Dark Night

Senior year at last

Maya, Zayna, and Keshondra went back to school before my birthday, but Maya gave me her present before she left and Zayna and Keshondra were going to go out to a club to celebrate when I returned to LA. Cass and Carol also took me out for drinks in San Francisco following a fun day in Golden Gate Park over the weekend afterward.

The day before I turned 21, I had to sign for a package. It was small and I wasn't expecting anything. I was talking to Zayna--there'd been a mixup with her roommates and her new ones were kind of crappy, she needed to vent--as I casually sliced through the tape and opened the box. There was a small package, plain white paper sealed on one end with red sealing wax, which I broke impatiently. There was a gold-stamped leather box inside which I flipped open as we chatted, and my voice stuttered to a stop.

"What's wrong?" she asked alertly.

"I opened that package," I said stupidly. "There's diamond earrings in there." I shook out the packing box and a tiny card fluttered out. "Wait, there's a note." I had to clear my throat. "Happy birthday, Delphinia. Always--Will." Wedged under the packing material was a certificate of authenticity. From Cartier. Zayna started squawking and I snapped a picture; they were simple diamond studs, set in ..."Holy shit, platinum," I read. "My god, they're a half carat each."

Zayna gasped. "Those are seriously sparkly. They must have cost a mint, hold on... the website makes you request the price."

"I don't think I wanna know," I said. "The documentation doesn't have a cost on it, even for insurance."

"Put them in," Zayna urged. "Lemme see."

"I don't--I don't know if I should accept them," I said slowly. "It's way too much money for him to be spending on someone he's not even with."

"Well, they're a present, and it's rude to turn down a present," Zayna said after a moment, probably wondering if I needed my head checked. "But the guy's signing bonus was over nine million dollars, he can afford them. And secondly, or is it thirdly? He wants you to have them. You meant a lot to him." She sighed. "Look. Text him and ask."

So I did.

DK: Beautiful earrings. Thank you, you shouldn't have.

About an hour later: WH: Wanted you to have something beautiful to remember me by. Don't you dare return them, Delphinia. Happy birthday.

OK, then.

I texted Zayna quickly: So I guess I'm keeping them. But keeping them to myself for now; family will freak.

They would, too. I put them in and looked at them in the bathroom mirror, gorgeous. I took a selfie and sent it to my friends who were at school already with the note that this wasn't public information, then took them out and put the box away. Still stunned, I put on sunscreen and headed out to weed the flowerbeds. Because I was home for only about six weeks, I didn't have a job this summer and it made me itchy, so I'd taken over weeding and lawn maintenance as well as cleaning. It was the least I could do. Grandpa was progressing in his studies to become a rosarian and wanted to add several different kinds of roses in the spring. His flowerbeds were already crowded with all kinds of flowers, a riot of colors, shapes, and scents. I had to be sure something was in fact a weed and not just an intentional plant. After an hour, during which I also neatened up the border of the biggest flower bed, my astonishment and shock had faded to bemusement. Another problem reared its head: what was I going to do with them at college? There was no way I was going to leave such expensive earrings just sitting around, even in my lockbox. I put the problem aside for now when Grandpa got back from his meeting.