Lou and I

Chapter 12

Life with Lou is lovely. We usually spent the night at my place and sleep till noon. But before we get up, Lou would always whine "it's too early honey." and she would bury her head in my chest. It takes about half an hour before she can totally awake. Then we will have breakfast together. Sometime I'll cook and sometime we go out and eat. If we got nothing important to do, we would go to Lou's place after she gets her newspaper. We would sit on the couch, while she reads her newspaper and I watch TV. Occasionally, she will make some comments on some medical stuff, like the brain surgery. Later the night, Lou will drive us to work and then she will head up stair and monitoring the girls; make sure they have the correct amount of water pour down. Around 12 am, Lou would call me up and we will have dinner in her office. If there are lot of customers that night. She would come down stair with food and share with me.

"you wanna go shopping today?" I ask Lou. "shop what?" she stands next to me as I wash the dishes. 

"groceries." I hand her a plate and she dry it for me. 

"sure. It been quite some time since I went for groceries." I pass the plates. 

"too many takeout are not good for you, blondie." She put the plates into the cabinet. 

"that's not what you said when we drive thru McDonald's."

"ha. yeh. That's probably the coolest thing I ever done." I then add. "two people on a bike wearing black leather jackets. I felt so gangster." 

Lou burst out into laughs. "that's the coolest?" she continues laughing "we need to do something that's better than that." 

She walks away and put her blazer on. "like what?" I ask as I grab my keys. 

"like ... shoplift." she puts on her sunglasses. "that's a crime." 

We head toward the door. "have you tried?" 

"no." I pause. "well, I stole a pencil when I was a kid." Lou chuckles. "a pencil... come on, let's go shoplift." 

"wait, are you serious?" I put my shoes on. 

"yes."

We go to the Manhattan Mall and start wandering around. "you've something you want?" I look up to Lou. "I'll get it for you." She said with a smirk. 

"are we really going to do this?" I'm very concern right now. 

"don't worry I won't get caught." I hold her arm tightly as waves of people pass by. 

"err what if you do." 

"I've never got caught before." 

"really?" I give her a skeptical look and I can see her hesitation. 

"well. A few times ... I was younger. But I'm more skilled now." she winks. 

"I still think it's a bad idea."

We walk into a store. I let go of her arm and we start wandering around. Soon, I have my eyes on a mug. It has a drawing of a cute teabag with smiley face on it. Next to it, it said 'you're my cup of tea'. 

I turn to Lou who is looking around. "what do you think? You like it?" 

She takes it and lower her sunglasses. "it's pink, honey..." 

"It's cute," I reply. "you use it, then" she gives it back to me. 

"hmm, I'll look for another one." I put it down and see her keeps looking around. "why are you looking around?" 

Lou turns to me immediately. "nothing." I raise an eye brow as she put on her sunglasses. "okay...?" 

"look, I prefer something blue or black." 

"mhm." I turn back to the shelf and keep looking. Then I see a mug with a drawing of a cute fish who pretends to be a shark. And below it, it said attitude. 'That's so Lou. I'm getting this for her.' I thought to myself. 

"you wanna buy anything else?" I ask Lou. 

"no, I'm good." 

"let's go then." I hold her arm and we head for checkout. "let me see my mug." she holds out her hand. "hmm. attitude?" 

"yeh. And that fish looks like you." 

"it does not." Lou hisses. 

"it does. It has a pout face which you do sometimes." I point at the mug. "Then he's pretending to be a shark. Which it's like you, when you pretends to be tough sometimes. But actually, you're tiny fish." Lou smile with all teeth. "you're tiny fish!" 

I giggle. "it's true, Lou." she tries to protest but I walk in front of her toward the cashier. "let's head to the supermarket?" I said as I put my wallet back into my bag. 

"sure."

"Here." Lou takes out a small package from her pocket. 

"what's that?" I take it and open it. 

"perfume, I thought you might like it." I smile as we keep walking. I spray a little in the air. "It smells good, Lou. Thanks!" I then put it along with the mug. "When did you buy this?" I can see her smirking again. 

"the store." Lou point at the store we were just in. 

And then I realize! "what... when did you take it? We were together the whole time." I try to lower my voice. 

"that makes it easy." Lou is so proud of herself. I'm speechless right now. "Look, I'm just glad you like it." 

She takes the bag that holds the mug and perfume. "Here, I'll take that and you can take my hand." I chuckle as we keep walking. 

"did I just become a criminal too." 

"yep, you're my partner in crime now." She said proudly. 

"I prefer just partners." Lou hisses. "Honey, you're so boring sometimes." 

we walk out of the mall and head toward a nearby market. "I'm not boring. I'm just not a criminal." and I continue, "and you're just lucky you didn't get caught today." 

"are you despising me?" she questions. 

"No. If that's what you like to do, I won't ask you to change. But I just want to express my concern." I look at her. "hmm." Lou just nods.

We walk across the street and go into the market. We got some snack, beers for Lou and some other groceries. We start to walk back home. "hold on," Lou goes toward the newspaper stand and buy a pack of cigarettes. 'maybe I should stop her from smoking, it's not good for her.' I hold one of her groceries bags while she lit her cigarette. "Let's go." she takes the bag back and I follow her. 'Maybe later.'

We get back to my apartment and I tell Lou to put everything in the fridge. "I'm gonna take a shower now." I have to get ready for the night. She hugs me as I start taking off my clothes. "you smell like cigarettes, Lou." I try to push her off. 

"oh, come on, give me a kiss." she whines. "fine." I kiss her lips lightly and pull away. 

"emm..." I look at a confused Lou. 

"what?" I ask. 

"you really don't like it when I smoke, huh?" 

"I thought I told you." I head toward the bathroom. 

"emm. I thought you were kidding." 

I just give her a smile "It's fine, Lou." and I close the door. I don't want her to change for me. If she like what she's doing, then I'll respect that.