Miriam was in her car driving to the store. It had been a regular week of the usual: work, worrying about future bills, dealing with her family. It was chilly and she was running out of soup and other things. She reached the store after being cut off several times to the point she flipped off someone in a Hummer. Miriam grabbed her list and headed for the carts. She had gotten most of the stuff on the list when she passed by the isle of magazines. She was on her way through the isle when she saw a teen magazine with the band Big Time Rush on there. Her eyes rolled as soon as she saw that goofy grin of Carlos. She thought she was free of him after getting coffee. She haven't told anyone that she met with Carlos because people would assume she cared. With another eye-roll, Miriam continued her shopping. She was in the toiletries isle when she heard a familiar voice coming behind her.

"Miriam? Wow, small world." Carlos grinned, though he was shocked to see her.

"Really? Out of all the stores in Chicago, not to mention this city is really damn big, you show up here. Damn! Look, I was nice the first time...but, I'm about five seconds from calling the police!"

"I'm not stalking you. I came here to get a few things. Me and the guys were writing songs at the producer's studio. This store is close to where the studio is. I swear I didn't know you shopped here."

"You just expect me to believe that? There are hundreds, thousands of grocery stores in Chicago and you choose this one."

"Honest."

"For someone who's wanting a conquest, you are pretty damn persistent."

"Why do you think all I want to do is get into your pants?"

"Let me see...you're a musician spending a short amount of time in a city. You have some issues with you being 'The Short One' in the band and you need me, someone who is shorter, to stroke your ego."

"Ouch. I would be hurt if all that was true. Are you sure you weren't a Psych major?" Carlos saw her throw an angry glare his direction. "Just let me get to know you. I kept thinking about you. I thought I was never going to see you again." Miriam couldn't lie. She also thought of Carlos. Not in a romantic way but in that way you randomly think of the person you met in passing.

"What do you want? Cuz I have a shopping to do."

"You want to shop together? I only have to get a few things." Miriam hadn't noticed his incognito look of wearing shades and a skullcap. If it wasn't for his goofy grin, she would think he was just some guy.

"If it gets your rocks off...fine." she once again saw the goofy glint in his eyes. She pushed her cart and they walked together. Carlos texted the guys and told them he was walking for a bit. "Why are you so interested in me. I'm just a waitress at a blues club. I'm not an actress or some reality star. Hell, I don't even make half of what ex-reality stars make. I'm just me."

"I don't know. I guess because you were the first person to not go after me because I'm a famous person. You treated me like everyone else. If it was someone else, they would see me and immediately apologize for yelling at me. You just kept yelling at me."

"You think? I get forced to drag my bratty cousin to your signing event. Get ear-raped by her crap taste in music, and with the added bonus of hearing hundreds of screaming tweens, which gave me a fucking migraine by the way. And for your information, if you wasn't being a bitch about a little bit of cigarette smoke, I wouldn't notice you."

"That's why I like you. You are the perfect person to hang with. You don't put up with any of my bullshit."

"Obviously, I do. Any other person would've been cursed out a long time ago." this made Carlos beam with pride. Miriam saw this and rolled her eyes. "It wasn't a compliment. You still annoy me."

"Fine. I guess I can be a little annoying. Don't say anything." Carlos could see her wanting to respond. There was an awkward silence between them. Miriam wanted nothing but for Carlos to leave her alone, yet a part of her, a microscopic part of her, wanted to hang out with Carlos. She hated to admit that besides his annoying behavior, she found him somewhat cute. "So, are you working tonight at Gin Alley?"

"I have the night off. Why?" she looked at skeptically. Surely he wasn't going to say what she thought he was going to say.

"Nothing."

"If you got something to say, say it!"

"I was wondering if I could chill with you? You're just really interesting and new."

"You make me sound like a shiny toy..."

"Sorry."

"I'll tell you what. You can come by apartment and help me clean."

"How can I hang out when we're cleaning?"

"We can talk and clean at the same time...or is that hard for you?"

"Ha-ha."

