Evie's Job

74: Natalie

Evie and Natalie were sitting on the couch in Natalie’s apartment, watching the lights far out over the harbour. It was late. Natalie kept wanting to yawn. They were only still up because they hadn’t yet gone to bed, and there was no better reason than that.

They had been out earlier. They had gone to a restaurant for dinner. Evie had been studying all day, and had phoned Natalie and said she felt like being dressed up and not at home, so Natalie had said they should go out. She made reservations, and went and collected Evie, and they had walked to the restaurant because the night was warm, and walking was part of Evie having a change from the apartment. Being dressed up was too, so Evie had worn heels that were probably a little high for walking all the way to a restaurant and back. When they got home she kicked off her shoes at the door, and walked carefully to the couch, and flopped down with her feet up on it, and sighed.

Natalie had sat down beside her, and lifted Evie’s feet onto her lap. Mostly to be comfortable, the way they were sitting, but then she felt sorry for Evie and started rubbing one of her feet. Massaging it, almost without thinking, because heels all night wasn’t fun, and Natalie felt sympathetic even though it had been entirely Evie’s choice to wear what she’d worn.

Natalie had rubbed, and Evie had closed her eyes, and murmured that it was really nice, so Natalie kept rubbing. After a while she switched feet. While she rubbed, she thought, about lives and choices, and money and restaurant bills, and buying Evie things too. She thought about nothing particular, not especially paying attention to mind’s wanderings, until she oddly, suddenly, realized that she still didn’t know something quite important about Evie.

“When’s your birthday?” Natalie said.

Evie opened her eyes. “What?”

“I don’t know when your birthday is.”

“I know you don’t.”

Natalie didn’t understand.

“Pick one, remember?” Evie said.

Natalie sat for a moment, trying to work out what that meant.

“From ages ago,” Evie said. “Remember? I’d tell you my age or my birthday or something else. I forget what else. But not all three.”

Natalie couldn’t quite believe that Evie had remembered, and that she was actually keeping to it. “Still?” Natalie said. “Really?”

“Nope,” Evie said, grinning. “Of course not. February.”

“When?”

“Ask me again nearer. When you’ll remember.”

“I’ll remember.”

“The seventeenth. When’s yours?”

“June the twelfth.”

“Thank god,” Evie said. “No-one’s missed any birthdays.”

Natalie smiled. Evie was probably teasing, but Natalie was actually a little relieved.

“Although,” Evie said, thinking. “I don’t know why you’re asking. You’re not supposed to give me things, so it doesn’t do you much good to know.”

“I can’t…” Natalie said. “What?”

“You can’t give me things. Or money. Or pay me. Remember?”

“But your birthday…”

“It’s still giving things.”

“I have to give you something,” Natalie said, slightly shocked. “It’s your birthday. I can’t just not.”

Evie shrugged. “Okay. Well, what?”

“I’m not going to tell you…”

“Yeah,” Evie said. “Except I have a funny feeling what you might do, so I’d like to know first. If that’s okay?”

“I have no idea,” Natalie said. “I hadn’t thought about it yet. Why, what do you want?”

“Nothing. I don’t need anything.”

“What would you like, then?”

Evie shook her head. “Nope. No way. You can’t just ask me that. It’s like giving me gift vouchers.”

“But you asked,” Natalie said.

“Oh?” Evie said. “Yeah, I did. Well in that case, you can guess.”

Natalie was still rubbing Evie’s feet, and had a feeling Evie wasn’t entirely concentrating on their conversation. Evie’s eyes were closed. Her attention was drifting. Mostly, she seemed to be absorbed by Natalie’s hands.

“There must be something you need,” Natalie said. “Clothes?”

“My clothes are fine.”

“Something?” Natalie said. “A car.”

Evie laughed. “Yeah right.”

“Do you want a car?”

Evie opened her eyes. She stopped laughing. “Oh fuck, you’re serious.”

Natalie hadn’t been, not really, but suddenly she was. “I am.”

“You can’t buy me a car.”

“Actually I can. Do you want one.”

“Um, no. Because that’s way too much.”

“Jewellery?” Natalie said, because Evie didn’t usually wear much, and she’d wondered before if that was by choice, or because she lacked anything she really liked.

“Okay,” Evie said, seeming oddly subdued. “Why not? If you have to do something, then yep, get me jewellery.”

“I don’t have to,” Natalie said, unsure why Evie was sounding the way she did.

Evie shrugged.

“You don’t mind?” Natalie said, not quite sure what Evie expected here.

“If you have to, then go ahead.” Evie sat there for a moment. “Actually, that kind of sounds ungrateful.”

“No,” Natalie said. “I understand. So jewellery’s fine?”

Evie nodded, then looked up. “Um, wait. Do you mean jewellery that costs as much as a car.”

Natalie looked at her for a moment, and wanted to smile. She had half-meant that, at least as something to consider later, and she was a little surprised that Evie had noticed. She shouldn’t be, she supposed. Evie was clever. Evie thought like a lawyer. She saw loopholes in contracts that hadn’t yet been made.

“So not that?” Natalie said.

“Absolutely not,” Evie said. “Fuck no, you can’t.”

“I want to.”

“Natalie, that’s stupid. I think you’re teasing, but anything like that is way too much.”

“It’s stupid?”

“Yeah, actually, it is. It’s utterly stupid. Sorry, but, fuck, this is me. I’d lose it, or get robbed, or something awful. Someone would chop off my hand to steal a ring.”

“No-one would really…” Natalie said.

“Want to bet? With a ring that cost as much as a car on my hand? I’d chop off someone’s hand to steal it, if they were silly to walk around with it on.”

Natalie couldn’t decide if Evie was serious. She wondered if she should ask.

“I’m almost serious,” Evie said. “And I would actually lose it. Whatever it was. So just don’t, okay? Nothing like that.”

“I could give you insurance too?”

“Stop it,” Evie said.

Natalie kept looking at her.

“Please,” Evie said. “You really don’t have to be like this. It’s too much.”

Natalie realized Evie was really upset. “Sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t… I was mostly just joking.”

“I know, but don’t okay? It’s kind of weird.”

“All right. But I can get you something? Something small?”

“Something small if you want. But not cars and shit. Nothing over the top, okay.”

Natalie nodded. “I promise.”

“And my birthday’s after Christmas anyway,” Evie said.

“Yes,” Natalie said, not understanding. “I know.”

“Gifts are at Christmas too.”

“Yes.”

“So just let me get the rest of this year out the way, and then we can fight about gifts all December.”

“We won’t fight.”

Evie looked at her. “We are now.”

“We’re not fighting.”

“We will if you don’t stop. So stop.”

Natalie shrugged, and smiled, and kept rubbing, and couldn’t decide how serious the whole conversation had been.