Dear Sparkling Unicorn Diary
Valentine’s Day was going to be a normal Saturday for me. No plans or hot dates aside from probably doing some light grocery shopping. No gifts or dinners at a nice restaurant unless Subway or McDonalds suddenly upped their game. While it made me heart ache, I accepted aside from some affectionate wishes from a bunch of handsome men on Tumblr (and probably some unrequested dick pics), Cupid would not be shooting his arrow in my direction this year.
After getting dressed and drinking some coffee, I wandered down the main lobby to see if the ladies were at the puzzle table working on the latest Ravensburger design and catch up on some of the daily gossip. As soon as I stepped my foot off the elevator, they turned around and welcomed me. And before I could sit down, Linda asked if Christian gave me my Valentine’s Day gift yet.
I was confused and asked her in writing which Christian. The only Christian I knew was the 16-year-old who lives down the hallway on the first floor. Deborah laughed and said “Yep. That Christian. You just can’t stop attracting the teenage boys, you slut!” as she teased me while trying to figure out if she has the correct piece in her hand for the grandstand section she was working on.
I could feel my stomach instantly knot up. Sure, he’s a nice kid. At first, he was shy around me until he found out I’m obsessed with Marvel films. Since then, he always grills me constantly with my opinion on the movies, my theories on future films, and found it so cool I have every single movie and Disney Plus show on Blu-Ray. And like most of the guys in the apartment complex, it’s obvious when he checks me out, especially at the indoor pool. But I always keep it casual. Sure, I hugged him like I do everyone else, and maybe that fault is on me, but to hear he got me a Valentine’s Day gift immediately set off a bunch of red flags.
When I asked the ladies what he got me, all they knew was it was some sort of art project he spent weeks on in his graphics design class.
I sat there with the ladies for a while longer. Although they weren’t done giving me shit about yet another teenage boy infatuated with me, the conversation eventually shifted away to talks about the Winter Olympics, if we should see the new “Withering Heights” in the theater sometime next week, and other things. But in the back of my mind I was still worried. I kept trying to think back if I’ve ever given Christian mixed signals. No. I’m sure I haven’t. We just have nice casual conversations, and I hug him like I hug everyone else. But maybe I shouldn’t hug him. Dammit Jenni, you’re an idiot!
When I got back to my apartment, I immediately froze. There laying in front of my door was a nice pink bag. As I got closer to it, I could see whatever was inside was wrapped in white gift tissue paper. A small card was attached to one of the bag handles with a ribbon that simply read “From Your Secret Valentine.” How did Christian manage to drop this off if I never saw him take the elevat.... oh. The stairs. He must have gone up the back stairs.
My heart was going a hundred miles an hour, but out of fear. Whatever was in the bag was heavier than a graphics design project. I almost didn’t want to take it out feeling like I could still stop this whole ordeal from getting worse. I could prevent this from turning out bad; both for Christian who I suspected this was from and for me. But I didn’t. I took a deep breath and unwrapped it. I unwrapped THEM.
Out of complete shock, I sat down on the floor of the hallway. After a moment I started to cry.
A few minutes later I was back on the elevator with the bag in my hand. The ladies looked up when I got out and saw me heading directly to his family's apartment. I think the ladies could see I had been crying and debated whether to follow me or not. Neither of them did, or at least I didn’t see them come by the time I knocked on the apartment door.
Kate, Christian’s mother, answered the door. Looping the strap of the bag around my arm, I wrote if Christian was here and if I could see him. She told me he stepped out with his father but would be back later then immediately saw how crimson my eyelids were. A wave of concern washed over her face as she pulled me inside to sit down on their couch. When I did, I couldn't help prevent more tears from coming out of my eyes. By then Kate’s expression was full of anger. “Did my son do something to you? What did he do?" as she started to reach for her cellphone.
I lept up and stopped her. I waved my hand violently in a ‘no’ motion and smiled past the tears. Kate hesitated still on the verge of screaming at her son over the phone but left it on the table and joined me on the couch instead. She gently took my hand and placed her other hand over mine, rubbing it up and down to calm me down. This time she asked what he did in a calm and soothing voice.
I showed her what was in the bag. The ladies were right. It was an art project.
A few months ago, I shared with Christian how I was getting beyond frustrated Disney hasn’t released any new seasons of Marvel and Star Wars shows on Blu-Ray since December 2024. I have all the films in steelbooks and I love how the seasons come out in steelbooks too. But it annoys me to no end when my collection looks lopsided with an official release for “Hawkeye” but not “Ms. Marvel” or “What If?”. I told Christian if they would JUST release “She-Hulk”, “The Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special” and “Werewolf by Night”, I’d be happy.
He made me steelbooks for “She-Hulk” and “Werewolf by Night”. Laminated front and back covers. Laminated spine. He really put a lot of effort into them.
After writing out a brief explanation, Kate understood I wasn’t sad; just incredibly overwhelmed by the gesture. As she hugged me, she couldn’t help remark “Secret Valentine, huh?” as she eyed the card on the bag and added “You didn’t give HIM anything, did you?” I laughed but assured her I hadn’t. At least, not yet. I don’t know if Kate was kidding around or not, but she followed it up with “Well, if you do, keep it tasteful” in a tone that made it obvious she was proud of him.
I briefly checked in with the ladies and showed them what I got. Linda still didn't understand what the big deal was. She thought they were nice, but it would have been better if he included the movies inside of them. Of course, I corrected that error once I went back to my apartment, placed my Blu-Rays into their new containers, and put them with the rest of my steebooks in release order.
I have yet to see Christian, but damn... I'm still shocked. He's really going to make some lucky girl (or guy) extremely happy one day.
jacobvanloon
turnnoffyourmind
titsay
prguitarman
romaincrisis
dededos
vaporwave
snowghoul
