Thomas Brodie-Sangster Imagines

Christmas Shopping

Christmas shopping.

My best friend and I walk about town, doing various Christmas shopping for both of our friends and family - oh and my best friend's boyfriend. Ugh, boyfriend, that's another thing I'd like for Christmas. Yeah...that's not going to happen. We go buy a hot chocolate from Costa and sit down inside, pulling all of our extra layers off now that we're indoors. I get comfortable and comb my fingers through my hair, trying to get rid of all the snowflakes that have decided to decorate my hair with specks of white.

I hug my hot chocolate close to me and my friend and I don't say anything for a while; all of our energy has been sapped from the harsh winter cold and has left us feeling like the abominable snowman with a snotty nose. Finally, me and my friend find a piece of life buried deep within us and we begin talking about what we have bought and what we still need to buy. I still have quite a few small bits to get but it can be sorted. I hope, anyway.

"I still need to get something for (*random boyfriend name*), y'know? It's our first Christmas together!" My friend chirps and I inwardly groan; I love her to pieces but she needs to stop talking about her boyfriend! I swear if I hear his name again I will slap her, he's all she ever talks about. Sure, she may be madly in love with him but talking about him everyday is not healthy...or interesting. We finish our conversation and drink the last drops of our, now warm, hot chocolate. We both wrap up again and head out into the cold. I suck in air and when I breathe out it's clearly visible - scary confirmation that it really is that cold.

As we begin to walk past a couple of shops my best friend presses her face to one of the shop's cold windows and starts jumping up and down, excitedly. She's spotted something that her boyfriend might like. Brilliant! Not. She pulls me into the shop and we both sigh at the burst of warmth that initially wraps around us. It's so much warmer inside, thank God; the snow and wind is unbearable sometimes. I tug on my scarf a little, feeling a little hot now that we're indoors and pull of my gloves with great difficulty. My friend does the same and skips off down an isle, leaving me looking around the shop like a lost puppy. Wait... a lonely lost puppy.

I sloppily walk down one isle, looking at the products like I am actually going to buy something for someone special. Finally, because my friend is taking so long, I walk down another isle and my eyes fall on the one thing that isn't boring in this place: Lynx. If there is one thing that smells good, it's Lynx. It's like heaven to the nose. It literally makes a guy 100 times more attractive. I pick up a canister of the stuff and start to smell it; I probably look like a right weirdo, just casually smelling some guy deodorant-spray stuff by myself. I spray it in the air infront of me and then walk into the little cloud of spray, smelling its goodness as I stand there.

"Your boyfriend will love that, it smells great." A male voice says behind me and I freeze on the spot. I force myself to turn around and meet the softest pair of brown eyes I've ever seen,

"Uhh..I- I don't have a boyfriend." I manage to say, completely getting lost in the look of this boy. His hair is ruffled and messy in a cute kind of way and his brown eyes pull you in, unintentionally. He's wearing a scarf and long coat, hiding any other clothing that he is wearing. He stares at me for a second, his eyes flickering over my body and face and he suddenly checks himself. He runs a hand through his hair and takes the canister from my hand,

"That's a shame, you have such a great taste in presents." He chuckles and the lightest hint of blush creeps into my cheeks.

"Um, thanks. I- I don't. I want a boyfriend for Christmas. That's not a good taste in present, that's an impossible present." The words tumble out of my mouth before I can stop them and I realise I'm acting like a dumbfounded goof.