BLAIRE's POV

On being dragged down from the bed, I saw Chris standing at the door.

“Come on, let's go. We're late,” he whined.

“It's already ten in the morning, Jimmy,” he said tapping on his wristwatch.

“But where are we going?” I was confused.

“Stop asking questions and let's go,” he said as he grabbed my hand and took me downstairs.

He literally dragged me out of the house and mom called from behind, “Have a great day, honey.”

We drove off. In that beautiful Mustang.

“I'm in my PJs,” I stated once we're on the road.

“Not a problem,” he shrugged.

I was super annoyed and grabbed my phone to indulge myself when I noticed it's fourteenth of February. It's valentine's day. I glanced at Christian but his eyes were on the road. Whistling a happy tune, he nodded his head to the beats.

I swapped my head in his direction when I noticed the car slowed down infront of a store. He got out of the car and walked towards those huge glass doors.

“Come on in," he gestured as he held the door open for me.

I hopped out of the car and walked in with him. A girl probably in her early twenties was sitting at the reception. She looked up at Christian and there was an eye contact held for a second or two and then she sweetly spoke, “Please ma'am, this way.”

I followed her to a shelf and she handed me a box. I looked at the box and then glanced at Christian.

“Go get changed,” he smiled at me,“or are you willing to go all the way to LA in your nightwear?” he wiggled his eyebrows.

My eyes lit up at the mention of LA. I rushed into the change room and wore the knee length skater dress with full sleeves and simple neckline. The cherry red colour matched that of the Mustang.

As soon as we were done, we were back on the road. The trip was silent yet melodious with the February cold and the sweet sunshine. We drove past our house and I looked over at him.

“I thought we were coming back home," I said looking over.

“Not everything happens as you think, sunshine," he replied softly.

Soon, we came to a stop. We stood in front of the elementary school we studied. Noticing the confusion on my face, he said, “We are off for a treasure hunt.”

“And what may I hope to find in there?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Well, there will be hints given by the treasurer and you have to follow those,” he replied.

“Alright,” I said as I got out of the car.

“ I'm the treasurer and I get to set the rules," he declared.

“No rules," I declared.

“Alright, agreed," he surrendered.

“First clue, a captured moment of childhood,"

I looked around the building, feeling the nostalgia hit me hard. I and Christian had spent our kindergarten here by the time elementary school started, I left. I thought for a moment about the clue and headed towards the kindergarten section.
Acting with a little intelligence, I headed towards our class.

“Time is running out, Jimmy,” Christian reminded.

“There are no rules and to time limits,” I shouted back at him.

“Alright, last and final clue,” he said, squaring his shoulders.

“ Listen carefully, the square of dirt wrapped in laughter," he said.

I sat on a swing set, thinking about the clue while my eyes landed on the sandpit in the playground. There was an igloo built on it. I ran towards it and smashed the sandy structure. There was a glint of a smile on Christian's lips. I dug the sand a little to find a picture of me and Chris which dated back from our kindergarten days. I stared at it with eyes filled with adoration. He just brought the good old days back.

“Good," he commented, “Now let's head to the next.”

“There's more?” I asked.

“Sure there is," he said as he started the engine.

When we stopped, I saw that old green place, covered with trees which we used to call our secret mountain. The trees created a cave-like place.

“I don't think you need any clues for this,” he said turning back at me.

“Sure I don't,” I said, getting out of the car.

We walked through the shadowed place covered with trees until we reached the centre. We started searching for the cross mark. This place was our secret hideout and once we hid our so-called personal diaries we wrote. I sat there relishing our old place letting Chris do the digging job.

“Here it is,” he said as he handed me the little pink coloured diary filled with stickers of Powerpuff girls, hello kitty, pokémons and Mickey. There were little sentences written and strange kinds of drawings. We put our signatures and sealed each note with our personal stamp.

We sat there going through our old diary which was like a hidden treasure to us in those days. The calm, serene silence of our hideout soothed us inside out.

“Let's get going, sunshine," he said as he stood up.

