Cracked Porcelain

November 4

“Have you ever noticed that when you say watermelon over and over again that it starts to sound funny after a while, like it’s not a real word or something?” Misfit rambled after taking yet another bong hit.

“Sure,” I shrugged shoving more Hot Cheetos into my mouth flipping through an old Playboy magazine out of sheer boredom.

It was about two o'clock in the afternoon and Misfit and I were doing what we do best: getting high as fuck. Actually to tell you the truth I haven’t touched anything illegal since Halloween, because I didn’t want to do anything to screw up my date with Magnolia, It had to be just as perfect as she is. Misfit on the other hand was trying to avoid some mistakes he made the night before and was getting so messed up that I was getting second hand high just from all the weed smoke lingering in the air. I know what you’re thinking: shouldn’t a lovely young adult such as myself be at school? The answer is yes but I figured my best friend needed me more than some teacher who couldn’t tell you my name to save his life. Anyone who begged to differ would changed their minds at the sight of him right now, he was sprawled out on our recently vacuumed rug curled up around a bong with a cigarette in one hand and half a bottle of whiskey in the other. To an onlooker this scene wouldn’t be too out of the ordinary if it was me but Misfit only partied on the weekends or when distressed so I think it goes without question that he required more of my attention than any textbook ever would.

“Watermelon, watermelon, watermelon. . .” Misfit mumbled taking another bong hit, followed by a drag of his cigarette and a swig of the bottle.

“Shut up already.” I groaned.

I carelessly flung the open Cheetos bag across the living room towards Misfit’s face. A few of the cheetos escaped the bag hitting our once white carpet and smearing red cheeto dust across the floor. I flinched knowing Belladonna would start bitching at me the moment she saw me, specially since we just paid for brand new carpets to be put in due to the incident where someone drunkenly shit on the floor. I’m not in the least bit embarrassed to say that that someone was me. You would think that four teenagers could only afford some rinky-dink apartment building with pissed on furniture but for us it was actually the opposite. The twins both went to school and still found time for part-time jobs waitressing at some restaurant while Misfit and I found other ways to make money. If you’re judging me right now you can screw off because if you took a look around our home you’d see we’re actually doing pretty decent. Our apartment had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a decent sized kitchen equipped with new appliances, a small dining room that nobody used and a medium sized living room that included a fireplace. One of the bedrooms even had a walk-in closet, which the twins took over long before I even moved in. Not to mention that all of our furniture was bought brand new and Belladonna compulsively kept the place tidy.

“OoOoO, you’re gonna be in trouble!” Misfit squealed like a five year old child literally rolling over in laughter.

“OoOoO you had sex with one of our roommates.” I retorted in the same tone.

Misfit instantly grew silent at my comment. The thing about Misfit was that he was pretty much your average nice guy despite his unusual hippie upbringing. If you caught him on a good day he was calm, patient, artistic and always trying to make someone smile but he lacked something people would call self control, specially if the kid was drunk. After living with the same people for a couple of years you learn to love them for the good and the bad and hope that they do the same for you. Valentine was cute as a button and sweeter than cherry pie but she thought she was in love with every Ric and Joe she ever came in contact with and there was no denying it that Misfit happened to be one of those boys she couldn’t seem to get over. I guess when you live with someone of the opposite sex for so long it’s bound to happen. Her twin, Belladonna was just an all around bitch but she had days when she was pleasant enough. Belladonna and I would constantly get into arguments over silly little things like tracking mud into the house or leaving my shoes on the kitchen counter where we eat so it’s only expected that the loveaholic became enchanted by the boy who couldn't say no. It's also completely understandable that he would often have drunken sex with her at least once a month only for them to wake up the next morning and she realize he wasn’t going to buy her a promise ring. In fact he often didn’t acknowledge the mistake at all, I was never really sure if he remembered all of the incidents or if he just pretended like he didn’t.

“Why’d you have to bring that up?” Misfit groaned shoving his face into one of the many decorative pillows Belladonna bought that I happened to throw on the floor a while ago. “What if she breaks up with her current boyfriend like she did the last time and I have some helpless guy blowing up my phone thinking I stole his girl?” He mumbled.

