School started again, and our group fell into our old routine. I was back to hating Ellie, but it was one sided. She didn't hate me back. In fact, she did everything she could to win me over again. She bought me chips at lunch, which I gave to Jack, and she gave me her homework to copy for science for a week straight. I did it on my own anyways. Finn and I were doing well. We hung out after school a couple times, but nothing major. I hadn't spent any time with Jack since new years. We still sat together on the way to school though. January went by quickly, and soon it was february. We hadn't gotten any more snow, much to my dismay. We didn't really have anything to look forward to, until Jack and Finn brought something exciting up at lunch one day.

"Guess what Friday is," Jack said through a mouthful of my sandwich I'd given him.

"Valentines Day!" Finn cheered.

"Oh, I love that holiday! Jack, wanna come over that night? We can, uh, hang out," Ellie said.

"How romantic," I said sarcastically. The boys exchanged exasperated glaces. It was obvious something had happened between Ellie and I, but the boys didn't know what.

"Finn and I were thinking we could do a double dinner date. Sound good?" Jack smiled, breaking the tension.

"I'm in," Ellie said. It would be really fun, but on the other hand it would be awkward. Ellie's like, in love with Finn, and I hated her for it. Seeing her pretend to like Jack all night would be like torture.

"What about you Mads," Finn asked. He was sitting across the table from me, and took my hand in his. I mean it might not be the most fun, but how could I say no to a date night with Finn? And free time with Jack.

"Alright, fine."

"Yay," Finn grinned, squeezing my hand.

"Wanna come over before so we can get ready?" Jack asked Finn, who agreed.

"But I don't wanna go alone..." Ellie sighed. "Finn and I live closer together. Can we get ready together and then Jack and Madison can get ready together? It's probably easier."

There was no way I was going to let Ellie and Finn spend extra time together if Ellie liked him.

"Why don't you... come to my house to get ready," I mumbled reluctantly.

"Sure," Ellie smiled. I rolled my eyes. Again, the boys exchanged confused glances.

Soon enough, it was Friday. The boys refused to tell us where we were going for dinner, but I heard them whisper something about pasta, which sounded good to me. Finn gave me chocolates at school and promised there was more to come tonight. Our science teacher had given us lollipops in honor of the occasion, and Jack managed to stain his whole mouth purple from the candy.

"I can't look like this tonight," Jack whined, vigorously rubbing his tongue with a tissue as we walked to the bus after school.

"I'll help you get it off tonight," Finn offered, trying his best not to laugh.

"You're the best," Jack smiled.

I had returned home and had just completed my homework with fifteen minutes before Ellie was supposed to come over. The boys were picking us up at 6:00, and we had reservations for 6:30 at our mystery restaurant. I had already gotten dressed, and I was wearing a red sweater and white jeans because they were typical valentine's colors. I had applied some light makeup, which was more than I usually did, and ran a straightener through my hair. I was bored and a bit nervous, so I put on some music on my record player Jack had gifted me for Christmas, and decided to paint my nails red while I waited for Ellie.

I hadn't heard her come in, or be greeted at the door by my mom.

"Sweetie, Ellie's here," my mom said, knocking on my door.

"Tell her I'm in my room," I instructed her. I lowered my music to hear my mom lead Ellie to my room. She was dressed in a bubblegum pink v cut shirt from brandy melville and a black skirt.

"You look nice," she greeted me.

"You too," I grumbled.

"I like your house! It's so pretty," she said.

"Thanks." Ellie sighed and sat next to me on my bed.

"Look, Madison. This isn't gonna be enjoyable for anyone if you're gonna hate me all night. I can't control who I like. Believe me, I've tried. But I'm doing my best here. And I'm going on this date to spend time with Jack as his girlfriend. I'm not gonna try and steal Finn or anything like that. I promise," Ellie explained. I looked up from the floor I had been staring at intensely and made eye contact with Ellie. I could tell she was telling the truth.

"Whatever," I responded, but I smiled at her. She grinned back.

"Good, now that we're back to being friends-" I shot her a warning glance, "uh, at least not enemies, let's have a fun night."

