The Hunt For Love

"Ok teams here is tonight's list," Anna said while handing out everyone a piece of paper.

Once a month our friends get together for a scavenger hunt. It is a fun way to have a date night. My friend Anna came up with this date night as an ice breaker for first dates, or a reason for our married friends to get out of the house. Tonight I was a little nervous because it was the first date with a guy I met off a dating app. We have been talking for a few weeks now and tonight was our official meet face to face.

"Thank you," Daniel said to Anna as he took the piece of paper.

I fell for Daniel instantly the first night we talked. I also remember drinking a lot of Merlot that night as well. But the conversation and the smooth red wine just made me feel warm inside. Now here we were taking part in Anna's monthly scavenger hunt. I leaned into daniel to get a glimpse of tonight's tasks.

"So, what crazy shenanigans are we doing tonight?" I asked Daniel.

"We need to take a photo in a photo booth, Dress each other in an ugly outfit at Target, Order the oddest flavour of ice cream, Kiss in front of a statue, Leave pennies around a toy store for kids to find later, and lastly a photo of us sharing something." Daniel read.

"Not so bad," I replied giving him a sweet smile.

We both stood up and followed everyone out Anna's front door. The evening air was perfect outside, not too warm and not too cold. It was just the right weather for a light sweater. I looked up briefly to see the moon and stars shining bright in the night sky. We walked up to Daniel's truck, and he opened the passenger door for me. I climbed inside and he shut the door. I watched as Daniel walked around to the driver's door I noticed how great his butt looked in his jeans. I smiled to myself.

"Ok, what are we doing first?" Daniel asked as he brought the truck to life.

"Well, I know Sparky's Homemade Ice Cream Parlor is doing a feature on a flavour called brown sugar cicada. They boil cicadas and dipped them in chocolate. They're then mixed into a brown sugar flavoured ice cream."

Daniel was silent for a moment but then he asked, "What is a cicada?"

"It is an insect," I replied a little embarrassed.

I directed Daniel on how to get to Sparky's. We ordered the insect ice cream, took a photo, and tossed the ice cream out. No way we were going to eat it. Next, we went to the mall for the photo booth shot. That is where I fell for Daniel's incredible, dashing smile. The mall featured a Target and we laughed together while dressing each other up in the craziest designs we could find. Went into a toy store and left 8 pennies randomly around that Daniel happen to have in his truck's drink holder. That left us with a kiss in front of a statue and to share something.

"I have an idea for the last two tasks," Daniel said.

He grabbed my hand and we went back to his truck. Daniel drove until we came to Wascana Park. He parked the truck and grabbed a blanket and a basket from the back seat. Daniel came around the truck to open my door and grabbed my hand once again. We walked until we came to the statue of Queen Elizabeth. Daniel laid the blanket down and gestured for me to sit.

"Last week I came across a website called Bright Cellars, it is a monthly wine club." Daniel said while reaching into the basket, "I took a short quiz on their website using answers I thought you'd say. The website recommended a bottle of Allonym. So, I bought it. Came right to my door yesterday."

I was in awe watching Daniel open the bottle of Allonym and poured us each a glass.

"Cheers to scavenger hunts," I said as we clung glasses.

I took a light sniff after my first sip. I could smell fruits like peach and nectarine. Daniel knew how to keep me falling for him. I leaned in to give him our first kiss in front of the Queen Elizbeth statue. He met me halfway. The kiss was just a sweet as the wine. I couldn't even tell you how long the kiss lasted. I did not want the night to end. We never did go back to Anna's house with our finished scavenger hunt checklist. I still to this day have no idea which couple won, all I know is that I found something that night that wasn't on the checklist. The hunt for love!