Me For You
February 14, 2025
one — 2 / 14
Valentine’s Day, 3 years ago
Cade
“Cade—did you hear me?” A soft tug on my arm brings my attention off the red Converse across from me and up to the hazel eyes of the girl who’s wearing them. Melody Gray, the girlfriend of my best friend, and the best friend of the girl I’ve been hopelessly in love with for years.
“Sorry, Mel, just zoned out for a second.” I shake out of my daze, trying to focus on her and our conversation. My eyes bounce from the red heart clips floating in her long brown hair back to the charm bracelet Abbott gave her today, then right back to her shoes.
“I asked if you trust me?” Sitting in the beanbag across from me, she stretches her legs out to kick my feet.
“Uh, yeah, I think so…I mean, of course I do,” I sputter out. Way to sell it, Cade. I play with the hem of my shirt, suddenly finding it fascinating.
“Yeah, right.” She rolls her eyes. “What are you so worried about then? I’ll make sure everything goes according to plan tonight with Halle. You may not believe it yet, but I am a great wingwoman.”
Right, the plan. The only plan is that Mel has a plan, but she hasn’t exactly told me what she’s got up her sleeve, which has not been friendly to an overthinker like me.
I’m only slightly worried about what it actually entails, but I’m majorly worried about what Halle is going to think when I open up to her. I want us to be a possibility more than anything, and both her brother and best friend are rooting for it too. I just worry what her reaction will be, especially after how she reacted to Mel and Abbott being a couple.
“Well, we all know someone hasn’t been the biggest fan of their brother,” I point at Abbott, who’s locked in on his video game more than our conversation, “and best friend dating. So logically, what are the chances she would ever want to date her brother’s best friend?”
“Halle’s so over that!” she says, like it’s been a long time since her and Abbott finally spilled the beans, not the three months it’s been since they told Halle at Thanksgiving dinner.
Our families have a tradition of spending every major holiday together, typically celebrating at the Cooper house. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, you name it—the Walsh, Gray, and Cooper families are together under one roof.
“If you say so.” I lean further back into the bean bag I’m sitting on, and try to act less ‘worried’ so that maybe Mel will let me overthink in peace.
I think I hear the front door of the Cooper house open downstairs, and the alarm system chirp that follows confirms my suspicions. I can hear the familiar set of footsteps getting closer as she makes her way up the stairs to where her and Abbott’s bedrooms are. I can see everything in my mind as I hear it—she’s skipping steps, her sweeping blonde waves are floating behind her; the way she moves through the house hasn’t changed in the ten years they’ve lived here.
It was early fall when the Coopers moved into the house next to mine. I got off the school bus at the end of our road. On the way home, I noticed a moving truck in the driveway next door and a family carrying boxes inside. I recognized the shaggy blonde haired boy as someone I had played plenty of little league baseball games against. I was a little too curious for my own good and walked myself right inside their house, and waited for someone to notice me.
Halle saw me first, I’ll never forget the look of pure terror on her seven year old face when she saw a strange boy in her new house. Abbott quickly befriended me, he was mostly just happy to have someone to play catch with besides his little sister. They didn’t really get along until Halle started high school, and the four of us have been inseparable ever since.
Halle walks right past the open door of Abbott’s room, heading straight to hers, but then backtracks and peeks her head in the door.
“I didn’t think you’d be here already.” She smiles wide.
“Me?” Mel and I ask at the same time.
Jinx, you owe me a soda! I can practically hear it in her old kid voice.
I hang my head in defeat, I never win these things. “Cherry Coke?”
Mel nods smugly, and we both turn our attention back to Halle.
Halle’s gaze hangs on me for a beat longer than usual, before shifting it back to Mel. “Both of you, I guess, but I do have plans with Cade.”
My chest warms and I feel the heat rising to my cheeks at the mention of us spending time together.
“Ooooo, like a date? It is Valentine’s Day…” Mel trails off with a small smirk.
I shoot her daggers with my eyes and catch Halle doing the same.