"I wonder where they're taking us," I said, finishing off painting my pinkie nail and blowing on it so it would dry faster.

"I have no idea. Sushi would be nice," Ellie replied.

"I heard something about pasta," I confided in her.

"Good, I love Italian." We sat in silence for a bit, until we heard a car door outside and my doorbell wrung.

"They're here!" Ellie squealed, practically leaping off my bed and bolting down the stairs. I took a deep breath before following her. We stood at the door together, exchanged smiles, and I pulled it open. Finn was standing outside next to Jack's car holding a bouquet of roses. Jack was next to him, holding an oversized stuffed bear.

"This is so cute," Ellie whispered to me.

"And a little cringey," I responded. We giggled and approached the boys.

"Happy Valentines Day!" They said in unison, hugging their respective girl. Finn handed me the flowers with a smile. He was wearing his iconic blue sweater again.

"You look great," he said.

"You too," I blushed.

"Should we go?" Jack asked. We all agreed and piled into the car. Jack played the radio and we all just talked for a bit. I sat next to Finn in the back, and Ellie was sitting next to Jack in the front. Finn took my hand in his and rested it on his leg. Soon enough, we arrived in town. Jack pulled up in front of La Fantasia Italiana, the fanciest italian restaurant in our town. Finn got out and opened the door for me, and Jack did the same for Ellie.

"How gentlemanly of them," Ellie whispered to me as we followed them into the restaurant. I nodded in agreement.

"We have a reservation of four for six thirty under 'Grazer'," Jack said officially to the person at the front desk thing.

"Right this way," the waiter said, leading us past other tables full of couples to a table near the back. Finn pulled out the chair for me to sit and I sat down, him sitting across from me. Jack sat next to him, and Ellie sat next to me. A waiter came up to us and asked if we wanted anything besides water to drink. Ellie ordered a sprite, but that's it. The waiter left to get Ellie's drink, giving us some time to look at the menu.

"What are you guys getting," Jack asked the table.

"My usual," I told him. Not that I come here often, it was far too expensive to make it a habit, but I'd come here with my parents and Jack's family a few times on special occasions. I always ordered the spaghetti with marinara sauce and basil. I'd tried the gourmet pizza a few times, which was Jack's usual order, but I liked the pasta better.

"The spaghetti, right?" Finn asked. I nodded. "Yeah, Jack was telling me about that. I hate spaghetti," he added. My mouth actually fell open.

"You hate spaghetti?" I said, dumbfounded. He shrugged and nodded. "You also hate fruits and vegetables. What the hell do you eat?" I said.

"Bread. A lot of bread. Which is why," he said, glancing at Jack, "I'm getting the pizza thanks to Jack's recommendation."

"I can't believe you hate spaghetti," Jack whined. I agreed.

"I don't know, I think it's kind of adorable," Ellie laughed. I glared at her. Finn and Jack didn't seem to notice, but I did. To save this from being any more awkward, the waiter returned with Ellie's sprite and asked us what we wanted to order. I ordered the spaghetti, Jack and Finn both ordered margarita pizzas, and Ellie ordered a salmon dish. The food came quickly, and was incredible.

"Holy fuck this is good," Jack said through a mouthful of pizza. Finn nodded in agreement.

"This pasta is incredible," I said, glancing at Finn. He rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you don't like pasta?" I asked again.

"I never said I don't like pasta, just spaghetti. But, I guess I could try it," he smirked.

"Really?" I said, grinning. He shrugged and smiled. I collected a huge forkful of pasta on the extra forks Jack and Finn weren't using for their pizza and handed it to Finn.

"Here goes nothing," he breathed, and shoved the pasta in his mouth. We all watched him chew tentatively. "It's not... terrible. Like I don't want to spit it out or anything," he said finally.

