“So what do you want for your birthday then?”  David was getting exasperated at not being able to come up with something Rose might like.

“Oh, a bit of bling might be nice,” she smiled, thinking of how a nice diamond would look on her left hand.  They had been an item for some months now, and though he wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, he was kind and loving, and treated her better than any man had treated her before.  Yes, it was about time they made a commitment, and Leap Year was a long way off, so he had to do the popping of any questions that needed asking.

“Bling?” he thought blankly.  “What the hell is bling?”  But he had his pride, and wasn’t about to ask Rose what she meant.  No, he’d ask Dean, his older cousin.  He’d never let David down, and he’d put him straight.

“Whaddyer mean, bling?  Are you sure that’s what she wants?” asked Dean later that night after David had seen Rose to her front door.  He’d gone straight round to Dean’s place and knocked until he’d got him out of bed.

“Yes, bling.”

“There’s no such word as bling.  You must have heard her wrong.”

“No, she definitely said she wants bling,” protested David.

Dean darted into the lounge room and brought back his mother’s large dictionary.  Fumbling through the pages, he found the B’s, and showed the page to David.  “See, it goes straight from blind to blink.  She couldn’t have asked for blind, as it sounds different, so she had to have said blink.”

David started to feel panic boiling up inside him, and his old friends the butterflies were laying on a full production of Riverdance in his stomach.

“But what does it mean?  I can’t ask her or she’ll think I’m stupid, and I’ll never get her to marry me then.”

Dean had always managed to hide his disdain for David’s lack of sizzling intellect, and though he knew damn well what Rose meant, he wasn’t about to let David off the hook for waking him in the middle of the night to ask stupid questions.

He rubbed his chin as if deep in thought, while he hummed and hah-ed for a while.  “Got it!” he exclaimed suddenly.  “Rose must have meant that episode of Doctor Who.  Blink it was called, and the weeping angels looked like statues until you looked away or blinked, then they turned into psychopathic killers.  Remember the Doctor kept on saying, “Don’t blink.  Whatever you do, don’t look away and don’t blink.”

“But Rose has never mentioned Doctor Who.  I don’t even know if she likes the programme.  She’s never mentioned it.  Surely if she liked the programme she’d have mentioned it in conversation.”  He knew he was beginning to repeat himself, but by now he was so deep in panic, he didn’t care.

“Lots of people don’t like to admit they watch Doctor Who because it’s a kids’ show.  It’s like admitting you like Abba!”  Dean was getting into his stride now.  “Look, tell you what.  You borrow the DVD from the video library down the road, bring it round here and I’ll burn a copy of it on my computer, then you can give her it on her birthday.”

David ignored the slight feeling of unease that was trying to tell him something was wrong, but he trusted Dean, and let’s face it, he was a lot smarter than David, so he must be right.

“Thanks, a lot cousin,” he grinned.  “I’ll do it in the morning.”

“Goodnight then, now can I get back to bed?” and Dean closed the door.  After waiting until David was out of earshot he broke into hysterical laughter.  What a Wally!  He knew for a fact that Rose was terrified of Doctor Who and the Daleks, and couldn’t stand science fiction at all.  She’d probably hit David over the head with the DVD, and that would be it.  Dean would do the comforting old friend act, and he and Rose would be together before you could say TARDIS!