To Do List

"Mama, can I borrow your car!" I screamed from under a cocoon of blankets. Shouting just doesn't do it when there is a pile of stuff on you, how else can you get yourself heard?

It was a Monday and I was lounging about for most of the morning when around 10 am, my leg kicked free from the cocoon and something that felt like a phantom dog was licking my foot which was hanging out of the bed.

I could hear sounds of various furniture being shoved out of the way as my mother rushed to get to my room and felt guilty. I really should stop being a lazy ass and walk out to talk to her instead of making her run around the house.

"What? WHAT?" She scrambled to get a pillow off of my face and stuck her hand onto my forehead.

"I just want to go to a pet shop. See the dogs and parakeets, how they're doing…." I trailed off lamely.

My mother looked putout. "But you don't like animals."

I stared at her owlishly and jumped up from the bed. "I do! I do! Remember that goldfish you got me one day? I took care of it."

"Yes and it died a week later." She raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Well I didn't mean that to happen." I said and tried to remember the said goldfish's death. "We had fun while it lasted."

She started fussing with my books which were still in various stages of being unpacked with a frown on her face. "Do you even know where the pet shop is in this place?"

I sighed. Before I got into remission in my previous illness, my parents almost always forbade me to go off on my own. They always got worried that I'd just keel over on a sidewalk with no one to help me. I'm pretty sure every time I ask permission to go out this is the scene they envision.

"Ma, I'll be fine. Look I'll call you as soon as I feel sick or anything." I batted my eyelashes at her. "Please? I can't just stay here all the time while I wait this out." I gestured to my body and gave her The Pleading Look, guaranteed to work 99.9% of the time.

"Fine but you call me as soon as you get there!" She said and ruffled my hair as she walked out of my room.

"Thanks mama!" I called out as I closed the door of my bathroom.

20 minutes later, I was back the car out of the garage as my mother stood by the front door all the while yelling things like "Don't go too fast!" and "Call me when you're in the shop and not before! Do not use your phone while driving!"

I rolled my eyes good naturedly and waved at her as I sped past.

15 minutes later I was at the mall which I figured was the place where there would surely be a pet shop complete with adorable dogs and those maggot things they keep around for god knows what.

I walked around aimlessly, hoping to catch sight of anything to interest me when I saw a group of people around my age hanging around a few benches and tried to look as innocent as possible.

I've had this issue with kids my own age since I was in kindergarten where a classmate locked me inside the CR. I've been scarred ever since and I've never looked at a group of people the same way ever again.

I suppose there is a part of me that still thinks that people my own age will always be the immature kids they were in kindergarten and start torturing me for no other reason than being bored. Okay, well maybe suppose is not the appropriate word to use. I actually think this is true, I don't just 'suppose'.

I whipped out my phone and pretended to text and after a few seconds, turned on my heel to head the opposite way. Ah yes, I did the whip-out-your-phone maneuver and yes, I think it's better to be safe than sorry and no, I am not being cowardly.

My move however turned out to be a good thing because lo and behold! The pet shop!

I clapped my hands gleefully and pressed my face onto the window at the puppies gamboling around in a penned off area.

"Ahem." For someone trying clearing their throat, that sounded strangely like this person was trying to get my attention.

"Ahem!" I rolled my eyes. This could be the owner of the shop for all I know but really, how could staring at puppies be bad? I'm not doing anything wrong, well maybe except leaning on the glass but that happens and by god, no one is going to steal this from me.

"You could go inside you know." An amused voice came from my right.

I shrieked.

My puppies momentarily stopped rolling around and swiveled to look at me.

"Jesus! Don't ever do that again!" I clutched at my chest and glared at Brody who was looking far too amused and not contrite as he should be.

He laughed. "Wasn't my fault you're twitchy."

"Twitchy? I am not!" I retorted indignantly.