"Spitters are quitters!" Jack chimed in. We all laughed. The rest of dinner was nice, but went by quickly. Jack and Finn ended up splitting a chocolate cake, which I ate most of because they didn't want to say no to me, and I got overpriced vanilla ice cream. Ellie didn't get anything because of her "diet," but even she had a bit of the boy's cake. When the bill came, Finn and Jack insisted we don't look and just let them pay it. I rolled my eyes but didn't protest. We left the restaurant around 8:30 and drove back to Jack's house, where Finn's car was parked.

"I can drive you home, Ellie, if you want," Finn offered when we got to his car. Ellie looked at me for approval. That was nice of her, I guess. I nodded a bit, and gave her a 'go for it' look.

"Yeah, that would be great," she responded. Finn walked over to me before they left.

"Thanks for a great night. Happy Valentines Day," he whispered, and kissed my cheek. I hugged him goodbye, and him and Ellie got in his car and drove away. Jack and I watched them turn the corner until we couldn't see them anymore.

"That was fun," I said. Jack nodded.

"It was great, yeah," he said. We just stood in the driveway for a bit, watching cars pass on the main road to our left.

"Wanna have a sleepover?" I asked impulsively.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea. Its Valentine's Day," he said.

"Yeah, and we just spent the night with our actual dates. It's also galentine's day ya know."

"Do I look like a gal to you?" Jack replied sarcastically. (authors note: its 11:30 pm rn and i can't tell if that's the dumbest thing i've ever written but it's making me laugh so i think i'll leave it in sorry you had to read that i hope it made sense k bye).

"Of course not," I laughed, ruffling his hair. He batted away my hand.

"Stopppppp," he whined. "Ok, ok, I'll sleep over."

"Yay!"

"I'll run inside and grab my overnight stuff then be right over," he said, turning away and retreating into his house. I walked home, and put on my pajamas while I waited. Jack showed up ten minutes later in a spiderman shirt and sweatpants, clutching a bag full of pillows and snacks.

"Nice shirt," I giggled, leading him up to my room. My parents were out for the occasion, but they said it was fine if Jack spent the night.

"Oh shut up," he whined. We got to my room and Jack put his bag on the floor. "So what now?" He asked, plopping down on my bed.

"I don't know, I hadn't thought that far ahead," I admitted.

"What do you usually do with your gals. Since its apparently galentine's day." I didn't really have many girl friends, if I really thought about it. Or many close friends at all. Yeah, there were people I was friendly with, but not many I would hang out with outside of school. There had been Maddie Ziegler, but we stopped being friends when Millie moved in and became her new best friend. Also, being around Maddie was hard because of our names. People kept making comments on how we had the same name, which we didn't by the way. But Jack didn't have many friends either. He had me, of course, and Finn and Ellie. He had the camp kids, and he occasionally hung out with the skater boys when he got bored of me. He used to be best friends with this kid named Noah, but when Millie moved here Noah completely abandoned everything to be close with Millie. Apparently he was in love with her, and she didn't feel the same way, but that didn't stop them from being best friends.

"I don't know," I said, scanning the room for something to do. My eyes fell on the bottle of nail polish I had used earlier to paint my nails.

"Let's paint your nails!" I squealed. Jack's eyes widened.

"I'm not so sure about that," he said reluctantly.

"No, it's a good idea. Trust me." I got up off my bed and ran to the bathroom, where I kept all my nail polishes. "We can paint them, um, black, and uh, green!" I yelled to my room, grabbing the bottles of the colors I wanted. I returned to my room. Jack still looked unsure.

"All the skater boys paint their nails. And Finn told me he was gonna paint his nails. Please? It's really cool. And it's super hot, trust me."

"Fine," Jack sighed. I grinned and picked up his hand. I carefully painted on the black polish first, leaving every other finger clean, then painting the green on those. Jack was fidgeting around, causing me to mess up.

"Stay still," I whined. He stopped moving, and stayed very still.

"Done," I announced. Jack examined his hands.

"Not too bad," he said, smirking.

"Now we have to wait for them to dry," I told him, collecting the bottles to return to the bathroom.

"What."

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authors note: THANK YOU FOR 2K AHHH WHAT JUST TWO CHAPTERS AGO I HIT 1K THANK YOU OMG