This Shit Ain't a Fairy Tale

On the way to the mall Glenn asked if I would straighten my hair for him. He just wanted to see what it would look like, he said. Now mind you, I haven’t straightened my hair in some ten years. I think I have a curly personality. As we pulled into the mall parking lot he told me that he would even go to the appointment with me… since I’d be doing it for him. I smiled as I parked – in front of Macy’s, naturally - and promised to think about it. Holding hands (!!!) we approached the doors, Glenn pulling it open for me. Ever the gentleman.

We went straight for the cologne counter. A tall, thin man – with equally thin hair – approached us.

“Looking for something special,” he wanted to know.

Yum.

We shook hands with the clerk and moved toward our destination: sneakers. The mall was filled with back to school shoppers and we maneuvered through them, the best we could – him always holding my hand or with his arm around my shoulders.

I’ve never been to the mall with Miles.

He couldn’t find the shoes he wanted so we meandered our way back toward Macy’s.

“Oh,” I was excited, “They’re having a sale on lip gloss!”

I rummaged through the cups trying to decide which flavors I’d get this time. The sales clerk suggested the spearmint. I’d never had it before. Yum.

“Babe,” the term of endearment came easily, “This is amazing. Kiss me!”

So easy. So natural. So…

I picked the two lip glosses I wanted and in a fit of generosity decided to buy Glenn one, as well. But he didn’t get the gloss. He got the lip balm. He smiled when I gave it to him, but he grumbled, talking about all his life he had been fine with .99 cent chapstick and now he was going to have to buy $8 lip balm.

On our way out of the mall, he snickered as we walked past the Proactiv kiosk.

“What,” I wanted to know.

“That’s mean,” I told him, “And snicker if you want to, but we all have our faults – and if someone approaches me about losing weight, it’s going down.”

Because we hadn’t found his shoes, we decided to go to another mall.

But before we could do that we had to stop for something to drink. I was absolutely parched. We pulled over at a local convenience store. I wanted tea and he rummaged through the cooler, pulling out every kind of AriZona tea known to man before I settled on the black and white tea. For the record: dee-licious!

He went to get me a straw and I struck up a conversation with the clerk behind the counter… pretty much because I love to talk to strangers. It was actually one of the things that OM used to like most about me. Cause I will talk to anyone: bartender, sales clerk, gas attendant… I will introduce myself, stick out my hand to shake, strike up a conversation and before you know it, we’re laughing and they are telling old family secrets.

I asked this particular clerk where he was from.

“Guess,” he teased me.

“Egyptian,” Glenn said, walking up behind me, pulling dollars out of his wallet.

“I am,” the clerk beamed back at him.

“How did you know that,” I asked, very impressed.

“I know a lot of Egyptians.”

“I guess. Well I don’t know any Egyptians. You can be my first friend,” I stuck my hand out to shake.

He shook my hand vigorously, “Come back and see me, I will tell you stories about my country.”

We drank our teas in silence on our way to the other mall, pleased with ourselves and each other.

:::

We parked (again outside Macy’s!) and walked up to the entrance.

“You ready to go in,” he asked.

I looked at him curiously, “Uh… yeah.”

“No one is going to be mad at you because you go in here with me?”

“No one can say nothing to me. Are you scared?”

“She might be here, too,” he said, in thought, “She goes to this mall. And I think she has to finish up school shopping. But I don’t care.”

Lawd have mercy, I really hoped we didn’t see her. The last thing I wanted to do was whoop a granny’s ass in the mall.

:::

The trip was uneventful. He found his shoes, and somewhere between the shoe store and the car we decided that the next best course of action would be a nap. And so we went back to my place, turned on a college game and cuddled for a minute, trying to settle in for our nap.

Only… yeah… There was no napping.

Before we knew it, it was dinner time. I started to try to fix my hair – it had gotten somewhat… messy while we were napping. Because the weather was still so hot, for a minute, I pulled my hair back in my hand, like a ponytail. He went nuts. He loved it, said you could see my face, and how beautiful I am. And though I prefer my hair down and unruly, I did it for him.

We drove the streets to Roscoes. While we waited for our food, he held my hand across the table. Then told me to take a picture of it.

*sigh*

Later, I swung my short – but cute – leg up. I had left my flip flop on the floor and my toes nestled under his leg. Without breaking eye contact he reached down and began rubbing my leg.

Damn him.

We ate our dinners, not able to finish them because we were still full from breakfast. Then we went back to my place. I had to work the next morning but he was still on bereavement. I told him that I wanted him to stay with me until I fell asleep. I knew that he had no interest in getting up at 4:30 AM when I did – and I knew that he wasn’t comfortable staying in my bed after I left. But he was all for holding me for a bit.

He got in bed with me, and held me until I started nodding off.

We had been lying there for a little over an hour before I felt him slip out from under me. I was vaguely aware of him standing on my right, in front of my bedroom windows, in the breeze.

My eyes were still closed when I heard him speak:

“I think I will ride with you to the funeral…”

“Okay,” I answered, simply.

“Mia, come lock the door behind me.”

“No, I can’t get up. Just lock the bottom lock.”

Then he was gone.