Embrace the glorious mess that you are.
-Elizabeth Gilbert.

-Luke-

"There's something wrong with this clay." Maggie let out a sigh as she looked at the clumped up clay on the turn table. I tried my best on hiding my smile, but when I realized it resembled E.T's face I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"How did you even m-manage to do that?" I asked mid laugh. She huffed and shrugged in defeat. "I'm telling you, I had the vase in its perfect form one second and the next it just-plah!" She threw her hands up in frustration as she imitated the clay plopping own. I let out another laugh and continued to shape the bowl I was making. "How are you so good at this? I thought this was your first time." She asked. I shrugged as I slowly added my thumbs in the middle to deepen the hole.

"It is my first time. Don't worry Mags. Not all of us are artists." I teased. I hid my smirk as she widened her at me. I honestly thought she was cute when she pouted. "The dude made it look so easy! He was just like, 'form your hands around the clay, and slowly shift the clay in the form, you want it in with just a little bit of pressure as you turn it'. That's exactly what I did!" I quirked my eyebrow as she imitated the Hispanic dude's voice. Watching her being this frustrated was so amusing o couldn't help but laugh again.

"Oh so you think my failure is funny?" She asked. Her eyebrows were lifted and I shoved my thoughts out of my mind when my eyes landed on her pursed lips. "Yeah, it's fun watching you pout." I replied. Maggie stuck her tongue out at me and tried making her vase again, but then she put too much pressure with her thumbs in the middle, causing some clay to splatter and land on my face. I jumped in surprise at the sudden impact, my mouth dropping open. Maggie gasped and put her arm to her mouth to muffle her laughs. Obviously it was an accident but by the look in her eyes I could tell she was definitely enjoying my reaction.

"You did that on purpose." I accused. Maggie shrugged and continued with her vase, which she had to start again. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She said nonchalantly. I quirked my eyebrow and stopped the turn table since I was pretty much done with the bowl. "Let me just remind you then." I took a little bit of clay from the bucket between both of us on the floor and smudged it on Maggie's cheek. She froze, stopping the turntable to look at me. "Did you just-"

  "Get payback? Yes, I believe so." I said with a smirk. Maggie shook her head and reached both hands into the bucket, making me tense up. Revealing them again, this time filled with clay, she smiled sweetly. "Well then, t would be a shame if you weren't part of the fun." She placed both her hands on either side of my face, squishing the clay on me. Some of it fell on to the green apron I was wearing. I scoffed and swiped the clay off my face.

  "Maggie Brown, you have just declared war." I dropped my hand on her head, stifling my laughs as it fell to the floor after. Maggie was gaping, her face holding clear shock, before it turned into determination. "By the time I'm done with you your mom will make you sleep in the backyard when she sees you." I raised my eyebrow and crossed my arms. "Is that a threat?" She shook her head and grabbed some more clay in her hands.

  "It's a promise." That's all she said before she threw the clay at me, and the war officially started. We both ran around the room, throwing clay at each other, but making sure not to hit the pottery on the shelves. Obviously we knew that the possibility was very high, since we were surrounded by pots, vases, plates and other things, but we were having too much fun to notice nonetheless care; that was, until a few minutes later I threw a glob of clay towards Maggie, which she managed to dodge by ducking. It flew straight past her and hit to bowls, making them fall of the shelf and break with a loud crash. Maggie turned to the shelf with her eyes wide before looking back at me.

  "You broke the bowls." It was hard to see what type of trouble I was in when she had clay smeared on her nose, making it hard not to laugh; but when the man who had given us the instructions on how to deal with the clay walked in the room, his face went from confused, to furious after scanning the mess we made everywhere. "Ay Dios mío! What on earth happened in here?!" It was silent for a second, Maggie and I just shifting on our feet.

  Before I got to speak, Maggie started to laugh. I looked at her as she doubled over, holding onto her stomach as she laughed. The man- which happens to be the owner of this place- started to get more mad. "You think this is funny? I'll give you something to laugh about. Both of you will clean up this mess, and after I want you to leave an never come back. The rags are in the back. Get started." He glared at both of us before leaving the room just as Maggie started to sober up. "What was so funny?" I asked as we walked to the back. She shook her head and sighed.

  "He sounded like Mario when he said, 'Ay Dios Mío', and it just made me laugh. I imagined him getting touched by one of those goomba thingies, and then I realized he looks like them." She started to laugh again, this time me joining her. She was right, he did look like those things. "I was surprised he didn't try knocking us out," I turned on the faucet of the sink and grabbed two rags, wetting them and giving one to Maggie after wringing it out. "But then again, he look like he was about to."

  "He's short enough to butt slam him." We burst out laughing and began cleaning, occasionally hitting each other with the rags. By the time we finished it was already fifteen minutes past seven, and Mr. Goomba was already closing up the shop. He glared at both of us as we made our way out of the shop. When the door closed behind us we started to laugh on the way to my car.

"It's been awhile since I've had this much fun." Maggie said. I laughed as I unlocked the car just as we reached it. Maggie hesitated when she took in the state she was in. "I'm going to stain your car." She said. I chuckled and opened the door for her. "The seats are leather, so I could easily wipe it off. Don't worry about it." I assured. Maggie sighed and got in, clicking on her seat belt while I got in my seat and started the car.

"I'm glad you're fun. But I'm sorry you never got to make your vase. You were determined to make it." Maggie laughed and shook her head as I started towards the direction of the diner nearby. "I was never going to make that vase even if I had an expert teach me. My hands are not good with art." I chuckled and nudged her arm with my elbow. "Would a burger and some chips help?" Maggie nodded her head eagerly. "I'm starving."

