Graffiti

Red and blue swam in Dallas’s vision, and sirens blared loudly in her ears. Truly Dallas didn’t know how she ended up in this situation as she was pushed into the back of a cop car with her best friend, Luka. 

  “I told you this was a bad idea!” Dallas hissed while frantically trying to rub the yellow spray paint off her sweater. Luka simply snorted and gave her a bored yet amused expression.

“Relax, it’s not that big of a deal. We’ll just call your sister to bail us out. Stop panicking.” Dallas groaned at her blasé attitude and shifted herself to face out the window and away from Luka as she remembered the previous events.

~ ~ ~

10 Hours Ago

The morning started off like any other. Bright white sunlight pouring through the windows, making the oak floors of their shared apartment glow. It would have been peaceful if not for the overwhelming noise of New York City. Dallas had already showered, dressed, ate breakfast, and was now packing her bag getting ready for her first class when Luka trudged through the kitchen, her blanket held tightly around her small frame. 

“You’re up early,” Dallas noted, knowing the younger girl would never be up before noon unless she had a class. Luka hummed in response, clearly not fully awake. 

“Well, whatever the reason, I’ve gotta go, but I’ll catch you after your evening class for an early dinner?” Dallas asked, and Luka gave a slight nod before heading to the counter, most likely to make a morning coffee. Dallas smiled and headed out to the ultimate torture known as college.

Two lectures, an exam, and one dance class later Dallas returns to their apartment exhausted. As she’s opening the door all she can think about how nice it’ll be to have some fun, let loose and relax a bit with her best friend over some of Luka’s incredible pasta (ramen noodles if we’re accurate). However, when she opens the door, she finds Luka putting on her shoes, her backpack slung over her shoulder, keys balancing in between her teeth, getting ready to go to God knows where. 

“Hold up,” Dallas says as she throws her own bag onto their beat-up couch. The clatter of the textbooks falling onto the floor shocks Luka. “I thought we were hanging out tonight? Where are you going?” 

“Art project. I just had the best idea. Can’t miss this opportunity,” she summarizes and flashes a sly grin at Dallas. Dallas swears incoherently under her breath. Honestly, what did she expect? Luka’s always been spontaneous and impulsive, but Dallas still had to try. 

“It can’t wait until tomorrow night?” She pleaded desperately, but as expected, Luka popped out a single nope and rushed towards the door. Dallas grabbed ahold of her backpack in hopes to pause her for one more moment, but the bag unzipped and cans of spray paint fell as Luka’s eyes widened. 

“Holyyy…. LUKA!” Dallas screeched hand still gripping the backpack tightly, and Luka put her hands in up in surrender. 

“Fine. Our project is to find something plain and add your own flair to it. What better way than to graffiti again?” She smirked, and Dallas watched her roommate in amazement.

“You’ve done this before!” Dallas sputtered, trying to wrap her head around this. “Won’t your teacher be upset? Cause you know, it’s ILLEGAL!” Luka laughed as if she thought the whole idea of law and order was a joke. Dallas wouldn’t be surprised if she did. 

“Please, Mr. Perry doesn’t care enough for that.” She said, waving a hand dismissively. “So, you in?” At that, Dallas audibly gasped, unable to form any more words. Luka was still going to do it after she was caught? Let alone invite Dallas, the person who caught her, too graffiti with her? There was a long moment of silence, and Dallas took the time to study her best friend. 

Luka was leaning casually on the wall, indigo eyes dancing with amusement as she tucked some of her short curly hair behind her ear. Her tan arms were flecked with small white scars, and there were a few rare scattered freckles around her eyes. She shouldn’t seem intimidating with her short height either, but she does. The two could not look more different. Dallas had long bouncy strawberry blonde hair, vibrant blue eyes, smooth almond-colored skin, and could at least reach the top shelf in their kitchen. If their looks weren’t different enough, their personalities surely were. Luka was reckless, impulsive, and never thought anything through. While Dallas was extremely precise and, more importantly, friendly. When they first met, Dallas wanted to strangle the girl for the constant insults and bored expressions. They really were an unlikely pair of friends.

