"Why do you keep all this stuff?" My best friend Brandon asks me, holding up a ticket from one of our highschool's musicals.
"Because that way I can relive those memories." I say snatching the ticket from his hand. We were sitting on my bed going through some boxes of my old things.
"So which box does this go in?" He questions, holding up an aged piece of stationary.
"Let me see that!" I gasp, hoping it was what I thought it was. He hands it over and I carefully unfold the fragile paper.
"What is it?" Brandon asks.
"I wrote this years ago, it's my bucket list." I can't believe I kept it all this time. Brandon comes over and reads over my shoulder.
"Find out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop?" He raises his eybrows.
"Shut up, I wrote this a long time ago!" I shoot him a look.
"I think it's cute." He teases.
"No, this list is very serious buisness, I promised mysef that I would accomplish everything on it." I continue scanning the paper.
"I thought only people on their death beds wrote bucket lists." Brandon redirects his attention to the box in front of him.
"That's not the only reason." I say. I refold the paper and set it aside. We continue going through my boxes of junk and soon finish.
"Well I should get going, I have some stuff I need to do at home." Brandon says, standing up.
"Alright, thanks for helping me go through this stuff." I thank.
"No problem." He says. He exits my room and I hear the front door close behind him downstairs. Brandon only lives three doors down from me so we walk to each others houses. I glance at the clock and realize it's much later than I thought it was, I decide to change into my pj's and go to bed. The next morning I wake to the sound of knocking on my front door. I sleepily walk out my room and trudge down the stairs to the door. Whoever it is better have a good reason for waking me up. I open the front door and find Brandon standing there.
"Morning." He smiles, noticing my pj's.
"What do you want?" I snap, grouchy because I'm up so early. He reaces into his back pocket and pulls out two lollipops. I stare at him with a confused look.
"You came over here this early to give me candy?" I ask.
"Not just candy," He hints. "But tootsie pops!" It takes me a while before it finally clicks.
"From my bucket list?" I assume.
"Yep, I came up with the best idea last night!" He exclaims, stepping inside the house. I close the door and walk into the kitchen, Brandon follows.
"And what would that be?" I ask, starting up the coffee maker.
"Me and you should do everything on your bucket list." He says, sitting at island on a stool.
"You're kidding right?" I raise my eyebrows.
"No, but instead of just doing it before we die, we finish it all in one day." I can tell he has thought this whole thing out.
"That might be inpossible, it's a long list Bran." I say, pouring myself a cup of coffee.
"But could we at least try?" He asks, hopeful.
"Well, it could be fun I guess..." I admit. Brandon holds up the lollipops.
"Well let's get licking." He smiles. I grab the green one from his hand.
"Ok, you lick, I'll count." He says.

*937 licks later*

"Ok I think I hit tootsie roll!" I exclaim.
"Finally! I was getting tired of counting!" He says.
"Well my tongue was getting tired of licking," I joke. "Your turn!" I toss him his red lollipop.
"Alright." He unwraps it and begins licking, I begin counting.