“Here’s a thought, stop sleeping with her.”

The conversation paused as we both took a second to look each other in the eyes and laugh hysterically at the thought of Misfit turning away a horny girl. What Valentine didn’t realise was that she was basically the equivalent of fast food, quick, easy and great for when you're drunk. Plus she was like a live in girlfriend when it came to cooking, paying bills and sex minus all the bullshit stuff like dates and cuddling,which is the part I secretly liked. No matter how much guilt Misfit felt after sleeping with Valentine he would always continue to do it because in the moment the sex was so good he just couldn’t help himself.

“Well I’d love to stay and chat about your pitiful girl problems but I’ve got a date with my porcelain princess in about an hour.” I boasted glancing at the wall clock.

“It’s about damn time you asked her on a date! I swear you talk about her so much I thought you were gonna grow a vagina and turn into Valentine!” Misfit blurted out laugher following shortly behind.

“Eat a dick.” I smirked stepping over him and walking towards the bathroom in our room.

Behind me I can hear Misfit laughing his ass off as he retorts with, “Sorry, there’s only pussy on this menu.”

Okay so let’s just say that my plan of making tonight go perfect failed from the moment I stepped out of the shower and realised that I was supposed to meet Magnolia at the bookstore about ten minutes ago and I wasn’t even dressed yet. I quickly threw on a pair of my favorite dark jeans with a silver studded belt, a plain black sweater, a brand new pair of black sneakers that had mismatch laces and to hide my unkempt hair I threw on one of Misfits multicolored beanies. By the time I actually arrived at Discount Books I was twenty minutes late. When I pulled up I was surprised to see Magnolia was still standing outside waiting for me. She was talking to some chick that had more of a hipster look to her wearing a crop top covered by ripped up short overalls. On the other hand was Magnolia dressed up with cute little casual dress and her hair cascading down her back in perfect little ringlets. If I didn’t know any better I would think that she actually tried to look nice for me. Standing side by side comparing the two I would have never thought that my pretty little glass doll would even give the time of day to someone so unorthodox. It took the pressure off things to witness with my own eyes that she wasn't nearly as shallow as everyone thought of her to be.

“It’s about time you showed up I thought I was going to have to make other plans.” She stated sauntering over to the passenger side of my vehicle. From the look on her face I wasn’t sure if she was serious or not, her expression stayed stone cold but a little glint in her eyes revealed that at least some small part of her was relieved I didn’t ditch her.

As she entered the car I glanced back down at her outfit and came to the conclusion that it would never work for what I had in mind for tonight. I could tell just from the way she carried herself that she had never truly had an adventure and I was sure as fuck going to change that by the end of the night.

“You need to change clothes.” I stated bluntly.

“Excuse me?” She questioned, raising her perfectly manicured eyebrows as if to indicate she was offended but I knew that she wasn’t due to the fact that my face wasn’t stinging yet.

“Where do you live I’ll take you to change clothes. We’re going on an adventure tonight.”

To my surprise she didn’t argue or add any feisty comments she simply stated her address and gave me directions. On the way there we made small talk about casual things just to break the ice, pointless things like how her day was and who she hangs out with. I wasn’t surprised that the address she gave me led to one of those sophisticated neighborhoods, the kind with the big fancy gate you have to type in an access code just to get into. I was even less surprised when I saw that she lived in an enormous white two story victorine styled home that had a cherry red door made of mahogany. I had originally planned to wait in the car as she changed clothes but she gestured for me to come inside. To tell you the truth just looking at all the perfect lawns and expensive cars surrounding us that uneasy feeling of not being good enough was starting to creep back up and settle in my stomach but needlesstosay I followed her through that shiney red door of hers anyways. Hell, i’d follow her to the ends of the earth if she batted those long eyelashes of her in my direction.

“Won’t your mom or dad want to meet me or something, since I’m here?” I questioned feeling uneasy, I wasn’t too good with parents.

“No, my mother is a surgeon by the time she gets home tomorrow morning I’ll be sitting in a desk at school.” She stated.

