Keep It Between Us

“Can you keep a secret?”

I never really gave much thought to the weight of that question. At least not until the moment it was thrown directly at me.

It was my childhood friend of twelve years, Trisha, who suddenly sprung those words at me during the day of our grade school graduation.

I remember it as clearly as the sky was that day.

She looked at me with honest eyes that seemed to scream out, “Please say yes!”.

So naturally, I said yes.

It almost felt like it was more of a reflex than a genuine response on my part. Because honestly, I don’t think anyone asked that question would really say “No”. That just seems plain rude. Moreso when the person asking is someone you’ve known for a while.

It was actually a pretty exciting feeling—the anticipation of hearing this “secret”. “Could it be about me?”, “It’s definitely about me.”, “Why else would she be telling me this if it wasn’t, right?”, “Hmm… but of course it could be about her.”, “Maybe something happened to her and she needs someone to talk about it to?”, all of these thoughts and more flashed through my head in the split second following the question.

But beyond the feeling of excitement, there was also a tinge of flattery that came with it. Flattery in a sense that even though she was asking me if I could keep a secret, in her mind, she probably already believed that I would say yes. Otherwise, there would be no point, since the conversation would have ended there if I had said no. And on an awkward note at that.

After knowing her for as long as I have though, would there really be anything surprising about a secret she has? I mean, I think I already know a lot about her that many people probably don’t. What’s another notch on the belt, right? With this thought in mind, I calmed down a bit from my hidden excitement.

“Let’s hear it.”

She had her instant camera hanging around her neck, the customary prop diploma wedged by her left hand, and a small, plain-looking wooden box by her right hand.

"Keep it between us okay?" She whispered, handing me the box.

"What... is it?" I asked while weighing the box with my hand. It was light, almost as if nothing was actually inside.

"Hmm... it's something very important to the three of us that I want you to hold on to." She replied with a beaming smile. "Oh, but whatever you do, don't open it until I ask you to."

"O-kay?" Was all I could manage to say.

I looked at the box a little more closely and saw a small keyhole on it.

"Does this come with a key?"

"It does." She replied, obviously pretending she didn't know what was on my mind.

"Uhh... so where is it?"

"It's with someone." She said with a straight face.

So really, there was no way for me to open it in the first place.

Well she liked doing a lot of unreasonable things so it wasn't anything new to me. She once tried to make me take care of her pet dog for a week just because she thought that would make it miss her. I don't even know how she gauged the level of missing of a dog to its owner. So, I actually adapted this skill of taking whatever she said at face value. If she said she wanted me to do something for her, she just really wanted me to do it for her. To be honest, it's been rather useful when dealing with her since I stopped overthinking about any hidden intentions she might have had when asking me for favors.

When I thought about it though, She was making me do something that was pretty much straightforward, but, it was the first time she gave me so little to go on.

"Promise to keep it between us okay?" She repeats.

"You want to tell me what this is for?" I nudge.

She paused to think, looking at the box, then to me, and then answered, "No, not really."

I held my hands in the air in surrender, "Well, okay then." I wasn't going to press the issue any further since I knew how hardheaded she could be when it came to her "rules".

"But what's gonna happen if I open it before you tell me to?" I taunted.

"Well nothing really." She dismissively replied. "But then I'd know you can't keep a secret." She continued in a condescending tone.

It was all still a bit confusing since I was unsure of whether it was the box itself that was the secret or what was inside. Because if it was the latter, then wouldn't that mean I won't know the secret until I've opened it? So technically she didn't really tell me the secret.

Just then, someone started yelling from within a gathered crowd of people who were taking pictures.

It was my best friend, Travis.

He was frantically trying to get our attention while he was being sucked in by the horde of people. Eventually, he was able to slip out and jogged towards us with an exhausted look on his face.

"Man, everyone's acting like they're never gonna see each other again!" He shouted while gasping for air.

"You okay?" I asked handed him the half-empty water bottle I had stuffed in my pocket.

"Do I look like I'm okay Trent?" I could see that he was soaking in sweat so it might not have been the right question to ask. "Can I take this off already?" He complained while airing out his academic gown.

"You probably can." Trisha answered. "We already took our picture together at the classroom anyways so you're good." She had become friends with him as well after I introduced them to each other during our first year of middle school. It was a pretty regular hi and hello. But for some reason, the three of us just pretty much clicked in everything we did and we'd been a trio of best friends ever since.

