Just Friends (32 page)

“Hey guys.” Ethan said to Max and Eleanor.

“Hey bud. You had us worried for a moment there.” Max replied.

A woman jogged onto the stage and handed Ethan a towel. He rubbed his face as he slotted himself beside me on the sofa, letting out a huge sigh of relief. He put his arm around me and kissed the top of my head once he was clean.

“Wasn’t it just the greatest magic trick you’d ever seen in your entire life, though?” Ethan asked like an excited school child.

“The best!” Max replied.

Ethan rubbed my chin and nose with the towel. “You gotta little dirt on your face… that’s better.” He joked.

“Thanks.” I murmured underneath it, unamused.

Patrick jogged up to Ethan, shook his hand and applauded him as he returned to his desk. I found Patrick’s reaction weird because he must have had a certain involvement in Ethan’s trick. How much of an influence he had is another story. Maybe Ethan asked him to leave the stage during a certain point. However they did it, it would play on my mind for the rest of my life. Even if Ethan agrees to tell me how he did it, I don’t think I would want him to. The secret to the greatest trick ever
should
remain a secret.

“Whoa!” Patrick shouted, slamming his hands on his desk. “How? How did you do that?”

Ethan grinned, “A magician never reveals his tricks, Patrick. You of all people should know that.”

Patrick took a moment and looked at the audience with an open mouth. “I’m speechless. What is next for you? Surely topping that is impossible?”

“I’ve got to see what this one says first.” Ethan squeezed my shoulder.

“Oh, so you two are like a thing now?” Patrick asked, eyebrows raised.

Ethan squeezed my cheeks together and kissed me.

“Just friends.” He replied with a grin.

December 25
th

“
M
erry Christmas.” Ethan said, nudging me awake.

I flung my hand at him and wafted him away.

“Sleeping.” I muttered.

Ethan then thought it would be a good idea to jump on top of me to get my attention. His head rested next to mine. “Wake up.” He moaned. Blowing into my ear. My eyes took a moment or two to come alive. I feebly rolled over underneath him. His cheesy grin hovered over me. He was wearing the Santa Claus tie I got him for our second Christmas together. He’s worn it every Christmas Day since.

“Morning.” I groaned.

“You feel asleep in the car so I carried you up ya little sleepy head.” Ethan said, tickling my feet.

I jolted upright and lightly punched his shoulder. “Why didn’t you carry me to bed?” I asked, stretching out along the sofa.

“Oh I’m sorry, I’ll make a note of your complaint and be sure to do so next time.” He sarcastically answered.

I winced at him, then I realised I wasn’t wearing my dress. I was wearing one of his T-shirts and his jogging bottoms.

“Why am I wearing your clothes?”

His face lit up, “Are you being serious? This is what I found in your wardroabe, my clothes you have clearly stolen!”

“Borrowed.” I corrected.

He gave me a disinterested look, “Whatever. Your entire wardrobe is filled with my clothes. Don’t ask how you got into them, I’m a magician ok.”

I grinned at him while biting the sleeve of his jumper. I love stealing his clothes. “Where’s my necklace? The one from Stanley!” I asked, gripping my neck.

Ethan flicked his hand towards the direction of the table. “I had to take it off while changing you because it would’ve caught on something and broke knowing me.”

I sighed in relief and slumped back into the sofa.

“Now hurry and take a shower so we can open our presents. We need to be at Max and Eleanor’s soon for dinner. You know how grumpy he can be when we’re late!” He said, dragging me to my feet.

“Carry me please, I’m too tired.” I whined, clutching his neck and wrapping my legs around his waist.

“You’re always tired.” He muttered, walking towards the stairs.

“Why do you have to be so cute?” He mumbled.

I hummed into his neck as we climbed the staircase. I was still clutching to him when he turned the shower on for me.

“August, stop being childish and get in the shower, please!”

I dropped my legs down and sulked at him as he grabbed me a towel.

“No sulking.” He said, throwing the towel over me. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him back, kissing him firmly. “I’ll be down in a minute.” I said afterwards as we grinned at each other.

“Come on, you know I’m impatient to open my presents!” Ethan shouted as I took my time walking downstairs.

I fluffed his hair as I walked past him, and then kissed him. I love how I can stick my tongue down his throat whenever I wish. It’s fun.

The tree had a pile of presents stacked next to it.

“Alternative gift swapping?” I asked.

Ethan stared at the presents.

“Ethan,” I whispered, nudging him.

“I’m trying to figure out which one to give you first.” He wandered over to the pile of presents, and fetched them over to the coffee table. Scattering them around, his presents to me remained on his side, my presents to him remained on my side. The first present I opened had
To, August/Ethan From, Ethan/August
written on the label. Confused, I ripped open the paper to find a mens tracksuit inside. “Let’s hear your explanation then.” I joked.

He laughed. “Since you’re always stealing my clothes, I figured that this is really a present for me to wear for a day and then you can steal it… like every other item of clothing of mine.”

I smirked, “Very clever. I was hoping for something designer, but you know, this is perfect.”

“Well before you’re too conclusive… why don’t you open your next gift from me?” He passed me a small long box.

“Ethan if this is a pair of socks I will punch you!”

“Just open it!”

I rolled my eyes at him and opened the box. It contained and
Eiffel Tower
pencil sharperner. I flicked my eyes up to him, awaiting his explanation.

“We’re going to
Paris
, so you can go shopping for all your designer clothes and you can purchase whatever you like. I’ll be your personal shopping assistant who will watch you try on all your clothes and carry your bags, and then we can explore the city.”

“Yeah, I figured that’s what the pencil sharpener indicated.” I replied, raising a sarcastic eyebrow.

