Treasure

The sun was growing smaller behind the tall mountains as the sky started mixing with pink and orange. Emily walked down the quiet Kentucky streets, kicking stray pebbles on the sidewalk after a long day of classes. The wind blew, making the already nippy, fall day even colder.

The colors on the trees around the young brunette’s apartment complex had already started changing from summer green to her favorite mixture of yellow, orange, red, and brown; it wouldn’t be long before the ground was covered in the dead beauty.

Emily trudged up the steps, readjusting her bag on her shoulder after every flight. She was more than ready to lie on her couch in her gray sweater. She could already feel the first sip of warm tea, that her long lost best friend had so easily hooked her on when she visited England, scorching her tongue. She loved fall so much, especially in late October when Halloween movies began to air.

She dug around in her ratty messenger bag for her keys, only noticing the note on her door when she slid the key in the lock. She ripped it from the chipped, white paint, and read it silently.

‘I had a few days off on the American leg of the tour. So, surprise one is sitting on your kitchen table. See it, love it and me, leave your bag and come to the park as you are. I mean it, if you change, I’ll never forgive you – that’s wasting treasured time. –Liam’

Emily groaned until she saw a second note that had been under the first one. She rolled her blue eyes, knowing that it was something that would make her look completely predictable and make him look like a complete asshole.

‘Stop groaning. Just do it, you big baby. –Liam’

Emily drew the corner of her pale lips up in a sly smirk, crumbling the notes up in her hand and pushing the door open with her gray, Oxford cladded foot. She threw her keys down on the small, wooden table beside the door; propping her bag against the legs.

She stepped very slowly through her home, because Liam was notorious for hiding around a corner or behind a door when he came to visit. Emily, being the completely paranoid and anxious person she was, tiptoed through her own home. Once she finally reached her kitchen, she saw a vase full of white lilies sitting on her old, black kitchen table.

Her lips stretched across her chilled face in the largest, toothiest smile she’d had in months. Liam wasn’t in America often, and hardly ever in her neck of the woods; heck their friendship that was started up a year ago was completely by chance. When he does visit, though, he goes all out. Even when she first took a trip to London to see him, he took her to every single tourist site – though they were just places to him.

She ran back to her bedroom, checking her hair in the mirror and freshening up her makeup. Though she really wanted to change into something nicer; something equivalent to what Liam deserved, she resisted the urge under his request.

Emily finished touching up her simple make up of eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara, threw her day-beaten hair into a curly side ponytail, and topped her head with her favorite gray beanie before heading towards the door. She grabbed her keys, locking her apartment back up and began the short walk to the city’s park.

New York had its beautifully built buildings, Lady Liberty, and its city lights that could shine through an abyss; California had the Hollywood sign, all the celebrity attractions, and beaches for days; London had its historic sites and buildings, The London Eye, and Big Ben; but as far as Emily was concerned - Kentucky’s scenery beat all.

In a short walk from her apartment to the park, you could see mountains of every color in the fall palette, and they never ended; a pond that had little baby ducklings following their mama, and gorgeous Cardinal and Blue Jay birds sharing a tree branch. Emily hated living in the state, but she would always love what she saw when she walked the sidewalks.

Emily thought the walk felt incredibly too long for the park to be just down the street. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was excited or nervous about seeing what ridiculously over the top thing Liam had done, but it seemed never ending.

When she finally stopped in front of the tree cladded entrance to the small park, Emily’s breath was completely knocked out of her. The multicolored trees lit up with twinkling lights and lanterns under the darkening sky – intensifying the fall leaves. The sidewalk was covered in lily petals that were smothered under her every step. She could faintly hear her favorite song, Drops of Jupiter, playing in the distance, growing louder the closer she got.

Emily couldn’t help but grin when she thought back to the endless nights of conversations she and Liam first had after they met. They’d play twenty questions until they fell asleep, and the question of the perfect date came into play. Emily had detailed hers down to the letter, and the farther she walked the more the idea became a reality. She couldn’t believe he had remembered, and she was even more shocked that he was making it come true for her.

This internationally famous twenty-four year old was making her most desired dream come true. He was loved by millions of girls all around the world, yet he was creating this perfect date for some small town, country girl that he’d met on the off chance they decided to stay in her town for a night. It was surreal.

When Emily reached the end of the tree covered sidewalk, the sight of the gazebo in the middle of the park almost knocked out the feeling in her legs. It was absolutely gorgeous and just as she’d imagined. The outside of the structure was surrounded by white sheets, and blue Christmas lights hung from post to post in two rows. She slowly walked up what little steps lead to the inside.

There were mountains of pillows that varied in size, shape, and color piled up all around the edges. A single candle was placed in the middle of her favorite scent – caramel pumpkin latte – with a single white lily lain in front of it horizontally.

Every single detail she had described to him months ago was followed right to the candle scent. Absolutely everything she wanted there was there: lanterns, petals, sheets, pillows, Christmas lights, the candle, the flower, even the season she’d hope she’d have the date in. Everything was there; everything, of course, except the boy who made it happen.

“Did I get the candle right? Caramel Pumpkin Latte, right?” A deep, familiar, Wolverhampton accent came from behind her.

Emily shook her head as she turned to face the British popstar, “How? When?” She could hardly compose her thoughts, because every single train of thought she could gather ran straight off the track.

“I’ve been working on this all day. I flew in last night from New York.” Liam shrugged, shyly grinning with his hands stuffed in his jean pockets.

The brunette lifted her knuckle to her mouth, glancing from thing to thing and trying to compose herself. She stopped at Liam, her eyes shiny with tears of joy, “Why?”

“Why not? I can’t see one bloody thing wrong with doing something so massively creative for this treasure of a girl.” He ran his larger hand through his shaved head. “Emily, I know it’s only been a year, filled with mostly texts and the occasional visit. We may not know each other enough, and you may not feel the same way, but-”

Emily cut him off, crashing her chapped lips onto his. Her toes ached from being bent in the expensive shoes she wore, but she was much shorter than this beautiful boy. Her sweater covered arms wrapped around his bulky neck, while his warm hands gently touched her hips.

It was that moment, the moment where their lips moved as if they studied each other before, that Liam knew he’d found a treasure. He felt like a pirate when he thought about it; a pirate that had found this buried treasure that no one else knew about. He had been the one to insist on staying the night in a little, ghost like town. He’d been the one to volunteer to go to the convenience store where this quiet, nerdy girl worked. He had actually found the courage to ask for her number. He was the pirate to find this rare and beautiful treasure.

Emily broke the kiss, leaning her forehead against his and stared into his big brown eyes. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“How’d you know that you wanted me?” Her bright, blue eyes tried to find the answer, and maybe she did, but she hadn’t expected the one he actually said.

“I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” He chuckled quietly, his little birthmark stretched on his neck.

“After your read that book I gave you?”

“After I met you, I knew I had a treasure. Once you find gold, you don’t let it go.”