Human For You [Theo Raeken]

Smells Like Teen Spirit

We arrive at Splatter Paint Room in San Diego in a little under two hours.  We're immediately greeted and directed to the room Theo reserved for us.  It's a fairly large room, the white walls still streaked with faded paint.  Against the front wall are two blank canvases and surrounding them are small buckets of paint in various colors and buckets of water and brushes.  In the far-right corner is a small table with a Bluetooth speaker.  We're given plastic protective coats and goggles and told they'll fetch us in a couple of hours.

Once the door is shut, I stare at the blank canvases, biting my bottom lip, "I don't know what to paint."

"That's the point."

I look over my shoulder at Theo; it's amazing how even in something as basic and boring as a plastic coat and goggles, he's still cute, "What do you mean?"

"You're not supposed to know what to paint. Or even think about what to paint. Just do what feels right to you."

I hum in agreement, heading for the table with the speaker.  I connect my phone and scroll through my Spotify, randomly stopping on a favorite and pressing play.

Doctor, doctor, need you back home, baby

Doctor, doctor, where ya at? Give me something

I need your love, I need your love, I need your lovin'

You got that kind of medicine that keeps me comin'

I turn around to face the canvases, catching sight of Theo's raised eyebrows.  I grin, "Problem?"

He shakes his head, slowly smiling, "Not at all."

My body needs a hero, come and save me

Something tells me you know how to save me

I dunk my brush in red paint and start flinging it at my canvas.  Next to me, Theo's doing the same in black.

I've been feeling weird, oh

Oh, I need you to come and rescue me

Oh-oh-oh-oh

For the next hour or so, we alternate between colors and brushes, tossing random colors haphazardly onto the canvas.  I'm not worrying about the color scheme or the paint dripping down my jeans and onto my shoes or that in our careless hurling, we've managed to get paint on the uncovered bottom of our faces.

I'm just having fun with Theo Raeken and I'm loving every second of it.

I pause for a second, panting slightly.  I remove my goggles and put my hands on my knees.  Theo stops as well, removing his dotted goggles to watch me closely, "You okay?"

I look up at him to assure him I'm okay but instead, I start laughing.

Theo blinks in confusion, "What?"

I shake my head and say between giggles, "You should see yourself.  You're covered in paint."

Theo shakes his head in amusement, grinning, "You don't look much better, Dove."

"Hey!"

He shrugs, "You're still cute, but you look like a peacock's feathers."

My mouth drops and Theo laughs at my offended expression.  I wave my hand, "I do not-"

I gasp as streaks of cherry red paint from the brush I'm still holding fly onto Theo's right cheek.  I'd completely forgotten I was still holding it, "Oh my God, I am so-"

Spots of baby blue paint scatter across my nose and lips.  I blink rapidly, my mouth dropping open again.  Theo cocks an eyebrow, smiling sweetly, "Problem?"