‘What, right now?’ I asked, eyebrows raised; I didn’t bother to question the our bit. If Alia was carving her mark on something, I’d be right there with her, leaving my mark too – that much was a given. But I did question her sanity. It was eleven at night, the sun had long since set and the treehouse tree was on the other side of the – fairly large – garden, way beyond the reach of the porch light.
‘Yeah, why not? Now’s as good a time as any,’ she answered excitedly, sitting up straight and grinning at me, eyes shining.
‘Als, it’s eleven at night. In September. In England. It’s dark, it’s cold,’ I told her, wondering if she really had gone completely nuts.
‘I know. We can grab a couple torches,’ she said, practically bouncing on the bed. ‘Come on Jai, please.’
‘Ugh, okay, fine,’ I agreed, giving in at her hyper puppy act – nothing new there though.
‘Yay! Jai, you’re the best!’ she exclaimed, flinging her arms around me in a hug.
‘Yeah, yeah, whatever,’ I grumbled. ‘Now hurry up before I change my mind.’ She was up like a shot at that, grabbing a hoodie from the back of the door and pulling it on, hopping from one foot to the other the entire time.
With a sigh, I got up from the bed, purposely taking my time about it just to rile her up. She made a little whining noise and glared at me, literally stamping her foot impatiently. ‘Chill, Li, tree isn’t going anywhere.’ She just huffed at me in annoyance and crossed her arms over her chest. ‘Okay, come on,’ I said with a laugh. ‘Let’s go carve a tree.’
She squealed again and grabbed my hand, pulling me along with her as she all but ran from the room.
***
We were careful to be completely quiet on the way down the stairs. The whole house was asleep and neither of us really wanted to have to explain to anyone what exactly it was that we were up to – no doubt they’d think we’d lost our marbles and tell us to stay inside.
Once we were down the stairs, it became all that much more difficult to keep quiet, especially with Alia letting out excited little giggles every other minute. Though I couldn’t deny that I understood where the excitement came from; sneaking out of the house at an hour to midnight, even if it was only to go to the back garden, was kind of thrilling, I won’t lie. All the same, I figured someone would end up waking up and coming to figure out where the laughter was coming from. ‘Shush Li,’ I shushed her with a quiet laugh of my own as we made it into the kitchen. ‘If you don’t keep it down, someone is gonna figure out what we’re up to.’ She nodded, taking a couple deep breaths to stem the flow of giggles and lifting a hand to her mouth, miming putting a key to it and turning it, making it near impossible for me not to laugh when she turned those innocent doe eyes on me.
Forcing the chuckles down before they could bubble to the surface and become the uncontrollable, loud laughter I knew it undoubtedly would, I turned away from her and crossed the kitchen to the drawer underneath the hob while Alia went to the cupboard under the sink. Sticking my hand in the drawer, I rummaged around for a few minutes, my fingers closing around the small pocket knife that was kept in the back of the drawer – out of reach of any little hands that might go searching. I picked it up and closed the drawer softly, turning around to see Alia stood by the sink holding two torches.
She held one out to me and I pressed the button on the side, switching it on and pocketing the knife before reaching a hand out to her. With a grin, she took it and we headed for the back door.
Carefully and quietly as she could, Alia unlocked the back door and pushed it open, both of us stumbling through it quickly, very nearly tripping over ourselves in our haste to get out before turning and shutting the door, making sure it didn’t make a sound louder than the click of the latch.
For a minute, we stood still, grinning at each other with a kind of giddy exhilaration in the light from the single torch in my hand.
And then, Alia switched her torch on too and the exhilaration became something more like anticipation. ‘Come on,’ I stage-whispered, tugging on her hand and pulling her with me as I began to walk towards the tree.
We walked slowly and silently at first. And then we got to the line where the concrete slabs became grass and I felt the blades tickling the soles of my feet and I realised we’d forgotten to put shoes on. I couldn’t help it, I laughed, the sound coming out much louder than I’d meant for it to. ‘Shush,’ Alia hissed, the sound making me laugh more for some bizarre reason. ‘Jai, shut up!’ she whisper-yelled a chuckle escaping her as well.
