Once, when he was nine,
A timid little boy went to school
With a handful of heart-shaped cards
Safe in the lunchbox
His mother had packed for him.

He found in his desk
A card just for him.
It was much like the rest of them,
Gathered in a pocket,
Hanging from his desk,
But this one had no name.

He was the only one
Who had this valentine
Hidden in his desk.

He opened it,
And smiled.
For on the inside
Were but three words.

He looked up quickly,
And she looked away.
But he didn't see her.

Time passed,
But he never forgot
That little card,
With three little words.

Then, one day,
When he was not such a little boy,
He went to school
With an envelope in his lunchbox.
His mother didn't put it there
Because she didn't know about it.

But the not so little girl did,
Because the envelope was for her.
And inside it were
Three little words.

She looked up,
And he looked away
But she saw him.
Time passed,
But she never forgot
That little envelope
With those same three words.

One day, when the not so little boy
Got in the car and drove to school,
He had a letter in his pocket.
His mother didn't see the letter
Because he didn't show it to her.

And he met the not so little girl
At her locker and gave her the letter.
And inside it were many words.

But three of them
Were the same little three
They had exchanged before.

She looked up,
And he met her eyes
And turned away
And vanished into the crowd.

She looked back at the letter
And saw under those three little words
Seven numbers and a signature.

And so that night, she took out the letter
And typed in seven numbers on her phone
And asked for the not so little boy.

The next day, when the not so little girl
Was waiting for a ride to school,
The not so little boy pulled up in his car
Just like she had asked him to.

And when she got in and buckled up,
With the letter safe in her pocket,
She said those three little words
To the not so little boy.

And all the way to school,
He drove with one hand
Because the other was holding
The not so little girl's.