Act 3 | Chapter 5

I'm not going to lie, I was way too excited the next morning. The Museum of Modern Art had always been a place I wanted to visit. Never before had I been to an art museum, and this one, in particular, had one of my all-time favorite pieces in it. A Starry Night painted by Vincent Van Gogh. There was just something about the blue spirals in the sky and the bright yellows that always intrigued me I once found myself staring at the painting for hours on my phone while I tried replicating the art style.

"Come on Riley!" I practically shouted, shaking my girlfriend with both hands and trying to wake her up. She let out a tired groan and shook her head, claiming that she was still tired, but I didn't let that stop me. I kept shaking her until she finally woke up, and gave in.

"Fine!" She chuckled, and sat up, "Man, I've never seen you this excited for something before?"

"What are you talking about? We're going to the Museum of Modern Art!"

Riley giggled and went to change into her everyday clothes while I did the same. We made our way out of the apartment and down the stairs, all the while, I explained to Riley just what paintings I was eager to see when we got there. The Starry Night painting being the main attraction for me. On the way to the museum, we stopped at a pastry shop and got something to snack on for breakfast before arriving at the front gates to the Museum of Modern Art. Walking through the front gate, we were greeted by the large courtyard that served as the main entranceway to the museum. There where a bunch of beautiful trees scattered around with small rectangular fountains and even a few sculptures. The path looked like it was made of quartz, but I wasn't sure. The only sculpture that caught my attention was one of the little things they had on the beach during the invasion of Normandy on D-Day. I didn't know what they were called, but I knew the original purpose was to slow down boats.

"Look at this place!" I said, gripping Riley's hand and looking around at everything.

"It sure is beautiful," Riley commented.

"Yeah... just like you~" I teased her and bumped her shoulder with my own. Riley ended up laughing and gently bumped me back.

"Aww, how sweet!~ I swear to you that I'll find something around here that's better than that." She joked.

"Me~?"

"No, I guess something that represents you." She chuckled, "Come on, let's head inside."

I gave her a nod and the two of us walked through the front glass doors. Upon entering we were greeted by several dozens of paintings and sculpture pieces. Walking through and over to each and every one of them, I took my time to look at them and admire the details. Art was always something I had deeply enjoyed, even if some art forms bugged me more than others. I was more of a painter and a drawer then a sculptor or anything else. It was hard to hold back the excitement in my voice, and the expression on my face. Occasionally, Riley would glance over at me and make sure I was staying close to her. It's not like anything was going to happen to me, but I'm sure she wanted to make sure I was safe at all times. We made our way through the floor of the museum before finally coming across the floor I was most excited for. According to the map they gave us at the front entrance, this is where the "Starry Night" painting was. Not wanting to rush through the floor, I still took my time to admire all the art pieces as we walked through, but once I spotted the painting out of the corner of my eye, I dropped everything and ran over to where it was.

I stood in front of it and admired it. The golden frame holding it in place, with patterns engraved along its smooth edges. The painting itself kept safe within it, and on display, for all to see. The dark and light blues swirled together to form a beautiful night sky, with paths of yellow, glows from the stars and the moon. The small village down below, everything about this painting was beautiful to me. I stood there beside Riley and simply looked at it, not saying a word. Seeing one of my all-time favorite paintings in person was so much more different than seeing it online from a google search.

"Do you know who Vincent Van Gogh is?" I asked Riley, not taking my eyes off the painting.

"That really depressed painter who painted sunflowers and stuff right? Didn't he also cut his ear one time?"

"So you were paying attention in class," I smirked.

"No, I just watched a lot of Doctor Who a few years back."

"That sounds more like it." I giggled a bit. "But yes. He was a bit crazy." Riley took the moment to step away and started looking at some of the other nearby paintings. Meanwhile, I just stood there, seemingly mesmerized by the art style used in the painting. After a bit of that, Riley grabbed my shoulder and started to pull me away.

"Found something." She simply said and dragged me away from the Starry Night painting. "Doesn't this painting kinda look like you?"

I looked towards the painting Riley was looking at and tilted my head a bit. In fact, it kinda did look like me, if you rewind time and go back to when my hair isn't dyed purple. Though the person in the painting was more images, with a single teardrop of blood running down her cheek. All the while the figure stood upon a small grassy hill, looking out at the audience like there was something on her end that was horrifying for her to see.

"Yeah... it kinda does look like me?" I commented and tilted my head a bit. We spent the rest of the day at the art museum, browsing the various floors there has to offer. At the end of the day though, we chose to stop at the gift shop just to see what they had to offer. The gift shop in a most art museum was more or less just small trinkets and keepsakes then anything worth buying. Stuffed animals, smaller replicas of sculptures we saw, posters of paintings, the usual. Eventually, I did spot a small wooden sheep that came along with a painting kit. I couldn't help but chuckle and show it to Riley

"Look at this." I held the sheep up to her. Riley stared at it in silence for a while, and It got to the point where I wasn't sure if she had zoned out or was just really, really studying the wooden design of the sheep.

"His name is Josh." She finally replied.

"Josh?" I giggled, "I haven't even played for him yet."

"Nope, because I am. He's a good boy."

"You are such a dork."