Charlie's POV:
(Song suggestion: Perfect by Ed Sheeran)
CHAPTER 9: Kisses And Hugs
Dear Jane,
You want to date a guy?
Okay, let's date.
I read those words over and over, again and again, hoping they'll make sense at some point and then I looked over to the two big, big parcels along with a small one. I received this morning along with the letter.
I turned the letter over to see a schedule, the time was visible but the event section had a piece of paper covering it.
I shook my head and started reading the letter.
I thought since we both want to go on a date. Why not go together. And since you like guys with blue eyes and dimples, I'm at your service. The perfect date.
And I have the perfect, magical rose for you. Open the big box with 'fragile' written on it.
I opened the parcel that had 'fragile, handle with care' written on it and took out the bubble wrapped mystery box.
"Open it!!," Someone shouted in my ear and I screamed, almost dropping the box in my hand.
"You scared me!!!," I glared at Mia who ignored me and took the box out of my hand.
"Hey! Give it back to me!," I chided.
"You can have the box. I just want my bubble wrap. I love bursting the bubbles," Mia tore the bubble wrap to reveal a beautiful crystal dome with roses inside it. The rose was a really really pretty, it was whitish peach in colour. It was a real rose, but it looked like gold, like the one from Beauty and the Beast. It was so pretty. It was almost unrealistic. It was truly enchanted, untouched and pure.
"Oh my god," Mia gasped," You know what, keep that bubble wrap, give it to me. Please!!! I want to hold it so bad. Once. Just Once."
She looked at me with her puppy dog eyes and I gave her a look.
"Fine, keep it!," She pouted and I gave in.
I reached for the letter to get some sort of explanation and Mia latched on my back, reading over my shoulder.
This rose will never wither. It will last forever, much like our friendship. It's called the 'Forever Enchanted Rose'
"Holy moly, do you know what flower this is?," Mia squealed.
I frowned at her,"Umm, rose? What kind of question is that?"
"It's a Juliet Rose. It is the world's most expensive rose," Mia rolled her eyes at me.
No way.
I opened google on my phone and typed: Most expensive rose in the world and it's cost.
The Juliet Rose is the most expensive rose ever developed, costing its creator David Austin $3 million (£2.3 million) over the course of 15 years. First publicly displayed in 2006 at the Chelsea Flower Show, the striking flower boasts large-headed blooms.
I opened the next article.
Juliet Rose is the most expensive rose in the world, and even the richest person will have to think ten times before buying it. The cost of Juliet Rose is 90 crores (10 million pounds).
"Damn, this guy must be loaded if he can afford something like this," Mia exclaimed.
Well, I already knew that.
I mean not every other person can send you diamond charms for your diamond bracelet every birthday.
I examined the box with the rose closely and there was something inscribed on the bottom of the glass jar, on the golden lid. I squinted my eyes to see 'Cartier' inscribed on the inside of the glass jar.
Isn't that mom's favorite brand?
Never mind.
Now, for a proposal,
Would you like to go on a date with me? (Check the box)
1) Yes
2) How could I say no to you, dumbhead!
3) Option A
"You know you could check the 'no' that's written there," Mia raised her brow while pointing at the no in the paper.
"But I want to go. I'm going with the second option," I said while checking the second option with the glitter sparkle pen that was in the box.
Also, don't open the second box until tomorrow.
And send me the chocolate chip cookies recipe you were going to teach me.
Now, to answer your questions:
Well I'm not going to exactly tell you what we're going to do on our first date but it isn't going to be what Mia told you.
Hmm... Kisses and Hugs?
I don't know, maybe?
And please don't faint. At least not when I can't catch you.
No, I won't invite my friends. Don't worry.
Wear pink. You'll look pretty in it.
A little fact, boys do like pink. Even if they don't say it. And don't tell anyone else, it's a secret. So, shhh.
Do your hair however you like.
Also, don't believe everything that's written in magazines. Those things are stupid.
And about my first date,
I'm going on my first date tomorrow.
I hope she'll be happy. We can do everything we promised each other. I'm hoping it'll be fun and I won't end screwing up.
I mean it's my first date so I'm really nervous.
And I'm hoping she would be the one to kiss me.
I blushed while reading that.
I'm wishing she'll like it.
And about those guides, check the small parcel.
I tore open the second parcel to see two books lying inside it.
