56| You Can Paint my Face Like The Mona Lisa?

EVER since I took Logan on our little adventure to my lakehouse a week ago, her parents had been even more strict than usual. I had barely seen her besides at school. The only time we'd been able to spend alone together was during our off period going to the cafe to study for finals. I didn't mind, but Logan definitely did. She was practically on house arrest besides going to school. And since her club season had ended, too, she hadn't even been able to escape for practice.

Yeah, her parents definitely wanted to kill her. She called me the night she got home and spilled all the details of her parents screaming at her about ruining her chances to be scouted by the Stanford coach, running off with me, blah blah blah.

But today was the day of prom and thankfully, Logan's parents were still letting her go. It was some miracle in my opinion. But I was glad that our night was still on because I had a lot planned and I couldn't wait. I hadn't exactly had a prom date before considering my one past relationship. Every year for prom or homecoming, I'd gone with Cayden. But this year we both had our own dates, which was a new occurrence.

We were going to prom in a bigger group this year. Me and Logan, Cayden and Jeremy, Bianca and Tanner,  Gracie and Porkchop, Sophie and Jordan, and Savannah and Charlie. Yes, Savannah and Charlie were going to prom together. And it was still weird to me that Logan and Savannah didn't hate each other. But if there was one thing I'd learned this year, it was that enemies didn't have to stay enemies forever.

The boys were coming over to my place to get ready (mostly just to hang out since getting ready wouldn't take us too long) at 2. Prom started at 8, but we were planning on showing up at 9 and going to dinner at 7:30. I had made the dinner reservations at Mabella's Italian restaurant in Columbus. There was a really nice rooftop dining option that I'd made sure to request. Tonight was gonna be amazing and I was sure of it.

It was just past 12 in the afternoon and I was in the kitchen making a small lunch when Amelia finally woke up and trudged down the stairs. She walked into the kitchen and sat up at the counter.

"I'll take one of those," Amelia said, gesturing to the grilled cheese I was making on some sourdough bread.

I raised my eyebrows at her. "Yes, princess. And would you like fresh hot tomato soup with that?"

"That would be fantastic."

"I'm kidding, Melly," I said.

She groaned. "Do not call me that. Not this early in the morning."

"Well, if you hadn't noticed, it's not actually that early, and it's not actually the morning," I pointed out. "It is 12 o'clock in the afternoon and you're just waking up. What? Did you stay out too late partying last night?"

"You know I had my recital last night and it was Sleeping Beauty. And I was the lead," Amelia said.

"That's a mad flex, Amelia."

"So I'm tired," Amelia explained. "Please make me a grill of cheese."

I turned around and handed Amelia my plate with the fresh grilled cheese (that was supposed to be mine, but I am a saint) and set it in front of her. "One fresh grill of cheese for Sleeping Beauty," I said.

Amelia didn't even say thanks before she dug in. Apparently, she was starving. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the stovetop to make myself another grilled cheese. I threw on a piece of buttered sourdough bread, some swiss cheese, and then the other piece of bread. The sizzling sound of the grilled cheese doing its magic was beyond satisfying.

I heard the front door open and ignored it. My parents were in town for the next 3 days, so they were probably just coming back home. I continued making my grilled cheese.

Footsteps walked into the kitchen and I heard someone sit down at the counter. "I'll take one of those."

I turned around and there he was: Porkchop. Sitting next to my little sister at the counter in my kitchen, asking for a grilled cheese. Or, not really asking, more-so just ordering a grilled cheese like I was running some kind of restaurant.

"Seriously?" I asked. "How did you get inside my house?"

Porkchop shrugged and lifted up a key. "You gave me a spare."

"I did not give you a spare," I denied, reaching forward to snatch the key from him. "I'll take that. Now, what are you doing here? You're like 2 hours early."

"I just woke up," Porkchop said.

"Same here, buddy. Same here," Amelia said, patting Porkchop's back before returning to her (my) grilled cheese.