As soon as the sound escaped her, she pulled her hand from mine, clapping it over her mouth and yet another laugh escaped me. When I heard the echoes of it, I copied her and we looked at each other for a moment before turning our gazes to the house, eyes wide as we waited to see if we’d woken anyone.
When two minutes passed with no sign of life from the house, we let our hands drop, standing in dead silence until: ‘race you to the tree Edmonds.’
‘Oh you're on Sharma!’
Without wasting a second, she took off, shooting me a grin over her shoulder. Resisting the urge to shout no fair at her retreating figure, I ran after her, following the dancing light of the torch in her hand.
She beat me to the tree by about half a minute, grinning wildly at me, both of us breathing hard, Alia almost doubled over with her hands on her knees. ‘I have got to stop running like that,’ she gasped.
‘You and me both. God, we’re so out of shape,’ I panted, copying her stance and putting my hands on my knees, the position helping me to keep balance as I tried to catch my breath.
‘Hey, I have an excuse. I’m an asthmatic with a heart disease. What’s yours?’ she asked.
‘I hate physical exertion?’ I told her, finally managing to get enough air back to my lungs.
‘I will never understand how you stay so fit, you know that.’ she stated with an eye roll.
‘I hate physical exertion but the gym is a better way to get rid of all my extra energy than driving everyone up the wall,’ I told her with a grin. ‘Now come on, let’s carve this tree.’
She grinned and nodded eagerly, taking the torch from my hand and pointing both of them at the tree so I’d have enough light to clearly see what I was doing.
I took the knife from my pocket and stepped closer to the tree, looking for a decent-looking spot. Once I’d found one that wasn’t all that rough, I put the blade to the bark and started to carve the letters into the trunk.
For a while, there wasn’t a sound except for the knife moving over the wood and, a couple times, the soft call of a bird.
And then, when I was satisfied with my handiwork, I let my hand drop and took a step back to let Alia take a proper look.
She passed one of the torches back to me and kept the other trained on the tree, moving closer to get a better look. Slowly, she raised a hand to trace the letters with her fingers, smiling softly. ‘Look good?’ I asked.
‘It’s perfect,’ she murmured, turning to look at me with suspiciously wet eyes.
It was one of those moments, the ones where the world is quiet and still and perfect. And, of course, with it being just the two of us, out in the garden alone, I had to take advantage of the situation.
It seemed like the perfect moment to kiss her so that’s just what I did. I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, the gesture soft, sweet. The hand not holding the torch went to her waist while she let her torch drop to the floor, lifting both arms to wind around my neck.
And, because the moment was so completely perfect, it just had to be the moment the skies decided to open up.
One minute, we were stood on dry grass, the next, we’re utterly and completely drenched. We pulled apart, staring at each other in shock for a second before Alia spoke. ‘Typical!’ Alia yelled over the sound of the rain. ‘Come on!’ As the words left her mouth, she took off, legging it for the house.
Add some sappy love song in the background and this’d be a scene straig
ht outta a Bollywood movie, I thought as I ran after her, the pair of us laughing like crazy as we slipped and slid across the muddy grass, just about managing to keep our footing.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Alia
Two days after carving our initials into the tree and getting caught up in the rain, I was laying on my bed, feet on the wall, arms raised above my head, A Court of Wings and Ruin open in my hands. It may sound like a weird way to read but it was my favourite reading position.
Despite that, I found myself regretting deciding to read like that when the door burst open and Jai ran into the room. I started at the sound of the door hitting the wall. My feet slipped and the book dropped, landing on my face. ‘Oww,’ I groaned, lifting the book and putting it down on the bed before turning over and glaring at my best friend – who was bouncing like a kid hopped up on sugar. ‘You’re bloody lucky that was a paperback,’ I told him.
He grimaced, calming down a little. ‘Sorry,’ he muttered, ‘you okay?’
‘I’ll live. Wanna explain why you just burst in here like Zia on Christmas morning?’