The Teen Survival Guide to Dating and Relating
Teen Dating guide-Marjabelle Young Stewart
Although I'm not sure you could read those books in a single day.
I accept you calling dibs on me but on one condition.
You aren't allowed to ask anyone out either.
Is that fair enough?
"Seems fair to me," Mia commented over my shoulder.
Oh well.
I don't have any problems at the moment, thank the lord for that, but I'll let you know if I get any in the future. I'll take care of myself. You should take care of yourself too.
Get ready for the best day of your life.
I love you.
Your dumbhead,
John
I can't believe it!
I'm going on my first date, and that too with the guy I've been crushing on since forever.
I've been waiting for this moment my whole life. I mean I've liked him for so long and he's been my bestest friend, after Mia of course.
"When and where am I going to get a guy like that?," Mia swooned.
"Not in those books, that's for sure," I replied.
"I love my books, okay?" Mia shot back.
"Okay, Okay," I raised my hands, in surrender.
"Wait, but what if he doesn't look good? I mean I wouldn't want to go on a date with a fatty, ugly boy," Mia commented.
I shook my head at her words, "I don't care what he looks like."
"How can you not care? I swear to god I would never like a bad looking guy. I mean I have to look at that face my whole life!!," Mia said, exasperated.
"That's the thing. You have to look at that face your whole life, so tell me what would hapoen when he gets to his 50s, 60s or 70s? Nobody looks good at that age. His skin will be wrinkly, he'll get older and he simply wouldn't look good. What would you do then? Leave him?,"
"Then why do you like him?," Mia countered.
"I like him because he's...he's my John. He's sweet and kind and always nice to others. He was kind to me. He's someone who cares for me as deeply as I care for him. He helps me and comforts me when I need it. He makes me smile and laugh, just by reading those letters we write to each other. It doesn't matter what he looks like cause looks can be changed but what's in here, " I said while pointing to my heart," can't be changed."
"Where did that come from? Well, I guess from here,"Mia teased in a sing-song voice while pointing to my heart and I blushed,"So, looks like someone is going on their first date with their crush."
"What are you going to wear? What about your hair? Oh my god, I'm more excited than you are," Mia excitement was contagious and we both dived into my closet to choose the perfect pink dress which was going to be a daunting task, considering almost every dress I owned was pink.
We ended up with three outfits that looked super similar, but so different.
"I think you should go with the loose white tee and the pleated pink skirt," Mia declared.
"Yeah, but I like the one with the white tank top and the tennis skirt better," I admitted,"But your choice is good too. Ugh I don't know what to do!!,"



"Now, for hairstyles, let's search online," Mia suggested.
We looked up on the internet for hairstyles and found a really good one.
"You sure you'd be able to do my hair like that," I questioned, pointing at the hairstyle we picked.
"Well, maybe something close to that?," Mia guessed more than replied.


After trying and trying and trying, we ended up with a hairstyle that was not even remotely similar to the one we chose but still really beautiful.

"By the way, why are you getting ready for your date a whole day before your date?," Mia frowned.
"Well, cause I have to give him a surprise for our date too!," I beamed at Mia.
"What surprise?," Mia smirked at me.
"Since we're having a date, I think I should give him something that reminds him of me. I want to send him one of those cardboard cutout dummy thingies," I said," So, I need you to take a good photo, ok?"
Mia took out her phone and I started posing.
I covered my face with my hand and Mia gave me an odd look,"Umm, what are you doing?"
"Well I can't show him my face, we promised each other that it will be a secret until we actually meet each other," I said in a duh tone.
After an hour of photographing, bickering, teasing and laughing, Mia said," I think I finally got the one!!,"
"You've already said that for the past hundred photos. I swear if-," I stopped mid-sentence, looking at the photo Mia clicked.
"Damn, I look better in this photo than I actually do in real life," I boasted as I looked up at her.
•••••••••
10:00 O'clock : Get ready!!
As soon as the clock hit 10, I tore open the biggest box that stood in the corner of my room
And what I saw inside left me breathless.
My heartbeat stopped for a moment and then began running like my life depended on it, which it obviously did.
Is this what a heart attack feels like?
What is this feeling?
I took another look at the cardboard cutout.
Damn, is it him?
He had brown hair and he was really tall, like 6 feet tall. But that was not what caught my attention. He had a hat covering his face, with only his eyes visible. Blue eyes. Innocent. Intoxicatingly innocent. And absolutely captivating. Just one word to describe them. Hypnotizing.