"And why did you just wake up? Did you also have a ballet recital last night where you were the lead in Sleeping Beauty?" I asked.

"No, but I wish," Porkchop said. "I spent all night trying to fix a mistake I made."

"What kind of mistake?"

Porkchop sighed. "I may have accidentally... eatenabitofpastainmypromsuitbecauseIwantedtoknowwhatitfeltliketobefancy..."

"Excuse me?" I asked. "You're gonna have to slow that down a bit if you want me to understand, Porkchop."

He sighed again. "I ATE A BIT OF PASTA IN MY PROM SUIT BECAUSE I WANTED TO KNOW WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO BE FANCY!" He exclaimed. "And I may or may not have spilled a tiny bit of red pasta sauce... on my white suit."

Both Amelia and I looked at Porkchop with our mouths dropped open, gaping at his stupidity. This was a new low for him. I mean... pasta in a white suit? What kind of a fool would do something like that?

Ladies and gentleman... Porkchop.

"How much is a tiny bit of red pasta sauce?" I questioned.

Porkchop hung his head low and stood up. "One second," he said and sprinted out of the house.

"This oughta be good," Amelia muttered as I finished making Porkchop's grilled cheese (WHICH AGAIN, WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MINE BUT I AM A SAINT). I set the plate down where he was originally sitting right as Porkchop ran back into the house holding a bag.

He unzipped the bag and revealed the "tiny bit of red pasta sauce" stain. Which, was more like a giant bit of red pasta sauce stain. Like, the red pasta sauce went all the way down from the collar of Porkchop's white button-up onto the jacket and even down to the pants. It made me wonder how on earth Porkchop ate pasta.

"Holy shit," I said.

"Yeah. That's bad," Amelia said, shaking her head. She patted the barstool next to her where he was sitting before he ran out to grab the suit. "Sit. You're gonna need this grilled cheese."

Porkchop pouted and sat next to Amelia, digging into his (my) grilled cheese. I turned around to make yet another grilled cheese, only to realize that we had officially run out of sourdough bread and swiss cheese.

"Great!" I exclaimed, flailing my arms in the air. "We're out of sourdough and swiss cheese, you two are the only buffoons who got a damn grilled cheese! And on top of that, now I have to deal with this giant ass red stain so you don't look like you belong in the goddamn movie Carrie at prom!"

Porkchop and Amelia exchanged glances, shrugging at each other. "You didn't have to give us the grilled cheeses," they said in unison. I groaned and rested my head on the counter.

Just then, my mom walked down and I lifted my head up.

"Oh. This looks like a crisis," she said, turning to look at Porkchop's suit. "Ooh, grilled cheese. Are you making more, Noah?"

I glared over at Porkchop and Amelia. "I would be making more if we had any DAMN BREAD LEFT!" I screamed and my mom's eyes widened.

"Sheesh. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," my mom muttered and I groaned louder, this time practically slamming my head on the counter.

This day was off to a great start.

✯ ✯ ✯

Apparently, Mrs. Grigio was the queen of all stains. She knew how to get them out to the point of pure perfection. My mom knew this information and immediately drove us (yes, all of us except Amelia, she was the lucky one) over to the Grigio's house to fix Porkchop's suit. I tried to talk her out of making all of us go just because I didn't exactly want to go to the Grigio's house, but she didn't listen to me. Even when I explained that Sebastian Grigio had shown up to the state tournament decked out in an outfit with all of our faces on it. Yes, he had done that. But not one of the boys on the team knew how he:

A) Obtained those pictures of us.

B) Managed to have a shirt, pants, hat, cape, shoes, and even socks with all of our faces on it.

My mom was one of those people who loved everyone. Apparently, she knew Mrs. Grigio from their own childhood, making the Grigio's a family friend. Great, I thought. Just one more reason to be affiliated with the Grigios.

