Chapter Thirteen: Everything is Perfect

"Happy anniversary, Nick," Jean said, holding out a single rose and a small box covered in wrapping paper, topped with a maroon ribbon.

I froze. "Wait, was that today?" I asked, scratching my head. I racked through my brain and ran the months through my mind repeatedly. Okay, maybe it was a yearish since we started dating, but has it already been a year? "I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't think it was today. I didn't get you anything.

She giggled. "Well, that's okay. I guess it's kinda debatable when our anniversary is. Today is the day I broke up with Jason and started fake dating you."

"Oh . . ." My voice trailed off. In truth, even if it was the day I began to "officially" be with Jean, I still wouldn't have remembered. Don't get me wrong, I love her, but I'm not really the kind of guy to worry about that type of stuff. What's the point of anniversaries anyway? A year is nothing more than three-hundred and sixty five (and one quarter) days. It's nothing more than a commemoration of the earth circling the sun. An anniversary is nothing more than a market scheme made to create the illusion that couples need to buy gifts for one another or else their whole relationship is just a sham. Same thing with birthdays, Christmas, Valentines Day, and any other holiday. What a brilliant marketing strategy. A day should just be that: a day. With no other hidden agendas behind it.

That's the way I see it, anyway. I don't think I could ever tell those words to Jean though. She's too soft and it would probably hurt her feelings. Instead, I smiled and accepted the rose and the gift. "Thank you, Jean," I said. "It was very kind of you to give me this."

"Open it."

I opened the present, and inside, there was a gold-plated ring. On it, our names, Nick + Jean were engraved with a heart.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"It's great, Jean. Really." But it wasn't really. Well, it wasn't bad, but saying it was great may have been a little over the top. Whatever. It was fine. I guess.

"It's a promise ring," she said. She placed her hands on her heart. "I promise to always love you, and do my best to be a good girlfriend to you."

I rubbed my hand over my neck. "Well gosh," I said. "You know, you don't need to buy me gifts to prove your loyalty to me. I already know where you stand."

"It wasn't expensive. I know you know that I care about you, but I wanted to show you." She grinned warmly. "I of all people know that material things aren't equivalent to love, but it's still something I wanted to do to show I care. It's nice to be reminded sometimes, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Thanks again, Jean."

She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a squeeze, and I did the same in return. I'm very lucky I reminded myself. Jean is amazing. She's kind-hearted, beautiful, intelligent, and . . . well, some other fourth thing probably.

"Shut the fuck up. Our friends are right there. We'll talk about this later," I heard a familiar voice say. There was Kaylee with Ryan, heading our way. I wasn't a people person by any means, but I could definitely tell by the harsh daggers in Kaylee's words that something was up. Wait, not my business. I forgot, I don't care about their drama. This had to be the forty-seventh time this month those two have gotten in a fight.

"Hey," Ryan said. His lips twinged into a soft smile, but it was painfully obvious that it wasn't a genuine one. His eyes were full of bags, and he was slouching more than usual.

"Hey guys," Jean said.

"Why you got a gift?" Kaylee asked.

"It's our anniversary, apparently," I answered, taking Jean by the hand.

"Jean, I'm gonna go to the bathroom," Kaylee touched her shoulder. "Can you come with me?"

Jean nodded, and they left together.

Once the girls were out of earshot, Ryan and I were able to have a real conversation.

"Dude, you look like shit," I said.

Ryan sank his head into the lockers. "I feel like shit too. I'm exhausted, man. I was up all night fighting with Kaylee."

"At this point, I would be surprised if you weren't fighting with her," I said.

"I got upset because she liked another dude's instagram photo. Normally I'm not the jealous type, but it's a long story and that guy and I have beef. I can't have her liking that guy's photos. It makes me look like a fool."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. Maybe I gotta end things."

My heart dropped. I would respect Ryan's decision to end things with his girlfriend if it would help him finally find happiness, but at the same time, it would be quite inconvenient for me if he did so. Our friend group's dynamic would completely die. Jean and I would have to choose sides, or not hang out with either anymore, or have lunch separately.

"Are you sure there's no way you guys can work things out?" I asked.

He exhaled. "I don't know. There's just so much drama between us every single day, and I don't think all this fighting is normal. What about you and Jean? What are you guys like when you fight?"

I thought about it, then thought about it again. Huh. That can't be right. I drifted off into the distance as if I was squinting, looking for a memory of us fighting.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I don't think Jean and I have ever fought," I said.

Ryan blinked. "Uhh, well you know, fighting is more than just screaming and yelling. You guys must have had disagreements or got a little upset, right?"

I shook my head. "Now that I think of it, no. I don't think we ever did. Everything between us is just . . . perfect." Too perfect I added in my head.

"Well you are one lucky bastard, dude. Hold on to that girl. She's a keeper."

"Y--yeah."

"I'll see how things go for another week, and if we can't fix things, Kaylee and I are done."

The bell rang, so Ryan and I were forced to wrap up our conversation and head our separate ways. I caught up with Jean on the way to our calculus class.

"So did you talk to Ryan?" Jean asked.

"Yeah. Things between those two aren't going so well. He wants to dump Kaylee if they don't work things out soon."

"Oh no!" Jean frowned.

"I know. It's gonna screw our friend group up. What a bother."

Jean gave me a look. "That's not really what was on my mind. Kaylee loves Ryan, but the main problem in their relationship is Ryan gets so insecure and they always end up fighting because of it. It would be a shame to see them split. Kaylee's heart would be so broken."

I sighed. "It sucks, but I guess there's nothing I can do. Not everyone's relationship can be as perfect as ours." I tagged on the word perfect if only slightly.

"Well, I kind of already did something."

Oh great. "What did you do?"

"I had a reservation at a Chinese place after school. It was supposed to be a surprise for our anniversary, but it's been so long since the four of us hung out outside of school, and I thought it would be a good opportunity for us to help them fix their relationship."

I staggered back at her words. "Woah, woah, woah. Back up. Since when is fixing our friends' relationship our responsibility? I'm not exactly a relationship counselor."

Jean eyed me in shock. "I thought you'd want to help."

"Well, I don't. It seems like a bother."

She faced the floor. "Oh . . ."

I sighed. "But I guess you already promised them, so I'll tag along."

"Thanks, Nick!" she beamed. Boy, was she beautiful when she beamed. "We can still have our own time after we eat." She looked around to make sure no one could hear what she had to say next. She leaned in. "I got us a hotel room," she whispered.

I nodded. "Sounds good," I said, rather neutral.

Perhaps neutral wasn't really the expression she desired. "Unless it's not okay with you. We can do something else if you want."

I racked my brain. I mean, really racked my brain for something else that I wanted to do. Except there was nothing that I wanted to do. Hotel activities struck me the same as any other activities. And she already got the room, so may as well go with it. "Nah, what you have planned is fine."

"Nick?" she asked.

"What?"

She took a deep breath. "Is everything okay between us?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

She nodded, as if satisfied by that response, but it wasn't a rhetorical question. It was a question I'd been asking myself for a long time. Everything was perfect with Jean.

So why did I feel so empty?