Heteronym

Chapter 10

The buzz of the tattoo machine filled my ears from across the shop as I sat in a smooth leather black chair. It was actually very quiet in the shop at about four in the afternoon. The sound resembled the area, I suppose. Outside of the busy city was my favorite shop in Greenwich, Connecticut. My artist here, Franky, had done all of my tattoos: from my Medusa, to my semicolon on fire, my memorial tattoos for Seb, and even the reaper on my forearm.

While Franky had never worked on Beck, Jenn was the artist who had done his memorial line and the '36' behind Beck's ear. The man who had done Beck's forearm piece was from Boston but Beck had fallen in love with Jenn's Instagram portfolio. I had to admit that they were pretty amazing. If I wanted another tattoo, especially if it had to do with flowers, I might just hit Jenn up. Though I don't think I'd be getting another tattoo for a long time, if any. I was happy and I didn't want too many.

Since we didn't have to wear pads for just under a week, now was the best time to get a tattoo. Beck planned to take full advantage of that chance.

"God damn, I'm starting to get ink envy," I mused as she wiped the section she was working on. On Beck's bicep he was getting a skeletons hand holding a rose, the outside petals starting to wilt. The falling petals morphed into bones and skulls as the added to the pile of skeletons that Beck's plague doctor and hawk perched on its's shoulder were landing on. It was a beautiful piece.

"I always got you covered, Dan," Jenn joked without looking up.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks Jenn, but I think I'm good on the ink for now." My attention shifted to Beck's face, "I'm going to assume this means your mom isn't going to flip a shit when she sees your girlfriend has a sleeve of tattoos."

"Meeting the parents for the first time? Rough," Jenn mused. Not helping, even if she was joking.

"Oh, be quiet," Beck rolled his eyes. "She's meeting one of my parents. Danny already knows my dad. It's my mom's wedding so we're taking a pit stop to see the family here before heading up to Boston."

"That didn't answer my question," I told him while crossing my arms.

"She won't hate them, if that's what you're asking."

I narrowed my eyes at Beck suspiciously before calling him out. "She hasn't even seen your tattoos, has she?"

"It's not like I hide them on purpose," he defended. If he was able to move this would be where he held his hands up defensively or scratched the back of his neck. "Mind you, I haven't lived in Boston since I was eighteen and I just happen to see my mom at holidays or events wearing a button down or a suit."

"Beckett!" I hissed, suddenly feeling slightly stressed.

"What?" His tone was still defensive. "Maybe she checks my instagram. I don't know."

A strangled groan escaped my lips as I punched the bridge of my nose. "Beck, she's going to hate me before she even says a word to me."

"No, she won't," Beck assured me. "Just relax. It'll be fine."

"You said she's marrying a traditional Christian man. Your step-father if going to hate me."

Beck sent me a pointed look. "That's not true. But even if it was, do you really think I give a fuck about what a virtual stranger thinks of you?"

"No, but his opinion will influence your mother's opinion whether you agree or not," I argued back, crossing my arms. The wedding was only a few days away and I was freaking out. I had known Beck's father and step-mom long before we started dating. Back when we were just friends it was so much easier not to worry about what his parents thought of me because by the time we started dating, I already saw them on a regular basis. Now it was like the pressure was actually on.

I wasn't a normal person. There were so many controversial things about me to hate. From the fact that I was raped to my crippling depression that kept me home for no reason at all some days, to even my job. Surely his mother would be thinking about Beck's future family. I couldn't give him that if we ended up on opposite sides of the country and I doubt she would support Beck possibly giving up his career a few years early so the two of us could stay in a city we liked.

I'm also white. Maybe I'm scarred from meeting Vishal's parents who hated me for not being an Indian princess with a doctorate in mathematics, but there was still some reason to be nervous. I mean, some people didn't always want their kids in interracial relationships, as horrible as that was. But hadn't Beck's last girlfriend been African American? Then again, she was an ex for a reason and maybe it's because his mom hated her too.

I was thinking way too much about this.

I need a fucking Xanax.

"I'm sorry if I'm a little nervous about meeting the parents of the first boyfriend I actually like," I frowned slightly, my stomach pulsing with butterflies at just the thought of the wedding.

"You've had boyfriends you didn't like?" Jenn asked in an almost amused tone.

"Its a long story," I muttered to her in a tired tone. Long story short is that I was having issues and I thought my mental health was the reason I wasn't happy, not just the fact that the honeymoon phase wore off kind of quickly. I'd never known a relationship could make me this happy until I met Beck.

"Danny, if this is about the whole Sylvia thing then don't worry about it. My mother will not hate you," Beck reassured me in a genuine tone with a warm smile. He didn't have to elaborate for me to know he was talking about how my mother hated both her daughter in-law and myself.

Maybe Beck was right and I was just scarred by my mothers reactions to the people around her. I hoped that was the case.

"But it doesn't even matter if she does, because I don't."

I couldn't help but let a giddy smile grace my lips, causing Jenn to smirk down at Beck's arm when she saw it out of the corner of his eyes.

"Something tells me you two will be perfectly fine."

I hope she is right.