Eyesore

The sky was melting from a pale shade of blue to pink, as the sun was setting down into the shore line, but Minnie and Joe sat underneath it like small children playing on the beach, their legs covered in grains of the sand while their hands dug deeper into the ground.

"This is going to be one sweet sand castle." Joe claimed, still baffled by the fact that he had ditched a party to go to the beach with some girl he hardly knew. Oh, things he would do for pussy. He patted down a thick and wet bunch of sand together in an attempt to make it stand up like a wall, protecting it from any stray puddles of water that could flow by. "Maybe, we can make it look like your house."

"I don’t live in a castle." Minnie combed a few stray hairs behind both ears and tilted her head onto her popped out shoulder, confused why Joe would say that. "You live in a castle." Minnie’s statement was half true, considering the house that Joe purchased with two of his brothers was the same size and make as a fairy tale castle was, but technically, he lived on a bus, in hotel rooms, and out of a suitcase.

"Maybe, you don’t live in a sand castle now, but you used to, back when you lived with your dad." He pointed out, still concentrating more on the sand than on Minnie. "I’ve been to your dad’s place for parties and stuff, you need a tour guide or a....hearse to make your way around it."

"So, what, are you saying my mom’s place is a dump?" Always defensive and with a tough face, Minnie shot back.

"No," Joe scoffed, throwing his head back and shaking away any of his long mane that was in his face. "I’m just saying your dad’s house is huge, okay? No need to throw a tantrum."

"I’m not throwing a tantrum." She mumbled, going back to playing in the sand. Minnie just had to get the last word in.

"So, your dad really is a sour subject for you, huh?" Unconsciously, Joe moved his hands slower through the mucky ground, asking Minnie, perhaps, the most personal question he had accosted her with yet.

"I don’t know." She shrugged, Joe watched as her shoulder blade sliced through her skin and cringed. "We just don’t get along very well." Her eyes watched the sand that she was drawing a line through with one finger as she wondered about her dad and what made them so different.

"Yeah, he doesn’t really hide that. Telling you that you don’t belong there and whatever." Joe finally gave up on his sand house and leaned back, putting all of his weight onto his hands and wiggling his toes in the cold water in front of them.

"He’s right, though," Ashamed, Minnie kept her head dipped down and admitted inside a tiny voice. "I don’t belong there."

"Then, why’d you come?" Joe knew that, regardless of what they did, he would have the upper hand in the scenario. He was the rock star, he was the one who had invited her, and he was the one with all of the perks and invitations.

"You asked me."

"You could’ve said no." Childishly, he cornered her while taunting her down with his dark brown eyes.

"And I tried to," She fought back with her voice squeaking. "but, you wouldn’t have it."

"Come on, Minnie, you didn’t put up that big of a fight. Part of you wanted to come."

"Fine," She shoved out between tight teeth and reluctantly caved, a little bit. "Maybe, I wanted to piss my dad off."

"Maybe?" Laughing, Joe didn’t believe that she was that innocent.

"He deserves it."

Not sure why, but Joe suddenly felt compassion towards Minnie. He could tell that she had really been hurt by her dad and that having to hate him was still causing her a heavy burden of pain. Joe could understand that, considering he’d been Gaston Savard’s personal puppet for three years and been hurt by broken promises, too. However, Joe was uncomfortable with getting close to anyone, especially Minnie, so he pulled out of their moment of honesty sharply.

"Wanna go skinny-dipping?" His eyes shimmied up and down her side and began to mentally picture her without her dress on.

"No!" She didn’t have to even think twice, she laughed slightly, but definitely stuck by her answer.

"Come on, I won’t move too fast or anything." Joe inched closer to her, sliding one hand up her back and washing any of the wet sand off of it and onto revealed skin. His eyes were hunting her down like prey, but Minnie was instantly uncomfortable and self-conscious.

The idea of being naked in front of Joe, or anyone for that matter, made her crawl inside her own skin.

"No. She had to scramble onto her feet and out of Joe’s reach, but Minnie managed to snatch her clutch from the wet shore and begin to wander away from Joe, carefully stepping over any trace of sea glass with her toes.

"Your body is fine." Joe rolled his eyes, girls were always so sensitive and it was one of his biggest pet peeves about them. Hesitantly, he climbed up onto his own feet and followed her, even though she was just a few steps away from where they’d been seated.

And though, he thought he had sounded plenty convincing, ‘fine’ had no comparison to beautiful to Minnie.

"Fine." Joe sighed, realizing that he wasn’t going to get anything from Minnie, at least not tonight. "I’ll walk you home." He said, cutting in front of her and leading the way to the street up ahead. Coldly, he pulled his cell phone out of his dress pants pocket and noticed a text he’d gotten minutes earlier.

Fr: Lish:

I’m still in the washroom.
Waiting.
Fuck. Where are you?

Maybe, it didn’t sound like the most seductive text, but to Joe it was the promise of getting something and considering, he had worked up so much anger and sweat from pushing Gaston to the limit, he was looking to blow off a little steam and such.

"Hey, could I bum, like, another twenty bucks off you?" He asked, embarrassed. "You know, I’ll pay you back." He dropped her off the end of her mom’s street and asked. Twenty bucks was chesterfield cushion change to Joe, but he needed something to get him from Anaheim Hills to the party where Lish would be sure to give him what he needed.

"Yeah." She should’ve, but Minnie couldn’t feel Joe walking all over her, so she dug through her clutch and found two crumpled ten dollar bills in the pocket of it and handed them over.

"I’ll call you soon." He simply told her without any designated time in mind. He took her money without a thank you and waved away while rushing off the same way they came.