Long story short, we went to the Grigio's house. And it was interesting, to say the least.

My mom knocked on the door and the door swung open almost immediately. In front of us stood what I assumed was Mr. Grigio, although it was kind of hard to tell because his face was completely painted like corn. Yes, corn.

"HOWDY!" Mr. Grigio yelled. "I'm sorry, am I being too... corny?" He laughed uncontrollably and surprisingly, so did my mom and Porkchop. I just laughed awkwardly behind them.

"Oh, Lee!" My mom laughed. "It has been way too long. The last time I saw you, you were a scuba diver."

"That was one of my best face paintings..." Mr. Grigio said. "Please, come inside. Kim is just in the kitchen getting her stain stuff out. You know that woman has to be a stain expert when she's dealing with wedding dresses all of the time. Even with her alibi job, she has to get a lot of red stains out..."

I didn't want to know what that meant, although I could imagine.

We walked into the house and followed Mr. Grigio out to the kitchen where Mrs. Grigio had a whole assortment of stain-themed items.

"Alice!" Mrs. Grigio yelled, pulling her in for a quick hug. "It is so great to see you again! And same with you, Noah. I haven't seen you since our family dinner with Logan!"

I nervously laughed. "Yep. It's been too long," I lied.

"And you must be Clay, the stain guy!" Mrs. Grigio exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "I just love taking care of stains."

"And I love pasta," Porkchop said, grinning.

Mrs. Grigio took Porkchop's suit and walked over to the table with an array of different cleaning supplies. Right then, I heard an all-too-familiar voice screech my name.

"THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND! IT CAN'T BE!" Sebastian exclaimed. "Noah Locke and my man Clay!" Sebastian walked over and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"Hey, Sebastian," I said.

"Sebastian!" Porkchop exclaimed. "Dude. I gotta say this. I loved your outfit at state and I never had the opportunity to ask you where you got that stuff! I would die to wear a shirt with all my favorite boy's faces on it!"

I facepalmed myself.

"LET ME SHOW YOU!" Sebastian yelled and started walking over to the living room. Porkchop followed giddily behind him while I stood in the kitchen unsure of whether to stay with Mrs. Grigio and my mom or to go see where the hell Sebastian ordered merch with all of our faces on it.

"Want me to paint your face like the Mona Lisa?"

I jolted and spun around to face Mr. Grigio who was holding a face painting kit in his hands. His face was still painted like corn. Dammit. I needed to get out of here.

"Actually... I was about to see these shirts Sebastian ordered," I said, but before I turned to leave the room I had the sudden urge to question Mr. Grigio. So I turned back to face him, furrowing my eyebrows. "Wait a minute. You can paint my face like the Mona Lisa?"

Mr. Grigio grinned and nodded. "Might as well call me Leonardo Da Vinci!"

And now I was intrigued. I shrugged. I still had a few hours before I had to get home to hang out with the boys and even more hours before I actually had to get ready for prom. What could a little face paint hurt?

✯ ✯ ✯

The girls were coming over to my house at 4 to start getting ready for prom. No one was getting their hair or makeup done professionally, so we were all going to help each other out. As much as dressing up wasn't exactly my thing, I couldn't deny that I enjoyed the entire getting-ready process for these high school dances. It was nice to occasionally put more effort into your appearance. And I was more than excited (for once in my life) to get to wear the prom dress Porkchop had helped me pick out. He really did have impeccable taste.

My parents had been extremely strict for the past week since the volleyball Stanford incident, but thankfully they were feeling a bit nicer today. The only thing saving me from house arrest was the fact that both of my parents had great senior proms and they didn't want me to miss out. That seemed impossible to me, but I would take it.

It was almost 4 o'clock and Gracie and Bianca were the only ones over so far. My parents weren't home, so we had the house to ourselves to get ready and have our pre-prom dance party (as requested by Bianca of course). She liked to prepare her best dance moves before prom for some reason. At least she could dance. I, however, couldn't dance for shit. But I sure tried my best.

