Who Am I (A Jai Courtney Fanfic) Book 2

Chapter 17-Meg

Meg

"Happy birthday," I hear Jai whisper as I roll over.
I laugh and move my curtain of messy hair out of my face. "What are you doing in here?" I chuckle. He's sitting on the floor beside my bed.
"I missed you," he says softly.
I push my hair out of my face completely and sit up.
"I missed you, too," I yawn. I kiss his cheek and get out of bed. "But you have to leave because my bathroom has no door."
"Alright," he says kissing the top of my head before stepping off to his room.
I smile as I get ready for my day. I wear a fashionable royal blue blouse that I made and a comfortable pair of jeans.

I make a casual, loose braid on each side of my head just above my ears and wrap it around, pinning it at the back of my head to keep it out of my face today while we're out.  I put a black cardigan on and grab my camera bag. I get my wool coat and the grey scarf I usually wear.  I knock on his door and open it when he doesn't answer.  He's watching tv—more specifically the news. 
"You almost ready?" I ask him. 
"Yeah," he says turning the tv off.  "Did you know you share a birthday with Grover Cleveland?"
I laugh, "Yes, actually I did know that.  I'm surprised you know who that is."
"I just learned," he smiles. 
I grin, too. 
"So, what do you want to do today?" he asks me striding closer. He wraps his arms around me and kisses my lips gently.
"Is a quick breakfast upstairs okay? I really want to go around town and take some pictures," I say.
"That's fine with me. Is that all you want to do?" he questions.
"I was thinking an early lunch at Pizzeria Uno and after that the Museum of Contemporary Art. Beyond that, I've got nothing," I say.
He nods. "There's lots more day," he points out. "There's a comedy playing at the theater and I can take you out for tea."
"That sounds nice," I smile.
"We could stop at a bakery, too, while we're out and get you something," he mentions.
"Okay," I grin. I've never had such an eventful birthday and I'm looking forward to it.
We eat and leave in a flash, Jai just driving around town. We pull over wherever inspiration hits me. I switch between my cameras and take all sorts of shots. Sometimes I change my lenses for wide angle, some macros when I see an interesting detail on the side of a building. I slow the shutter speeds for the crowds because I'm not interested in models and fees and all that. I just want the impression of movement. We keep on driving and get to an area of town that's making Jai a bit uncomfortable.
"Wait," I say. "Can you pull over there?" I ask.
"Just this last one. Then I think we should head back to the CBD," he suggests.
"Alright," I agree. There's just this beautiful church that looks closed up. I actually move around and take several shots. Some black and white, some digital, some infrared—all from various angles.
As I'm shooting, I hear Jai talking with someone. I quickly pack up my gear and step over to him. There are two young men that may be trouble and now I'm praying that everything will be okay.
"I love your shirt, mate," Jai tells one of them.
"Oh, that's Will Smith. Aren't you friends with him?" I ask. The guy has a classic Fresh Prince of Bell-Air shirt on.
"I am actually. He's a good bloke. We have the same tattoo," Jai says.
"You don't know no Will Smith," the other guy says disbelievingly.
"Show him, Jai," I say. "He looks like he's a fan."
He pulls up his shirt to reveal his tattoo that says SKWAD from the Suicide Squad.
"Nah, man. I saw pictures of him tattooing someone up on their arm," the one with the shirt says. "It was higher."
"That was Joel Kinnaman. He played Rick Flag," Jai tells him. "Most of the ladies got them on the bottom of their feet. Margo did mine."
The guy blinks in surprise. "Wait, man. You're Captain Boomerang."
"I did play him," he laughs and glances at me.
"This is crazy. Why are you here in my hood?" he asks befuddled. 
"Well, my girlfriend wanted to take some pictures of that church," he motions to it. "She's an artist and we're visiting town."
"That's crazy," the other guy says confused.
"You want to invite them to your show, love? Maybe I'll text Will and see if he'd be willing to talk or something. I can't guarantee he'll be free, though," he says.
"Sure," I nod.
I reach into my bag and give them a flyer.
"This is legit," the fan replies. He laughs in disbelief and looks to Jai. He motions for me to climb in the rental. I get in but I see him hand the guys some cash and tell them to get some church clothes. He invites them for food and the show. I close the door and see him shake the guys hands. He climbs into the driver's seat and we wave to the guys as we leave.
I see the one with the shirt in the rear view mirror jumping up and down like he just won the lottery.
"People love you," I tell him smiling.
"Nah, they like kindness. I don't think they've ever experienced anything like that before," he says and I'd probably have to agree.
We drive back towards town and I take a few pictures before Jai does a search for the restaurant. He laughs in surprise.
"That pizza shop is two blocks from the hotel. That's a good location. Everything is around us," he points out.
"I wonder how far the museum is," I say looking it up as he parks in the hotel lot. "It's five blocks down from the hotel. You want to walk that, too?"
"Sure. If you're up for it. That's not far at all," he agrees.
We walk to the pizza restaurant and arrive right as it opens being the first customers. I let Jai choose the toppings since I'm okay with anything.
"I can't decide," he says. "These look sick."
"Have you had it before?" I ask.
"I don't think so," he shakes his head.
"Okay. Meat or vegetables?" I ask.
He shrugs, "Both."
"Numero Uno it is," I say ordering the supreme-like one in the smallest size since I doubt I'll eat two and it has six slices. That leaves Jai four or five. "Do you want a salad or something?" I ask.  He nods and we both get the Caesar.
More people start coming in and ordering but our food arrives ridiculously fast.
"I thought they always said these take an hour to cook," I say in disbelief.
"That's crazy long for a pizza," he comments.
"It's crazy thick, too," I point out serving him a slice. "This is a knife and fork kind of pizza," I tell him. He looked confused. "Your cast members never took you here?"
He shakes his head and we both cut a bite.
"Some of them were American, right? Are they health food nuts or something?" I ask dumbfounded.
"Some of them were," he nods.