And Mia said he doesn't look good, I thought to myself.
You can call it dummy.
I giggled as I read the card. What an appropriate choice. My dummy.
I took a look at the rest of the stuff to see a blanket, a flash drive, a packed box and is-what-is that a mini fridge in a picnic basket? What exactly is he planning?
The clock rang again, putting an end to my daydream.
11:00 O'clock : Let's cook!!
Since you like bragging about your cooking so much, let's see who can cook better.
I started making the cookie batter of the choco-chip recipe I sent him.
If he thinks he could make better cookies than me, then he's wrong.
Ace's POV:

"Get out of my way, all of you!!," I shouted at the workers in the kitchen but they just stared at me as if I had grown four heads.
"Mr. Harris!! Please ask everyone to vacate the kitchen right now," I ordered but he was nowhere to be seen.
"We can't do that, young master. We can cook anything you want to eat. You don't have to do anything. And you just came home yesterday, you should be resting," One of the chefs reasoned.
"Please vacate the kitchen right now or I'll call Mr. Harris," I threatened.
They were still hesitant but scurried out of there after hearing Mr. Harris' name.
Ha. Suckers.
I took out the cleanly folded paper from my pocket that had the recipe written on it.
You think making cookies is really easy? Ha. It isn't.
First of all, remember to thank the person who is teaching you the recipe of heaven on earth. Brat!!
I rolled my eyes at her words but still read on.
After doing that, wash your hands properly.
Well, I already knew that.
I'm writing this because I know you have never stepped foot in the kitchen and I swear if you said 'I already knew that', I'm gonna kill you.
Oh well, I washed my hands and dried them before reading on.
Now, since you think you're such a smartass. Solve these riddles before cooking! (No cheating)
Why did the chocolate chip cookie drop all his chips?
What? I scratched my head trying to figure it out.
What kind of cookies do rich people like best?
Fortune cookies. Duh. I've heard it so much, it's stuck in my head.
What do you call it when two cookies from the same sheet fall in love?
I smiled as I read it before writing all the answers down.
Yes, ma'am. I'm a smart-ass.
Now, for ingredients,
1 cup salted butter, softened (like me!)
1 cup white granulated sugar (it's the sweet white thingy. Don't confuse it for salt. I don't want to eat salty cookies.)
I scoffed mentally. I know what sugar is, I think.
1 cup light brown sugar
What the heck is brown sugar? Do you add food colouring to it or what? How can sugar be brown, it's supposed to be white. My whole life was a lie.
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Vanilla what now? The only thing Vanilla related I know about, is vanilla ice cream.
2 large eggs
Well, at least I know what an egg is.
3 cups all-purpose flour
Am I supposed to know what that is?
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
Ok, now she's just making up stuff.
1 tsp sea salt
Is that what they call salt nowadays?
2 cups chocolate chips (or chunks, or chopped chocolate)
(Well, you probably have all of them in your kitchen. You're rich.
Fun Fact: Normal people have to actually go out grocery shopping to buy these ingredients.)
Last and the most important ingredient: Lots and lots and lots of love and care.
I started looking for the stuff in the kitchen, opening and closing the never ending cabinets. I look up to see a transparent container of what I assumed is 'flour', but it was very high up. Even with my tall height, I had to stand on my tippy toes to get it. I reached for it and before I knew what was happening, my head was stuck in the container with the white powdery stuff covering every inch of me. I heard laughter and I turned to my left to see the workers peeking through the door.
Peeping toms.
"Damn, this is harder than I thought," I cursed while trying to get my head out of the container.
After lots and lots of effort, I was finally successful.
"Young Master, what exactly are you doing in my kitchen?," Mr. Harris cleared his throat.
"I, well, I-I wa-was...um...um. I have a secret I want to share, Mr. Harris. Please.. Please don't tell Mom and Dad," I pleaded and looked up to see Mr. Harris waiting for me to start,"Well, I have a date and I decided that I'd bake cookies for her, the only problem is that I don't know how to. She's even sent me the recipe, but that language is foreign to me. Look!," I pointed to the list and Mr. Harris shook his head at me.
"Ah, the things we do for love. It's that girl again, isn't it? The nameless, faceless one?," He commented.
"She has a name," I grumbled,"And now I have an idea what she looks like."