“I wanted to spoil you, you know. If I decided to buy you clothes instead of taking you to
Paris
and letting you select your own, then the apartment would be overflowing with bags and wrappings and labels. I mean, your happiness is pricesless to me, August, and I will buy you as many dresses and clothes as you like until you’re satisfied. But even then I know you’ll still steal my clothes.”

“God, I love you.” I put my arms around him and gave him a big, hearty hug.
What more can I say?
He’s perfect, he’s honestly so perfect. I wouldn’t change even the tiniest detail about him, and I question why I am so lucky to have him.

I got the satchel I wanted as well! It’s a natural brown leather colour, and it has AUGUST etched into it in white and the buckles are golden. It’s the most wonderful bag
ever.
It smells great, too. Much better than the one I used for college. I love it!

He also got me a magic set for beginners which should be fun…

Ethan adored his new tie and his cards, especially the one with my face on, and our holiday to the
Maldives
.

He placed his arm around me and kissed my forehead. “You always get me the most thoughtful gifts, August.”

We paused for a moment as we scanned over our gifts.

“Right, webetter go now, we don’t want to be late!” He patted my thigh, then wandered over to the mantelpiece, grabbing his clock.

“This still works?” He asked, surprised.

I nodded. “It hasn’t stopped since the day you gave it me. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed it before?”

“The excellent craftsmanship made me think it was a high quality clock!” He smirked and placed it onto the coffee table. “I’ll go and get changed, be back in two.” He kissed my forehead one more time before rushing upstairs.

I placed my head in my hands and smiled, just smiled. I’ve never been so happy, and my life has never been so perfect.

I went to twiddle the necklace around my neck, forgetting it was on the coffee table. As I leant forward to pick it up, something clicked in my mind. I changed my sight to the clock. “
No, it can
’
t be
.” I said under my breath.

I turned around to check if Ethan was there. He wasn’t. I shuffled forward, unfolding my legs and grabbing my necklace and my clock. Rotating the clock in my hands, I searched for the keyhole. I peered behind me again to check if Ethan was there. He wasn’t. I ran my finger over the key slot in the clock and carefully placed the key from my necklace into it. It fit, perfectly. I smiled, because for once, I was a step ahead of Ethan. The key was a lot harder to turn than expected and took a few attempts to turn the tiny key in the tiny lock on the tiny clock. The back popped up, startling me. I stuck my fingernail in, forcing the back off. Inside was a small black velvet box. Almost like one you would contain a ring in. I tilted the clock backwards, allowing the black velvet box to fall onto my lap. I looked over my shoulder one final time to see if Ethan was there. He wasn’t. I gently placed the clock and it’s back onto the table. My heart started to race. I tried to open the velvet box, but failed since I was opening it at the wrong end. I giggled at my stupidity and then opened it from the other side. Inside was a diamond ring, an exceptional diamond ring. A gloriously huge shining diamond ring. So many questions flowed through my mind, but there was no time to consider them. I removed the ring from its box and inspected it. It sparkled as the light from the balcony shined upon it. The silver ring had a small bracket connected to it to hold the might fine square diamond. I closed the ring in the palm of my hand and shut my eyes, appreciating its beauty. A hand placed itself on top of mine. I opened my eyes, and there he was. Knelt down in front of me, wearing a tie with the words
Will You Marry Me?
running down it.

“So what was the deal with Natasha?” I asked.

“She was helping me shop for your satchel, you moron.”

He took a deep breath. “August, on April the sixteenth, twelve and a bit years ago. I met the prettiest girl I had ever seen in my entire life. She was so shy and sweet, her eyes captivated me and her smile, her smile was perfect. She was perfect, even when she spat blackcurrant juice all over me. And every day since, I contemplated
. Do I tell her? How do I tell her?
That I’m so madly in love with her. To ask her to be mine. When I was in hospital and I found out you were seeing somebody else, it broke my heart because I thought I was too late. Too late to tell you that you’re the first thing I think about in the morning, and the last thing I think about at night, and all the spaces in between. You were always meant to be with me, always were, always will. I’ll never want to be with anyone else, never ever, ever. Before I ask my next question can I ask you something?”

I tried to compose myself, I tried, but tears kept flooding out of my eyes.

“Hey, hey, come here.” He shuffled me forward and wiped my eyes.

“Can you remember when I gave you that clock?”

I flicked my eyes over to it. “My thirteenth birthday.”

“Can you remember when exactly?” He asked.

I frowned,
what did this have to do with him proposing?

“Well you gave it me like a month late,
so
September?”

He nodded, “Correct, do you know how long ago that was?”

My frowned increased. “Six years. Ethan, is this relevant right now? Can’t I just say yes?” My tears stopped momentarily as I changed focus to his irrelevance.

“Last question, don’t worry. How many months ago was that?”

I rolled my eyes at him and wiped my eyes while genuinely thinking of the answer. “Seventy three… or seventy four months ago?” As soon as I answered my eyes lit up. “No!” I shouted at him, placing my hands over my mouth and restarting my tears.

“Check your shoe.” He replied smugly.

“No.” I blubbered, wafting my hands over my eyes.

He rolled his eyes at me and slipped off my shoe, since I wasn’t capable of doing so myself, and pulled out a card.

And there it was. The seventy-three of hearts. Well, the seven of hearts with his pathetic number three drawn beside the seven, signed by my six-year-old self with the smiley face. It still had the smudge from my chocolatey fingers. I could barely see the card through my flowing eyes.

“You kept it?” I asked, carefully taking it from him.

“Of course I kept it!… There it is, August. There’s the best magic trick you will ever see. No buildings being collapsed on top of anybody, and no switching seats in cars. To complete my magic trick, I need to ask you one final question.”

Why couldn’t I be stronger emotionally? Ethan constantly has me crying, it’s not natural. I exhaled, “Ok.”