Valentine’s Day isn’t all flowers and chocolates for everybody. Here are some of the most cringe-worthy V-Day stories from the women of Cal Poly!
Nikki, first year business major: Last year, I met a guy walking downtown. He asked for my number and we ended up going on our first date on Valentine’s Day! We went to the Madonna Inn and it was really nice, and 15 minutes into dinner I accidentally farted, and it smelled really bad. I could tell he didn’t know what to do! It was so awkward–he never asked me out again!
Gina, third year English major: So in fourth grade, the time of life when Valentine’s Day was still a blissful occurrence, my mom bought me a new outfit and gave me beautiful Valentine’s Day chocolates and I felt really special that day. I went to school all dressed up and happy, and chose to partake in my usual game of morning four square, when much to my horror, I felt a horrible stabbing pain in my neck and I just immediately started screaming. The playground people came over to me and took me to the nurse, and it turns out I had been stung by a bee, and my neck swelled up to like twice its size, and I got weird medicine on my new shirt. I’ve hated Valentine’s Day ever since then. And bees.
Jessica*, second year bio major: My junior year of high school, I had been dating this guy named Tony* for a few months, but we had recently taken a break a few weeks before Valentine’s Day. In sync with that break, an old crush of mine named Ryan* decided to pop back up into my life, and he admitted that he had feelings for me the entire time, but was afraid that I didn’t feel the same way about him. Ryan and I blossomed in those weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day and realized that we were, more or less, a perfect match for each other.
Long story short, we ended up spending Valentine’s Day “romantically” in my family’s guest house. He left early in the morning, and it was honestly one of the best nights ever, except the one thing he didn’t get me were the ever-so-cheesy flowers and chocolates. Later that day my doorbell rang, and I went downstairs to find a bouquet of red roses with a note that said, “Almost forgot these, but just wanted to make you smile again…” with no name. Just that.
I automatically texted Ryan ecstatically saying something along the lines of “YOU ARE LITERALLY SO PERFECT. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I positively love the flowers.” He responded very quickly with, “What flowers?”
Turns out, it wasn’t Ryan, nor Tony (who I had texted as well). The identity of the secret admirer finally came out a few weeks later at a party–it was one of my best friends who had a secret crush on me since freshman year of high school! I was stoked but very shocked to find out the actual story behind the roses.
*The names in this story have been changed.
Colette, third year wine and viticulture major: I worked at the desk in Sequoia my freshman year and I had a shift on Valentine’s Day. One guy came to the desk and gave me a red rose and I was kinda stoked because even though it was simple, I’d never gotten anything for Valentine’s Day (except from my mom, but that doesn’t count). The rose made my day, and I really wasn’t expecting anything else. Fast forward to an hour later, I was just doing my thing, being the desk girl, when one of the residents came up and asked where I lived and what my room number was. I told her then asked why, and she said, “Oh, someone just wants to give you something for Valentine’s Day.” I was a bit puzzled, but forgot about it after a few hours.
That night, back in my dorm, I was walking through the hall and saw a guy I knew from Sequoia walk into the hall then duck back out into the stairwell. I wondered what he was doing in my dorm, but had forgotten about the conversation I had earlier with the girl. Then five minutes later there was a knock on my door and the girl is there and said, “He’s here, but he’s really nervous to give you the gift.”
Then I realized it was the guy I saw in the hall! The girl left and ten minutes later (I assume she was giving him a pep talk), there was a knock on my door and the guy, Harris, is standing there. He said “Hi, I have a gift for you,” walked past me and set in on my bed, gave me a quick, awkward hug, then turned and booked it down the hall. I was kinda startled. But when I went to my bed, I saw he had given me a flower and painted Serenity Swing and on the back of the paper was a poem! It was sweet, but I felt like it was such an emotionally intense gift, especially from someone I didn’t know. I had no idea what to do!