Unshop
Life with Elle had become comfortable, in a sense. They left at the same time every day, Emily to work and Elle to whatever chore she had, or doctor's appointment. They would met back at Emily's later, though usually by then Elle had had her fill of soap operas out of sheer boredom.
"I'm bored," Ell informed her two weeks later. "Let's go shopping."
Emily blinked back surprise. Elle had told of a hatred for any kind of purchasing trip, mainly because they only places her mother could afford were consignment stores and Wal-Mart.
"Okay," Emily agreed.
Laughing, Elle added, "And we'll unshop too."
"Huh?" Not very ladylike a response.
"You've never unshopped?"
"Sweetie, I've never even heard of it."
Elle snuggled into the couch where they were sitting. "You go to a high-end store. It can be food, clothes, power tools. Whatever. You shop and act all serious about it. Then you decide you don't want the stuff-and points if you have an employee help you find it in the first place-and unshop it all."
"Put it back?" Emily guessed.
"It's extra-fun at jewelry stores and perfume shops where they have to get it all out for you."
Emily cracked up. "Elle, that is nothing short of the pure genius of supreme evil."
"To the mall?"
"To the mall."
. . . . . . . . . . .
They hit Macy's, a boutique, and a makeup store before Elle reached out and snagged Emily's arm, a grin of pure delight on her face. "There."
Emily followed her extended finger. A jeweler's. And grinned back.
They stopped at the gold chains first.
"That would look awesome on you, corazon," Elle told her. They agreed to let their couple status out to throw everyone off even more.
Instantly they had a salesgirl. "Would you like to look at something?"
Elle nodded and tapped the glass.
An hour later they had a sizable pile of jewelry. And it was hardest to unshop, because there was some good stuff in there.
"We can't take all of it," Emily reminded her. Elle nodded.
"But we could buy some. We've been good," and Elle's wolfish grin reminded Emily they had different definitions of the word 'good'.
"This for you," Elle picked up the initial necklace she had spotted, a filigree chain, and a charm. It was a rose, and both were gold.
Emily's hand went into the pile and came up with something that seemed to be pure Elle: a diamond bracelet with a letter E worked into it.
Elle nodded.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Back at Emily's apartment, they uncorked a bottle of wine her mother had sent and admired their new presents to themselves. And Elle kneaded out the kinks that were in Emily's neck from bending over a computer screen for eight hours.