‘Oh, yeah!’ he exclaimed, bouncing again. ‘Get up, get dressed, we’re going out.’
‘What?’ I asked bewildered.
‘We’re going out,’ he repeated.
‘Where?’
‘It’s a surprise.’
‘Jai, if you’re going to make me get out of bed, put actual clothes on and leave the house – that too when I’ve just got to one of the best parts of my book ‘s’well – you better give me a bleedin’ good reason for it,’ I told him, turning back over and picking my book up again, kicking my feet up to rest on the wall like they were before.
He huffed and crossed the room, plucking the book out of my hands, pulling the bookmark from its place inside the back cover and marking my page before snapping the book shut, completely ignoring my protests. ‘You’ve read the book at least twice already, you know what happens.’
‘Doesn’t matter. Just because I’ve read it before doesn’t mean the suspense doesn’t kill me!’ I refuted, flipping back over and kneeling on the mattress, reaching up in an attempt to grab the book. Of course, given that he was a good five inches taller than me, it was child’s play for him to keep it out of my grasp; he held it above his head, his long arms putting the book far out of my reach unless I wanted to stand up on the bed or jump for it – and I wasn’t quite desperate to do either of those things just yet. With a huff, I sat down properly, legs folded beneath me and arms crossed over my chest.
‘We’ll only be gone a few hours. The book’ll still be here when we get back; it’s not like it can get up and go anywhere,’ he coaxed.
‘Can’t I bring it with me?’ I tried, pouting a little.
He deliberated for a minute before nodding with a sigh. ‘I guess, yeah. You’ll probably have to sit around and wait for a little while,’ he agreed, the words piquing my curiosity.
‘Okay fine,’ I relented. ‘But this surprise better be worth it.’ Jai said nothing, just rolled his eyes and left the room so I could change, calling a ‘hurry up’ over his shoulder as he shut the door.
***
And hour and a half later, we were climbing off of Jai’s bike in a car park near Victoria Centre. ‘Okay, there’s no way you were that excited to come do some shopping,’ I stated, looking over at my best friend suspiciously.
‘We’re not going shopping Als,’ he told me.
‘Damn, I thought you’d brought me here so we could go to the Disney Store,’ I whined.
‘Why did I think bringing you to town would be a good idea?’ he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose and looking up to the sky in a dear God, why? kind of gesture.
‘Because I’m your best friend and you love me?’
‘Unfortunately.’ My mouth dropped open and stopped walking, unable to believe he’d actually just said that. ‘What?’ he asked, turning to look at me when he realised I wasn’t with him anymore. ‘Just saying, sometimes I wonder what I was thinking when I was younger.’ His words were accompanied by a teasing little smirk and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, clearly telling me he was only joking. Despite that, I tried to keep up the act of being affronted.
Tried being the operative word that is.
In a matter of seconds, his smirk turned into a grin and then a laugh. And, of course, the second I heard his laughter, I let out a little chuckle of my own. ‘Ah, you know I’m only joking Al,’ he said, walking the few steps back my way and slinging an arm around my shoulders. I let him pull me into his side without complaint, walking along with him as we started out in the direction of his mystery surprise. ‘I’d be lost without you and we both know it.’
‘Truer words’ve never been spoken.’ He laughed and gave a one-armed shrug but didn’t bother to argue with me.
We walked in silence for a couple minutes after that, Jai alternating between checking his phone and looking at street signs, making sure we were going the right way. I waited until the little blue dots on the map stretched on for a little ways before speaking again, not wanting to distract him and end up getting us lost. ‘Sooo, Disney?’
He let out a sound between a chuckle and a sigh but nodded. ‘Alright, we’ll do Disney. After the surprise.’
‘Yay!’ I exclaimed, walking with a little extra bounce to my step. Jai just smiled and shook his head fondly before tightening his hold on me, pulling me closer into his side and pressing a kiss to the side of my head.