“No! We just don’t want to third wheel with you guys until the party later,” Halle rushes out. “Plus, neither of us have anything pink or red to wear, and according to the invites that you made, it’s required for entry,” she defends.
She’s right, it’s not a date, but hearing her say that it wasn’t was like a knife to the heart. Maybe this whole plan I made with Mel isn’t a good idea after all.
“I stand by it! Themed parties are the best, and if you don’t want to follow it, that’s not the energy I want to be around all night!”
“She’s got a point,” Abbott chimes in, taking his headset off and putting his controller down.
“Then we better get going.” Halle pretends to look at her nonexistent watch and then walks over to me. “We’re running out of time to find something,” she says as she pulls me up off the beanbag by the arm and hustles us out of the room.
We keep our speed running down the stairs and out to the driveway, where we find our way to the “secret” path that leads to my house.
I drive us to a thrift store that’s farther from our neighborhood—even though the one right down the street is always better—so we can have a longer drive. A longer drive means more music, and sometimes that’s just more important than convenience. Over the years, Halle and I have bonded over having the exact same music taste—a little bit of everything, but mostly alternative rock and pop punk. Sometimes it feels like she’s the only person in the world who understands just how much music means to me. She’s at least the only person I feel comfortable enough to show the songs I write.
On the drive over, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking too deeply into the lyrics of the songs she was playing. She’s always thinking about the perfect soundtrack for life. What song plays in each and every situation. Is she in a love song mood because it’s Valentine’s Day? Is there some sort of secret meaning? Does she feel the same about me as I feel about her?
Even though we’re just looking for outfits for the party, I still like imagining that this is a date. Heck, if Mel is as great of a wing woman as she claims to be, maybe our future selves will look back on this and think it was a date.
We’re walking up and down the color-coded T-shirt aisles, looking through the racks. Halle’s on one side, and I’m on the other.
“What if we looked for each other’s outfits this time?” she asks from across the rack.
“Halle, Halle, Halle, always the most creative one in the room. I like that idea.” I beam at her.
“Okay, no peeking, meet me at the fitting rooms in fifteen.” She’s already scurrying away to get a head start. This is totally a competition, and she’s totally going to win, not because I have bad taste, but because hers is even better.
As I pull the sweater she chose for me over my head, Halle’s insistence that this isn’t a date replays in my mind and I’m tempted to tell Mel to abort mission. Mel wouldn’t come up with a plan if she didn’t at least think Halle’s interested, I remind myself. I take a second to text Mel for some reassurance. I need to make sure we’re on the same page so tonight doesn’t become an absolute mess. I’ll check for a response in a bit, I don’t want to keep Halle waiting.
I take a final look at myself in the mirror. I regain some confidence from how cool the outfit makes me feel. I pull my silver chain necklace out from under the collar of the red cable knit sweater she chose and squat down to add a cuff to the bottom of the baggy black Levi’s jeans to show off my high-top sneakers.
I step out to find her already waiting outside the room next to me. I’m a little jealous because I gave her an oversized maroon leather jacket I was eyeing for myself. A warm feeling in my chest quickly overrides and takes residence once I take her in. The jacket looks a million times better on her than it would on me. The other pieces I picked out for her—a black turtleneck sweater and a pair of acid wash jeans—make her look straight out of an 80s movie. I think she hates it but is too nice to tell me.
We hurry to checkout and get back to Halle’s because we still have to help set up for the party. Mel would be so mad if we were late, and she would also be so mad if I forget that soda I owe her, so we make a quick stop at the closest gas station for that too. When I get back out to the car Halle puts on 2/14 by The Band Camino. I let out a small laugh to myself as I get situated and start driving.
“What’s so funny?”
“This song has always reminded me of you. You and your green eyes, just like the song says,” I trail off, not wanting to sound like a creep. She just smiles and goes back to singing along for the rest of the way home.
While we walk into the house, I open up the text I got from Mel at some point on our drive.
Mel:Operation Get-Halle-To-Fall-In-Love-With-Cade is a go.