"Ok, done!" he shouts.
"1,059." I say.
"Ok, where's your list, we need to cross that one off." He throws his half eaten tootsie pop in the trash.
"I'll go grab it." I say quickly, heading towards the stairs. I bring the list back down to him.
"I'm going to go get dressed, be right back." i vanish back upstairs. I slide on my favorite pair of denim shorts and a vintage print tank top. I slip on my flip flops and pull my hair back into a pony tail. I go back downstairs and find Brandon reading the list.
"What's next?" I walk up beside him.
"Milk a cow." He laughs.
"Do you know any farmers?" I question.
"Actually my mom is friends with the guy up the street, the one with the farmhouse." He says.
"Think he'd let us milk one of his cows?" I smirk.
"Lets find out." He takes out his cell phone and dials a number. Brandon explains what me and him are trying to accomplish and he gets the ok from the farmer. He quickly thanks him and hangs up.
"He said it's fine, he even explained to me how to do it, lets go, we dont have all day!" Brandon tugs on my arm. We walk to the farm and arrive there within 15 minutes. We walk into the barn and hesitate before stepping into a stall occupied by a large female cow.
"Ladies first." Brandon pushes me toward the cow.
"What do I do Mr.Cow Expert?" I tease.
"Just squeeze the utter." He coaches. I croutch next to the cow and gently pull on one utter. Nothing. Brandon sighs. I try again, getting only a drop of milk.
"Third times the charm." Brandon cheers.
"I pull once again and get a good squirt of milk.
"You did it!" He yells.
"I did! Now your turn." I scoot out of the way to make room for him.
"Do I have to?" He asks.
"Yes." I say. It takes him four tries until he finally figures it out.
"Ok two down!" I say taking out the list and crossing off #2.
"Next?" He asks as we exit the barn.
"Sing Karaoke." I smile while reading it.
"Alright lets go back to your place." He says. He walk back home and break out my old boombox and a mix tape Brandon made me as a birthday present a while back. Grenade by Bruno Mars blasts through the speakers. We wait for the chorus to begin until we start singing.
"Cause I'd catch a grenade for ya, throw my hand on a blade for ya, I'd jump in front of a train for ya." We both sing at the top of our lungs. We start dancing around and Brandon grabs my hand and starts spinning me. Once the song ends we both collapse onto the floor.
"One more...down." Brandon huffs, out of breath.

All day long we continue completing tasks on my bucket list. we hunt down four leaf clovers in my backyard, breathe in helium from a balloon we purchased at the store, bake a cake, and spent hours trying to solve a rubiks cube. I have never had so much fun in my whole entire life. I can't believe Brandon came up with this idea.

"I think we are almost done!" I exclaim.
"It's about time," Brandon jokes. "Whats left?" He questions.
"we have three more left. The next one is catch a jar full of fireflies." I read.
"Well they should be coming out soon, I'll go find a jar." He disappears into the kitchen. I walk over to the couch and plop down. I sigh. I start thinking about how it is going to be impossible to finish the list.I know that it is going to be inpossible. Why? Because of the very last item. I pull the list out of my pocket, unfold it and reread those words, the last words on the page.

Fall in love

See there's a slight problem with that one because the person I love just so happens to be my best friend. And I could never tell him in fear that it would ruin our friendship.

Brandon walks into the room holding a jar.
"Will this do?" He asks, quickly glancing outside to see if it's dark enough.
"Yep, that'll work." I say, quickly forcing away my previous thoughts. We walk outside and catch over a hundred fireflies. I cross it off my list.
"Almost done!" I wave the list in front of Brandon.
"I told you we could do it!" He smiles. He glances at the second to last thing written.
"Lay under the stars." He reads.
"It's the perfect night, not a single cloud." I point out.
"Be right back." Brandon says before hurrying inside. He's back within minutes holding a big blanket. He spreads it across the lawn and sits on it. I walk over and sit down beside him. We both lay down silently.
"It's so beautiful." I say, barely louder than a whisper. Brandon sighs, then breaks the silence.
"Tessa?" He asks, turning to look at me.
"Hmm?" I turn to meet his gaze.
"I have to tell you something." He announces.
"Alright, you know you can tell me anything." I say, starting to worry. I hear him take a shaky breath.
"I think...I think I'm in love with you..." He says nervously.
"What?" I question, thinking I must have heard him wrong.
"Tess I really like you." He says.
"Really?" I say, too shocked to say anything else.
"Yes, really, that's why I planned this whole day." He explains, he looks so nervous.
"Brandon..." I start to trail off, so happy that words won't form.
"It's fine, I understand if you just want to stay friends." His eyes sadden.
"No." I say, still not managing to spit it out. I grab the list laying on the blanket next to him and cross off the last one. Brandon watches me and looks up at me, confused.
"I love you too Brandon." I smile.