The gift

Alexia was ecstatic: today she was seeing her lifelong best friend for the first time in what seemed like FOREVER. 

Julie and her had been sister-of-heart for as long as she could remember. They were inseperable, that is until Julie had to leave for San Francisco to pursue the job of her dreams. Alexia had supported her in her decision and had even pushed her to go: this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Julie simply couldn’t miss it, she had to go! 

Even though it broke both of their hearts to know they’ll be so far away from each other, they knew it in their hearts that their friendship would survive this challenge and that they would see each other in no time.

At last,after five whole years apart,with the occasional FaceTime to keep their bond alive, they were finally going to be reunited for good. In fact, Julie had just been given the opportunity to live wherever she wanted, while staying in the company she loved so much. She hadn’t hesitated for a second: she couldn’t imagine a better time to come back home, to her family and especially Alexia. 

Alexia was impatiently waiting at the arrival gate, jumping on everyone that came out and asking whether they had seen Julie. Even with a picture, none of the passengers wanted to put her out of her misery, so she waited. She waited and waited and waited until finally, she saw her! Her best friend, the other part of her, she was finally here! 

She ran to greet her and they shared a passionate hug. Julie decided that they simply HAD to celebrate, her treat. 

“Are you sure? I mean you just got here, at least let me invite you” Alexia offered.

“No I insist, you payed last time, let me treat you to lunch this time.” 

“But that was five years ago!” Alexia exclaimed, shocked that Julie had been keeping count.

“So?! It’s only fair! Come on, you can pick the place if you want.” 

They laughed and took a cab to their favorite restaurant: The Three Doors. 

                * 

The two friends were halfway through lunch when Julie exclaimed, practically jumping in glee: 

“Oh I just can’t wait anymore! Here! (she handed Alexia a wrapped gift) open it!” 

She was looking so expectantly at Alexia that she simply couldn’t keep her friend waiting. 

She carefully unwrapped it, watching Julie’s face light up as she got closer to the gift, until she discovered....the most hideous jacket she had ever seen. It was bright pink with a reindeer painted on the back: a mix between a Christmas sweater and a little girl’s princess costume. 

She risked a glance in her best friend’s direction and, seeing how proud she was of her gift, she simply couldn’t disappoint her by telling her the truth. So she put on her best enchanted face, and began her act. 

“Wow! It’s...beautiful! I love it! Really, you shouldn’t have, but thank you so much!” Alexia’s tone was a bit too high-pitched for it to sound genuine. 

Julie caught on and her face fell. 

“You don’t like it do you?” She asked looking away. 

Alexia panicked and, instead of just coming clean and saying she hated it, tried desperately to make her lie seem real. 

“Of course I do! What makes you think I don’t? I was just surprised that’s all, it’s not usually my first color choice but I really do love it, really.” 

By implementing some truth in her lie, Alexia hoped it would make it more believable; but she had underestimated her opponent, who, after all, *had* known her her whole life. 

“Alexia, I know you’re lying, just stop, you’ve always been a terrible liar.” The hurt is evident in her voice, but thinking it’s because of her bad reaction to the horrid gift, Alexia continued on lying. 

“Julie, baby, I’m not lying to you. Okay it’s maybe not my new favorite thing in the world but I do like it, very much. Even though ‘love’ may be too strong a word to describe how I feel about it, ‘like’ seems more appropriate.” 

Having said that, Alexia stood up and, putting actions into her words, put on the jacket in an ultimate attempt to seem pleased. While doing so, she repressed a gulp of disgust and plastered on her best fake-but-believable smile. 

It seemed to do the trick, because Julie was jumping up and down, a huge genuine grin on her face. 

“It suits you so well! I saw it in this really cute little store back in San Francisco and I just knew: I had to get it for you, it was unthinkable to leave it to someone else, *you* had to be the proud owner of such a masterpiece! So I bought it and just couldn’t wait for you to discover it! Ohhhhh, I have an idea! Let’s go out tonight, like that you can show off your new jacket, what do you say?” she was so buoyant and excited that Alexia could simply not refuse. 

“Ya, that sounds like a brilliant idea. Everyone will be so jealous of my new jacket, it’ll be fun!” 

She did her best to sound convincing, and it payed off: Julie didn’t suspect a thing. 

“Now sit down and eat! We have to go gloat to your family about your newest piece of clothing!” 

Alexia had to try very hard to keep the horror off her face. Not only was she forced to wear this in public but now she had to wear it in front of her entire family too?! Alexia would’ve wanted the ground to swallow her up right this instant. That’s what she got for not being honest, now it was too late to back out: she was going to have to face the judging looks of her family. 

               * 

“Uhhh,what are you wearing?” Eliot couldn’t keep the disgust out of his voice as he opened the door. 

Alexia had to continue this role she was forced into against her will. 

“You have no taste, I wouldn’t ask you for fashion advice! This is my brand new jacket, Julie brought it back for me from San Francisco, I find it quite beautiful!” It took some great effort on her part to let out these words. 

“Oh, well then as long as you like it...” her brother couldn’t finish his sentence: he simply didn’t understand how his sister, who usually had such good taste, could like this glittery junk. 

Once Julie was out of earshot, he whispered in Alexia’s ear. 

“You don’t seriously like it do you?” His tone was expectant, as if begging her to tell him she didn’t. 

“Of course not! Have you seen me?! I look like a gnome just threw up on me, and this pink is so horrible it hurts my eyes to just look at it, let alone wear it.” 

“So why do you?” 

“It makes Julie happy that I’m happy to wear it, and I’ve kind of got myself into this mess so I can’t get out of it without hurting her. Tonight we’re going clubbing and she expects me to wear it, please kill me now.” Alexia begged.

For only answer, Eliot laughed. 

“No can do sis’, this is too priceless for me not to take advantage of it” and he laughs a low, deep laugh. 

Alexia was on her own. 

              * 

Entering the club, all eyes stopped on Alexia and her horrible new jacket. She just couldn’t deal with lying to her best friend anymore, she had to come clean. 

“Julie wait.” 

“What’s wrong?”

“I haven’t been honest with you today...I really wanted to like your gift, but the truth is: I hate it, it’s just not me you know. I’m sorry for pretending to like it but I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but now I can’t lie to you anymore, I’m sorry I even did in the first place.” 

Alexia marks a pause, looking at the ground, waiting for a reaction...that doesn’t come. When she looks up, she’s surprised to see that her best friend is howling with laughter, tears streaming down her face.

“What the...” 

“I can’t believe you went through all this just to not hurt my feelings. I mean you wore this hideous gnome vomit all day just to please me? That’s so sweet! I still can’t believe you held on for so long, I would’ve cracked the second I discovered it to be honest!” And she bends over in laughter once again, unable to contain herself. 

“Wait, this was a joke?!” 

“Of course! It was supposed to be a prank, but when I saw how hard you were trying to hide the fact that you hated it, I decided to have some fun with that and see how long you would stand it. It’s safe to say that you beat all my expectations, I still can’t believe you kept pretending for so long!” 

She doubled in laughter yet again but, this time, she was joined by Alexia who simply couldn’t believe she hadn’t called off her best friend’s bluff immediately; it would’ve saved her a day long of public humiliation in this horrid attire.