The Gift
"Shut your eyes"
"What"
"Just shut your eyes!"
"Tilley,"
"Ben!"
The young man sighed, scrunching his eyes closed against the setting sun. A light summer breeze ran by the couple, scattering the leaves about their feet. The low orange sun cast hazy shadows over the smog filled city stretched out before them, the plumes of smoke rising high above the buildings and merging with the clouds.
The man became aware of a box being lowered into his hands and opened his eyes cautiously, one at a time.
"Happy Birthday Ben" The girl smiled, placing a shy kiss on his cheek.
"Tilley, I told you not to get me anything." The man said bluntly, feeling colour rise in the place where she kissed him. He had never been one to take gifts graciously.
"Just open it Ben," the girl sighed, looking out over the small river running underneath them, leaning back on one of the posts that held up the bridge their legs were dangling over.
The man studied the box for a moment, holding it carefully in his fingertips as if he were still not quite sure that he should open it. He stole a quick look at his friend, Tilley, who had become lost staring over the fields of wild flowers that grew around their meeting place, just twenty minutes from the outskirts of London.
Finally he decided that Tilley would still insist the present was his no matter what he said, so he slowly tugged on the wrapping, letting it fall into a crumpled pile on his lap. The wrapping was the expensive kind you find in the shops fashionable women visit, and it acted as another reminder of how impossible the friendship between the two of them was. Inside the wrapping sat a small wooden box, slightly dented in one corner, but freshly polished and cleaned. He flipped open the lid with his thumb and found a set of gleaming razors.
"Tilley I can't accept these, they are too expensive." He shut the box quickly, not letting himself get drawn in to the beauty of the seven silver blades, or the way they shone when the failing light caught them.
The girl opened it again, taking out one of the razors and twisting it around in her fingers. "Don't be silly," she laughed "My mother bought me a hat just this morning which was at least three times as expensive as these. I want you to have them. It took me an age to find them on the market."
He stared at her for a moment, at her large blue eyes and her wild brown hair. He sighed again, taking the razor from where she had rested it in her lap and placing it back in the box, shutting the lid.
"Thank you, Till" he replied, pulling her into a one armed hug, and then placed the box between them, looking back out over the fields of flowers and to the city beyond.
"What are you doing to celebrate?" his companion asked, tilting her head back and angling her body so that she caught the last of the afternoon sun.
"I'm sitting here with you, aren't I?"
"That's not a real celebration!" Benjamin looked at his friend, sitting with her eyes closed and her legs swinging just over the waters surface and wondered if there wasn't more of an upper-class Londoner in her then she'd like to think.
She felt his eyes on her and met them, studying the steady brown gaze.
"Tomorrow is the second Friday of the month, which means there is a party." She pushed.
"I'm not coming to another party with you Till"
"Why not? This time it is at my own uncle's house, it would be so easy to get you in – they don't even check invites anymore."
They held a steady stare, both knowing how stubborn the other one was. Tilley was the first to give up, dropping her eyes to her feet.
"It isn't fun when you're not there." The fact that she whispered made a smile twitch in the corner of Ben's lips.
"I don't have anything to wear," the man retorted, thinking this a fitting excuse.
"I still have the suit I borrowed from my cousin for the party last week; all you need is a suit and a mask."
"I can't afford a mask."
"I'll buy you one."
"No."
Tilley smiled as they reached a point of silence. Benjamin sat brooding, tearing up bits of leaves and throwing them into the river. They went through this every time there was a party. They both knew that the man would end up going, and they would dance together all night and then end the evening with a gracious bow, neither of them brave enough to tell the other what they really thought.
"I'll make you a mask then."
Benjamin felt his friend move form his side, and when he looked up towards her she was already on her feet, kicking the leaves at her shoes so that they fell around the couple like confetti. She picked up two big orange leaves and knelt down by Benjamin's side, holding the leaves up in front of his face.
"There, all you need is two eye holes and you'll be fine."
They both laughed and dropped their heads, Benjamin placing his hands loosely around his friend's wrists. She looked back up to him and he pulled her hands away from his eyes and kissed her.
On the lips.
That had never happened before.
They both grew silent, looking in any direction but at each other. A slow blush crept onto the man's face, the colour mirrored on his friend. He let go of her wrists and Tilley turned around and sat back on the edge of the bridge, twisting the leaves around in her fingers and trying to hide a smile.
Benjamin sighed heavily, picking up the box and cradling it in his arm. He stood up and offered the free hand to his friend, helping her up and then walking towards the base of a large tree where they had laid out a picnic earlier.
He put the box down and lay next to it, the wooden boxes smooth surface cold against the bare skin on his arm. It did not take long for the girl to follow him, placing a hand fondly on the top of the box and then lowering herself down next to it.
"I'll send my brother's cab round for you tomorrow." She almost whispered, her eyes watching him through the failing darkness.
"I'll make my own way there."
The girl dropped her eyes to the box, watching as the reflections of the clouds moved across its surface.
"You don't know the address."
"You can write it down for me."
"I do not have a pen."
"Then I will rip a piece of bark from that tree and carve the address into it with one of my razors."
Tilley laughed and Benjamin felt another involuntary twitch at the corner of his mouth. He man had decided long ago that his friend's laughter was one of his favourite sounds, but now he was certain it was his absolute favourite. A silence fell around them again, and it stretched until the sky turned to an inky indigo, a web of stars clustering in the distance.
The man stretched out his hand, searching for his friends amongst the grass. When he found it he wrapped his fingers around hers. Her eyes didn't leave the sky, but he was reassured that she did not pull away.
"I'll send the cab around for you at five." She repeated.
"Okay."
Benjamin stared out into the endless night, wishing somehow he wouldn't have to be snuck into parties. He spared a look at his friend, but she was still engrossed in the sky, the pearly moon reflecting in her eyes.
He smiled and brought her hand up to his lips, her face turning back to his.
He briefly looked down tat the box, still sitting at both of their elbows.
"Thank you for the present."