Yellow Wrapping Paper

Note: This was a quick story, I wrote this in my first few class periods, so it might still need work, and if it does, I'm so sorry.

CW: Language

Am I more than you bargained for yet?

I've been dying to tell you

Anything you wanna hear

'Cause that's just who I am this week

Lie in the grass next to the mausoleum

I'm just a notch in your bedpost, but you're just a line in a song

(Notch in your bedpost, but you're just a line in a song)

Drop a heart

And break a name

We're always sleeping in, and sleeping

For the wrong team

We're going down, down in an earlier round

And sugar, we're going down swinging

I'll be your number one with a bullet

A loaded god complex, cock it and pull it

We're going down, down in an earlier round

And sugar, we're going down swinging-

Suddenly, the doorbell rings and my dogs run to the door. I wonder if they always know when the mail is here. I turn down the Fall Out Boy song that’s playing on my Alexa and make my way to get the mail.

I get closer to the door, my fuzzy pink slippers sliding on the laminate floor.

“Coco, heel!” I say to my German Shepherd. My five pitbull puppies slide around in front of the door, and I can’t really do anything to stop them because they’re so young. I open the door, careful not to let any of the dogs out, and grab the package.

After I have it, I close the door, grateful that I don’t have to be out in the cold anymore.

The pitbull puppies, Luna, Nala, Zeus, Blue, and Bacon (yes Bacon loves bacon, and is the closest to me out of all the puppies) jump on the package after I set it on the couch.

“Sit!” I tell them sternly. Coco is lying on the corner of the couch, watching patiently as the puppies try to figure out what's inside. “Sit!”

One by one, the puppies sit and I open up the box. 

There’s just a letter inside. Who spends all of their money on a box, just to send a letter inside of it?

Opening the envelope, I unfold the letter and read it.

Dear Natalee,

I haven't seen you in forever! It's really been a while, hasn’t it?

I have some questions to ask you, so after reading this, please send a letter back to me. 

Question #1 - Choose a color. Black or white?

Question #2 - Sweet or Sour?

Question #3 - Quiet or loud?

Question #4 - Favorite color.

These questions sound weird, trust me, I know, but please answer them. Everything depends on them.

-N

I frown in confusion. Who’s ‘N’? How did they know my name?

Sitting on the couch, I pull out my phone and Google, Should you respond to a strange letter?

The answer is pretty much no. But this is kind of interesting. They said they haven't seen me in forever…

That must be someone I know, right? A random person can’t just send me a letter in a box, saying that they know me. Is that illegal?

I contemplate responding, until I get to a decision.

So I grab a piece of lined paper from my supply closet, a pen and I start writing.

***

Dear N,

I haven't seen you in forever either!

***

Who the fuck are you

***

If you contact me again, I will call the authorities

***

I sigh, crumbling all the papers up. Might as well take the easy way out of this.

Hey,

I’m not sure if I know you, but I’ll answer your questions anyway.

#1 - I choose black

#2 - Sweet

#3 - Quiet

#4 - My favorite color is ocean blue

-Natalee

Inhaling, I flop over onto the couch and Bacon decides he wants to jump on me. I fall asleep, covered in kisses and nervousness.

--------------------

I wake up, the sheets of my bed crumpled around me. Wiping my tired eyes, I laugh. After my nap on the couch, I went to the post office and sent the letter to the address on the envelope.

Now I wait.

As I get up and make my way to the kitchen, where I start the coffee machine. “Coco!”

She comes running, along with the puppies.

“Hi!” I get down and pet all of them, killing time until the coffee is done

When the coffee is done, I sit on the couch, taking a drink. The coffee slides down my throat, warming me from the inside out. I like this feeling.

“Alexa!” I call out. “Play Madison Beer!”

A song called Homesick plays and I listen to the lyrics.

I always knew that you existed, no one listened

How come when you drove by you ain't stop to visit?

My mom and dad said they first met under the moonlight

I didn't buy their cover story, it didn't feel right

'Cause I belong in space

Floating with debris

Something 'bout this place

Never did feel right to me

Counting the stars

They all felt so far

But it's always felt like home to me

What took you so long?

Once again, the doorbell rings and I run to the door, not bothering to turn down the music.

Another box, wrapped in yellow wrapping paper.

I smile, rip the box open and find the letter inside waiting for me.

Natalee,

Thanks for the answers. I’ve actually wanted to meet again for some time, but I don’t have your phone number anymore. You do know me, very well. You just don’t remember yet.

If you come to the address stated on the envelope, you will meet me, and I have no doubt that you will remember.

I hope to see you there at 8:00 tonight.

-N

--------------------

My heart pounds in my chest.

Of course you're not going! I yell at myself.

But I want to know who they are…

I'm going. No doubt about it.

I need to know who this person is.

-------------------

I pull up in the driveway of the address “N”  has given me, in a short blue dress, my black Converse with my long brown hair curled. Even if they’re going to kidnap me, I want to look my best.

I put my Prius in park, get out and look around. There is a barn in the distance, glowing with string lights. I walk over to it, and open the sliding door.

It's bright and pretty here. Almost too good to be true if it wasn’t for the hay everywhere.

“Excuse me?” I call out.

“Hey Natalee.”

I turn to see a guy sitting on a bale of hay, in a black longleeve and a pair of jeans. His blond hair is disheveled.

Oh my God. Nicklas.

“Nick!” I squeal, running to him. He pulls me into his arms. 

“Hey Nat. It's good to see you.” he says. I look into those blue eyes I had loved so dearly in college.

“You too. How’d you find me?” I ask, pulling away. 

He smiles. “Let’s just say I had a bunch of help. Those questions were just so I had an excuse to send you a letter." he rubs the back of his neck and blushes while looking down.

I smile.

A few years ago when we were in college, he and I were dating. He left me to enroll in the U.S Navy and never came back. It was the end of us.

I thought he was dead. 

But here he is.

“God I missed you.” I say and without thinking, I kiss him.

It's perfect. We fit so well together. 

Nick pulls away, and I brush a finger over his cheekbones. “I’m sorry-”

He pulls me up onto the hay bale and drapes me over him.

“Nick, what-”

He fits his mouth to mine again and I love it. It feels amazing, like we were meant to be.

Our kisses become rather quick, and desire runs through us. He starts to unbutton his jeans but I stop him.

“No. Not yet.” I tell him and he grins.

We go back to kissing.