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 Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 10:17 am
Anella and Juniper had been busy. Between work and life and powering up again, they’d been pushing themselves. The routine was pretty much the same, and for as much as Anella liked the structure, she didn’t always like the monotony of it–not when it left her feeling drained. She needed a pick me up. She needed a surprise.
So, she made a scavenger hunt for Juniper.
Anella had crept out early in the morning to go shopping for everything–because, really, it was more exciting that way.
The hunt itself wasn’t hard for Juniper to follow, it was mostly just enough to get her ready for the surprise.
All in all, the whole thing couldn’t have put Juniper out of more than half an hour of her day; it had led her around the house briefly, to the car, to the parking lot behind a group of buildings, where she was to call a number and a stranger came out with a box in a plain white grocery bag, and gave her an address.
The final clue had been on the bulletin board at the park, that she’d have had to pass on he way in, in the same stationary that Anella used around the house. It told he to meet her at the tree with the mysterious parcel.
Anella herself had been enjoying the weather for the last fifteen minutes; she was in a nice sundress, large glasses, and an oversized, floppy hat that was too big for the wind to steal. She was under a tree at the top of the hill, with a blanket laid out and a picnic basket by her side. She lay there, propped up on her elbows and surveying the park below.
She had her phone next to her, just in case there was any issue, but Juni hadn’t text to say that she wasn’t coming so she wasn’t really worried.
Besides, Doggy was enjoying the weather and was sprawled out in the grass. He was on his back, legs in the air, snoring so loudly that the birds in the tree had all left.
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 5:53 pm
Juniper had been a mixture of emotions when she realized that Anella had set up a scavenger hunt for her. Mostly it was a mixture of surprise and amusement, but there was a little annoyance thrown in, as a treat.
She shook her head, sighing and worked hard to complete all the steps. They were easy but a little tedious, and took twice as long due to the fact she had stopped at a coffee shop for drinks for the two of them, as her own little surprise.
When she saw Doggy on his back, she couldn’t help but snort and walked over to Anella, expression amused now that the running around was over. “Okay, okay. What’s this all about, Nellie? I brought you a caramel iced latte too, just because I think you’re cute. We’re having a picnic?”
It was a very sweet gesture, and Juniper couldn’t stop the hopelessly fond smile that took over her face.
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 5:58 pm
“Surprise!” Anella blurted, like she’d been waiting for the past half hour just to say it. Her enthusiasm was contagious; Doggy opened his eyes and wagged his tail, but he made no effort to get up. He wiggled on his back, snuggling into the dirt contentedly.
She reached up to accept the drink.
“I thought, we’ve been doing the same old thing for a while now, and I wanted to do something special. I was going to make you stop at the flower shop and get a bouquet of flowers, but I thought, ‘If this list gets any longer, she’ll dump me’ So I went easy on you. I didn’t even make you run any of my errands or solve riddles. Did everything go okay?”
She leaned up a bit and pursed her lips, obviously expecting a kiss.
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 6:33 pm
Juniper shook her head, though laughed. “You are too much for me, baby girl.” She leaned down, giving the kiss that Anella was expecting and rubbed Doggy’s belly before flopping down beside her girlfriend and positioning her head right into Anella’s lap. “Nah. I wouldn’t have dumped you, but I won’t lie, I was wondering if this was some kind of new punishment for me, and spent a good part of it wondering what I had done to offend you. Hence, the coffee.”
The fact that she hadn’t blundered, hadn’t done anything wrong and that this was nothing more than an expression of Anella’s adoration and love…made her feel very warm inside and she liked it.
“Thank you for the surprise, it was kind of fun, I’ll admit that, but just this once.” By tomorrow, she would be whining about it, good naturedly, of course but. Still.
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:43 pm
Anella gasped, as if scandalized. “Punishment! No! This was a reward! It was something special!”
She ran her fingers through Juniper’s hair. “I worked hard, I put a lot of thought into it! I thought it would be fun.” Briefly, it looked like she might have been sulking. “Maybe next time I’ll just book us an escape room or something. We’ve just been so busy! I wanted to have an excuse to go out and do something nice. I thought we could have lunch. But, I had to go and buy everything.”
She gestured to the picnic basket. “It wouldn’t have been a surprise if you could see me putting it together. And I didn’t want to give you food poisoning. I worked hard to get everything for lunch, had to go to six different places. I needed to distract you so I’d have time. Hence, the scavenger hunt. Lunch is going to be good. And you’ve picked up my parcel from that seedy parking lot?”
Anella eyed the bag Juniper had brought with her. “No trouble getting it?”
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:54 pm
Juniper gave another snort of laughter, though almost started purring when Anella began playing in her hair. She always did know how to relax her. “I’m glad you didn’t cook, good call on that. And, no trouble getting it, though they tried to tie me down and take my kidneys, it’s okay though. I ran them through with a banana and all is well.”
She grinned up at Anella, waggling her eyebrows. “...Just kidding. It was smooth as silk. What’s in the bag though, Nell? I was a very good girl and didn’t peek even though I really wanted to…but I knew you would tell me when I got to you…so I’m here...so tell me!”
Now that she was cozy in Anella’s lap, the whole ordeal was starting to seem a lot more like an adventure, and she was grinning slightly. “Or are you going to keep me waiting until dessert is over? Because that, my beautiful goddess, would be punishment.”
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 9:28 pm
Anella snorted and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “You’re so silly. It is dessert. I was on the phone for forty five minutes to get my order placed. But you’re going to love it. If you don’t, well. More for me. Come on, you’ve been working hard. I got all of our favorites. And I’m starving, I haven’t snacked on anything. I was waiting for you to get here.”
She leaned over to pull the picnic basket closer and began to pull out an array of treats.
“If you didn’t like my scavenger hunt, tell me what your idea of something fun and exciting is? Tell me what type of dates you want to go on. Give me some ideas for next time.”
She seemed pleasant–playful, obviously. Excited. Already planning for the future.
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 9:45 pm
“I did like it! Don’t get me wrong, I liked it a lot, I just wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.”
Ah, of course it was dessert. She was kind of silly sometimes. And dumb. “I love you, Anella. And I think you are such a precious thing, making fun adventures for us. But next time, I would rather do something with you. An escape room might be a lot of fun, honestly. I wonder why we haven’t done one before. Or…oh! We could go to one of those trampoline parks? That would be kind of amazing, so long as neither of us broke anything. Or roller skating. I’d like to try that out. Haven’t done it since I was a kid, but…it’s fun, from what I remember.”
Juniper felt so much more relaxed now, taking and thinking about things that mattered. Anella. Their relationship. Dates and fun, stupid things they could do.
Together.
All thoughts of heavier things could wait. Or just be shelved forever.
…it didn’t really matter all that much anyway.
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