stares into my eyes with the confidence I wish I had, and it eases my mind a little. If I’m honest with myself, I’m worried we’ll grow apart. That she won’t want a long distance boyfriend and will move on.
“I’ve got an idea,” she says, hopping up from her spot on my bed.
“Uh oh,” I joke.
“Shut it. I’m serious. We should go get tattoos.” Her eyes are bright, but all I can do is blink a couple times at her. This is so out of character. She never does spontaneous things. “You don’t want to?” she asks when I don’t respond.
“I mean, I do, but have you even thought about what you’d get? This will be on your body forever.”
“Well, no,” she admits. “I just thought it would be fun and get us out of here. Take our minds off things.” She averts her eyes with a shrug and that’s when I see it. She’s sad too. Even with the brave front she’s been putting on, she’s as aware of our limited time as I am.
“Okay, we’ll do it.” Her hands clap in excitement. “One condition: I get to pick what we get.”
Her head shakes back and forth. “I don’t think so, mister.”
“Why?”
“You’re out of your mind if you think I’m going in blind.” Her arms cross over her chest, the excitement from moments ago morphing into annoyance.
“That’s what you’re doing now. You don’t even know what you want!” I argue. With an arched eyebrow, she holds her ground and stares at me. “Do you trust me?”
“This isn’t about trust.”
“Yes, it is. So I’ll ask again; do you trust me?” Her dark blues stare into my greens for what feels like minutes until she finally agrees. “Awesome! Let’s go!”
Josh got a tattoo on his eighteenth birthday, so I called him up to see where he went. He told us to call this guy, Dom. It was supposed to be his day off, but he said he’d come in since we were friends of Josh’s. When we walk in, I’m pumped. I guess I’m a little nervous, but mostly excited. This will be something permanent that will tie us to each other for the rest of our lives. And with my recent doubts, this couldn’t have come at a better time.
I go into a private room with Dom to tell him what I want on each of us. I left Mia in the lobby so she couldn’t hear, which she wasn’t happy about. I want it to be a surprise. I pray she loves it. Truth is, I started thinking about getting one of these when I turned eighteen back in March. But I knew whenever I got one, Mia had to be with me.
A few hours go by and he’s finally done with mine. I want to be manly and say it was a piece of cake, but it hurt like hell. Now that I’m looking at the finished product though, I know it was worth every second. Dom does an amazing job on this 3D effect that looks as if pieces of my flesh are being ripped away from my chest to expose my heart underneath. A small lock hangs from a chain that looks to be partially hidden behind my torn skin as it wraps around my heart. It’s dark and edgy and completely badass.
“Holy shit, Dom. You knocked this one out of the park!” I exclaim.
“Glad you like it, bro.” He goes over the aftercare instructions before I go get Mia from the lobby. I wanted her to see them both finished at the same time. With how great this turned out, I’m more anxious than ever for hers.
Mia’s dad would freak if he knew she was doing this, then he’d murder me for taking her. So she wanted to put it somewhere he wouldn’t see: on her hip. I’m not crazy about this Dom guy touching my girl right below her bikini line, but I guess I don’t have a choice.
“You nervous?” I ask her.
“A little,” she admits.
“About getting the tattoo, or what the tattoo will be of?”
She thinks about it for a second. “Surprisingly, I’m not worried about what you picked out for me. I’m scared it’ll hurt.”
“Well, sweetheart, it’s not a massage,” Dom pipes in. I give him a “seriously?” look. He just shrugs and finishes prepping.
I hold
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