"Oh my god," Gracie groaned, showing us her phone screen, which was her text conversation with Porkchop. "He seriously spilled pasta sauce over the entire suit. They had to go to Mrs. Grigio to fix it."

"Mrs. Grigio?" I asked. "They were literally next door?"

Gracie nodded. "I shouldn't be surprised. This is Porkchop we're talking about."

The doorbell rang and I excused myself, walking through the foyer and to the front door. I opened the door and Sophie and Savannah were on the other side holding their dress bags.

"Hey, Logan!" Sophie exclaimed. "Where do the dresses go?"

"In my room upstairs to the left," I told them and Sophie immediately headed upstairs while Savannah stayed for a moment.

"I just wanted to say thanks for letting me come get ready with all of you. You didn't have to," she said.

"I wanted to," I said, smiling.

Savannah smiled before heading upstairs to hang up her dress and I made my way back into the kitchen. Gracie spun around to face me and handed me her phone, which was set on a Pinterest board filled with hairstyles. Gracie was always the best at doing hair and she'd done mine for every dance for the past 4 years.

"Pick your poison, Log," Gracie said as I scrolled through the board. "Now, I had an idea for you just because your dress is already popping and maybe your hair should be more... classic."

"Classic?" I asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Just nothing extravagant. Simple curls," Gracie shrugged. "Or we could do whatever you like."

I shrugged and handed Gracie her phone back. "I'll do whatever you think's best. You're the hairstylist, anyway."

Sophie and Savannah came downstairs and Gracie handed the phone over to them.

"Ladies, pick your hairstyle!" Gracie exclaimed. "I will be doing your hair today. Bianca and Sophie will be in charge of the makeup and... Logan and Savannah are just here."

I slapped her arm and rolled my eyes. "Shut up and curl my hair."

I sat down at the counter while Gracie sat behind me, plugging in her curling iron to start curling my hair. I honestly didn't mind getting my hair done. It made me feel fancy. I quickly checked my phone to see a text from Noah.

NOAH: Is face paint acceptable for prom?

I furrowed my eyebrows, but then another text came through and my mouth dropped open wide. I covered my mouth with my hand and laughed at the picture Noah had sent me.

"Holy. Shit," I said, holding up my phone so that everyone else could see what he'd sent me. This was gold. Pure gold. Everyone pretty much had the same reaction as me, laughing and gaping at the picture of Noah with his face painted like the Mona Lisa.

"Mr. Grigio has really outdone himself this time," Gracie muttered.

"Tell him to wipe his goddamn face off. That is not allowed at my prom," Bianca said, snapping her fingers.

I shook my head and texted Noah back while Gracie continued curling my hair.

LOGAN: Cute. But no way.

I set my phone down right as the doorbell rang again. I wasn't expecting anyone else so I assumed it was just a package or something and ignored the doorbell. But then it rang again. And again. And again. And then there was a bunch of knocking. I quickly stood up and Gracie stopped curling my hair for a moment so I could walk over to the front door.

I slowly opened the door and my mouth dropped open.

"Billie?"

✯ ✯ ✯

First off, we have to talk about the cliffhanger. And you already know what's up. When I said there would be drama involving prom, I meant it. D-R-A-M-A. Buckle up bitches, you're in for a goddamn ride next chapter. It'll be good if you enjoy a good dose of tea. Teehee.

Now we must discuss the rest of this chapter. Starting with Amelia. Please tell me you love Amelia cause I do. She's sassy. If my future child isn't as sassy as her, I'm going to return it. And then, of course, Porkchop spilled spaghetti sauce all over his white tux. What else could you expect from our favorite fool? Nothing. Nothing at all.

And poor Noah. No grilled cheese. :(

I keep trying to find ways to incorporate the Grigios more. They're just such a weird family and I appreciate them.

Anyway, get ready for drama.