We talked about random things as we headed to the diner, and when we arrived Maggie laughed when people gave us weird looks when they saw we were covered in clay. "We're covered from head to toe in this stuff. I just hope it doesn't dry in my hair." Maggie said, crinkling her nose. I smirked as we waited in line, the smell of burger grease lingering around us. My stomach grumbled at the smell, letting me know just how hungry I am.

"Don't worry, I'll hose you down in the backyard." Maggie scoffed and pushed me, I stepped back while laughing just as the people in front of us left to sit down. "Hey, welcome to Cow Guts! What can I get for you two?" I tried my best not to laugh at the name of the diner, while at the same time tried to keep my appetite. "Uh, I'll take a steak burger with a side of chips, hold the onion and the mustard please." The girl behind the cashier furrowed her eyebrows. "Um, chips?" Just then I realized I wasn't in England at the moment. I rolled my eyes at my stupidity and smiled. "Sorry, fries, I meant fries." I heard Maggie stifle her laughs behind me and turned to look at her.

"What do you want?"

She shook her head. "I'm paying for my food." I groaned and pulled her beside me. "Not gonna happen. Choose what you want to eat and I'll pay." She was going to protest, but after I gave her a stern look she huffed and gave the girl her order. I noticed how she gave us weird looks when she saw our appearance. "Okay, anything to drink?" I asked for a water and Maggie had a lemonade before we both went off to sit down. Of course I paid, after having another mini argument with Maggie when she fished out her wallet.

As we sat down she crossed her arms. "Okay, since you didn't let me pay for my food, I'm leaving a tip." I shook my head at her stubbornness and leaned back into the booth seat. "Half and half," I bargained. "That's the only way I'll let you." Maggie placed her hands flat on the table. "I'll do six you do four." I laughed and shook my head. "Seven and three." Maggie huffed and shook her head. "I am not only going to put three bucks from my side. You already paid for the pottery session and our food. At least let me do the tip." I found it amusing how she was desperate to pay for at least one thing on this date, but it also made me see that she's always feeling the need to be part of something instead of being greedy. I sighed and crossed my arms on the table, leaning forward on them.

  "Fine. You'll put in a dollar and I'll put nine." Maggie groaned and hid her face in her hands, just the reaction I was looking for. "Tonight is on me, you don't have to worry about how much I spend Mags." She looked up at me and I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was hesitant. I sighed and took her hand, squeezing it S bit to let her know I was serious. "Don't feel guilty or anything." We had a mini staring contest, and right now I was desperately trying hard not to blink to win this battle. If I blink she'll insist on paying the tip again.

"Here's your food. I hope you guys enjoy. Could I get anything else for you?" Both of us blinked at the same time as the girl from the cashier put our plates on the table. I shook my head and smiled at her. "No thank you. We're good for now." She nodded and gave both of us a smile before leaving. I looked at Maggie as I put fry in my mouth. "I don't know what makes us crazy. The fact that we came into this place after reading the sign or the fact that we haven't even lost our appetite." Maggie slowly started to grin as she took a bite out of her burger. "I think it's both." We began to eat silently, not wanting to speak with our mouths full. I lifted a fry from my plate and smirked as I threw it at Maggie. She slightly jumped when it hit her forehead and I stifled my laugh.

"Okay hold your horses," Maggie put up a hand and shook her head as she smiled. "Being covered in clay is pretty cool but I'd rather not end up being drenched in burger grease when I get home." I laughed and scrunched up my nose. "Yeah, I don't wanna go through that acne phase again." Maggie raised her eyebrows. "That bad huh?"

  I shook my head, shuddering at the mental image of my face when I had acne. "You honestly don't want to know." She narrowed her eyes and smiled evilly. "Yeah, I think I do. Was it so bad that someone played connect the dots on your face?" I groaned and shook my head. She was never going to let this go.

  "Actually, they would trace out constellations." Maggie was taking gulps from her lemonade when I had said that, and she ended up choking and having a coughing fit. I smiled as this was the second time two days in a row where this happened. She began wheezing as she laughed and coughed at the same time, earning dirty looks from the people around us.

  "Which constellation?" She managed to choke out. I laughed and waited until she calmed down to start speaking again. "Um Corvus, Hydra, Puppis, Cassiopeia-"

  "You had Cassiopeia on your face?" I laughed and rubbed my neck, nodding my head. "Yes, yes I did." Maggie had one last laughing fit before nudging my shoulder. "Well at least you didn't have that little brace thingy like the little girl from Finding Nemo." I widened my eyes and tried imagining Maggie with one of those things, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't believe it. "You're joking." She shook her head and laughed. "Nope. Couldn't even talk right for what, a month or two? I can't remember, but it sucked." I chuckled and shook my head. "Well no one drew on your face." Maggie scoffed and crossed her arms.

  "No one placed hangers on you and pretended to be rack shopping." Hearing this I tried my very best not to laugh. "I just hope there was a sale going on." I said, finishing my food. Maggie playfully glared at me as we both pushed our empty plates to the side.

  "Okay, we have one more stop to go to. You ready?" Maggie hummed as she nodded her head and we got up to leave. I left a tip on the table, despite Maggie's protest and we left the restaurant, getting inside the car.

  "Where are we going?" Maggie asked. I ignored her question, knowing it'll boost her curiosity and turned on the radio.

  "You'll just have to wait and see."
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