Saying Goodbye

It felt like I was only asleep for a minute before my eyes opened once again, but instead of reading twelve-thirty in the morning the clock on my bedroom wall said that it was ten o'clock, which meant that I'd been asleep for roughly nine-and-a-half hours.

Even though I was pretty sure that I had no alcohol the night before, a dull ache began to permeate my skull and make my temples throb. I groaned, pushing myself out of my bed and looked on the other side of my bed.

I didn't see Tom, so I assumed he was downstairs eating or something - he always eats - and I decided that I was pretty hungry myself.
As if in agreement, my stomach chortled to itself rather loudly.

I quickly changed from my pajamas into blue skinny jeans and a plain grey t-shirt. I walked down the stairs, trying not to step too hard on the ground as my head still ached, and in the kitchen, where I found Tom with his back to me facing the cooker.

With a sly grin on my face, I padded quietly over to where he was standing and tickled him lightly from behind; "Backwards tackle!"

"Whoa, man!" Tom laughed and tried to push me off in protest. He let go of the spatula after shifting the bacon and faced me. "You nearly had me cooked! Do you want to ruin my beautiful face?" He turned back to shifting some more bacon.

I laughed; "Get over yourself, you ugly mutt, and give me the food!" I hugged him from behind, just to communicate that I was in a jokey mood.

"Never! Unhand me you fiend!" He laughed and fed me a cooked bit of the bacon. "But seriously, I want my limbs back."

I was still grinning as I went to fill us both glasses of orange juice, and poured some hot water from the kettle into a teapot. As I was making the tea, Tom finished up with the food and filled two plates with rashers of bacon, some sausages, scrambled eggs, several pieces of toast and beans to finish. He set the plates down on the table and I handed him his drinks, and then we both at down to eat up the breakfasts.
"Et voila! Deux petites dejeuners, alles pour nous!" Tom wiggled his eyebrows to accentuate the French impersonation.
I giggled quietly, and started eating; it tasted really good!

(Yeah, it was a tradition on our sleepovers that Tom made the food while I handled the drinks; I'm not gonna lie, Tom's a really good cook, so I'd rather he handled the delicacies.)

"So...." Tom said, once he had polished off the eggs. "You gonna check up on Max, d'ya think?"

"No." I couldn't be bothered shooting him a death glare, so I ate my bacon instead.

Tom still looked apprehensive; he hesitated, and I swear he wanted me to go visit him! "C'mon Liz...." He pleaded, "Give it a try?"

I put my fork down, very slowly, and looked him in the eye. "He's my enemy, dammit! I brought him to the hospital , but that's it, okay?"

"You saved his life! Is that the act of an enemy?"

"What are you trying to say, Tom?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Tom."

Tom sighed. "I'm saying..." He ran his hands through his hair a couple of times - a nervous habit of his that I picked up on. "I'm saying that you don't actually have to be enemies. Aren't you tired of it? The constant war?"

I didn't say anything to him, but, in truth, I had no idea what to say back to that! What could I say? That I agreed with him and thought it was stupid? That I thought it was actually fun? I didn't really know what to think either; we'd been at war for far too long; so long that I didn't know how else interaction with Max could be done. If I walked up to Max and said 'Hey', just to be friendly, he wouldn't see it that way. He'd take it as a joke, of course he would!

Clearly I couldn't address the subject directly; Tom would pick at every word I said to conclude something completely out of order! It was in his character to exaggerate situations like this, so my only hope would be to change the subject...

"Tom, it's part of life now. Get over it. Hey, after this can you come with me to the shops? Nothing like an all-out spree, but I just need to get Kate a birthday present." I hastened to add after I saw panic flash across his face. "So, will you?"

"Hm?"

"Go. Shop. Birthday present. " Surely he'll get the message?

"Oh, uh, yeah sure." Tom seemed to furrow his eyebrows together, as if in frustration, before he quickly guzzled down the rest of his breakfast, which I was finishing fast as well.

Once we washed and put the plates away, I quickly ran upstairs to my room to grab my boots, purse and my car keys, and I was down to meet Tom by the door in less than a minute.

"Do you want to drive, or would you like me to drive?" Tom asked, but I could see a glint of hope in his eyes so I smiled and handed him the keys. Tom grinned widely as he sauntered over to my car, and once we were in I turned up the radio and sang along all the way to the mall.
That's the great thing about mine and Tom's friendship; it was the fact that we didn't even have to keep a conversation going in order to feel like we were bonding. We liked the same kind of music, we had similar opinions on things, we had the same taste in style. It was good, it was agreeable, and it was exactly how I liked it.

The moment that we entered the shopping centre, Tom and I made an instant bee-line towards Urban Outfitters, where I knew I wanted to buy Kate's present from. Where he went straight for the music section, I headed over to where I saw the vintage camera's stacked - Kate loves photography, and I guessed that a vintage camera would make her happier than the dozens of digital cameras she already owned.
Kate had a huge collection of camera's; from her Polaroid to disposable cameras, underwater ones and her 'proffessional' one, and even one which she considered her 'normal' one which she used in everyday life. When I first went to her house years ago I was so completely taken aback by how many photographs were stuck to her walls, how many photo albums were stored on her shelves and how many rolls of film were spilling out of her drawers; it was unreal.

It didn't take long for me to find the perfect camera; a mint coloured metal lump with a massive lightbulb attached to the front; I was sure that Kate would adore it! I quickly paid for it and turned back into the shop to find Tom, but I bumped into somebody I really wasn't expecting to find.