Miriam pushed the cart at the checkout line. Maybe Carlos was growing on her. She spent all this time without yelling at him. It's a new record for her. Something about Carlos is intriguing and off-putting at the same time. He makes her want to vomit, yet he's so nice she can't get mad at him for too long. Miriam groceries totaled over her budget and was about to put some things back when Carlos offered to pay for them. She refused but conceded once she saw she was holding up the line.

Miriam gave Carlos a ride to her apartment. She was silent the whole drive. Carlos could tell she was angry. He hoped him offering to pay for the groceries didn't make her change her mind about hanging with him. The last thing Miriam wanted was to look like a gold-digger. She was an independent woman who worked hard to pay for things. Miriam stopped and she parked in the apartment parking lot. Carlos could see it was an average apartment with seven floors.

"This is my place..."

"Are you mad about the groceries thing? You sound mad."

"I'm not a charity case. I don't need any handouts!"

"I wasn't treating you like a charity case. Think of it as a loan. You can pay me back." she looked at him as if he was crazy. "I'm serious."

"Okay...seems fair." they got out of the car, grabbed her groceries, and entered the building. Miriam told Carlos she was on the fifth floor. They took the elevator to her floor and she held bags in one hand and her keys in the other.

"Wow...this place is great." Carlos mouth dropped open how well-decorated her apartment was. It was small, but Miriam managed to fill the place with photos and art. "Your living room is so cute...so tiny..."

"It's not much but it's the only thing I could afford. Unlike you, I'm not a Hollywood celebrity."

"How many times do I have to tell I'm not like that."

"Fine. Let me put on some music. It helps me get motivated to clean." Miriam walked to her laptop and played an internet radio station. "Hope you don't mind African music. If you do, too bad."

"It's fine. This is your place."

Carlos never ceases to be amazed with Miriam. She's like no woman he's ever encountered. He felt like he was a regular guy, though he felt that way before. He would change her mind about people from Hollywood. Originally, he was just some guy from Minnesota, now he's a megastar in a band. Miriam walked to her kitchen, grabbed two beers, and handed one to Carlos. He was so curious about her. Before starting, Miriam put her massive afro in a puff. Carlos helped her move the ottoman from the middle of the floor along with the rug.

Miriam walked to a closet and brought out a vacuum cleaner. Carlos hoped the vacuum cleaner wasn't so loud that she couldn't hear him. She turned it on and it was only slightly noisy. As Miriam turned the vacuum off to move her plants and chairs. Carlos asked more about her. Miriam told Carlos bit and pieces of her childhood growing up in Chicago. In turn, Carlos told her about his life in Minnesota. She vacuumed her carpet making Carlos go into the hallway which had wooden floors.

"Do you mind putting my movies in alphabetical order?"

"You really do that?"

"Yeah, it's kinda my thing. Got a problem with that?" she glared at him.

"No." she chuckled as she grabbed a towel and window cleaner. Carlos couldn't stop himself from looking at her as she cleaned the window. The way the light hit her afro resembled a halo. Carlos returned to the task before him. It was a risk staring at her like that, and he knew if he was caught, Miriam would murder him. He pulled out some DVDs that were out of order. Many of the movies he's never heard of. He paused when he saw 'Friday' in her collection. "You own 'Friday'? I thought you only watched weird, artsy movies. Whoa, you have 'Beauty and the Beast'?"

"I never said those are the only movies I watch. I figured if I said I only watched those types of movies I would scare you off. Apparently, it didn't work."

"I have a question. Can I borrow a movie? I really never watched a silent movie before, and I kinda wanna see what's the deal with them."

"Hmm...let me see." Miriam walked over and scanned the choices of movies. "Here. This one is called 'Nosferatu'...I think this should be a good starter. It's about a vampire...puts those pussy Twilight movies to shame. Just make sure you return it to me before you skip town. If you don't, I know where you live."

"Thanks. I guess I should be going. I had a nice time though we spent it cleaning."

"You're welcome." she beamed a teasing smile. Carlos never really seen her smile. She spent the majority of time they spent together either glaring and rolling her eyes. She had a beautiful smile. Carlos stared at her short stature wanting more to be in the sort of friend-zone. He wanted to ask her out.