Lay Low

20: Goodbye Rose Colored Glasses

"Honey, we've never had a fight. I'm still on my best behavior when you come over," I told her.

"It's fine, Eric," she said again. "You don't have to explain it to me."

"I'm not explaining it, I'm trying to talk about it with you so we are on the same page," I clarified.

"Maybe you should be on your standard behavior so I know what I'm getting myself into with you," she suggested, tilting her head to look up at me.

"That means a lot of ESPN, basketball on TV and unmitigated release of bodily gases without apology," I warned. "Once you let the genie out of the bottle he doesn't want to go back in."

"I need to know all that. How can I say I love you when I clearly don't even know you?" She finally had a small smile on her pretty face.

"True. I reeled in a sucker," I smirked.

"Or maybe you showed me what your heart and soul are made of. The rest is just greasy man packaging," she suggested. "Eric, in case you forgot, I have a brother. I know how boys work."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "I'm not greasy."

"I've seen you greasy," she pointed out.

"It comes with the job, but I don't stay greasy."

"No you don't. You clean up nicely for me," she said. "But I've also been into the bathroom twenty minutes after you take a shit. Your man-isms don't scare me. I hate ESPN, but I don't really watch too much TV anyway."

"Yeah I've been in the bathroom twenty minutes after you take a shit, too. It ain't all roses," I chuckled.

"I never said it was. Point is, for me, I know what I need to know about you to be ready to live with you. As long as we're reading the same book, I'm fine that we're not on the same page right now."

"So if I told you that I have a tendency to get up in the middle of the night to do home improvement stuff you don't care? Power tools making all kinds of noise at ungodly hours and a huge mess left lying around until the project is done..."

"I'd probably get up and start tidying things in the morning," she chuckled.

"And then I'd get annoyed with you for doing it," I told her. If I was in the middle of something I didn't want anyone messing with the stuff.

"Would you kick me out over it?"

"Probably not."

"Okay." Sookie stood on her toes to kiss me.

"So what annoying habits do you have?"

"None," she lied. "I'm an angel." Her smile widened and she said, "I like to listen to my music loud in the morning when I'm getting ready for work. And I sing along..."

"You also lie when you don't want to admit something," I told her. I wasn't sure I liked that so much.

"I tell you the truth immediately though."

"You mean after I catch you in a lie? I gotta tell you, that doesn't make it okay. Like no, honey, I didn't sleep with someone else. Oh you saw me? Then yeah I did. But I told the truth so no problem, right?"

"No, Eric," she shook her head. "I don't do that and you know it. If I don't want to admit something, I do anyway. I may pout and I may shake my head no, but I always tell you the truth. Just now telling you that I'm an angel was a joke. Not a lie, and you know that."

"Didn't sound like a joke to me," I shrugged. "And it's not the first time you've done something like it."

"When did I lie to you about something?"