It's Not an Existential Crisis

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

*****ARIELLA's POV*****

~One week later~

"Hello?" I asked as I walked up the stairs of our flat, "Dan? Phil? Artie?"

I came home to an empty house once again. Dan and Phil must have still been at the office and Artie was most likely out job hunting. I walked over to the bathroom to attempt to scrub off the paint on my arms but as I passed my bedroom, something caught my attention. The door was slightly cracked open and that's how I noticed it. I pushed open the door to see tons of fairy lights strung across the ceiling. My smile began to grow as I looked up at the twinkling lights. Dan's laptop was sitting open on his bed with a card next to it saying 'click play'.

I pulled the laptop on my lap and followed the cards instructions.

"Hey Ari, Dan here," he did his normal signature salute, "you are probably wondering why the room looks fancy-"

"You can thank me for that!" Artie popped her head into the frame and then ran out his room.

"Anyway, I thought tonight we deserved a night to ourselves, especially since I have been so busy with the book and BBC and you being gone so much for Oscar's hotel. So tonight I am taking you on a well deserved date. I'm guessing you need a shower, so once you are done, look in the medicine cabinet for your next clue. Can't wait to see you. Bye," he smirked as the video ended. Oh geez, what is he up to?

*****

I wrapped my bathrobe around myself and brushed out my damp hair. As he told me, I looked in the medicine cabinet to find a small yellow piece of paper. I opened it and it read 'part one is found somewhere that Phil believes to be haunted'. I knew exactly where that was. I ran to Phil's weird wooden chest at the foot of his bed. And just like I was guessing, I was right. My eyes lit up as I saw a basket of new makeup and curling irons. Everything there was what I had been wanting but never got around to buying it.

*****

Makeup and hair completed! In the bottom of the basket, there was another little note:

'Part two is hanging on something I always run into."

With a smirk, I ran to the kitchen. It was hard to believe how many times Dan has run into the transparent door. I gasped as my eyes landed on it. A beautiful dress was hanging on the door with a pair of heels on the floor beneath it. The dress was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. It was a deep royal blue with a sweetheart neckline that was covered in a variety of blue and purple rhinestones that descended down the bodice. The dress flared out at the bottom with a vintage black lace and the shoes had the exact rhinestones embedded all over them- they must have been custom made. He was such a sweetheart for spoiling me like this. Behind the dress was a  black sticky note attached to the door. It said in white letters 'Put me on and then to become the true princess that you are, you have to find the key- or should I say keys.'

That clue required a little bit more thinking than the others.

*****

I zipped up the dress and took a step back. Wow- I just wanted to see Dan at that very minute just to give him the biggest hug ever to thank him for making feel this special even before the actual date. But in order to find out where he was, I needed to find the next clues. I still had no idea where the next one was. Keys..... Did he have a drawer or a bowl where they kept spare keys to the flat? no... Car keys- wait they didn't have cars.... what else has keys?!