The Brown Box

It’s 7:22pm Monday night when Crystal finally begins to walk towards her car after a long shift at J-Mart. Crystal is a second year nursing student working to put herself through school. She stands a solid 5’8, has beautiful dark brown melanin skin, short black curly hair, and a figure so magnificent and unique that the best sculptures in the world couldn’t recreate it.

As Crystal approaches her car, she sees a mysterious small box wrapped in brown paper placed between her windshield and the hood of her silver Sonata.

She gets a puzzled look on her face then looks around to see if anyone is around.

Her red apron blows in the wind as she makes eye contact with an older woman walking inside the store. They exchange awkward smiles, and Crystal proceeds to walk over to her driver’s side door as the woman makes her way across the street into the store.

She puts her things in her car then grabs the box. “It’s almost as beautiful as you. I hope you like it, XOXO”, the box says on top.

“This is weird. Don’t nobody want me.”, Crystal says to herself before her phone starts to ring. She gets deeply engaged in her conversation as she tosses the box in her backseat and drives home. Still on the phone, Crystal walks into the house and leaves the box in the car.

The next day as Crystal’s finishing her shift, she’s having a conversation with Rena, her short and funny Columbian best friend and coworker, as they stand around behind the front desk killing time.

“Girl, I’m telling you NOBODY wants me. They probably had the wrong car, or maybe the wind blew it off of somebody else’s and onto mine. Or maybe...”

“Ugh, Crystal, shut up.” Rena says annoyed. “Stop acting like you’re not one of the finest girls on campus. Nobody wants you because YOU don’t want to be wanted. You don’t let anybody in. You let George play you freshman year, and you ain’t been right since.”

“Hey! We said we’d never say the G word again.”

“My baaad. I’m just saying you’ll never find love, or even a man, if you’re just gonna hide behind a wall the rest of your life. Like, look at Daniel about to walk in. He’s smart, tall, muscular, and FINE. He’s been trying to shoot his shot since you started working here. He’s probably the one that left that box. Ask him. As a matter of fact, I will.”

“You better not!”, Crystal mutters as Daniel walks into the store and walks by the front desk.

“Heeeeyyyy, Daniel!”, Rena energetically says as she waves and Crystal stands there blushing.

Daniel chuckles and starts blushing as well. He licks his lips then says, “Hey, Rena. Wassup, Crystal? How y’all doing?”

Crystal gets shy and replies with a smile, and Rena rolls her eyes and replies with, “Crystal loves your package. She can’t get enough of it.” Daniel’s eyebrows raise as Crystal’s mouth drops. “Oh, wait. I didn’t…”

Daniel takes his phone out of his pocket and says, “I’m sorry, but I’m in a rush. I gotta go.”

He walks off as Crystal tilts her head and gives Rena the death stare.

“Well, you definitely have his attention now. For sure.”, Rena sarcastically says.

Ten minutes later, Crystal and Rena walk out of J-Mart and into the parking lot. “It has to be him! Look!”, Rena says as she points. Another box covered in brown paper sits on Crystal’s car. This one’s a little bigger than the last one. “Did you ever open the last one?” Rena asks as Crystal rushes to her car in amazement.

“No, I completely forgot. I, I can’t believe Daniel did this. He’s so sweet.” Crystal picks up the box and reads the top of it grinning ear to ear. “I can’t picture an even better duo. I hope you like it, XOXO.”

“Well, open it!”, Rena anxiously says. Crystal begins to unravel the paper. “Wait, open the one from yesterday first.”

Crystal stops and opens her backseat door to get the box. She grabs it from under her driver’s seat. She rips it open like a seven year old opening gifts on Christmas day.

“What is it?”, Rena asks. Crystal stands there in silence, in awe. “Weellll?...You know what? Just give it here.” Rena snatches the box and enters the same trance as Crystal. A few seconds pass before Rena asks, “Is that? Is that a…”

“Yes. Where do you think he got the money for this?!”

“Giiiiirrrl, it doesn’t even matter. You need to go find him NOW!”

Crystal takes off her apron and hurries back into the store to look for Daniel. She spots him at the register checking out. Crystal locks eyes with him and immediately darts towards him. She moves his cart to the side, wraps her arms around his neck, and passionately kisses him. After tongue wrestlingwith him for a few seconds, she looks him in his eyes and says, “Thank you soooo much for that diamond necklace. It’s so beautiful and shiny. I love it!” Daniel stands there confused. “Well, aren’t you going to say something?”

Daniel scratches his head then says, “Ummm, I enjoyed the kiss, BUT….What are you talking about? I didn’t buy you a necklace.”