Today, we stay at Lou's apartment. She has to move her bike indoor before the winter hits. "Pass me that wrench." Lou holds her hand out without looking at me. 

"here." I pass it to her and look back at my phone. "Pizza delivery takes forever." I whine. 

"I thought you just ordered it." She is crouching down and crack open something. Smells like gasoline. 

"Like 30 minutes ago, and It still said 'on its way'." I walk away from Lou and look for my wallet. 

"Then be patient, honey." she put down the wrench. "pass me a screwdriver. I think there's something struck inside." Lou holds her hand out for a moment, then turn toward where I was standing. "emm. Where you go?" 

"I'm looking for my wallet." 

"Just use mine." She stands up and look through her tools. 

"where it is?" I keep looking. 

"my pocket." she smirks. I go over to her as she holds her screwdriver. "Come on, touch me." Lou looks at me all smiling, and I basically give her pat down. 

"got it." I open her wallet and take the cash out. Then, I saw her ID. "It's that a real ID?" I ask when Lou couch back down to her bike. 

"yep." 

I laugh. "aw. You look so young, Louise." I tease, and I saw her birthday. It's next month. "How come you never told me your birthday?" I watch her as she pulls something disgusting out of her bike. 

"you never ask." I can see her covering her nose from the smell. 

"we should definitely celebrate." I tell her. 

"hmm. Not a big fan of birthdays." She stands up and throw away the gooey stuff. 

"you don't celebrate?" Lou comes back and do a final check of her bike. 

"not really. I mean I don't really care. It's just another day to remind myself how old I am." Lou starts putting away the tools in the toolbox. 

"what about when you're with Debbie?" She didn't look at me and continue her work. 

"we just went to some restaurants." 

"did she get you anything?" I look at her as she pauses. 

"... she got me a bracelet." 

"it's that silver one on your wrist?" 

"yep." She then look up at me. "But it's long time ago." I nod. "well. I'm still gonna get you something." Then there's a knock. "like what?" Lou asks. I walk toward the entrance and didn't answer her.

"Hi, Pizza delivery." a young guy stands in front of our door. "Thank you. Here." I pay him and take the pizza box. "It includes tips." I add before I close the door. "Thanks, miss." I can see his smile widen.

"Pizza's here!" I can hear my echoes. "I'll be right there." I put down the box and go over to Lou who is washing her hands. 

"so, what you gonna get for me?" I stare at her hands. "I don't know yet." 

She lifts up one arm and invite me in. I walk in front of her and starts wash my hands. Our hands intertwined. 

"I want to know." her voice is so deep. 

"I'll surprise you." she let go my hands and dry her owns. 

"I don't do surprises." she hands me the towel. 

"yeh sure. You don't do anything." I roll my eyes

"that's not true." she traps me between the sink and her body. "I do you." 

My smile widen. "shut up. Louise." I can see her proud smirk. Then we had lunch together. I starts to wonder, 'what should I get her.'

The next few weeks, I got some magazines and I will flips through them as I work. "Dry Martini." a guy walks up to me. "sure." I answer. He sits on Lou's chair waiting. "Here. Have a good night." I smile at him. "Thanks." he gestures a 'cheers' motion and left. 

"what are you looking at?" Kevin asks. 

"I'm trying to buy a birthday gift." I start washing the glass. "any suggestion?" 

I can see him thinking. "Ps4." I chuckle and shake my head "She's not you." 

"Then I don't know what she wants." he just walks away to the other side of the bar. I sigh. 'maybe I should get her a bracelet too... but then it not that special.'

"What you up to?" I look up and see a pair of blue eyes. 

"oh, you know. Stuff." Lou raise her eyebrows. 

"what kind of stuff." 

"some secret stuff." I can see her eye squinting. "should I be worry?" 

I laugh. "nope." She just nods in responds. 

I look at her hands. There are a lot of rings. Then on her wrist, there's the silver bracelet ... and a large gold one too. 

"hey, I'm thirsty." I panic a bit and look up to Lou. 

"oh, right." I completely forget about her drinks. "here." I pass it to her and I can see her face. 

"what are you looking at?" she asks. 