"Well then don't mind if I do." He said as he took off the gown, crumpled it up and hanged it by his shoulder.

"You look foul man." I remarked after seeing his fully soaked getup which was hidden by the gown earlier.

He ignored my remark and chugged down the water bottle I handed him. Ending his drink with a loud "Phew!".

"So what'd I miss while I was gone?" He asked.

"Nothing much." Trisha said before I could say anything.

"Oh..." He replied. He seemed to have noticed the box on my hand. "Well then should we go ahead and bail?" He suggested. "Your parents have gone ahead already too right?"

We both agreed and headed home together.

Our houses were conveniently near the school and all in the same direction so we would often go home together. We said goodbye to Trisha after we reached the last intersection before our own streets and headed in opposite directions.

"So what was the box about?" Travis asked me before the two of us split.

I thought for a second whether I was allowed to tell him. But then she did say it was about the three of us. So I assumed that keeping it between "us" included him as well.

"She said it was something important to the three of us but I've got no idea what that means." I explained. "You got any ideas?"

"Ooh sounds exciting! So let's open it!" He giddily said while trying to take the box from me.

"No can do." I say as I try to keep it away from him.

"Her rule?" He said understanding the situation I was in.

"Yup."

"Damn, I guess that means no convincing you then." He grumbled. "Well tell me what's inside once she lets you open it alright?"

"You got it." I replied as we waved goodbye to each other.

The moment I got home, the first thing I did was to look for a good place to hide the box where I myself couldn't see it. Since I didn't think we were opening it anytime soon, it wasn't really going to be good for my mental state having it lying around in plain sight. So, I hid it by a dark corner of my wardrobe closet. Out of sight, out of mind.

Years passed, and the time we spent together became less and less. In fact, ever since that day of graduation, we never really hung out as a complete trio anymore. I would usually try to get in touch with both of them at the same time, but at best, only one of them would be free. Gradually, I even lost any and all forms of contact with Travis.

But the one thing I never really forgot about was that box. Well, with Trisha constantly nagging me how the box was doing each time we met, I think that was never really an option. Although as time passed, I eventually lost interest in knowing what was in the box as well.

Thinking back now, we never could have imagined that the next time the three of us were going to be together again would be fifteen years later...

"Bring the box with you okay?" My childhood friend of now twenty-seven years ordered over the phone.

"The box? What box?" I asked, confused at how vaguely she put it.

"The box I gave you fifteen years ago, don't tell me you lost it now of all times."

"Oh THAT box. Don't worry I think I know where it is."

"You'd better have it with you before the ceremony starts."

"I will, I will, don't worry about it."

I rushed to look for the box. Luckily, I had made it a point to always put it by the corner of my closet, even when I had finally moved out of my parent's house and into my own apartment.

After finding it, I quickly rushed over to the church, just barely making it on time.

The ceremony progressed exactly as how we practiced, the only thing different was the presiding priest. The entire time he was speaking I could swear his voice was familiar but his face looked too old to be anyone I was acquainted with.

But, when it came to the part when we had to say our vows...

"Before anything else, I think the third member of this group should introduce himself." My bride-to-be declared out of nowhere.

I didn't know what was happening at the time and so did everyone else in attendance.

But beside us, the priest started laughing.

He brought his hand towards his face and peeled it off. It was a prosthetic mask. And the person underneath, was my best friend.

"The key please Mr. Best Friend."

"Here you go Maam." He hands her the key. "I've kept that safe for fifteen years so whatever's inside that box had better be worth it."

I could see that she was genuinely happy seeing the key and the box both present at that moment.

"I always had a feeling that no matter how things played out, the three of us would always end up being brought back together." She softly said.

"No matter how long we stopped talking. Or how far apart our paths were." She continued while looking at the both of us.

She handed me the key.

"You can open it now."

I nervously took out the box from my pocket.

I took a glance at the two of them myself before finally unlocking the box. They were both smiling at me. It felt like I was brought back a decade and a half in time.

With the box between the three of us, together we peeked inside.

"Thanks for keeping it between us." She winked.

We all burst into laughter after seeing what was inside.

She asked for one of her bridesmaids to bring her her old instant camera.

"Now that the three of us are together again. I guess it's time we renewed the friendship we have between us." She declared.

With the altar acting as a substitute for the teacher's table in the original, Trisha on the left, Travis in the middle, and me on the right...

We took a picture. The same way we had that day.