"Ah, salad only eaters," I reply putting the bite in my mouth. I chew it and look to him. He's grinning as he eats it. "So... what do you think?"
"This is good. I'm never coming to Chicago again with out one of these," he says.
"Me either," I grin and eat a bite of my salad.
"This is huge. How are we going to finish this?" he asks.
"We can get a to go box and have it for lunch tomorrow or something," I shrug not worrying about it.
"I've known people who don't eat leftovers," he says.
"So have I. I think it's both sad and wasteful. There are people starving in this world. I can understand if something's gone bad like this salad won't last with the dressing on it but pizza will be fine," I say before eating another bite.
We enjoy our pizza and get a to go box, heading out just as it's filling in with a full lunch crowd.
"Crikey, look at the queue," he says in surprise.
"I've waited in one of those lines for two hours before, then another hour for the pizza at the table. It's torturous when you're hungry," I joke.
"It was worth it though," he says.
I'm tempted to give my leftovers to someone in line but I feel like God's telling me it's not as special for them as it is for me so I hold onto the box. We put it in Jai's fridge and I use the restroom before we leave.
We step out hand in hand in the street and I realize it's a little warmer today so I unbutton my coat and untie my scarf. Jai wraps an arm around my waist as we walk along the sidewalk. He only gets stopped by a couple fans—all normal and friendly ones. I wait patiently. He glances at me in appreciation as I let him make someone's dream come true. A young girl hugs him and I laugh. He chuckles, too, and says goodbye.
"Sorry about that, love," he says to me.
"I don't mind," I tell him kissing his cheek.
We arrive at the museum and climb the large exterior steps in the front of the building. We enter the museum doors and Jai pays our admission.
"Thank you," I tell him for buying everything.
"No worries, love," he replies.
We walk over to the staircase and I stop at the koi pond at the bottom.
"That's interesting," he comments about the staircase.
"Yeah," I agree watching the fish approach us.
They're beautiful.
"Oh, I didn't see the fish," he mentions stepping back surprised.
I smile as he comes up beside me and observes them. I take a couple pictures of the stairwell from different angles as we climb up. I was disappointed the last time I came here that someone bought my favorite artwork that used to be here. I tell Jai that.
"What was it?" he asks.
"Okay so don't forget this is modern art not classical, but it was an inflatable rabbit that was cast in metal. The artist's name is Jeff Koons and it was called Rabbit," I explain. 
"It was a metal inflatable rabbit?" he asks.
I nod.
"How much did it sell for?" he inquires trying to sound interested as we climb the stairs.
"$91 million dollars," I tell him.
He coughs in surprise.
"I got in the wrong business," he jokes.
I chuckle at that.
"You want to see it?" I ask.
He nods so I pull it up on my phone. "Okay, that is pretty cool," he agrees.
"I think it was the most expensive sale for artwork antemortem. Most artwork isn't valued at much until posthumous," I tell him.
"Like Van Gogh and whatnot?" he says. I nod.
We walk around through the museum. Some is strange and some is interesting. I feel like a lot has changed since I came here last. There's an artist that hangs what look to be decorative umbrellas from the ceiling. It's an installation. They're actually quite beautiful.
"Are those brollies?" Jai asks.
"What?" I question.
"You know, for the rain," he says.
"Brolly means umbrella?" I clarify.  
He nods.
"I think that's what they are," I say looking up. "I think these are my favorites so far."
"They're interesting. Some of the others look like someone just cleaned out their rubbish and dumped it in the museum," he says and I laugh. "Or someone took their old joggers, dipped them in paint, and lined them up on a pedestal."
"Yeah. Neither of those are my favorites," I agree. They did look like that. 
"I wonder how someone gets that into the museum," he questions in surprise.
"I don't know. Connections maybe or a really good artist's statement," I shrug.
"Must be... because that back there was rubbish," he motions.
I laugh and we move on. There are several more umbrella rooms. The first was green. The next is golden in color.
We move on to see some political and race art. They're not my style either and we continue through. There's some neon light art that's pretty but it's strange with random words and wires everywhere for the electricity.
The next section is reminiscent of Picasso with painted polygons on canvas. They're an unusual assortment with colors that clash. It feels very dissonant.
We move on to the next section. There's a transparency with mirrors and that's kind of interesting with the effect it gives. The next one by the same artist is an old life magazine cover with an Ethiopian funeral procession, I think, where they copied the image by making it extremely faded with colored dots over two more images.
There are photos in the next room but they feel random like snapshots for some, patterned photos of lined up chairs for another. I see a small installation that's reminiscent of legos or stacked toys. There is also a watercolor on paper that I'm glad to see. It's interesting and unique. I feel as if it's unfinished, though.
The next series is kind of silly and cute almost. It has this plastic-like magazine ad vibe to it. There are a few art prints in here, too. The subject matter varies... but some kind of make my skin crawl. There's an image of a man holding a gun. I get the impression that he's a serial murderer for some reason. The next is a double exposed print that has two pictures of a man's face pointing in opposite directions. It makes me think of conjoined twins.
I look at a few more from the same exhibit but I think I'm about done. I was hopeful in seeing some good art but I'm just feeling disappointed. Other than the umbrellas, the rest of this was just so out there that I wouldn't even call most of it art.
We leave the art museum walking back down the stairs the way we came. Jai asks me what I thought of it and I tell him.
"Oh, good. I thought it was just me and I didn't understand it," he grins.
I chuckle at that.
"Your museum was good. This one... if they don't get better stuff they're in trouble. I see why they charge," he says and I laugh harder as we walk hand in hand back toward the hotel.