Table For Two

58 - Harvey

I'm not sure if I can say I'm alright or whether I've just been distracting myself from what happened with my sister but over the next few days I just focus on getting work done. Which, in fairness, Ali does as well. Everyone is. It's that last crackdown to get hand-ins done before we all have to go home for the holidays and... even though I know I'm not going to be that far away from Ali compared to the rest of my friends, it feels like this great yawning void on the horizon that's coming to consume all my joy and positivity and it walks and talks just like my sister. So I just use work to avoid it. I go to the gym. I sleep. I see Ali and I know he can sense that I'm not completely with it but he's been run off his feet with work as well. I picked Athena up from his last night and walked her because Sharon didn't have time to. She let me in and gave me a spare key so I could lock the door when I went out. It felt weird to be in the house alone. But it also didn't? Almost like some part of me had settled into this place and it felt like home. But that might also be because Ali keeps stealing my stuff to wear or just have so it's like I live here as well.

Athena has been such a comfort too. And I still get surprised by that. The boy utterly terrified of dogs is now best friends with a rottweiler. Irony abounds. I layer up a bit more before I head out with her, sticking a second pair of socks on and putting a hoodie on underneath my coat. I also put Athena's coat on her as well. The temperature had dropped massively out of nowhere. I grabbed another spare hood to put in my bag for Ali since I could guarantee he hadn't worn enough layers to work because I'd noticed he never did (and then always put his freezing cold hands up my shirt to warm them up which was not funny).

Town had gotten quieter too. Even with the Christmas market and the general festive air, the chill and lingering threat of rain (white Christmas? Try wet Christmas) had put a lot of people off of coming out to go gift hunting. Fortunately, I had sorted some things already. I'd gotten all my friends something, just a small little thing each. Family was done and we all kind of knew what each other was getting anyway. I'd gotten Sharon a nice bottle of wine for Christmas day and bought her some earrings from the Market Ali said about getting and he was going to get a matching necklace and perfume so it was all going to be a kind of group present from us both. Ali was the only one I hadn't figured out yet. I veered off towards the market to have a browse before the stores all shut up for the night.

The one thing I always noticed was the smell from the food stalls. So much sweetness and spices and cooking meat. It was almost intoxicating. I was getting lost in it when I heard someone mutter from off to my left. It was a middle aged woman who was running a stall selling gemstone trinkets but I could see she had a bag of doggy treats as well and was tipping a handful out.

"Is she allowed?"

"Oh! Uh... yeah I think so? What are they?"

"Some lamb treats from a farm shop. My friend's Rottie adores them."

"Huh... okay then"

I nudge Athena and she gratefully accepts the treats and the following scritches behind the ears. The woman looks overjoyed before lifting her head and levelling her grey eyes at me again.

"What's her name?"

"Athena"

"A good choice. Goddess of wisdom and strategy."

"Thanks. She's actually my boyfriend's dog."

"Well she clearly likes you so I suppose you must be good for him. Dogs can always tell."

"Funnily enough you're not the first person to say that."

She gives a knowing smile at that as I start looking at what she has on display and a lot of it I actually quite like. Some of the charms were strung on slim chains but others were fastened to slim leather strips which were catching my eye more. I saw that some of the charms had been designed to form shapes with each other... including some designed to be two halves of a heart. It would be such a good gift but I still wasn't sure. The lady must have sensed my indecision because she gestured to the ones I was looking at.