Escaping Reality

Chapter 31: A Create Date

As Lola put the stick shift into gear I couldn't help but be impressed at her know-how. Sitting confidently in the lifted seat of her Ford Bronco she looked like a certified badass. The type of girl who is almost intimidating to a certain degree, it was hot.

What have you been up to today besides boozing on the beach?" She asked, eyeing the books I was holding.

"I stopped by the bookstore and picked up a few books, there's one on architecture that I liked. I also ate at this really good burger food truck and then participated in the Spikeball tournament" I explained simply, struggling to articulate any complex sentences due to my level of intoxication.

She raised an eyebrow at the mention of the architecture and said she had an idea. Shortly after we arrived at a modest-looking building with a sign that read a 'private art museum'. Lola was a member and got us both in without having to wait in the long guest line. I was in heaven, it was no ordinary boring art gallery but a private pop up shop. There were tons of abstract pieces of works and modern artwork along with three-dimensional pieces. In the back, they even had a create space where members could create art of their own. In my slightly drunken state, I was soaking it all in.

We spent an hour going around examining the pieces of work and talking to the various artists. It was a really neat experience and we topped it off by trying to paint portraits of each other in the create space. As we excitedly turned our masterpieces around to show each other we fell over in fits of laughter. Turns out neither one of us were high-quality artists, at least when it came to portraits.

"This gives me an idea," Lola said suddenly, grabbing my hand and leading me out of the gallery.

We walked down around the corner and halfway down the block to a stand on the side of the street. It was a caricature artist. Lola looked at me and just laughed with a sparkle in her eye.

"How about we let a professional do it," she said as she gave the guy $15 as we settled into the couple's couch in front of his painting pedestal.

We sat still for the better part of thirty minutes awaiting the finished piece. When time was up the double portrait was unveiled and it was a pretty good representation of us I thought. Our recognizable features extenuated, we laughed at how we looked so much like ourselves while also looking so cartoonish. Lola agreed and skipped back to the car, caricature in hand, and pep in her step.

Next up was some nature reserve that Lola had been raving about for the better part of the last three days. I wasn't particularly excited but if it made Lola happy then I guess I was going to like it one way or another. We pulled up and the entrance grabbed my attention. Two huge columns were covered in ivy and had a giant bouquet sitting at their top.

We walked along the path for a while until we found a clearing where Lola laid down a blanket and we plopped down. It was a perfect day, warm but not overwhelmingly so, and there was a cool breeze that always seemed to blow at the right moment. We stretched out on the blanket, taking in nature around us. The sun was just dipping below the horizon which provided us with a beautiful sky to gaze up at.

"Tell me more about you. I want to know about your family, your hometown, your friends, whatever contributed to the man-boy that's sitting in front of me I want to know about." She asked.

I sat there smiling softly and realized for the first time this week that this wasn't my life. That I was simply living out a fantasy life that would eventually come to an end. I even felt a tinge of homesickness and longing for my friends and family back home. Lola must have seen that I was having an internal battle about what to say and she kissed me lightly trying to pull out something, anything.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," she said, locking her eyes with mine.

"No no it's okay, I want to tell you. It's just that the whole reason I'm here is to escape what I left back home." I said.

She gave me a look that I can't describe. It was a look not of pity or sorrow but there was a certain tenderness to it. It spoke to me and suddenly I was at peace. I told her everything. We sat and we talked about my past, then we moved to her past. Eventually, we began talking about the future. What our plans were, who we wanted to be, and what we wanted to accomplish. We talked about our goals, our dreams, and our ambitions.

Through some roundabout way, the conversation steered toward tattoos.

"Do you have any tattoos?" Lola asked.

"No, do you?"

"No but I've always wanted one, my Dad has a few and my Mom has one as well," she said.

"Oh cool, if you got one what would you get" I inquired.

"You'll see," she said.

"What do you mean," I asked puzzled.

"What do you mean what do you mean" she laughed "Let's go get some frickin tattoos, whatcha say?"

Neither one of my parents have tattoos and I had never really thought about getting one. A few of my friends back home had gotten them once we all started turning eighteen but it had never been a burning desire of mine. I was unsure but the smile on Lola's face swung me.

"Why the hell not. You might have to help me brainstorm ideas and a location though." I said as I opened my phone and began searching the least painful places to get tatted.

"Get a tattoo of Lightning McQueen on your butt cheek," She said jokingly

"Seriously though they're permanent so I would get something that's going to hold meaning with you for a long time."

By now we had made it back to the car and were on our way to the tattoo parlor. Lola had some friends who had gotten tattooed and recommended an upscale tat shop that was a little spendy but known for their high-quality work.

"It's about a twenty-minute drive so you better start thinking," Lola said as we started cruising.

She obviously had an idea in mind for herself but I was at a loss. My mind frantically raced through childhood memories, life mottos, famous quotes, anything meaningful it could think of. My time was running out.