Simon resisted at first and then let me pull him outside. He gave me a faint smile and swung his arm around my shoulders as we walked to his car. "What am I going to do with you?" he asked, almost to himself.
"Put me to work, of course!" I exclaimed. "I have to earn my brunch!"
Simon laughed, and we spent the drive to the home store in easy camaraderie, talking about nothing important and reinstating the relaxed atmosphere that we had been able to achieve earlier.
At the massive home store, we were able to get everything that Simon needed. It felt very domestic picking stuff out, especially since Simon deferred to my taste. He just nodded his approval at the sheets and towels I picked out. When I kept telling him it was important that he liked what I chose since he would be the one living with it, not me, he would just smile and say, "Sure."
Simon wheeled the cart to the kitchen department and asked me to pick out all the stuff he needed.
"What do you have right now?" I asked. "Do you have plates and stuff?"
"I have plates and utensils, but that's about it," Simon replied. "I used to just order out most of the time, so I didn't really need anything else."
I frowned. "Unless you're planning on taking up cooking, you probably don't need much besides maybe a pot and a pan and a few cooking utensils like a spatula."
Simon gave me a thoughtful look. "Maybe I'll take up cooking. The only thing I can make is that chili dip so it wouldn't hurt to learn," he said. "Just pick out everything you would want in a kitchen."
"Why?" I asked suspiciously. "I doubt you'll have much use for all the stuff that I would pick out if it was my kitchen."
Simon grinned. "Let's just say I have aspirations."
I narrowed my eyes. "Aspirations for what?" I asked.
"To start cooking, of course," Simon said innocently. "Why? What did you think I meant?"
I laughed and shook my head. If that's what Simon wanted, I was more than happy to oblige. I loved shopping for kitchen supplies. Walking down the aisles full of shiny gadgets excited me more than any fancy clothing store. After heaping the cart full of what I considered essentials, we turned to go to check-out when I suddenly remembered that Simon had mentioned he needed a shower curtain earlier.
"We almost forgot your shower curtain!" I exclaimed. Simon wheeled the cart over to the bathroom section, where there was a whole row of shower curtains on display. I smiled deviously to myself as I started going through the shower curtains. Simon hadn't disagreed once with any of my selections, and it was starting to make me wonder if he would just agree to anything I picked out. I decided to test it.
"What about this one?" I asked, pulling out a shower curtain with large brown puppies cavorting around with each other, their faces scrunched up in different expressions of adorableness. "It's so cute!" I cocked my head, watching him, waiting for him to retract in horror at the emasculating display before him.
Simon grinned and looked at me. "Sure, why not," he said. "Who doesn't love puppies?"
I laughed in horror. "You're kidding me!" I said in disbelief. "You can not be okay with this shower curtain."
"Why not?" Simon shrugged. "You like it, right?" He reached over and grabbed a package with the puppy shower curtain inside, throwing it in the cart.
"Simon!" I said, aghast. "You can't get that! That's not a boy shower curtain!"
Simon raised an eyebrow. "What happened to the feminist movement?" he asked with a smirk.
"But-but..." I sputtered. I threw up my hands and laughed. "Fine. But don't blame me when you regret it the first time you take a shower and you get freaked out by some big-eyed puppy staring at you."
Simon winked at me. "I'll take the chance."
After Simon paid for everything, not even blinking at the exorbitant total, we packed the trunk of his car with his purchases and drove to the supermarket which was close by.
Once inside, we wheeled the cart around the grocery store as Simon threw in an insane amount of junk food.
"Simon," I said, shaking his head. "We're really going to need to revamp your eating habits. Don't you eat anything besides junk food?"
"Is pizza considered junk food?" he asked
I laughed. "I guess it depends on what you put on top of it. I like junk food just as much as the next person," I said. "But you have to eat healthy stuff, too."
"Let's make a deal," Simon said. "You pick out some healthier food and help me make it, and I promise not to subsist solely on Cheetos and Ring Dings."
I paused. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to promise to spend more time with Simon, especially in his apartment. And doing something as domestic as cooking together. But I figured that things were going so well today as friends that it was harmless. The rest of the gang would be spending time at Simon's as well, so it wasn't like it would just be me and him all the time.