Complicated Love

Girls

"Hey, honey." I look back as Coco jumps in my car, waiting for her to get settled before moving up in the pickup line "How was school?"

"Long and boring."

She sighs, leaning onto the window as if she's had the longest day ever, making me laugh thinking about it.

"Where's Liam?"

"Home with Brad, I thought the two of us could do something together."

"Can we go to that painting place?  I wanna make a new picture!"

"Yeah, that sounds like fun.  I need something new for our living room."

We get to the art studio that just opened up, running inside to hide ourselves from all the paparazzi hanging around waiting for us.

The studio is filled with other people's artwork they have displayed, as well as some paintings from the classes they offer, making me wish I never gave up on painting after having Liam.

"Do you know what kind of craft you want to work on?" An employee walks up to greet us, noticing we're looking around "We have different size mugs and canvases, even some plates."

Coco and I look at each other, both deciding on the pictures.  We're directed into a room full of all the supplies we could possibly need. 

"You should paint a beach, since you live near one." She suggests, handing me a sample picture "This one is really nice."

"This is going to be hideous, I haven't painted since I had Liam."

"It can't be worse than that one Brad tried painting of the house."

"This is very true.  It'll really look good next to how bad his is."

I get my supplies, sitting next to her as  she stares at everything sitting out in front of her, deciding on what she wants to do.

"I think I'll draw my mom.  She'll like that."

"She'll love that honey.  I bet it'll be her favorite picture you've ever made."

I watch as she gets started, asking me to find a good picture of Court for her to look at.  She's so interested in making this good, it makes me even more excited for Liam to grow up and do things like this for Brad and I.

"Yours looks really good so far," She leans over to see my painting after I've started on the outline "I love it."

"Thanks, I love yours too." I notice how carefully she's making her little strokes, paying attention to every little detail of Courteney's face, making sure there's no room for mistakes "You should really keep this up, you're good.  It's not easy doing a portrait free hand like that."

"I really want to, but nobody else in the family can draw or paint good."

"Brad and I can try to help you.  He wants to paint a mural on Liam's wall sometime, maybe you can help him with that."

"I'd love that!  I wanna make something Liam can see all the time."

"Oh trust me, he will since he never seems to sleep.  I think it'll just be another reason for him to stay up all night crying and looking around."

"But he's so cute, he deserves a cute painting to look at allllll night."

"And he'll get one."

I walk away to get more paint, and notice her laughing in the background, so I turn around to see a huge splatter of purple all over my blue ocean.

"What the hell!  My painting was perfect!"

I take the small cup in my hand, dumping part of it on her picture, making it look like Court now has blue hair.

"You ruined my masterpiece!" She steals my brushes, running to the corner of the room like a toddler.  I chase after her, spilling paint on the floor in the process.

"You're so mean!"

"No, you started it!"

She takes the brushes, flinging plain off of them, all over my clothing.  I must look more pissed than amused, because she instantly backs up.

"Okay that's it,"  I dip my hand in some paint, throwing it towards her "I'm not the only one going out looking like this!"

"Jeeeeen," she complains, hiding her face "You ruined my hair!"

"You ruined my shirt!"

"Call it even?"

"Yeah, sure.  We gotta clean this up before they kick us out."

We eventually finish our paintings after some quick cleaning up, leaving them to dry while we run across the street to grab some dinner.

"So what are you excited for this summer?  Are you in another Musical this year?"

I sit across from her as we wait for our food to be delivered, thinking of something to talk about.

"I have try outs soon, but I'm excited to play with all my friends again soon. I can't wait for school to be over."

"We're excited to see you more.  I bet your mom and dad are too, they miss you so much during the day."

"I know, they're always telling me." She rolls her eyes slightly as she looks across at me "It's like they have nothing else to do."

"They have other things to do, you're just their baby.  They think about you the whole time you're away."

"Then maybe they should let me stay home instead of making me go to school.  Then they can see me and I'm really happy."

"It doesn't work that way, honey.  I wish it did."

"You should be a cool mom and not make Liam go to school.  He'd love that."

"Yeah, that's definitely not happening.  I'm gonna need the break from him, but nice try."

"At least I love him."

"Trust me, I love him to.  That's why I'm sending him to school, so I don't kill him for driving me crazy all day."

We finish our dinner just in time to pick up our art work before the shop closes for the night.  We grab our paintings and run out, wanting to get home before Brad puts Liam to bed.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" Brad walks over to us, handing me Liam "You look like a crayon factory threw up on you."

"We got into a little fight, it was fun." I move over to the couch, situating Liam to eat as Brad and Coco argue over the remote like children.

"Guys you look like idiots right now."

"And you two didnt earlier?" Brad distracts Coco long enough to steal the remote for good, changing the channel and putting it somewhere up high "At least we aren't in public."

"Yeah, because that makes it so much better.  You're still fighting with a child right now."

"It's fun fighting with you two," Coco sits next to me, taking Liam "I can't wait to fight with him too."