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THERE WERE A few parks in Willow Valley and Aspen decided one off the Main Street would be the least busy and visible. Private even, although the only reason she’d want private would be because she planned on lip locking with her sexy soccer player. She inwardly laughed at her own uncontrollable thoughts.
The small park was a ten-minute walk away from the heart of town. In the summer there were beautiful garden paths that led to the pavilion behind the playground structure. But today, the lights glistened against the freshly fallen snow. The scene felt magical. She glanced up at Creed. All her mumblings aside, never in her wildest thoughts had she thought tonight she would be spending it alone with him.
She reached out and touched his arm. “You’re it!” She took off running through the fresh snow.
She heard the bags hit the ground and turned to see Creed chasing her. She laughed as she bee-lined it up the stairs of the playground and climbed up, but his hand touched her leg.
“You’re it!” he shouted. They chased each other around for a few minutes before they started taking pictures for their mission. They took turns taking pictures of each other on the pieces of equipment, as they moved from the stairs, to the slide, down the fire pole, and to hang off the monkey bars.
When they finished, she felt the haze of the chocolate bark had faded. They sat at the top of the equipment with their feet dangling over the edge. Aspen opened the peanut butter and held the jar out to him. “You first.”
He shook his head. “After you.”
She shrugged and dipped her fingers into the jar, scooping out a large fingerful. She held the jar out to him again. “Dig in. We’ll eat at the same time.”
He looked reluctant but scooped a fingerful. They raised their hands and cheered their fingers together before they stuck the peanut butter in their mouths.
“Yummy,” she purred.
“Very yummy,” he murmured, barely comprehensible through the mouthful of peanut buttery deliciousness.
Aspen waited until she’d swallowed the peanut butter. “What do you think?”
His finger was still coated in gooey food. “I like it on toast.”
“No!” She laughed. “Can’t say I didn’t try.”
She looked back over the playground, her feet dangling off the ledge. Every time she indulged in her love for a fingerful of peanut butter, she recalled the first time she’d tried it and the prom she’d missed that night. Tess had come home after prom ecstatic with stories of the night. Aspen had been drowsy and trying not to vomit and listen quiet and sad she’d missed it.
Creed nudged her side. “Where’d you go there?”
“Prom night.” She tilted her head to look at him. “Or lack thereof.”
He shrugged. “Prom night is no big deal. Dancing, trying to sneak in boos.”
“You went to two.” He’d gone to his own and then he’d snuck into hers.
He shrugged again. “It wasn’t any better the second time.”
She shook her head. “Shut up. When you get that peanut butter cleaned off your finger, what’s the next mission of the night?”
He handed her a paper with his clean hand while he licked the peanut butter off his finger. Her mouth watered to do it for him, but she wouldn’t.
“Mission number five is...” She unfolded the second to last mission. “Go to the theater, buy tickets to one movie, but sit in on all shows playing for ten minutes each. That’s going to take us forever.”
Creed grinned, looking proud of the mission. “It’s a good mission.”
“That’s a lot of work,” Aspen said.
“I wrote this mission.” Creed laughed. “My missions were not simple.”
“And this one is time consuming. It’s ten now, and with seven shows playing, that’s their usual number, we’ll be there for over an hour.”
He clapped his hands together. “I guess we better go then.”
***
THE THEATER WAS PLAYING seven shows tonight and Aspen and Creed purchased tickets for the next show. Since their movie didn’t begin for thirty minutes, they shared a slice of pizza before buying a popcorn and drink combo and heading to their theater.
“Where do we sit?” Creed asked.
“Back row so we can sneak out easily.”
They found two empty seats and when the movie started, Creed put on a timer for ten minutes.
Aspen had just been getting into the comedy when Creed informed her it was time to move on.
The next movie had already started and was packed full of couples. They had to search for two empty seats and landed smack-dab in the middle of the theater. Ten minutes later, they excused themselves on their way out. They jumped to six movies, ten minutes each and Aspen found herself adding the movies to her need to watch list. She hadn’t given them all her attention. It was hard walking in mid-way or three-quarter through the movie.
They opened the door into the seventh theater when a theater attendant stopped them. “Can I see your ticket stub?” the worker asked.
Creed pulled them out and handed them to the teenager. “Your movie is theater two and this is theater six.”
Creed and Aspen played dumb. “Oh ...” They moved away from the doorway and glanced at the overhang to find the number.
“He’s right,” Aspen pointed at the red number. “Thank you”—she read his name tag—“Joshua.”
She pulled Creed away and laughed all the way to their initial theater. They sat down in their original seats and she’d just gotten comfortable when the movie ended. The strips of lights above them turned as the credits rolled. The rustling sound of people putting on their jackets and collecting their garbage echoed in the theater.
Aspen stayed in her seat, feeling a little worn out after theater hopping for an hour.
Creed stayed seated too. “I guess we lost, huh?”
“We were so close.” She fisted her hands and pumped the air.
“One theater away.”
She pointed her fists at him. “And then some crazy person made an impossible mission.”
“It’s possible.”
She let her hands drop to her lap and laughed. “That was fun. There are at least four of these movies I want to watch.”
“Maybe one day I could take you out on a real date. Dinner and a movie.”
“Do you want sober Aspen or chocolate bark Aspen’s answer?”
“Sober Aspen.”
She turned to look at the names still streaming on the screen. “She’s undecided.”
“I can wait.”
She’d bet his feet were already getting antsy to get back to the city.
They sat in quiet as the screen went blank and the workers came in and started cleaning the theater.
“Excuse me.” Aspen looked up and found Joshua hovering above them with his no-nonsense look.
“We need you to leave so we can clean for the next show.”
Aspen and Creed stood, giving each other snickering grins at the work they’d made this poor guy do. When they stepped into the hallway, they both stopped and glanced back in the theater finding Joshua too busy cleaning to pay attention to them.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Creed asked.
“Absolutely.” As if reading each other’s minds, they both ran in the opposite direction of the exit and slipped into theater seven. Creed stole a picture of the screen completing their mission.