“So, am I going to be waiting here all day or what?” Luka teased.

“This is so dumb,” Dallas stated and handed the backpack over to Luka. A smile crossed over her face, and Luka shoved the cans back into the bag. It was the perfect example of peer pressure, but Luka is her best friend. And, what are best friends for if not doing dumb stuff together?

When they got to the place, Dallas hadn’t noticed. It was a random small cracked stone wall by a road with more random graffiti already covering it. There were dirt and gravel where grass should be and trash at every corner. Luka hurriedly pulled out some cans of black spray paint and got to work repainting a large section.

“What should I do?” Dallas questioned as butterflies, no, elephants stomped around in her stomach. Luka threw her a random bottle of yellow paint.

“I don’t know, just make a smiley face or something.” Dallas nodded and made a small smiley face in the corner, but couldn’t bring herself to do anymore. Instead, she sat back and watched Luka work excitedly.

Around an hour later, she finished, and Dallas breathed a sigh of relief as they actually did this without going caught and could go home. Luka took a step back to look at her creation, and it only then did Dallas realize why this project had to be done tonight. It wasn’t even a scene, just an inky black space with a few stars scattered. Then there were these colors. Indigo, blue, purple, pink, yellow, and so much more colliding magically in swirling galaxies. A pair of eyes could be faintly made out, and there were words written at the bottom in a loopy script; ‘Stay.’ It was breathtaking. Luka pulled out her phone to take a few pictures then started picking up the bag. They would soon be home free if not for the Officer that greeted them when they turned around.

~ ~ ~

That brings the duo to now. Which is being sat in the county jail after being allowed to call Dallas’s older sister for help. Luka was leaning against the bars softly humming a tune as if everything was normal. Everything was not normal.

“Are you kidding me!” Dallas yelled, standing up from where she was seated far away from Luka. “I knew we shouldn’t have done this! We could have just stayed home, but no, you always have to be so reckless!” At that, Luka turned around eyebrows furrowed in deep thought, opening her mouth to retort, but another cop walked up to them.

“Well, well. Luka Moretti can’t say I’m surprised to see you in here,” they muttered, and Luka just gave a sheepish smile. 

“Officer McClain! So good to see you!” The cop just looked at Luka for a moment before their eyes darted over to Dallas.

“Who’s your friend?” 

“Ah. Don’t heckle her Officer. I dragged her into this; it’s all my fault. She’s got a clean record,” Luka said frantically. She moved to the side to block Dallas from the view of this ‘Officer McClain.’ Dallas was having none of it and approached the cop herself. 

“How do you two know each other?” She asked, puzzled why Luka would know a stranger cop. Officer McClain gave a hearty laugh at this and gestured to Luka, who had her head hung down in- shame? Hold on.

“Your friend over here used to do a lot of tagging back in the days of being a minor. Never really had anyone to bail her out so she’d spend a couple nights in here until I or one of the other cops on duty felt bad enough to get her out ourselves,” they explained, and Dallas’s eyes widened. The Officer left after that, and the two sat across from each other in silence, waiting for Dallas’s sister. 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you,” Dallas murmured softly after a while, and Luka looked up and gave a weak smile.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. I pressured you into coming; You had every right to be mad. I’m sorry.” Dallas crossed the cell-room to plop down next to Luka. Their sides squished together, and Luka hesitantly rested her head on Dallas’s shoulder. No matter how different they might be, or how insane things might get with Luka is, Dallas couldn’t imagine a life without her.

The silence, despite everything, was calming, and Dallas didn’t dare break it. So, no more words were said. Instead, Dallas mouthed, 'I love you', which went unseen by the small girl, leaned her head back against the wall, closed her eyes, and waited.