermatitis, and that effect is even worse if you ingest the oils the way big essential oil companies want you to. The issue with essential oils is not their efficacy, though. Some oils have been proven to have beneficial effects, like tea tree oils and lavender. The problem is when essential oils are said to do a lot more than they actually do. For example, doTERRA and Young Living, two huge essential oil peddlers, have made the claim that their oils can treat ebola. Yes, that ebola. Essential oils work, but we need to be realistic about it and look at the evidence to show what exactly they can be used for.

#11 Putting Things In Your V– One very strange health trend that’s been circulating around is the idea of the stone yoni egg. Yoni eggs are heavy stones, often made out of jade or quartz, that are put in your vagina to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. Basically, you insert the egg like you would a tampon, and then use your muscles to hold it in as you go about your day. If you’re a man, you might think that that seems easy, but any woman knows that holding a heavy stone egg with your pelvic floor muscles isn’t all that easy. There’s even a device called Elvie that basically combines the yoni egg idea with the mechanics behind the Fitbit. While the Elvie has been tested and many women have found that it actually helps their pelvic floor muscles, inserting big crystals into your vagina is a monumentally bad idea. Jade is porous, so leaving the stone in your vagina while you sleep can actually allow for bacteria to develop in there, which is not what you want because that can cause toxic shock syndrome, the thing women can get if they leave their tampons in for too long. This tip was popularized by Gwyneth Paltrow, the woman behind other crazy tips like “vagina steaming.” To add insult to injury, these jade eggs are really expensive. If you’re looking to strengthen your pelvic floor, either get a device like the Elvie and use it as directed or just do Kegel exercises, which are good for both men and women.

#12 Bundling Up From The Cold To Avoid Getting Sick One piece of advice we always heard as kids is that we need to bundle up when it gets really cold out to avoid getting sick. While bundling up to shield ourselves from the cold is a good thing because it keeps us warm and comfortable in tough winters, it doesn’t really shield you from illnesses like the common cold. Basic science tells us that cold doesn’t cause illness, germs do, and germs can’t really be stopped by winter clothes. What the cold actually does is make it really hard for your body to bounce back once you’re already sick. Lower temperatures make it harder for your body’s immune system to kick in. It’s still good to bundle up during the winter anyway because it’s good to not be exposed to the cold and the potential complications of that, but the benefits have nothing to do with warding off illness.

#13 Drink Apple Cider Vinegar To Cut Sugar Cravings (And Cure Cancer?) One health tip that’s been circulating around recently is drinking apple cider vinegar with every meal. There’s a weird cult-like following around this because of the potential benefits involved: drinking apple cider vinegar is said to have a ton of fiber and nutrients and has the potential to everything from curing sugar cravings to cancer. While there are studies that back up the benefits of apple cider vinegar, by no means should you be drinking this stuff undiluted every day. Drinking it on an empty stomach can make you feel nauseous, but drinking it after a meal negates that, acting as an appetite suppressant so you don’t overeat. On top of that, drinking it undiluted can actually burn your esophagus, kind of like the way vodka burns your throat without the pleasant buzz that comes afterwards. If you plan on trying this out, mix a tablespoon of vinegar with 8 oz of water, and drink it with a straw so you don’t taste feet, which is kind of what apple cider vinegar tastes like. Ultimately, apple cider vinegar is great for some things (like your hair, for example), but drinking it is overrated.

#14 The Grapefruit Diet The grapefruit diet has been a big deal because of the claim that you can lose ten pounds in ten days on it. You don’t eat just grapefruit for ten days thankfully, but you do have to eat or drink a lot of it, accompanied with high protein and low carbs. While grapefruit does cause you to lose weight, this diet’s effects aren’t nearly as pronounced as celebrities say. A research study was done to see how grapefruit affects weight loss, and they found that while the people eating lots of grapefruits had lower blood pressure and cholesterol because of their restricted diet, they didn’t lose more weight than the control group. Grapefruit is great for you because it contains a ton of vitamin C and an antioxidant called lycopene that fights free radicals and helps prevent cancer, and it should definitely be a part of your diet. However, the effects of the grapefruit diet are highly exaggerated, and it’s just not practical to do this.

#15 The Cabbage Soup Diet The cabbage soup diet has been around for a long time, and a lot of people have sworn that it works. Unfortunately, this diet plan isn’t just terrible and ineffective, it’s boring. Sure, you’d lose weight on this diet, but you wouldn’t be doing it because of the cabbage soup, you’d be doing it because you’re literally starving. Eating mostly cabbage soup for a week robs your body of nutrients that aren’t in the soup. What’s really dangerous about this is that people are still going out of their way to say this works. Some people are even writing books about it, claiming erroneously that the diet is prescribed for heart patients when that’s not actually the case. That claim is even more laughable once you realize that cabbage soup is very low in protein and very high in salt, which isn’t a great mix for those trying to lose weight in a healthy, effective way. A good rule of thumb to go by when it comes to choosing a diet is to not pick something that makes you rely on one kind of food only.

Source: TheRichest