Going halfway

Continuing with my new walking as many places as possible tradition, I invited That’s Not Chinese to walk with me to the drug store and library – a three-mile walk (to and from) that would take about an hour. Her reply, “There is no walk in my future tonight. I’m tired and prefer wine.” We bantered back and forth for several texts/minutes, with me attempting to convince her, “We can stop for chips….I’ll bring a coffee cup. See you soon.”

With that last text, I filled my free city water bottle (a perk for participating in their walking/biking initiative) with water, grabbed an empty coffee cup for That’s Not Chinese and drove to her house. Yes, drove. I figured I could sway her once I arrived. “Let’s go,” I told her when I found her lounging on the couch, watching TV and drinking a glass of wine. “I just got lasered. I’m not doing it,” she replied. “Get up,” I advised her while filling the coffee cup with wine. “I like the look of that,” she stated. “Why don’t you pretend I’m a girl you want to date and try to impress me by complying?” I asked her. “If I wanted to impress you, I’d sleep with you,” she replied with great confidence and added, finally succombing to my pleading, “I’ll ride with you in the car, but I’m not walking anywhere.”

We drove to the drug store where I figured I would execute my walking plan. “We can just leave the car here and walk across the street to get you some chips,” I advised her. “I don’t want to walk to that store but we can walk to the library from here,” she finally surrendered. We walked toward the library and, as we did so, stumbled upon an active crime scene. “Look at that, live Law & Order. Much better than sitting on your couch watching TV,” I advised her. She agreed, we avoided having to complete witness statements, and continued on with our walk.

“I think we should buy dinner to go, stop at the liquor store, and go back to my house,” she suggested. “Are we walking to the liquor store?” I asked. “Hell no,” she firmly replied. So much for that gang (CWG – City Walking Girls) she created a few weeks ago. We got in the car, ran our additional errands and I noticed the gas gauge. “Not sure we’ll make it home if I don’t stop for gas,” I told her.  Luckily, we made it to the gas station and home in enough time that our food and wine were both room temperature – perfect.

“You know, we’re like a couple of old people, arguing about doing things. Luckily, we were each willing to go halfway,” That’s Not Chinese told me while we were each relaxed in our chairs, top button of our pants unbuttoned so our bodies could ‘breathe,’ and sipping on our wine. “Yes, that is good. We may have only gone halfway if I hadn’t stopped for gas,” I reminded her. “Halfway, nonetheless,” she replied, took a sip of her wine and ripped one. “With or without gas, we always have gas,” she said while raising her glass for a toast. I raised my glass, met her halfway, and all was good in the hood.