A Valentine's Day Story
                       by John Acierto
                               
                               
	"I hate Valentine's Day!!!" I shouted from the window of my dorm room.  It was
already the middle of the day and I had just gotten home from classes.  Seeing all the cards
and flowers and couples hugging and kissing just made me snap.  All that pent up loneliness
and jealousy finally turned into rage and I let it out the only way I could, by voicing my
opinions out my dorm room window.
     "All you love birds can go to hell!"
     Ahhh, that felt better.  I leaned back into my room and looked at my roomate.  He
was dressed all in black like he usually was and I knew he was having a laugh at all this. 
You see, he's into all that dark gothic shit and whenever someone gets pissed off at
something, he gets off on it.  A real asshole, he was.
     "What are you laughing at?" I asked him.
     "Oh, nothing," he replied.
     I gave him the evil eye, grabbed my coat, and walked to the door.  Still feeling really
depressed, I decided to go to the bar.
     "I'm outta here.  Don't wait up."
     "I won't."
     I closed the door, put on my coat, walked down the stairs, and made my way to the
closest bar.  Nothing like a good drink to drown my sorrows.
     As I walked to the bar, I passed a couple, holding hands and kissing like most
couples do.  I was still really pissed off, so I shouted at them while they walked by.
     "Don't suffocate each other!"
     I saw another couple and shouted, "Tastes like chicken, doesnt it!?"
     I was now in front of the bar and saw a couple making out in front of it.  So, I gave
them my opinion.
     "If she's that good at kissing, think about how well she can suck dick!!"
     That last couple gave me really annoyed looks.  I just gave them an even more
annoyed look and walked into the bar.  I made my way straight to my favorite bar stool and
took a load off.
     Stan, the bartender, saw me and came over.
     "What 'cha want?" he asked.
     "Strongest stuff ya got."
     He looked at me for a second, then nodded his head.  "Oh yeah, it's Valentine's Day." 
He walked off and got me my drink.
     I looked around at all the other bachelors who were drowning their sorrows the same
way I was.  Yup, these people knew what I was talkin' about.  I looked at the guy next to me
and said, "Great fucking holiday, ain't it?"
     He looked at me and said, "You said it."
     I downed a little of my drink and asked, "What's your story?"
     The guy took a swig of his drink before answering.  "Girlfriend dumped me today."
     "What a bitch."
     "Tell me about it."
     I looked at the guy on my other side and asked, "Your's?"
     He looked up at me and answered, "Caught her cheating with my best friend."
     "That whore."
     "Damn right."
     I finished off my glass and waved the bartender over for another.  He took the empty
glass and said, "You better slow down, fella."
     I gave him the evil eye and said, "Just get me another one."
     He complied.
     I swiveled around on my bar stool and looked at all the single men drinking.  All of
them, just like me, lonely and depressed.  So, I asked all of them, "What the hell's the point
of this fucking holiday!?"
     They all looked up at me, probably wondering how drunk I was.  I continued with
my sermon.
     "You know who made up this holiday?  Fucking Halmark, that's who!  Just to sell
more fucking cards so they could make more money!"
     Some guys just kept drinking, some tried to ignore me, but most actually kept
listening to my psycho babble.
     "I bet they fucking made up that whole St. Valentine's Day crap.  Since when did we
need a fucking holiday to reminds us to love each other?  It was made for all those single
people, that's who!  Made so we can feel all depressed and jealous of all those people who
have somebody!!"
     The guys listening nodded in agreement.
     "So I say, fuck all those couples, fuck Halmark, and fuck Valentine's Day!!!"
     Everyone listening shouted with roaring agreement.
     "Yeah!!"
     "Fuck yeah!!"
     "You tell it!!"
     I grabbed my new glass and toasted all of them.  Then, I downed my drink in one
gulp.  Everyone else did the same.  For the rest of the night, I just walked around and talked
with everyone in the bar.  Well, more like I walked around and we complained about our
love lives.  There were guys broken up, cheated on, frustrated, confused, basically the whole
spectrum.  But, tonight, we were all in the same boat together, one that was sinking.
     After God knows how long, I finally decided to go home.  I can't remember what
happened when I came home, it's all a blur.  I probably came in noisely, woke up my
roommate, and collapsed on my bed.  Anyhoo, that was my Valentine's Day.