Brown Box Stalker

I arrived home one night and there was a package at my door. It was a plain brown box and it had my name written across the top "for Debbie". There was no sign the box had come through the mail, so my only assumption was that someone left this at my door in person. Of course, given my history with stalkers and just crazy people in general, my instant reaction was that this box was dangerous.

I cautiously took the box inside my house and I promptly placed it on the balcony. I figured if it was explosive, that was the safest bet! I contemplated opening it, but given the circumstances of how it just appeared at my door with no note or information, I couldn't bring myself to do it. The next day when I arrived home from work there was another brown box with no note or shipping labels. I brought it inside and sat it with the other box. I saw my neighbor (affectionately known as hot neighbor) in the hall and I asked him if he had seen anyone leaving those boxes at my door. He said no, but that he had seen a tall dark haired guy lingering around the hallway earlier in the day, but he wasn't familiar. This set my mind at ease a little that it wasn't my previous stalker - Daniel (also known as number one), because hot neighbor knew what Daniel looked like.

The curiosity was getting the best of me, I had to know what was in these boxes. Taking a risk (which is what we Aries do!) I opened the first box. I found it filled with fruit - apples, pears, and oranges. I scoured the box to find a note, card, anything. Nothing but fruit. Was the fruit poisoned? Maybe it would be arsenic poisoning again! I sat it aside. I opened the second box and found it contained a pink hoodie. Pink? Really? Who did I know that thought I liked pink? Although, I did kind of like it, and I love hoodies. I was left baffled...fruit and a hoodie. What could these two things possibly mean and why was there no note??

I put those presents aside, hesitant to eat the fruit or to wear the hoodie. The next day when I came home there was another brown box. I now affectionately referred to the person leaving this box as the brown box stalker. Given the fact the other two boxes didn't explode, I went ahead and opened this one right away. It was a scarf. Hmm. It had been unreasonably chilly in San Diego and I am always cold as it is, so it was thoughtful. However, I was still incredibly confused as to what these presents meant and who was giving them to me!

The next day, like clockwork, there was another box! This time it was vegan belgian chocolates. A clue! The person knew I was a vegan. That means it had to be someone that knew me or knew me through someone else. Then again, it could just be someone stalking me that noticed I eat at Evolution at lot! Given my luck, I figured it was the latter. I hesitated to eat a chocolate, but they did look incredibly delicious! I risked it and ate one. I didn't get ill or die, so I was beginning to think this was a friendly stalker.

Not to my surprise I found another brown box the next day. This one was large. When I opened it up I found the following:

Large blanket
Feather pillow
Bottle of wine
Scrabble Flash
Rock'em Sock'em Robots
Just Dance WII Game

Guitar Hero WII Game
Despicable Me DVD

Admittedly, most of these items were cool and I was excited, but this seemed to be strange (not to mention expensive!). I really had no clue who it was. I did get a little concerned it might be my ex from Michigan, because he used to own a Rock'em Sock'em Robot game and we played with it all the time. I thought it was an odd gift for anyone to give to a person unless they really knew you and knew you liked it. I was dreading that it could be him, because I really wanted nothing to do with him and thought I had successfully eliminated him from my life.

I engaged the help of hot neighbor, because he was home a lot during the day and I figured he could kind of play spy for me. He said he would keep an eye out and then he remembered he had this spy cam thing that was a white elephant gift he received. We rigged it up so that it was on his door and pointing to my door. I was working from home in the afternoon that Friday and was hoping I might catch the stalker in the act. With me at home and the spy cam on, we thought for sure we'd catch him!

Unfortunately, nothing occurred up to the point I had to leave for my trainer that evening and hot neighbor said he had to leave at 6. Darnit! I went off to my personal training session and contemplated the brown box stalker. I wondered if I would have a new box when I got home that evening.

When I got back that night I found a note on my door. It was from hot neighbor and it just said "I have your box at my place, come by and get it". He wasn't home that night, so I figured I would go by in the morning, which is what I did. He wasn't answering the door. A little later that day, I got a text message from hot neighbor that said "you can come by and get your box now". I went next door and knocked. He answered and he was wearing this sandwich board contraption that looked like a brown box. On the front it said "for Debbie". It didn't sink in right away, so I stood there kind of confused and he said "I'm your next brown box!" HOLY CRAP!! Hot neighbor was my brown box stalker!! What?!

He said he wanted to be creative in how he asked me out, because he knows that I'm adventurous and I like excitement. He told me the content of the last box was meant to be items to help us plan a date. Ha! Too funny! I was beyond shocked. I was always attracted to hot neighbor (obviously, since I call him hot neighbor!), but I didn't think he liked me like that at all! Although, I was a tiny bit hesitant because 1) he was a neighbor and we all know my background dating neighbors and 2) he was a bit mysterious and shady. However, that didn't stop me. I agreed to go on a date with him!

Our first date was planned for Friday, but prior to that on Thursday I came home early from work and ran into hot neighbor in the parking garage. He said he was about to take out his motorcycle for a ride in OB. He asked me if I wanted to go along and he offered to let me drive it if we found an obscure place. Yay! I should have known, though, that me getting on a motorcycle was probably a bad idea! I went anyway. We headed to OB and we were riding along and a cat jumped out into the street. Hot neighbor, being an animal lover, swerved to avoid the cat but he did it too quickly and too sharp and it caused me to fly off the back and roll across the street and slam into a parking meter...ouch! The bike fell over onto hot neighbor. We both had to go to urgent care. My wounds were minor and consisted of just some contusions and scrapes. Hot neighbor had 3 bruised ribs. Bruised ribs are no fun!

Despite our accident, we agreed to still go out for our Friday date! I was stiff and sore and he hurt when he took a breath, we were quite the pair! Before our accident he had planned a surprise date, but he said with our injuries (more his than mine), it would probably be a challenge (I'm curious what it was!). The date was still a surprise, I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. We drove to the marina and he led me to a boat. I love boats! Turns out he owns one...nice! He drove us out on the boat and then surprised me with an entire vegan meal that he had personally prepared just for me! It was pretty romantic and we had a really great time. He said next week we will go on the date he originally planned. I can't wait to see what that is!

I don't know how this will turn out, but if I'm anything, it's optimistic! I have to say it was the most creative way anyone has ever asked me out, so if nothing else it makes for a great story!

Random Acts of Debbie asks that you take a moment and comment, good or bad, I welcome it all!