Page 13 of Brock’s Lost Lunchbox

“What? I was just making sure I didn’t forget.”

I tried to forget about it, to go back to playing with my friends, and eventually, I did get back into a semi-little space.

Ms. Lily had a new set of blocks, similar to Lincoln Logs but huge. I’d never seen them before, but we were able to make some really cool things with them. The problem remained. Every time we transitioned from one activity to the next, I kept thinking it was probably time to go home. I wasn’t tired. It wasn’t late. There was no excuse for it other than I really wanted to open my gift.

It was ridiculous for me to be so excited about something that could easily be a random key chain Will found. I tried to ask Sammy who it was from more than once, and he dodged it every single time. It had to be Zeph. Nothing else made sense.

I needed to know. I dragged Sammy with me to the bathroom, thinking I could get more out of him if we were alone. I didn’t like to go to the bathroom alone when I was in little clothes. I trusted Chained to do their best to keep us safe, and I knew if anything happened, they would react appropriately, but I still felt safer going with a friend. That was probably why Sammy didn’t think anything of it when I asked him to come with me.

The second the door shut, I laid it all out there. “You can’t tell me you have a surprise for me and then not give me details. You can’t.”

“But those were my directions.” He wrinkled his nose the way he did when he was second-guessing himself.

“Your directions were to tell me about it before you could give it to me?”

“No. My directions were to make sure I didn’t forget to give it to you. I’m so sorry.” He gave me a hug. “I didn’t realize you were so anxious about it. I like waiting for surprises.”

To be fair, I had been asking playfully, like it was a game instead of being upfront about how I felt. It made sense why he thought that.

“That’s okay. Not knowing who it’s from is hard, though. Please tell me.”

“If I tell you, just promise not to tell him that you knew before you opened it. Okay?”

I agreed, and he admitted that it was Zeph.

To think I thought knowing who it was from was going to help me sink into my little space. I had been beyond wrong. It had done the opposite. But this time, it was less about solving the mystery of who it was and more about wondering what Zeph wanted from me. Was he interested in me as a little or as a man or as both? Or was he just a nice guy who, when he saw things, picked them up for people. There was a woman at work like that who cut out newspaper clippings and magazine articles for people because she remembered they mentioned something adjacent to the topic at hand once…sometimes months ago. If not for her, I wouldn’t have known people still subscribed to either of those things.

But, as distracted as I was, I wasn’t giving up my playtime. I was going to have to pay for it with extra work tomorrow either which way. Might as well get the most out of it.

We raced cars, blew bubbles, went to story time…twice, made castles with blocks, played in a small ball pit they added for the night, and ate more than our share of little teddy bear-shaped graham crackers. But, all too soon, Ms. Lily was announcing that it was time to clean up and go home.

“I can’t remember the last time I stayed till closing,” Abbott said.

“I shouldn’t have. I’m far too tired for this.” Lake yawned.

I suspected we all felt the same. Morning was coming far too soon.

We piled in the car, and Abbott was the first dropped off, followed by me. Sammy gave me my gift as soon as we stopped.

“Be sure to let me know what it is.” He knew me well enough to know I wasn’t going to want to open it in front of all of them.

“Will do.”

I was barely in the door before I tore into my gift. It wasn’t another tracking tag or different shape holder to put around it, but it was connected to my lunchbox. It was one of those stuffie bag charms I loved so much but never bought for myself. It was soft and adorable, and I loved it so much. I looked at the little tag, and the name on it was crossed out and instead written in permanent marker—Glitter Monster.

“Glitter Monster.” It was the perfect gift.

I snapped a picture of it and sent it to Sammy then noticed something else in the package— a small card, but on it was the best gift of all…a phone number. Not just any phone number. Zeph’s. He was giving me permission to call him.

But it was late.

Really late.

I probably needed to wait until morning.

Except what if he was like me, wanting to know about the gift all night long, only from the other side of things?

Instead of calling him and disturbing him or waiting until morning, I shot him a quick text. I like being a Glitter Monster. Roar! I hit send before I could change my mind.