Silver Confetti

It was eight-thirty that next morning when Phil had said his goodbye. He had dressed with a long sleeve shirt, pullover, and coat before casually strolling to the elevator that led to the exit of the apartment building. With the heavy amount of rest that Dan had got the day before he was unusually alert himself and already dressed in down clothes to start with the house cleaning.

He wasn’t exactly thrilled about being left alone to do the domestic work, but once he stepped outside to put out the recycling, he agreed it was probably for the best. Besides, he was obviously the neater of the two anyway. More then once he let it be known that if he wasn’t around to give a damn the flat would look like the after math of a cyclone. Phil wasn’t about to argue with the fact, rather be thankful that it was the truth. Before Phil had grabbed his wallet and keys off the kitchen counter he noticed that Dan even had the supplies out ready to give the sink and bathtub a needed scrub and a playlist to last throughout the morning.

The younger boy kept order, and would one day be the perfect husband to an extremely privledged spouse.

~~~

Though not as horrid as the day before, the air outside was still bitter to the touch and the short walk needed to arrive downtown couldn’t be over fast enough. The shops he was interested in wouldn’t be open until ten, but he purposefully skipped breakfast in order to have a necessary chat with PJ over the variety of Starbucks pastries.

When he finally reached his destination he was surprised to already see his friend guarding a corner table with his mocha latte firmly in hand.

The two exchanged their greetings, and Phil had retrieved his items from the fast forming line of early workers, when they began to go over their agenda. Martin and Cornelia would be arriving at a local café at one for lunch where Phil was supposed to meet them. The three will head back to the apartment to drop off the heaters that Phil had to remember to purchase, then after the arriving couple got settled in, head back into town as a group to do dinner and the family shopping. PJ had an afternoon class on the way to the café so he offered to help carry the bags until the reunion of the siblings. Until then the pair were to assist each other with their personal hunt, for PJ also had roommates that he cared for and, without the excuse of helping a friend, would be hard to make his great shopping escape.

~~~

So the morning continued on just like one would expect. The home appliance section in Debenhams had the space heaters they needed in the correct size and PJ was able to accomplish most of his purchasing in the electronics department. One, two hours of productive browsing came and went and the duo worked so well together they were able to scratch off almost everything on their respective lists.

Everything but a very important thing.

It was nearing noon and Phil still wasn’t able to locate the object that would drop his jaw faster than his wallet.

Many sales associates road his tail, hankering on about being of assistance. But what assistance could anyone possibly be if the answer to “what are you searching for today?” was “I’m not sure”? One simply doesn’t explain these things, and poor Phil, for some time he actually tried. Nothing he was shown in any department store was correct. They didn’t fit the person, the occasion, or the emotion he was trying to express in one simple gift. He gave up on the workers after the sixth store.

PJ felt helpless watching his friend, who didn’t easily become frusterated, slowly giving up for the day. He had gave all the suggestions he could muster, but like the various employees, he realized it ultimately came down to what Phil saw that others couldn’t.

It was a quarter-to-one when the young men walked out of cd outlet completely defeated. The café that they were suppose to be meeting at was a couple of blocks down the main street, but with the amount of bags they had gained they decided to take the shorter route through a side street where the traffic wouldn’t nearly be as bad. It was around the day where the holiday shoppers and tourists were braving the outside and consequently making navigating that much more difficult.

Through the pedestrian walk they crossed and rounded the block to a quieter side street with PJ making the majority of light conversation along the way. Though serious himself, he hated the mood that engulfed his usually high spirited friend.

And all along the pavement he just talked. He spoke about family, winter break, a new haircut he was looking into before seeing his parents for the holiday. It was a one sided conversation, he knew, but he was secretly hoping, through all of the ramble, that he would magically say the right thing.

What he didn’t bet on was that it was practically useless. In one ear and out the other was PJ’s words, because only thoughts of Dan were occupying Phil’s mind. He didn’t have words, but he had his thoughts and memories that were his only clues for the boy he was supposed to be shopping for. Yet nothing was good enough. Everything from his boyfriend’s slightly crooked smile that lit up his mood, to his puppy dog eyes that bargained for him when he wanted his own way was being accounted for.

In Phil’s eyes he was priceless. Worth more than the common gift wrapped possession. He was his world and had been since the days when their relationship was playful and being tried on for size. Unlike other internet originated flings, they were in this for the long run.

But what in the world was worthy of a statement such as that? How do you present to someone “I love you” and mean it?

And there it was.

He had looked up from his thoughts to sidestep an elderly woman in a wheelchair when the window across the road and two buildings away caught his eye.

The lights carefully placed in the display had illuminated the glass, calling him softly in. And without another thought, he grabbed PJ’s elbow while in mid-sentence and dragged him across the street.