Tony enjoyed cooking, much to her delight, since to her it was already a great accomplishment if she didn't burn her toast. He had introduced to her a new delicious Mexican dish last night, his own variation of a recipe that his grandma' used to make, some sort of meatballs mixed with some zucchini and some kind of salsa, she couldn't remember the name of that for her life, even though Tony had had a great time trying to get her to pronounce the name of the dish before bursting out in laughter and finally giving up.
"I'm hopeless with languages, Tony.", she had said, biting her lip, remembering her struggle in highschool to pick up the little bit of German that that teacher, Herr Hartmann, was trying to make her acquainted with. She would always ace subjects like computing or history, even literature, but when it came to learning a foreign language, her brain usually simply went on strike.
"You are, huh?", Tony had said mockingly. After fifteen minutes of trying to get her to pronounce words like albóndigas and calabacitas, even his truely Spanish heart had given up trying. "I kinda gathered that.", he giggled.
Michelle had grabbed a napkin from the table and threw it at him, laughing. "You're one huge burrito, you know that!"
"Hey, that was real Spanish of ya.", Tony had chuckled.
"Ooh, I'll get ya for that!", she had yelled through laughter, got up from the table and ran towards him and he had caught her, taking her in his arms and kissing her forehead. "You're my chiquita, burrito or not.", he'd whispered and she'd stayed in his embrace, leaning into him.
"Michelle...", she heard Tony say and woke up from her reverie. She looked at him, her eyes laughing and it elicited a bright smile from him. "Two pennies for your thoughts right now.", he said.
"Ah, nothing, I was just thinking about last night and what a talented language-learner I am." I was also thinking about what an awesome guy you are but I'm not gonna prop up your ego too much.
Tony grinned. "Yeah, you sure are." He stood up, moving behind her chair, and placing his hands on her shoulders, he kissed the top of her head. "Come on, let's take a walk. The weather's so beautiful."
"Alright.", she agreed. "But I need to change.", she said.
"Sure, take your time.", he agreed and let go of her. Even though I see nothing wrong with what you're wearing just now, he thought, but he had learned that their views on her clothes sometimes differed and that it was better to let go, unless he wanted to spend the afternoon indoors, which he didn't.
She walked to the bedroom and opened a closet. He sat on the bed, watching her, silently placing a bet in his mind on how long it would take her this time to choose what to wear. But he enjoyed looking at her while she carefully removed a pair of denims out of the closet, along with a short pale blue skirt and a long flowery dress and stood, examining them closely. "Mhhmm, what should I wear?", she uttered, mainly to herself.
"Whatever you wear, honey, it'll be fine, you'll look great.", he said sincerely.
"Oh, Tony, now you're teasing me.", she said, turning around to face him.
"Nah, I'm not. I love all your clothes.", he protested.
"But I don't even have all of them here. They're at my place", she said, deliberately making her voice sound whiny.
"Well", he said, approaching her and placing his hands on her waist. "Guess we're gonna have to change that sometime.", Sometime soon, he added in his mind, kissing her neck. "Look, these denims look hotter on you than I've ever seen a pair of denims look on a girl before.", he whispered to her, swaying from side to side with her in his arms.
"Oh, so you've looked at other girls? Shame on you", she teased him, turning her head to the side to look up at him.
"Did I say that?", he exclaimed, putting on an innocent face. "I meant they're the hottest jeans ever. Period."
"Fine, I'll put them on.", she said and he watched her undress and slip into them with ease. She chose a tight pale pink top and put it on, completing the look with a thin black jacket. "How does it look?", she questioned.
"Just perfect.", he answered honestly.
"OK then, let's go."
They left the apartment holding hands and the streets of LA awaited them with the usual busyness, the usual sounds and odors of a Sunday afternoon. The traffic was a little less congested and the streets slightly less crowded, since the masses of people flocked to the malls or headed out of the city for an afternoon in the green. The sunlight reflected in the windows, the building tops shining in a bright light as if the sun itself had landed on them. It was early spring, and nature was awakening, not that they would notice much of that downtown with all the concrete surrounding them, but luckily, there were places in the city where they could escape the crowds and the loudness and the smells and look at birds and flowers instead.
Tony placed his hand around Michelle's waist, pulling her closer to him. She raised her head, looking at him, a bright smile on her face. "Where're we going?", she asked.
Doesn't matter to me. As long as I'm with you, Tony thought. "I was thinking, Echo Park.", he replied.