We headed back towards the car. This time the stoppage wasn't far. We stopped infront of Christians house. It was just a plot away from ours. We stared at the dirty old house, which looked extremely upset from the lack of human existence. The door creaked open as we entered the furnished dining-drawing. We looked around the place weaved with the spider's web. The signs of lack of servicing were crystal clear.

“Alright, enough of going back in the past," he cleared his throat, “ready for the clue?" He asked.

I nodded at his question when he said, “stuff, dearest to the heart, was torn apart.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “You think yourself way too intelligent, ain't it? But I doubt you're,” I said as I climbed upstairs to his room.

Searching his old toy box that was kept in that same exact place, I found that old stuff toy. It was a stuffed dog over which we fought once and it resulted in the fluffy being torn apart. Later on, aunt Brit sewed its neck.

“Gotcha," I yelled from upstairs and then ran downstairs.

“Didn't think it'd be that easy for you," he winked.

“What's next?" I asked excitedly.

“Next, we have our lunch," he shrugged.

We headed down the streets and to an Italian restaurant. I could easily guess that it was arranged beforehand. We spent the day and didn't even notice it. We had our lunch and when I thought it was time to go back home, we stopped at the very last place.

“I know, the memories attached with this place aren't great but this is the place where we first met after eleven long years, so yeah there's something for you inside,” he said.

“The surprise is there's no clue this time,” he said jamming his hands in his pockets.

I nodded taking a deep breath, “alright, let's get going," I said as I entered the store.

“Hey, Blaire. It's been a while," the lady said.

I saw the owner sitting at the cash. I glanced around the place and everything, every little detail came back running to me.

“I don't live here anymore," I answered as my eyes wandered through the shelves.

My eyes stuck on a wine bottle. It felt like it was highlighted, intentionally. Decorated with a ribbon and all. I walked towards it and grabbed the bottle.
Grabbing the bottle, I walked out of the store and there was a winning grin on my face. I was relieved as it didn't take much time. It seemed strange as the other things were related to our childhood but this was totally out of track.

Figuring out that there's a surprise hidden, I grabbed him and walked to the back of the store. Giving a last glance to the beautiful bottle, I smashed it to the ground. The bottle broke into hundreds of pieces with a great sound, spilling the liquid on the ground but there was something shining inside it.

I picked it up to find a clip. I looked at him when he said, “your precious silver clip which you thought you lost,” he grinned.

“It was with me, all these while, for eleven years,” he smiled.

I grabbed the clip in my fist and wrapped my arms around him. He wrapped me in a tight embrace and breathed a kiss on my head. We were on our way home then when Christian came to a stop again. I saw we stood at the burial ground.

“The last stoppage,” Christian whispered.

I knew where we intended to go, we walked inside the graveyard. Passing various headstones, I came to a standstill in front of Lily's. There was a box there. I picked it up and looked back at Christian. With his nod, I opened the box to find a picture beautifully framed. It was candid and we were giving our million-dollar smiles. I felt a tear stung in my eyes. For the first time in the day, a sadness hovered over me.

I stood up and turned around to leave when he grabbed my hand,“There's one more thing, Blaire."

He laced his fingers with mine and led me to another headstone. Aunt Britney's it was. I bent down and picked up the small box that was left there and this time he opened the ribbon.

There was a small heart-shaped pendant. The blue heart-shaped sapphire stared back at me with all its glow.

“It's beautiful,” I murmured.

“I know. It belonged to her.”

After a couple of hours, we were back home. It was past twilight. We sat in that skate park where we reconnected our friendship after long long years of separation.

“I didn't get my gift yet,” I heard him whisper.

“I had it all these while,” I whispered back.

Leaning in, my lips touched his lightly as a feather and then I stood up. He was as stupefied as usual by my teasing. I turned my back to him and swept my hairs aside, revealing the scruff of the neck. After a couple of minutes, I felt his warm fingertips tracing the letters. I knew there was a lot of love in every touch.

“You're the best and matchless,” he whispered, bringing his lips down to my ears.