Darren was alone in his apartment, and he wasn't doing so well. He was depressed, and busy dwelling on the past. To be specific he was dwelling on the recent failures of his past relationships.
The most recent one had been about a month ago, and naturally Darren was still dwelling on the 'might-have-beens'. Her name was Crystal, and she'd broken up with him because she'd wanted more from a relationship than just hanging out and having sex. Darren had tried to fight for her, to change and try to be more interesting, but the problem with that was that forcing it never worked. She left him, and now he was alone.
It had been the same with his girlfriend before that, Malina. She'd wanted something more, and he hadn't been able to provide. Even though he'd just broken up with Crystal, he was still thinking of Malina too. Both of their relationships with Darren had ended the same way: they wanted more than just friendship and sex. The problem was that Darren had loved them both, very much. Everyone was different with how they saw the perfect relationship. The truth was that Darren just had quite simple tastes. He was low maintenance, and didn't ask for more than spending time alone with his girlfriend, and of course having sex was awesome.
He couldn't understand what the 'more' part was, that they were always asking him for. What more did they want?
Regardless, he was sulking on the couch, thinking of Crystal, and nursing an erection as he did. He was considering going through her pictures on his computer and masturbating to them, when there was a knock at the door. Darren grumbled but got to his feet, and took the time to tuck his erection into the waistband of his pyjamas so that it wouldn't stick out, and draped his pyjama top over it.
An unfamiliar man was standing there, waiting for him. He was wearing a strange uniform, a short sleeved shirt and pants with a belt, not to mention a cap. All of his clothes were various shades of red, making him stand out. He was holding a clipboard and a small box. He handed the box to Darren with a smile, and presented the clipboard.
"Good morning, sir. Package for you, just sign here," he said. Darren took the box from him and tucked it under one arm while he took the guy's clipboard and signed it.
"Thanks a lot, sir," said the delivery guy, and touched the brim of his cap with a finger. "You have yourself a good day!"
Darren closed the door and slumped back over to the couch. What a weirdo, he thought, and opened the box. It was about the size of a mobile phone, and when he got the lid off, it was filled mostly with wadded up paper for padding. He dug his fingers around to find whatever it was that had been sent to him, and pulled out something small and hard. It was a ring.
Darren was confused, he hadn't ordered anything recently, and he didn't know many people, much less anyone who might surprise him with an unexpected gift. He turned the ring every which way to get a good look at it, but it looked completely uninteresting and ordinary. It was made of some kind of metal, sort of like silver but a little darker, like it was an old ring and had been tarnished. It was completely smooth and rounded, no interesting carvings, stones or decorations, just a plain ring of metal. However, Darren did notice something on the inside band, and he peered close and squinted so he could see properly. It was an inscription, four letters carved in bold capital letters so small that it was a fluke that he'd noticed it at all.
It read 'YAGS', or at least that's what it looked like. Weird.
He shrugged and tried putting it on his right middle finger. It fit perfectly. Darren held his hand up to see how it looked. He wasn't really much of a person for jewellery or rings or anything, but he had to admit that this ring looked good. It wasn't too showy, or elaborate, just a little bit of distinction. Darren liked it.
"Well thanks, I guess, whoever sent this," he said, and rummaged through the box to see if there was any note or anything, but there was only the wadded paper.
Darren decided that he was hungry, and got dressed to go to the café just down the street. Pausing only to grab his keys and his wallet off the counter, he left and closed the door behind him. Maybe a short walk would help get his mind off of Crystal.
***
As fate would have it, Crystal was at the café as Darren walked in. He noticed her immediately, even though she was sitting in the corner by herself. She was beautiful, just like always. Her hair was chestnut brown, cut short and framing her face like she was a pixie. She kind of looked like a pixie, with her cute little face. The fact that she was rather petit only added to her cuteness.
She hadn't noticed him, so Darren quickly bought a coffee, and sat down in the spare seat in front of her. She looked up surprised, and rolled her eyes when she saw that it was him. It hurt to see her react that way, but he swallowed hard and pushed it down where it couldn't be seen.
"Hi, Crystal," he said cheerfully. "Fancy meeting you here!"
"Are you following me or something?" she demanded, crossing her arms and looking at him with daggers in her eyes. His heart sank.
"No! No of course not. My apartment's just down the street, remember? I came here for a coffee, and I just saw you here."
She raised an eyebrow, obviously incredulous that it was just a coincidence that her ex would show up at the same place she did.
"I swear, it's just a coincidence," he protested, and she seemed to relax a little bit, maybe sensing that he was telling the truth.
"Well that still doesn't mean that you can just sit down with me. I don't really want to talk to you."
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Darren, and meant it too. His heart was still aching from the breakup, and she was just making it worse with the harsh things she was saying. Darren pushed that aside, and spoke up.