"Sounds good.", Michelle agreed.
They passed a bridal shop and Michelle couldn't help but glance at the white dresses in the window, imagining herself in one of them, walking down the aisle with Tony. She was so certain that he would be the one, no matter what Meg or anyone said. Tony caught her eye as they left the shop behind them. Her eyes were an open book to him by now. She felt it and bashfully looked away, but she couldn't pretend she was sorry that he saw her staring at that window. She couldn't pretend she was sorry that she stared at that window. And she didn't want to either.
While they rounded a corner, a man inadvertedly bumped into them, snapping them out of their thoughts. He apologized briefly, but the Marine in Tony woke up instantly, his mood switching to alert within a split second. He held Michelle tightly, watching the mirror image of the man in a window of a shop ahead of them. They kept on walking slowly, Tony taking care Michelle didn't notice his tension. As the man disappeared in the crowd and nothing happened, Tony relaxed again and smiled. You gotta stop doing this, Almeida. Relax. Not like a terrorist's waiting behind any given corner, he ordered himself.
"Hey, whaddaya think we grab a little something at Pedro's store, maybe have a picnic at the lake?", he asked Michelle, as he gestured towards a small grocery store across the street, Pedro's Delicatessen.
"Sure why not. We could get a beer or something. I'm in the mood for one."
"Alright.", he nodded and they joined a group by a pedestrian crossing, waiting for a green light. He stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, she moved a hand to his right arm, caressing it. The light turned to green and they crossed over to the other side, and entered the store.
"Pedro?", Tony called as they walked in.
"Antonio!", a tiny, elderly Mexican wiped his hands on his apron and walked towards them, laughing. "Always good to see you, my friend." He and Tony hugged briefly, tapping eachother on their backs. Michelle stood next to Tony, knowing she was next in line for a hug. And so it happened. Pedro took a step towards her, "Michelle, haven't seen you in a while.", he said, giving her that hug.
"Hi Pedro.", she replied. "How's the store going?"
"Fine, just fine. Come in, what do you need?", he asked.
"Well, we were on our way to Echo Park and thought we could have a picknick or something, figured we'd grab a coupla beers, some crackers and such.", Tony replied.
"Sure, sure, just get whatever you need."
"I'll go get something", Michelle said and walked towards the aisles, examining their contents, while Tony stayed behind with Pedro.
"So how's your Mom, Antonio?", Pedro said, lowering his voice.
Tony ran a hand across his face, sighing, his expression suddenly thoughtful and sad. "Uhm... let's just say, she's been better. The doctors say she could recover but it would take time. Months, not weeks.", he added, his eyes finding a dark spot on the floor, staring at it absently for a few seconds.
Pedro softly gripped Tony's shoulder. "No lo comprendo, Tony. Lo lamento.", he said sincerely.
"Sì, Pedro. Yo también.", Tony whispered, sighing heavily. He glanced across the store to Michelle. She had picked a few things and carried them in her arms. He took Pedro aside, looking him in the eye. "Look, Pedro, I dunno how long Mom has. They did say chances are she could recover, but to me, that's just percentages. All I wanted all my life was for her to be happy and now this isn't making it easier on her. She worked so hard all her life to raise me and my brothers. When Alicia died, you know my Mom hardly kept from having a breakdown."
"Yes, I remember your sister. That was so unfair. I can't believe they still haven't caught the drunkard who crashed into her car... How long ago was that?"
"Ten years.", Tony said, nodding. "Actually, the day Mom had the stroke was the 10th anniversary of Alicia's death."
Pedro just closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head in disbelief. Time passed so fast and bad luck was always haunting the best of the people.
"Uhh... Look, Pedro. I wanna make her happy while she can live to enjoy it. I've got something planned, but I'm gonna need your help if you're up to it. And Michelle can't know.", Tony whispered.
"What do you need?", Pedro answered, suddenly starry-eyed, the old prankster in him waking up. He was always up for secret surprise missions, and Tony had known that.
Suddenly, the door to the store opened and a masked man burst in, drawing a handgun and pointing it at Tony and Pedro. "DON'T MOVE! You know what this is! Get the cash, Spic, and I might let you live!", he yelled at Pedro.
As the door burst open, Tony protectively moved infront of Pedro, slowly raising his hands, glaring at the man with the gun. Pedro took one step back towards the counter. Michelle, barely managing to surpress a yell, silently backed off, hiding behind a shelf. Just don't drop these beer cans, she told herself.