Valentine

Dear Valentine,

It was another day at work,

Boring and lonesome,

They were always like that,

Because I just happened to be shy at eighteen.

Then you came in,

Dazzling green eyes and thick brown hair,

Gosh, you were so beautiful,

But you had a girlfriend,

I couldn’t have you.

However, you two seemed like an odd couple to me,

She seemed demanding and jealous,

She spoke over and for you,

It was awkward assisting to your needs.

It was now February,

I never had a valentine,

In hoping someone will notice me,

I dyed my locks burgundy,

My managers teased me the next day I came in at work,

My no longer virgin hair yelled, “Hopeless romantic!”

I was getting recognition,

More than I anticipated,

Especially in a little amount of time,

My day had just started at the ice cream shop,

I was getting toppings from the back storage room,

Then that is when I saw you,

You said I looked great,

Flattered, but confused, I asked what you were doing here,

You said you are an employee now.

At my job, I was a pretty boring person and need of money,

When a co-worker needed a shift covered, I gladly volunteered,

Everyone called me, “money team,”

You misinterpret that and that is where it went downhill.

Soon after you started flirting with me,

You told me you broke up with your girlfriend to be with me,

We became official,

You took me to my first Valentines date at an arcade,

I lost my virginity.

You told everyone of that night,

Humiliated and trying to keep my good girl reputation,

I pretended it wasn’t happening,

But I could feel the stares and overhear what people were saying about me.

I broke it off,

We weren’t a thing anymore,

I learned you manipulated me into giving you money for drugs,

The label of, “money team,” made you believe I had a wad of cash,

When in reality we were getting paid minimum wage,

I took extra shifts to learn the meaning of responsibility of paying my phone bill and saving up,

In exchange, you offered sex.

All this didn’t came to my senses until my business became everyone else’s,

We liked the same music,

We were both silly,

Except I was only that way out of work,

You knew I was alone and miserable,

You used our similarities, my desperation and your addiction to get what you wanted.

You were not for me,

I cried myself to sleep for about a month,

Immediately quit my job and started to work as a waitress ten minutes away from home,

You tore me apart,

I am not that hopeless romantic eighteen year old anymore,

But I am that person who's power can no longer be taken.