Milk and Cigarettes

Chapter 29

I remember we went to Wal-Mart afterwards. I had warmed up enough to get back into my clothes and we decided to go buy a new pack of cigarettes with our remaining money.

"When we get back to the motel, I'm just going to lay in bed for the rest of the day." I said as we walked across the parking lot, hand in hand.

"Yeah? You got room for me to join in with ya, pretty lady?" Leo joked.

I shook my head and stuck my tongue out and Leo took his hand and scuffed up my hair into a mess.

I remember the overwhelming feeling of fear taking over my body as we entered the store. My skin was covered in goosebumps, my heart shriveled up, a lump was stuck in my throat.

As we entered Wal-Mart, there was a massive bulletin board to the right of us. On the board was a scattered array of missing persons posters. My face was printed onto one.

"Wendy..." Leo spoke in shock.

I covered my face and buried myself into his chest as his arms wrapped around me, the sound of squeaky shopping carts surrounding us.

"What do I do?" I asked softly, as my voice was having trouble producing much sound. "I- I can't...how do I...oh my god.." I pushed myself out of Leo's arms and walked towards the board.

Name: Wendy Meyers
Age: 17
Sex: F
Last Seen: Spokane, Arizona
IF FOUND PLEASE CALL:555-397-1023

At the top of the page was a large picture of me from the school yearbook of last year. I broke down in tears as I saw the bottom, a small photo of Leo was there with the caption: Believed to have been with 19 year old Leonardo DiCaprio at the time of disappearance.

I turned to Leo and wiped my eyes. His eyebrows burrowed down into a fury. He ripped the paper off the wall, crumbling it up and tossing it into a trash can. "Don't worry, Wendy." Leo placed his palms around each of my shoulders. "They won't find us, they can't." I tried to breathe through my tears and stop myself from having a mental breakdown. I didn't want to be found. I didn't want the life I had when I was in Spokane. All I wanted was for it to be me and Leo forever. And that's still all I want. "You'll be 18 soon. You'll be an adult, nobody will keep searching then. Look, we can change our hair if you want to." He smirked as he spoke the last sentence, which made me smile. "Get matching tattoos or something?" I giggled and he took his hand to tilt my chin up and lay a kiss.

"Well," I sniffled as my tears vanished and I began to calm down. "I don't know about changing our hair, but we could look good with matching tattoos." I winked.

"Noted." Leo smiled as he hooked his arm around me and we walked through the store. "That will be our first purchase after our street singing paycheck."

•

After we bought the cigarettes, we went back to the motel. I laid against Leo's chest as he flipped through channels on the TV. He stopped it on The Simpsons and I could hear his laugh rumble and vibrate through his chest every time Bart made a joke. I fell asleep to that sound so easily.

I woke up maybe an hour later as the sun was beginning to set. Leo had fallen asleep while the TV was still on and playing an episode of Full House. I got up, rinsed my face, and looked over our list of songs written on a napkin that was left on the desk. Lightly, I began humming and then singing through them, trying to practice before we went on the street the next day. After a bit, I heard Leo's sleepy voice break through,

"You sound beautiful, babe." I smiled and looked over at him as he laid on his side and watched me. "I can't wait to go out and sing tomorrow with you."

His eyes looked heavy with sleep and his voice was tired and groggy. The white T-shirt he wore was wrinkled and scrunched up towards the bottom, slightly showing his stomach. A weak smile laid upon his face and this is how I always remember him.

"I love you." I said.

"I love you more." Leo stood up, lazily walked to me, and ran his fingers through my hair. "Wendy, darling, light of my life." I could hear the smirk in his voice and he bent over to kiss my head, chuckling. I looked up and wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. He held my waist close to him and lifted me out of my chair, walking backwards as my feet dangled and our mouths still connected. Leo sat down on the bed and put me on his lap as we continued to kiss until both of our eyes grew heavy and the sleep spell took over us as we laid down, again, my head on his chest and an episode of 'I Love Lucy' echoed in our resting ears.