Today, millions of Americans are trading boxes of chocolate, sprinkling rose petals on the threshold of their significant others’ houses and enjoying the 24 hours they are given to be as mushy and romantic as they please with that special someone. \nThough many Valentine’s Day festivities are running smoothly, there are also stories of rejection, loneliness and even temporary lapses in the motor-skills department. These are the stories of Valentine’s Day gone wrong.
Broken hearts breaking property
When IU freshman Alex Engelbert was in high school, she had just broken up with her boyfriend, but she and her friends decided to have a fun Valentine’s Day regardless. They went out to a club. \nA few drinks later, she remembered how sad it was that she was celebrating Valentine’s Day without a valentine. In her misery, she tore down a stall in the bathroom of the club. \nWhen the bouncer got word of her bitter act of vandalism, Engelbert was kicked out. She lay on the ground outside of the club and cursed Valentine’s Day, hoping that the people inside would hear the cries of the profane, dateless girl in the parking lot. \nShe passed out for a few seconds but woke to the flashlight a police officer was shining in her face. The officer took her home and the last thing he said before he left her to enjoy those last few moments alone on Feb. 14 was, “Well, happy Valentine’s Day.”
The fastest way to lose a Valentine\nIn Leo, Ind., there is a bridge that IU sophomore Stuart Alexander and his friends liked to play on to get an adrenaline rush. \nThey stood on the bridge, waiting for a car to pass by. \nAs soon as they saw headlights they would begin running away from the car. If they didn’t get hit – they won. \nOne Valentine’s Day, Alexander and his date decided that dinner had not been festive enough, and nothing screams romance louder than a boy taking his date to a bridge to run away from cars hoping they don’t get hit. Both Alexander and his date were dressed up – she was even wearing high-heeled shoes. Inevitably, his date fell but somehow managed to survive. \n“I don’t know how we made it,” Alexander said.
Wet pants romance\nLast Valentine’s Day, IU freshman Christopher Smith decided to be a gentleman and carry his girlfriend across the ice on the way into a restaurant. He knew it was slippery and didn’t want her to fall. Unfortunately, he slipped on the ice with his girlfriend in his arms.\n“I didn’t bleed,” Smith said. “But my butt was sore for days.” \nNot to mention, he said, he sat through dinner with wet pants and the fear that everyone in the restaurant thought he wet his pants a different way.
Back when boys had cooties\nWhen IU junior Katie Stevens was in seventh grade, she was not expecting much on Valentine’s Day. She didn’t think she had a Valentine, so she was shocked to find a box of chocolates and a huge card on her desk. \n“I looked at the teacher, then the class, then back at the teacher,” Stevens said. \nShe searched the room for her secret admirer until finally one of her classmates pointed to her best friend’s brother. She didn’t like him, so she stuck the chocolates (which her dog eventually ate) and the huge card under her desk.\n“I thought the message on the card was stupid,” Stevens said. \nThe front of the card read: “If every time I thought of you, a star fell from the sky…”\nOnce opened, the card finished its hypothetical thought: “…the sky would always be empty.” \nKatie walked home in the rain and used the card, which was big enough to shield her, as an umbrella.
Cupid missed my heart\nIn high school, IU junior Tim Bruner had flowers delivered to his girlfriend in class. It was their very first Valentine’s Day together, and at that point everything was running smoothly.\nShe ran to thank him. He went in for a hug and accidentally kicked her big toe, snapping off her toenail. \n“It popped right off,” Bruner said. “It was sick!”\nHe didn’t realize what he had done until she started crying and ran to the bathroom with her friends.\n“It grew back over the next few months,” Bruner said. “But I felt really bad.”\nShe forgave him but limped through the rest of Valentine’s Day.