***
Fifteen minutes late, we finally came to a stop outside a shop called Inkland Studio. I looked from Jai to the shop and back again, taking a minute to breathe after the quarter-hour walk, wondering what we were doing here. ‘It’s on your list,’ he said with a shrug, as though that explained everything. And, because it was Jai, it did.
‘It is,’ I agreed with a nod.
‘So, shall we?’ He gestured towards the door and I hesitated. Despite this being one of the things on my list, I didn’t know if it was the best idea.
‘I dunno Jai. I mean, I’ve not looked into whether or not I can.’
‘You really think I’d bring you here without checking that first?’ he asked with a raised eyebrow. I tilted my head, conceding the point, following it with a questioning look. ‘I looked into it, did some researching and even called Dr. London and asked him. He said that you should be okay.’ I nodded, starting to feel less anxious and more excited. ‘Shall we then?’ he repeated and I nodded, a nervous giddy feeling overtaking me as he reached to open the door.
The artist looked over at the door when we walked in, smiling and coming over. ‘How can I help you?’ she asked, giving us a warm smile.
‘I uh, I called a few days ago about maybe getting a tattoo done with a design of my own,’ Jai said, looking more than a little nervous all of a sudden.
‘Oh yeah, I remember. Jai, right?’ Jai nodded, letting out a breath of relief. ‘You got the design with you?’ He nodded again, pulling a piece of paper out of his back pocket. I looked at the piece of paper, wondering if it was the same one I’d seen him doodling on over the past few days. Almost every spare minute he’d had, I’d seen him with a piece of paper and pencil in his hand, drawing something he wouldn’t let me see.
He caught me looking at it and answered my unasked question. ‘Yes, that’s my “secret doodle” paper – or one of them anyways, the final draft.’
‘Your secret doodle was a tattoo design?’
‘Yeah, I didn’t want you to see it until I had it right,’ he said with a shrug.
‘Emotional fool,’ I teased, laughing at the eye roll it got me. ‘Can I see it now?’ He nodded and unfolded it, handing it over.
The design was perfect; he’d somehow managed to come up with something that made complete sense for the two of us. Despite how simple it looked, I knew that it was actually pretty complex; it’d evidently taken a while to draw and I knew it wouldn’t be the easiest thing to do with a needle and ink on skin. Just
like us in a way – we looked simple, our relationship even felt simple, but there was a lot more to it than one would think. ‘What d’you reckon?’ Jai asked, making me jump; I’d been so lost in thought looking at the picture I’d quite forgotten where I was.
‘It’s definitely very us.’ He nodded and held his hand out for the paper. I gave it back to him, not needing to say anything else to tell him that I was good with it.
Turning away from me, he looked to the tattoo artist, giving her the sheet. ‘Is it doable?’
She looked over it, tilting her head in consideration. ‘I’d say so. You’d have to keep still for a couple hours but I could do it if you can sit for a while,’ she affirms with a nod.
Jai grinned and turned back to me. ‘What d’you say then Als? Wanna get a tattoo?’
‘Well, ‘s’not like I’ve got anything better to be doing today so sure, why not?’ The words were as casual as I could make them but I knew the giant grin on my face completely ruined my attempt at a blasé attitude.
‘well, come on over then you two and let’s do this.’ Me and Jai nodded and followed her over to the chair on the other side of the shop. ‘So, who’s going first?’
To my surprise, I heard myself volunteering, clearly shocking Jai as well. ‘You sure, Li?’ he asked.
‘I – yeah,’ I confirmed, my voice coming out a lot more resolute than I’d been expecting.
‘Right then, come and take a seat here,’ the tattoo artist said, patting the chair. I walked over and sat down, unzipping my hoodie and pulling my left arm from it, letting my arm lie on the rest. ‘This your first tattoo?’ I nodded and she gave me a reassuring smile. ‘Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt as much as people say it does.’
‘Really?’
‘Sure. You ever had a blood test?’
‘Plenty,’ I said with a short laugh.
‘Bet you were scared as all hell before your first one, right?’ I nodded again, confused for a second until she explained. ‘But, when they actually stick the needle in your arm, it doesn’t really hurt as much as all that, yeah?’
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