Family Name

Eight

It began...with a letter.

"What about this, Jay? Listen. 'Hello, Mr. Prince-"

Jay stood up from the kitchen table. "No, don't address him by his first name. I don't wanna call him by his first name." I looked at all of the wadded up pieces of paper on the dining room table. "Jay, I've rewritten this six times. I'm tired." Jay pulled a bottle of water from the fridge and turned around. "What about...'Hello, Mr. Nelson. We are twelve year old boys..." "No. We don't wanna tell him there's two of us at first. We don't even know if he'll get this letter or if he'll even wanna come." I wadded up another piece of paper. "Let me write. I know what to say. He'll come this way." Jay was taking the wads of paper and ripping them up as I was writing which was smart. He made sure they got to the bottom of the trash. "'Hello, Mr. Nelson. I am a twelve year old boy and my mother is a big fan of yours. We live in Rochester, Minnesota and was wondering if we could meet you in person. You see, my mother loves your music and her birthday is coming up, but we don't have a way to come to your One Night Stand concert in Minneapolis as our car is broke down. I don't even know if you would see this, but my mother said your friend's P.O. Box is probably the best way to reach you via letter. Sorry if that is intrusive, I just desperately want to reach out to you.
Sincerely, R.'" Jay laughed. "That's poetry right there. That's brilliant. I mean....it's lying. But I don't see us going to find him. Mama is going to be mad, probably." I folded the paper and slipped it into the envelope. "I just hope we meet him. I know you're on the fence about it...but I want to meet him."

I woke up and knew Aleena was at work. Since my new album was in post production, I had decided to take the day off to write some new songs I had ideas for, but when I sat up I saw a letter on the end of the bed. I grinned and reached over on my nightstand for my glasses....which weren't there. "Ah, shit." I stood and checked under the bed to see they weren't there. "I could've swore I left them on the table." I grabbed the letter and was trying to read it to the best of my ability. "'Hi, my love. Good morning. I want you to dress up nice and hit the road. There's a suit for you in the closet. This is a scavenger hunt. Good luck! Your first clue is the first place you took me after the party we met at. I love you. A.'" I was not awake for this. It was sweet and romantic, but I should be doing this for her. I guess to Paisley Park we go.

I had just finished up with a client when a postman walked in with a box. "You're Aleena?" He asked. I was giving the client her receipt. "Yes. What's this?" I asked. "Package for you." He handed it over and I placed it on the counter as he was leaving. When I opened the box, I saw the most beautiful yellow and blue ankle dress. "Holy shit, Prince." I whispered when I pulled it out. A letter fell to the floor and I picked it up to read it. "'Hey, boo. Close up early today and reschedule all ur appointments. Go to Paisley around noon. And wear that dress. Love you, baby. Prince xx." I rolled my eyes and laughed before locking the front door and going to my office to change. I had no heels to go with this dress so I guess the wedges I have on will suffice.

I walked into Paisley and found another letter on the table in the lobby. It was from Aleena. "Think of the place in Minneapolis you took me for our first official date after we got settled into the new house. You love this place so much." I grinned and ran out of Paisley to my car.

I was driving to Paisley when I could've sworn I saw Prince's car speeding past not far from Audubon driving like a bat out of hell. I pulled into Paisley and went inside when a staff member stopped me. "Miss Aleena. This is for you." I blinked as I didn't even have time to process if he was even here. I took the letter and opened it. "Last place I promise. The place where we had our first kiss." I smirked. "Thank you." I said to the staff member before leaving for my car.

I arrived at the restaurant and walked in to see a bag on the counter with my name on it. Along with a letter. Ugh, this scavenger hunt was killing me. I took the letter off. "Last place. It's where we had our first kiss." I took the bag and realized it was my favorite cookies before going back to my car.