"nothing." she just stares at me with both of her arms on the counter. Then I see the necktie she is wearing. It's yellowish with strips on it. And there are the necklaces. 'hmm. So many of them.' I can't think of anything she is missing. I stay in my thoughts as I work. I didn't realize Lou kept staring at me this whole time till I look up. 

"what's wrong?" I ask. 

"what's wrong with you?" she replies. 

"I told you nothing." I look away and move toward the customers. I can see the skeptical look at Lou's eye.

One more week left.

I look around the bar and see what people are wearing. It's pretty much the same as Lou. Rings and necklaces. "Okay. I feel like you're ignoring me." Lou just sit there. 

"am I?" I ask. 

"yes!" she yelps. "why you buy so many magazines?" 

did she forget her birthday is coming up? I wonder. "I want to buy stuff." I try to be honest. 

"for who?" she is commanding for an answer. 

"someone special." I answer straight away. I can see Lou shifted in her sit and look at me with a very puzzling look. I just chuckle and look away. 

"oh, by the way. I'm gonna head out tomorrow." I tell her as I pass a plate of drinks. 

"where to?" Lou looks at me intensely. 

"to walk around... also groceries." 

"alone?" 

"mhm." then I add, "don't worry. I'll be back soon." I pat her hand.

Next day.

I goes to the mall and walk around, but I find nothing that catches my eyes. I then left and start wondering around Fifth Avenue, and I come along Cartier. 'It doesn't hurt to check.' I thought. 

"welcome, how I help you?" a very gentle voice. 

"emm, I'm looking for a birthday gift." 

"do you know what you want to get?" the lady asks. 

"Actually, no. I thought about necklaces and rings, but she already has a lot of them." 

She looks at me gently and say, "how about this?" she takes me to another counter. "it's timeless."

I widen my smile. "that's a good idea." I then add. "do you guys engrave?" she nods "of course, miss."

"Thanks for coming, enjoy your day." The door man politely said as I walk out of the door. I look across the street. I see someone who looks kind of like Lou. I look away at the signal lights then back to her, but she is gone. 'was that her?' I pull out my phone and try to call her. "one missed call. Eight unread texts."

Where are you?

Call me when you're done.

Don't forget my beer.

And gums.

and newspaper.

Okay, it's been hours. You done?

Where the hell are you?

:(

I immediately call Lou. "Finally! Jesus." she sounds frustrated. "where the hell are you?" she also sounds angry. 

"I told you I'm going to the grocery store." I try to reassure her as I walk. 

"it's been hours." 

"I know. Are you home?" I wonder if that was her standing there. 

"of course, I'm home." I keep walking and didn't realize there's a car coming my way. I panic as I look at the car coming towards me. Then someone grabs my arm hard and pull me back. 

"Jesus! Honey. Watch where you going!" I can feel my forehead sweating. 

"Lou! I ... what you are doing here? I thought you're ..." 

she interrupts me. "yeh. I lied." Lou nods her head as she looks away 

"why?" I look at her harshly. 

"cause I have to follow you." she just admits it casually. 

"why!?" I repeat with a louder voice. 

"you were hiding something, and I have to know what." she crosses her arms. 

I gasp. "you can't just follow me." I look at the green light and walk across the street. 

"err. Yeh I can." I roll my eyes. "so what were you doing. You clearly don't have any groceries on you." she follows me. 

"I'm going to buy it now." I rely with angry tone. 

Lou grabs my hands and I look back. "come on, just tell me." Her voice is softer now, and she looks scared. 

"you okay, Lou?" 

"no." 

"I just went to get your birthday present." I explain. 

Lou's eye widens. "... that's it?" 

"yeh. What else do you think?" she let go of my hand and scratch her nose. 

"well... I thought you were ... emm.. Going to see someone else." I chuckle out loud. 

"ha. Why would I do that?" 

"I don't know..." she said it in a high pitch voice. "Look, I was worry. Okay?" I stand there and look at her for a moment. Lou is embarrassed and her face turn a little red too. I take her hand and we start walking. 

"I wouldn't leave you for anyone, Lou." I speak softly and I can see her expression soften too.

 "hmm." she nods. "I'm sorry." 

I smile and said "well. Just don't do it again." 

she holds my hand closely. "mhm.... so what you got for me?" Lou asks. 

"I'm not gonna tell you. You have to wait." I smirk. 

"come on!"