Page 16 of Dirty Money
Once her easel was set up, over a tarp to prevent staining the floor, Aullie selected a medium-sized canvas from her stockpile. Often, she took advantage of art sales, she usually bought tons of them at a time and never seemed to be out of them, which suited her just fine.
The theme of this painting was structural abstract, which meant a lot of free reign. She thought back to her recent deer drawing; if she kept it more vague, let the missing legs fade into a colorful background, that could work.
Standing back, considering the canvas, Aullie considered how she felt. A color came to her, and then two. Yellowy green and a warm relaxing blue. Before long a pallet was mixed and the oceanic colors faded into one another, the bleak white surface coming to life in full color. The plastic-like scent of the acrylic paint infected the air, she was really on a roll.
An entire hour passed before the creative spell was broken, she had done what she could. Probably the most frustrating part of creating art was the dry time, when the inspiration and drive to bring a vision to life needed to be halted for hours or days at a time.
Just gone two hours, and still no call.
Slightly disappointed, but sure there had to be a valid explanation, Aullie accepted she probably wasn’t going to see him that day. ‘He’s probably busy with his big billionaire job’, she thought bitterly.
However, just as she began to get herself worked up with doubt, her phone began to ring. There he was. Feeling stupid, she swiped the screen to answer with a polite, “Hello?”
“Hey Aullie,” he said, his accented voice punctuated by heavy breaths, “Sorry to call so late in the day. I hope you haven’t given up on me and made other plans.”
‘So he’s beautiful and psychic’, she mentally mused. “No, not yet,” she teased.
“Good, glad to hear it.” Aullie could hear the smile in his voice.
“So… What are we doing then?” she asked, uncertain little butterflies beginning to prickle in her stomach.
“Well, I have a surprise for you if you’re up for it.”
Aullie hated surprises, but at least he was trying. “Sure, what time?”
“How close to now can you be ready?” he asked.
“Probably about…” she trailed off, considering her un-showered state. She still wasn’t totally sure about the whole thing and decided it wasn’t worth washing her hair for. “Half an hour?”
“Great, the bug and I will see you then.”
Aullie smiled. “Okay. Bye.”
After she hung up, she sprayed dry shampoo into her roots and brushed it through. As Aullie weaved her short bangs into a tight braid, she considered the decisions she was subconsciously making. She was choosing to show him her whole face, to see him at less than her best so early in their relationship. It was almost as if she were daring him to change his mind, to break whatever spell she had on him.
She decided that she was okay with it.
Aullie dropped herself onto the rustic old seat in the bug. Weston smiled at her from the driver’s seat, hair casually swept back, hazel eyes adoring, and very un-British straight white teeth. Even in a red and white raglan t-shirt and jeans, he looked like a million bucks. ‘Or a billion, I guess’, she thought.
“You ready?” he asked.
“Yep,” she replied, doing her best to keep her nerves and uncertainty out of her voice.
Weston fumbled with the gear shift, and the rattly old bug lurched and groaned as they rolled away. The heater clicked and whirred loudly, filling the car with hot, dry air.
The small talk between them, as he drove, was generic and somewhat awkward. The weather was indeed getting colder, winter was on its way, it was outrageous how early some places put out Christmas decorations, and yes, all the sounds the bug made were pretty much normal.
As they approached downtown, Aullie couldn’t wait anymore. “Where are we going, Weston?”
“Well, I might as well tell you. There’s a touring Wassily Kandinsky exhibit, and according to Wikipedia, he’s credited as being the first real abstract painter and a genius art theorist who revolutionized expressive art. I don’t have any idea what any of that means, so I figured you could teach me.”
Aullie was suddenly overcome with excitement. Kandinsky was one of her all-time favorite painters, one of her biggest inspirations, and when she and her friends from class had tried to get tickets to the exhibit they had all been almost instantly sold out. She should probably wonder how he got them, but she was truly too excited to care.
“Are you serious?”
There was that devilish smile again. “Yes, I’m serious.”
He pulled the bug into a parking spot outside the art museum. The gray clouds, and the silvery sunlight that broke through them reflected off the beautiful mirrored building. It was such a unique building, specially crafted by an edgy, modern architect, the work of art itself was the perfect place to house other masterpieces.
