LOVE BITES: CUPID & COVID

Valentine’s Day 2021 was like no other. Clearly, we didn't get to dress up and eat a candle-lit dinner with our lover… but that doesn’t mean that we didn’t keep things sexy (yes, even amongst a global pandemic). Here in the second installment of Cupid & Covid, students from the Brown/RISD community respond to a prompt asking for the juicy details of this seductive holiday.

Self-Love 

This year I was my own valentine. Because it was the first year that I have spent alone in a while, I wanted to make something special of it. I really wanted to spend the whole day showing myself as much love as possible, as corny as that sounds. I put aside all school-work and stress and watched Netflix in bed most of the day, ordering DoorDash as needed. I facetimed my closest friend and my mom, showering them in love, as well. At the end of the day, I took a warm bubble bath and drank my favorite moscato while reading poetry. 

-Sara S 

He still came 

I was surprised that he picked up when I called, even though there was nothing more I wanted than to hear his voice. He asked why I called and if everything was okay, snappy and uninterested. I was scared to ask, scared that he had already found someone else to spend Valentine’s day with. “Do you want to fuck?” I asked nervously. The pause that followed still haunts me, but he still came. We didn’t mention the holiday and he didn’t tell me he loved me like he used to, but he still came. It was just sex to him because he moved on weeks ago. But for me? I still remember the way the green shirt he wore complimented his eyes. I can still smell his cologne and feel his lips on mine. I can almost still feel him wanting me. 

-Do you still want me?

Virtual Valentines 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked as I tried frantically to plug my headphones into my laptop. “Yes, absolutely,” I looked down at the lingerie I had bought specifically for this occasion. I tilted my camera so that she could see, too. “You shouldn’t have,” she teased. But I did. Next, she showed me the dildo that she had bought specifically for this occasion, and that is when the fun began. Her long hair brushed against her back as she rode her pillow. I lost track of how many times we went on, but the soreness in my arm still here (a week later) is telling. We both wished each other a happy Valentine’s Day, sweaty and out of breath.

-Adriana

Something to remember

I thought hours on end about what to get you, desperately wanting to gift something you would remember me for long after we had gone our separate ways. Judging by the look on your face, or what I could see of it behind the blindfold, I think that I succeeded in that. There are still scratches on my bed frame from where your hands, cuffed together, begged to touch my body. The redness from the hickey on your neck still peeps through your blonde hair. I can still feel your body trembling beneath me; you moaned my name loud enough for the whole building to hear as I made you come over and over throughout the night.

-Anonymous 

Goodbye for now 

We held each other as the sun sat over India Point Park, neither wanting to let go, even when the darkness brought the cold reminder that this would be our last Valentine’s Day together (at least for now). I held your hand tighter as we walked home, thinking about all the plans we had discussed — the apartment in New York with a great view of the city and the orange kitten we would raise together. We were both hoping to end up in the same city after Brown, but things don’t always work out the way you plan. We ordered our favorite lo mein from Yan’s, the food we shared on our first date, and watched corny rom-coms until you fell asleep in my arms. 

-MK

EDITOR: Liz Kaplan is a junior at Brown. You can find her taking her cat on walks or somewhere surrounded by plants!!

ARTIST: Ashley Castañeda is a Latinx illustrator in her sophomore year at RISD. She is probably taking a well-deserved nap somewhere.