"Fine. But if you refuse to leave my head, then I'm not leaving yours."
๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฎ ๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐๐ช๐ฌ๐ด๐ผ!
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Sterling gave her that charming grin again as he winked. "I have no qualms about that."
"You will when this mystery starts." She chuckled, placing a bittersweet kiss to his cheek.
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"Hmโฆ I think I'll just be conflicted, then. Because I'll like you in my head, but I'll need to be thinking about the mystery."
"Yeah, I'll be the same way. Unless, of course, you're willing to give me my head back."
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"Never," Sterling chuckled, twisting around to kiss her softly.
Her phone beeped. "It's midnight. Looks like our mystery truly begins."
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Sterling hummed and nodded slowly. He turned back around to face the lake and froze.
The reflection of the moon on the waterโฆ It made the water practically glowโฆ
"Cassโฆ Look at the lake," he whispered.
"I bet you that's where our next clue is." She grinned slowly, this was what she came here for.
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"I bet it's somewhere around the shore," Sterling mused as he stood and walked to the edge. "Close to where it reflects the brightest."
"Then it could be one of two places on either side of the shore."
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"I'll check one while you check the other?" Sterling suggested.
She smiled a little. "Sounds good." She didn't hesitate in taking off to one side of the shore, skidding to a halt at the brightest area.
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Sterling chuckled at her enthusiasm before he started toward the other spot. He looked around in the brush by the water, chewing on his lip as he searched.
She searched the bushes until she came across a box with a symbol on it. The school had told them that this symbol would be on all the clues. "I found it!" She ran back to the main shore.
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Sterling's gaze shot toward her before he started walking over. He grinned as he looked down at the box. "Let's go sit to open it."
"Ugh, lazy." She elbowed him in the ribs with a smile before sitting down on the bench to open the box.
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"I'm not lazy! I just like the log we found earlier. It has sentimental value," he chuckled before sitting beside her.
She rolled her eyes before opening the box. "Oh hey look a key! Keys are cool!" She pulled out a key and a note.
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"It must be for something," Sterlig mused, looking at it for a moment before he moved on to the note. His eyes flicked over it as he read it aloud, and it basically just said that there was something the key went to that they wouldn't expect it to go to.
"Well, keys go to locks so what's something you wouldn't expect to be locked?"
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"A tree," Sterling joked with a chuckle. "Maybe we should come back to this tomorrow. Get some rest first."
"Knowing the state of my thoughts right now, that's not gonna happen. Not for me at least."
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"Just think about something that puts you to sleep. Like Calculus," Sterling said with a shrug.
"I skipped calculus. I actually skipped a lot of things, I was homeschooled. Well, okay, private academy but whatever. While you were learning chemistry, I was busy learning 100 different ways to kill someone."
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Sterling snorted. "That sounds a lot more fun than calc wasโฆ"
"No it really wasn't. I smelled like blood for weeks."
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"Okayโฆ That sounds a lot less fun," Sterling said, crinkling his nose up.
"Yeah. People kept spraying me with air freshener whenever I walked by. I was humiliated."
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"Yeah, that soundsโฆ Yeahโฆ Sorry you had to deal with that."