Magnolia led me through a few hallways and sitting rooms until we reached a winding staircase that led to more hallways then finally her bedroom. As we walked I couldn’t help but notice how our empty footsteps echoing off the cream colored walls was the only thing making any noise. Just by looking at the quality and material her furniture was made from it was clear that someone important lived here but yet the absence of love was lingering everywhere. Even on the walls there was paintings of Magnolia, of her father and of her mother but there was never any photos of them all together.

“So what should I wear since you don’t find my outfit appealing?” She questioned opening her wardrobe door.

“I never said it wasn’t appealing, it’s just not appropriate.” I smirked gesturing towards her pantyhose.

Glancing at her closet it only took me a moment to pull out a pair of cut off shorts, a dark pattern sweater and the vodka stained sneakers she wore the night I kissed her. I shoved the clothes into her hands and took my rightful place on her bed.

“It’s windy outside? Why would I wear shorts, my legs will get cold.” She complained throwing her hair back into it’s usual messy bun.

“Then leave the pantyhose on.” I shrugged.

“Close your eyes.”

Once I was told it was okay to open my eyes again Magnolia was standing in front of me wearing the outfit I picked out. The clothes made her appear more hipster much like the girl she was talking with outside of Discount Books a few minutes before. I felt way more comfortable seeing her in casual clothes with wild hair shoved into a makeshift bun and the pink lipstick that was once on her lips replaced with red.Staring at her in this moment I knew that this was the girl I was meant to go on a date with, not the one I had picked up a few minutes ago who looked so fake she could have been plastic.

“Well let’s go on this date of ours I need to be home by ten. You’ve got five hours to prove to me that you’re worth my time. I have a test tomorrow and I don’t like to fail.” She stated hands on her hips, and with that we left.

The first thing we did was take a trip to the hardware store, I’m sure you’re probably asking just as many questions as Magnolia was such as, Why are we here? How is this a date? so on and so on. I didn’t acknowledge not even one of her questions, instead I took her hand in mine and led her down to the spray paint ile. As we stood there in front of the rows and rows of colorful spray paint Magnolia gave me a sly look that said, “Where are you going with this, Steel? I silently replied by giving her one of my signature smirks. Apparently that was enough confirmation for her because she started grabbing all types of colors off the wall, and she didn’t stop until her arms were so full a can or two fell out. After we made our purchase we got back into my dark 2013 Jeep Wrangler and headed towards my favorite part of town.

It was about a forty-five minute drive to get deep into the urban part of the city and by the time we reached our destination the sun had already set and the only light to hide our future sins were dirty old street lamps that seemed to flicker more than they shined. Without warning I stopped my car under one of those said street lights and took the keys out the ignition. I didn’t even have to look to my left at Magnolia to know that my porcelain princess was giving me questionable looks. I hopped out of my vehicle and walked over to the passenger side and opened the door for her.

“Milady.” I joked bowing dramatically low trying to make some grand gesture of chivalry.

“Okay seriously, what are we doing here? Please tell me there is a decent restaurant hidden by all the trash and passed out bums laying around. Maybe I just can’t hear the nice wine glasses clinking because of all of the sirens.” She stated flatly.

“Are you going to get out of the car or not?” I questioned rolling my eyes.

“I don’t know, it depends. If I get out am I going to get gang banged or something?” She retorted in the most sarcastic of tones.

“Maybe.” I teased sticking my tongue out at her.

Despite my joke she stepped out of my vehicle grabbing the plastic bag of spray cans and I locked the doors behind her. Don’t get me wrong I was no stranger to these types of neighborhoods but I wasn’t stupid enough to just leave my car unattended and unlocked. Before she could come to her senses I grabbed her delicate hand and led her through a few streets and back alleys until we finally ended up at an old blank billboard. We stood at the base of it near an old rusted out ladder that was missing a rung or two that led thirty feet straight up. Magnolia looked from me, to the jank ladder, to the spray paint, and back to me. She was a smart girl and it didn’t take her too long to put everything together.

“Oh no, if you think I’m climbing all the way up there with you for some silly little art project then you’ve got another thing coming!” She protested hands on her hips.

“You’re so cute when you’re scared.” I teased leaning in and pressing a light kiss upon her lips. “You can stay here out in the open while I go have some fun.”

