Cherry Chapstick

My fingers are raw from trying to find the floorboard. I silently curse my fifteen-year-old self for not being smart enough to make some sort of indication on which floorboard I hid the box under. I finally am able to lift the jiggly one with the help of my car keys. I lift up the box, a wave of the past hits me with the force of running headfirst into a brick wall as I open it. 

“Are you even going to remember this box, Winnie?” Andrew laughs, kissing me on the cheek. 

“You know, if you keep calling me Winnie, I’m gonna have to call you Andy.” I laugh back, blushing bright red in contrast to my white t-shirt. 

“Okay, Winston.” Andrew jokes, toying with everything that litters the floor. “What if you forget about all of this stuff?” He picks up a mood ring, “Are you sure this isn’t awfully important?” Andrew jokes, putting it gently into the wooden box. 

“I think that I’ll live without a cheap mood ring.” I say, reaching for my half of our best friend’s necklace. “Can you put yours in too?” Andrew looks hesitant as he takes it off, “Please?” I make a pouty face. 

“But-”

“Please,” I ask, holding my hand out stubbornly, “Do it for your ‘best friend?’” 

He sighs, dropping it into my outstretched hand, “Fine, ‘best friend.’” He watches intently as I make a show of placing both necklaces in the box with extreme care. I look around my mess of a room for other items. 

I reach for a pen and hold it up, “Is it worthy?” 

Andrew covers his mouth with his hand as he laughs, “I think you know that answer to that Winston.” I run my hand through my hair, and I look around. 

“Well, what do you think I should put in here?” I keep looking around my floor for something of personal value. 

“What about this?” Andrew asks, holding up three photos. The first one is a strip of photos of all our friends crammed into a photo booth. Everyone is laughing and squished against each other. 

I grab the strip, “I can practically hear this photo.” I look at the two other photos. The second one is one that Andrew took of me as I held up my dog for the camera, trying to block my face. “That’s when you first got your camera.” I say, chuckling. 

“Mhm.” Andrew says, waiting for me to remark on the third photo. The third photo is another photobooth strip. It's him and I. We do a variety of poses and I kiss him on the cheek in one of them. I see his blush which is exaggerated in the poor lighting of the photobooth camera. “Do you like this one?”

“No,” I say, taking all three. “No, I don’t think I like it at all.”

“Wha-”

“I love that one.” I place all three into the box with a satisfied smile. Andrew punches my shoulder and I look at him with concerned eyebrows. 

“Jesus, you scared me.” Andrew says with a glare. I laugh at the severity of his glare. 

“Gotcha.”

“No shit Sherlock.” Andrew tries to hold his serious expression but breaks as I poke him in the sides. “Okay, okay!” He jumps up on the bed to avoid me poking him where it tickles. “I surrender!” 

“Come back down.” I say, clearing a space for him on the floor. I push aside action figures and dolls, magazines and comics, stuffed animals and unmatched socks. “We need to finish the box!” I insist as we settle back into our spots. “Okay,” I say seriously, “what else?”

“Hmm,” Andrew looks around, “chapstick?”

“Chapstick?” I look and see the chapstick in front of me. “I mean, why not? Maybe this kind won’t be around when we’re old and stuff.”

Andrew picks up the chapstick, “And when we’re old and everything, we’ll be needing this chapstick more than ever.” Andrew pulls his chapstick out of his pocket. “In fact, put this one in there too. Better safe than sorry.”

“It’s good to have multiple flavors too.” I add, putting my cherry flavored chapstick and his mint flavored one into the box. After the chapsticks are settled into the box, we continue to look around. 

Andrew taps my knee, “What about this shell?” Andrew points to a shell on my nightstand. It stands out pink against the clutter that covers my whole nightstand. 

“You think it’ll fit?” I ask, turning my head to the side. “‘Cause I don’t want to break it or anything.” Andrew reaches up for the shell, trying not to cause a collapse of items onto the already disastrous floor.

“No. no I don’t think it’ll break. We might have to do some rearranging.” Andrew frees the shell with little damage, and I giggle at his carefulness, “The shell will probably be the last thing in the box though.” 

“That’s fine.” I say, taking the shell in my hands, “I can’t think of anything else to put in the box anyway.” I hand the chapsticks and necklaces to Andrew as I hold the shell, “Wanna know a secret about this shell?”

“If it’s about talking to mermaids, you’ve already tried that trick on me.” Andrew says, putting on his chapstick for the last time. “I’m a bigger man now. Smarter.”

“Not so sure about ‘smarter.’” I joke, positioning the shell just so, “The shell isn’t actually real.”

Andrew rolls his eyes, “Really? I had no idea. The bright pink color and the plastic-y texture didn't give it away at all.” He says sarcastically. 

“As I was saying,” I grab back the chapsticks and necklaces back, putting the chapstick on for the last time too. “My parents bought it for me at some shop because everyone else found seashells and I just couldn't find any.”

Andrew laughs, toying with a G.I Joe on the floor, “Your mom told me a different story. There were plenty of shells, you just couldn't get any because you were afraid of waves.” 

I sigh, “Okay, yeah, maybe that also was a factor in why I ended up with no shells and everyone else had shells.” 

Andrew gets closer, “It’s okay Winnie. I’ll protect you from the waves if we go to the beach.” 

“That was a long time ago!” I protest, “I’m not afraid of beach waves any-”

Andrew kisses me and I’m taken aback. I lean into it, not sure how to do anything. Where to put my hands or whether to keep my eyes open or to keep them closed. He’s only kissed me on the cheek before and we officially became ‘boyfriend boyfriend’ last week. After panicking for an eternity, I tentatively place my hands on his face. After a while of me panicking and Andrew being perfect as usual, we break apart. 

“I think I did it wrong-”

“Winston-”

“But-”

“Just put the box in the floor.”

I close the box, tears welling up in my eyes. I take a few deep breaths and reopen the box. “Can’t believe we didn’t think Carmex wasn’t going to exist when we were older.” I say to myself with a chuckle. As I look through all the items in the box, I hear little feet enter the room. 

“Dad, whatcha doing?” My daughter, Jettie says with her hands on her hips.

“Oh, just something me and Papa did when we were younger.” I say softly, holding the bright pink shell in my hand. 

“Like in the olden days?” Jettie asks, peering in the box. 

I laugh out loud, “Mhm, that’s right.” As Jettie and I continue to look through the box, I hear someone else come in. 

“You found it?” Andrew asks, kneeling down and setting Jettie on his lap. 

“Sure did.” I pull out his half of the best friend's necklace, “And you thought I would forget about it.” 

“To be fair, you did until I reminded you on the car ride to your parents' house.” Andrew says, taking his half and putting it around his neck. He takes the box, “Can’t believe that we put chapstick in here.”