His eyes widened,"Oh! Did she finally send you a picture?"
"Yeah something like that," I responded remembering her, her flowy brown locks, her smile, that smile, the kind of smile that seems to radiate happiness, cuteness and innocence. Plus, she's really short. Well, I have something to tease her about.
"Would you mind wiping the drool off your face? And I'll give you all the ingredients, the rest you can do on your own, I hope," Mr. Harris moved around effectively, taking out the stuff written on the list while I tried to wipe away the white powder.
"Ok, I'm fine now, you can go away," I instructed Mr. Harris who gave me a doubtful look but didn't say anything and opted to peek through behind the door.
I managed to make something resembling cookie dough and put it in the oven after cutting it into a gazillion shapes. It wasn't long before I smelt something funny. I looked up to see the oven giving out smoke. I tried opening it which resulted in my fingers burning. I held my fingers against my ears before I put on mittens and tried opening it again. Smoke. Thick black smoke. I took out the tray while coughing and put it on the counter. All I saw was black lumps.
"What happened in here?," Ms. Nelly shouted before turning off the oven and rhrowing away the burnt cookies.
"If you wanted to eat cookies, you could have told me or Mr. Harris. You didn't have to burn down the house!, she exclaimed.
"No, I wanna make them myself," I said before standing up.
After burning another batch of cookies and almost putting the whole kitchen on fire, I finally got it right. I smiled while looking at the cookies I just baked. Mr. Harris reached out to steal one of my cookies and I slapped his hand away.
"What? I make cookies for you all the time and I don't even get to taste the one time you make it," he pouted.
"Nope, she's going to be the first one to taste it. You can wait until tomorrow," I walked out with my box of cookies.
Charlie's POV:
2:00 O'Clock : Picnic
There's a mini fridge in there. You have a backyard. What a coincidence. You know what that means? We could have a picnic in your backyard.
I scoffed as I took out the blanket, the basket and my dummy and settled in the backyard under the only tree that we have.
I opened the fridge and a card fell out.
To keep you entertained, here's a few picnic puns.
I smiled as I took out the ham and cheese sandwiches, apple pie, chips and salsa, jam drops and banana bread.
Holy guacamole, is he trying to make me fat?
I opened the card and started reading while stuffing my mouth with jam drops.
At the school picnic, my friend said he had some juicy gossip. He loaded up his plate but tripped on the way to my table...
He spilled the beans!
One thing I'll say about eating inside: it's no picnic.
Finding your love isn't a walk in the park, but Priyanka did picnic.
Mommy, daddy and little lion are having a picnic. As soon as they've taken seat on their blanket, little lion wants to start eating. "Hold on," says daddy lion.
"We first need to prey."
I laughed as I read each one.
He's so lame. Lame but cute lame.
After finishing the food, and the puns, I headed inside to hear the clock ring once again.
3.30 : Movie session
I decided to grant you a wish. That being we'll watch every movie you've ever wanted me to watch with you.
I installed the pen drive in my laptop before looking at the names of the movies.
Love, Simon.
To all the boys I've loved before.
Five feet apart.
I took out the last box that had tons of snacks in it and started binging.
After hours of watching movies and crying my heart out on the last one, I finally shut down my laptop and lay on my bed, thinking.
Damn, this might just be the best first date anyone's ever had.
I looked back at the dummy in the corner of my room and blushed.
Thank you, dumbhead.
The clock rings once again and I frown. There's more?
9 O'clock : Surprise
Since we both have already called dibs on each other, I think it would nice to have something that reminds both of us about our promise.
Check the dummy's neck.
I looked over to the dummy to see a chain around its neck.
How the heck did I miss that?
It was a simple chain with a ring hanging in the middle. The ring was heart shaped with a diamond in the middle. There was just one word to describe it. Hypnotizing. It was sleek and the diamond was a mesmerizing shade of blue, the same as the eyes of the dumbhead who was staring back at me. I looked down to see a letter inscribed on the inside. A.

Staring is rude. Put it on.
I put the ring back in the chain and wore it around my neck and it rested right between my chest. Close to my heart. Like him.
I closed my eyes, my heart beating
as I leaned in and placed a kiss on my dummy's cheek before hugging it close to me.
Kisses and hugs.
I wish I could be with you right now, for real. To hug you tight, to hold you close. Just for a moment, a second. That's all.
••••••••••••••