“You really think you can manipulate me into doing something dangerous and illegal?” She said as a light tint of rosy pink spread across her cheeks. I had a feeling it wasn’t from the cold air.

“Come on Magnolia!” I begged, “Haven’t you always wanted to do something crazy? Something so insane you knew it had to be right? If it’s the illegal part you’re worried about just pretend we’re famous artist and our project is to paint this blank canvas! Have you not ever wondered what you would paint a canvas if you had the chance? We can do this together.” I challenged.

I assumed whatever I said hit some type of nerve with her, don’t ask me why because I couldn’t tell you but as soon as those words left my lips her facial expression changed from doubt into complete and utter trust as if she had absorbed my words letting them cover her in comfort. Now what happened next is something not even I believe and I was there to witness it firsthand. Magnolia Summers took her left hand and gently grabbed my face yanking it towards hers and kissed me, not like the small peck I planted on her lips moments before the girl led me into a full fledged make out session that ended just as easily as it began. The next thing I knew I was climbing up an old rusted ladder following close behind her trying not to drop a bag of spray paint praying I didn’t catch tetanus.

“What shall we paint?!” She giggled once we were at the top looking down upon all the city lights and homeless people that closely resembled ants.

“That’s the thing about adventures, nothing matters we can paint whatever our heart desires.” I said tossing her a can of spray paint.

And just like that we did. As soon as we uncapped the cans Magnolia’s plans of getting home early were thrown out the window because we got lost within our makeshift art. Time flew by as paint cans began to run low, police sirens went off in the distance, the temperature dropped and our canvas became less and less blank as we filled it with each others thoughts and ideas. When we finished I looked at the time on my iPhone to see that it was well over midnight. We took a few steps back and took veiw our personalities on paper. I had to admit that in the end it was a complete mess of colors and emotion. The things we drew ranged from doodles, to bubble lettered words to dark depressing quotes all the way to two spray painted dolls that slightly resembled us that Magnolia happened to paint. I stared at our little dolls on the billboard and I found it slightly odd that she drew me as some perfect ken doll while hers was broken, much like cracked porcelain.

Out of nowhere Magnolia started laughing, like real laughing. In fact she was laughing so hard that she was clutching her stomach and loose tears began to slide down her cheeks. I looked at her in bewilderment but said nothing, I just watched her continue her hysterical fit of giggles. It was almost musical, I had never heard anything more beautiful in my life, it was even catchy to the point that I myself started laughing and I wasn’t even sure why. So that what we did for a while, we just kept laughing as if other had said the absolute funniest thing in the world until after a while along with her laughter mine faded as she wiped her tears. Once the moment had passed she looked over at me in a way that for a minute I thought she was going to tell me she loved me.

“For seventeen years of my life I’ve been trying to figure out what the hell to paint on my canvas but it turns out all I needed was the right paint brush.” She whispered more to herself than me.

I had a feeling she wasn’t referring to the billboard in front of us which we just illegally made our own so I said nothing. Soon after Magnolia sat on the edge on the billboard with her feet dangling over the edge staring off into the distance, she gestured for me to join her to which I did silently wrapping my arms around her.

“Everything is going to change tomorrow, isn’t it?” She whispered into neck where her head was rested.

“It doesn’t have to.” I replied stroking her long blonde locks that she released from it’s bond moments ago.

“But Matty. . ..” She started.

“We could always run away to somewhere only we know. This billboard could be our special place we could just live here forever.” I suggested not really meaning it.

“We can’t run away from reality Matty.”

“Let’s just pretend we can. Tonight, for at least a couple of more hours, right up here on this billboard we can act as if there is no reality, no other people, no superficial problems. Just us. We can fool ourselves into believing that we are truly untouchable way up here underneath the stars.” I whispered into her hair.

Magnolia never verbally agreed to my suggestion but for the rest of the night we kissed, laughed, cried, told stories, joked and held each other until every star and the darkness of the nighttime sky was washed away by the beautiful pinks and orange of the sunrise. It went without saying that this old billboard really was our place, somewhere only we knew. I didn’t say anything and I never told anyone but that was the night I knew for sure that I was absolutely crazy head over heels in love with this girl.