Even only knowing him for a short time, I could tell something was off about Kane. We had been spending a lot of time together this week, and this Kane was not the usual happy, carefree Kane that I had gotten used to. He was tense now, and you could tell his body was strung tight by the way he kept clenching and unclenching his fists. I studied him for a brief second, trying to figure out what was actually wrong, but was suddenly dragged away by Jessi before I could figure it out.
“Come on, chick! We have an appointment to get to!” she said enthusiastically.
It took me a minute to grasp what she was talking about, but when I finally did, I dug my pink Chucks into the ground and jerked my arm free from her grasp. Jessi whirled around to face me, red hair flying like wild angry flames.
“I change my mind!” I stated as I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Oh, no! No you’re not! We ARE doing this Kelsey! We have talked about this far too long to back out now.” She placed her tiny hands on her hips and glared.
“This is all happening so fast, Jess. We just got here. We are finally getting settled and making new friends. Now we’re going to get tattoos?! Can’t we just slowly move into the next phase of this whole ‘Jessi and Kelsey free as birds, Thelma and Louise’ life you have planned?”
“Thelma and Louise, Kels? Really? They die at the end of that movie! We are just getting a tattoo!”
She was so not getting it. I was all up for change, I really was. That was the whole plan for going off to a college in a different state. I was ready to get away from the place that held so many bad memories, that for the past six months I had counted down the days ‘til our move here. I wanted this clean slate … hell I needed it. But I had sheltered myself for so long, that I didn’t know the fear and uncertainty that would come with the changes I was making in my life now. And honestly, now that I was finally living out everything I had said I couldn’t wait for, I was just a little overwhelmed with it all.
The look Jessi was giving me was enough to make grown men cry. She could be kind of scary when she was determined, and she was damn determined for us to finally get these tattoos.
I huffed and stomped around Jessi, heading toward the parking lot. “Fine! Let’s do this. Let’s go see a man about some tattoos.”
I didn’t turn back to look at her, but I could hear her squee and then her heals clicking against the ground as she hurried to catch up with me.
Lopping her arm in mine, she asked, “So did you finally make up your mind about what you wanted to get?”
I shrugged. I had a general idea of what I wanted. I could see it in my head so clearly, but when it came to describing it to someone for them to draw up, I wasn’t so sure I could make them understand what I wanted. The tattoos I had picked out held a special meaning to me and it needed to be perfect.
“I think I’m pretty set on what I want now but I guess we will see when we get there. Landon said his brother is an amazing artist. That he started out drawing and painting before someone suggested tattooing. When he finished his first tattoo he’d found a passion he never knew he had before.”
Well that was a nice story and all. I was really hoping this guy lived up to his reputation. Since I’d become better friends with Kane and was actually getting to secretly study his tattoos up close, the detail in them did amaze me. Tattooing really should be seen more as art and less as stereotyping the people that have them. If people would take the time to actually look closely at other people’s tattoos, then maybe they would see that not everyone goes and gets a tear drop for murdering someone, or gets a butterfly when they turn eighteen just because they want to rebel against their parents. Some people put a lot of thought into their tattoos. Making each one reflect a certain time in their life. Or maybe an event that held so much significance to them, they want it to be remembered forever.
So far, the things I could make out from Kane’s tattoos were the very realistic portraits of an attractive man and woman on the inside of each of his forearms. An extremely detailed fish was also on the forearm with the man, and some roses and script were on the arm with the woman. I hadn’t been able to read the script as of yet, though.
I was still daydreaming about Kane’s tattoos when we approached Jessi’s car, and it hit me that we were really about to do this. Climbing inside, I began to fidget with my seatbelt and Jessi placed her small hand on my arm.
“Kelsey?”
“Yeah?” I gave the seatbelt one last tug before finally getting it adjusted to where it was most comfortable.
“You’re going to be fine. You know that right? This is just first tattoo jitters. Believe it or not, when Landon and I were talking the other night—”
“Wait”—I interrupted her—“you and Landon do more than just swap spit? You actually throw some conversation in there?” I joked.
She smiled before playfully punching me in the arm. “ANYWAY, as I was saying … when Landon and I were talking the other night after watching one of those tattoo shows that have been coming on TV lately, I started to panic that I wouldn’t be able to handle the pain. You know me, I’ve never really been good with pain, and that show we had watched had some of the people passing out and getting sick and…” I made a choking noise and she hurried to reassure me. “No, no, no! It’s not going to be like that for us. These people were getting these huge detailed tattoos that the tattoo artists had only a few hours to complete. Landon said the longer the tattoo session, the more raw your skin gets so it begins to hurt a lot more. But it almost had me in a full-blown panic attack worrying that I would freak out like some of those people. You know, that I would not be able to stand the pain and walk around with an unfinished tattoo for the rest of my life.”
“Jess, you’re really not helping me, ya know.”
“Seriously, Kelsey, if anyone has this it’s you. You are the strongest person I know. I may talk a big game, but honestly, when it comes down to it you may have to baby me and walk me though this,” she laughed.
I hugged my best friend tight before throwing myself back into my seat and letting out a loud sigh. “Let’s get this over with then.” Who knows, we both might surprise ourselves and think it tickles when the tattoo machine finally breaks through our skin. YEAH RIGHT!
Jessi stared out the windshield a second or two before starting the car. It was nice to know that she’d had second thoughts about this before, too. I knew I wanted this … and she wanted this … so dammit, we were going to do this!