Chapter Text
Lois sighed to herself, popping open a bottle of recently started, watered down vodka that she stashed in her garden bushes. Another day of being a mother. And another day of being with Peter. It's not like she hated being with him. Maybe sometimes. Actually, a lot of the time. But it was a life she built for herself, a life she fought for, no matter who or what got in her way. Her daddy didn't approve of Peter, but she fought to be with him. Even if sometimes she regretted it. Maybe she should've just listened to him. Then maybe she wouldn't be so damn miserable in this life she was- No, had been regretting for God knows how long now. Lois didn't know how to describe just what exactly she was feeling. Frustration? Resentment?
Oh, it's time to pick up Stewie from his daycare. Just in time, she wasn't in the mood or had the energy to spiral into another crisis of hers. After picking up Stewie and getting him settled down into the house, Lois went to make dinner. She could continue her gardening later. She felt like making something special, an old family recipe her mommy taught her when she was a young girl still learning how to cook. How to play her role in a family. Beetroot soup and buttered bread rolls. They needed to use the beetroot up before it went bad anyway.
Lois went to her recipe box in their small wooden bookshelf and flipped through the papers. Where was it? Aha, that one! She took the paper in her hands and put back her recipe box, but a book next to it fell out. Lois bent down and went to put it back, but her eyes lingered on the page. It was a dictionary. She bought that dictionary ages ago, when Peter went through another one of his ridiculous phases. He forced the entire household to speak in a "distinguished" manner. Lois bought the dictionary to understand those new words he wanted them to use, since Brian clearly had no clue as to what they meant.
"Fulfill - Verb. To accomplish, to be satisfied. 'The woman was fulfilled with her life. She is happy and finds her life enjoyable.' Antonym: Unfulfilled. 'The woman was unfulfilled with her life. She is unhappy and does not find her life to be enjoyable.' " Unfulfilled? Is that what she felt? Unsatisfied? Was Lois not happy with her life? But she was doing it in the right way! She was a wife, she had kids, she built this life, this family brick by brick. So why wasn't she happy!? Lois shook her head and shut the dictionary. Was she really going to let a stupid book question her life? She had a dinner to make. A family to go to.
After what seemed like hours, Lois was done with her meal. She set it on the still empty table and went to continue her gardening. She finished the vodka she opened earlier, and she was craving another one. It wouldn't hurt, right? Too late, she opened it. Lois got no gardening done that day, just vodka and singing. Peter and the kids were coming home soon, they could fix themselves a plate. She was already tired.
Lois went back into the house and up to her bed. She changed into her night gown and went on Facebook to check her recent posts. But she couldn't get something, or rather, someone, out of her mind. Maybe with her, she would be truly fulfilled in her sad life.
She was thinking about the Cinnamon skinned Target lady, her real name was Esperanza. Lois and Esperanza had met several times. The first time they met, Lois was shopping for school textbooks for Chris and Meg. The Staples she usually did the school shopping at closed down, so she had to go to Target instead. That's when she met her. "Your total is 11.99. Will it be cash or card?" "Cash."
She reached for her purse and paid her 12 dollars. Esperanza was about to give Lois her change, but Lois reached for her penny and single dollar in her hands instead. Her fingers grazed the cashier's soft palm for less than a second at most. But Lois felt something inside her. And so did Esperanza. It was just the unhappy housewife and a beautiful Target cashier exchanging the same look as the housewife seriously questioned her orientation for the first time in her life.
Lois snapped out of her trance and blurted out a thank you and goodbye to the cashier, Esperanza giving her the two textbooks in a bag. Lois looked at the Goddess one last time before she left the store, and she looked back. Lois should shop at Target more often.
Over the course of several weeks, Lois had shopped at that same Target. Mostly for non-grocery things, but mostly to see her. Esperanza. Lois constantly thought about her day and night since that fateful encounter, and she could only assume that Esperanza thought the same way. It became almost a routine, twice a week, Lois went to Target and found an excuse to touch her soft digits. Esperanza was more than happy to reciprocate, it didn't matter who had the change, they always touched each other. And tomorrow she planned on going.
The next day, Lois was the one to have the coins. A penny and a dime. "We could go to Montana." The housewife whispered to her. "I want to! But I can't...." She looked up at the wall of the building. Lois looked to where the cashier gestured towards. The Target logo had a camera that constantly surveilled the employees. Lois somberly made eye contact with the gorgeous woman, who gave her the bag. Lois and Esperanza looked at each other before Lois left the building, like they always did. But that day was different.
Lois sighed deeply as he walked to her car. She still had to go back to her family at the end of the day. But at least she had 25 minutes to escape all of that. "Lady, wait!" Lois spun around, instantly recognizing the familiar voice. It was her! Esperanza was running towards her, and Lois dropped her groceries in a shock, running towards her back. Her long, springy black curls bounced with every step towards Lois, who felt tears of ecstasy well up in her eyes. After what felt like an eternity, the two women fell into the other's arms.
Esperanza looked up from the housewife's embrace, her warm hazel eyes like brown sugar melting into Lois' green eyes. "Oh Lois, I- I can't believe this is actually happening!" But the moment didn't last forever. The cashier panicked and turned her head around to the building she just escaped from. "Quick, we have to go now! They'll be looking for me soon!" Lois, in the corner of her eye, saw the Target logo's camera eye about to start. Oh no. Lois didn't know what that thing did, but she wasn't risking it at all. No way!
Without a second to waste, the housewife unlocked her car and the cashier, or once cashier, quickly followed. She started the car, hitting the gas pedal and speeding out of the parking lot. Lois had forgotten her groceries, but she couldn't care about that. She couldn't care about anything other than the now-freed woman in the passenger seat.
She was all that mattered now.