I’ve never been, what you call a “spontaneous” person.

I preferred knowing when and what was going to happen. But that day at the Piggly Wiggly our senior year, I was definitely feeling a spark of unpredictably.

    Elliott had been moodier than usual, and his attitude didn’t change, even when I offered to push him around in the shopping cart I practically had to beg. When he finally begrudgingly climbed in, he didn’t even really talk to me, just pulled his beanie lower on his head and stared off into space. It was safe to say back then that that was how he was then; closed off and quiet. It was not something I had liked and that day it was something I wanted to change.

    It was a spur of the moment thing that I had only thought about for half a second... well there wasn’t much thought out into the idea.

    I wheeled us down an aisle, snatched up a package of cookies and dropped them on his lap. I remembered his startled look. I had just shrugged.

    For ten minutes, I walked the aisles, occasionally grabbing random things off the shelves and tossing them in the basket. The whole time, Elliott would try and ignore me. When I dropped a lot of condoms on his lap, did I get a reaction.

His cheeks were red as he held up the box, “Queenie, what are you doing?” he sounded tired.

    But I wasn’t focusing on him. My attention was on the automatic doors. I didn’t give myself a moment to debate on whether this was a stupid idea, I already knew it was.

     “I’m doing something completely stupid. Hold on.”

     “What?”

I whipped the cart towards the doors and started running.

     “Elenore! What are you doing?!” Elliot yelled. “Stop!”

I didn’t stop, I just rushed us through the doors of the Piggly Wiggly; the cashiers all calling after us.

     The whole time we had laughed as we ran down the sidewalk, our shopping cart full of stolen goods. I didn’t stop until I was sure we were a good distance away and when I did, Elliot spun around in the cart, grabbed my face and pulled me in close. His lips were cool and gentle against mine and I loved every bit of it.

    When he pulled away, Elliot watched me, his eyes had been filled with wonder as he said, “You’re crazy Queenie.” He whispered.

     “It got you to smile.” I had whispered back.
He had chuckled, “We should probably take all this stuff back.”
I laughed, “Yeah we should.”

     “Except for these.” He held up the box of condoms, that damned mischievous smile played on his lips.

    We did take everything back to the store that day and luckily, they hadn’t been too mad they just made us put everything back on the shelves… and how could I forget about the life-time ban? But hey, I got him to smile again.