He took a step towards me and considering how close we were already was kinda off-putting and then proceeded to do what I never considered him doing to me. He raised his hand to my face and made soft sweeping motions with his thumb ever so slowly.

Suffice to say that I jumped about a foot.

He only laughed out loud at my reaction and I frowned in defeat.

"Laugh some more why don't you." I muttered, all the while rubbing my hand over the part of my face that he touched.

"I'm sorry" I took note with a sigh that he didn't look particularly sorry to me. "I was proving a point and I wanted to touch you."

I spluttered and would have dropped my tongue if it weren't attached as firmly as it is. "Pardon?" I managed at last.

"I wanted to touch you." He frowned at my expression of consternation. "What's so bad about that?"

"You can't just go around touching people because you want to!" I said and wondered if there is a law against this sort of thing.

He rolled his eyes at me like what he just did and said wasn't the weird at all. Like I was actually the one sprouting nonsense. At this point my brain was thinking of conceding to defeat and let the whole thing go.

"Yeah, you know what? Go ahead and poke all you want, molest someone, see if I care but when they sue you or sic the police on you don't come crying to me." I huffed.

"And then when I get imprisoned you can come visit me and tell me I told you so. How about that?" He smiled at me and I could feel my irritation ebb away.

All of a sudden, I was smiling right back and to hell with what he might think of me now, annoyed one second and happy as a bee with honey the next. "So," I snapped myself back to reality. "What are you doing here?"

All of a sudden he was fidgety as he stood there, one hand going up to muss his hair as a preoccupied look came over his face.

"I…. uh…. I was…. going to buy dog food!"

"Really?" I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him. "What's your dog's breed?"

"Sorry, er, what?" He looked sheepishly at me.

I giggled.

For the love of god and all that's holy, I giggled. It was such a girly thing to do that I could just barely stop my hand from smacking my forehead. In my defense, I couldn't help it. He just looked so clueless and adorable and so boyish at that moment that I couldn't help but emit that characteristically feminine sound.

His face relaxed back into a smile as he looked at me covering my mouth with horror.

"You want to know the truth?" He asked with a laugh as his hand messed up his hair some more. "I don't even have a dog and I was this close to buying dog food."

By then, I had clamped my mouth shut with sheer will power.

Ah hell, I thought as I threw caution to the winds, this situation is just too weird to not smile at. My mouth stretched into a smile that I'm pretty sure was visible from space.

Go ahead dear, show everyone how happy you are.

"Glad you're happy." He looked slightly embarrassed.

My insides were practically doing the Macarena at this point. "Aww, did I hurt the poor baby's feelings?" He was turning a very interesting shade of red even before I reached up and pinched both his cheeks.

"Hey" He grinned down at me. "Don't touch the merchandise."

"As if!" I stood back to the balls of my feet….. and went right back to my original height which just about reached his shoulder. "You're too damn adorable not to embarrass. I should have done this before…" I muttered to myself as I glared suddenly and smacked his stomach.

"Stop it!" I hissed.

"Stop what?"

I closed my eyes and counted to ten. Okay, there, slightly less adorable looking but now going over to the handsome look-at-me-I-am-perfect-and-also-adorable side.

"Ooookaaaaay?" He bent down slightly and peered into my face. When he figured out I wasn't having a seizure, he grabbed my phone and started pressing some buttons.

"I have your number now okay?" He said as he bent down again and placed the phone back on my hand. I was too busy trying to 'acclimatize' myself to the newly found knowledge of his being handsome and adorable. Oh the injustice.

"I am going to call you, okay?" He patted my head. "Bye Anne." He said and laughed at my still spaced out expression and strode away.

As soon as I lost sight of him, I was snapped back into reality devoid of scheming European male models and nyan cats. See, handsome plus adorable.

That was when my phone started to vibrate and blare out Teddy Picker. Oh shit, I thought as I saw the word Mom flash across the screen.

I sighed as pressed the receive button. "Mama?" I said meekly.