r y d e r *
I am a klutz. Ask anyone. They'll tell you that I truly cannot walk without tripping at least once...a minute. My best friend, Kelby can attest to this. Honestly, this really isn't relevant, but I wanted you to know.
"You coming over tomorrow?" I ask Kelby, turning to him.
"Wha-oh, yeah," he replies, bringing me back into reality. "Actually, I was wondering...I want to go get a tattoo tonight, you wanna come with me?"
"Oh, um, sure."
"Cool, can I stay the night too?"
"Quit asking, I'm always going to say yes! You're always welcome, Kel."
He smiles, his dimples popping out.
Before we head to the tattoo shop, we stop at Taco Bell and eat; Kelby doesn't have an appointment, so we don't have to be there at a certain time, just before they close.
"Sign in, and we'll be right with you," the girl, who has her blonde hair knotted into a messy bun and tattoos up and down her right arm, at the front desk says as Kelby and I walk into the piercing and tattoo shop. Kelby walks over to the sign-in sheet, writes down his name and what he wants and then we sit down.
"You nervous, bub?" I ask him, taking his hand in mine and fidgeting with his fingers.
"Yeah, I am...I can't believe I'm about to do this...but I'm excited," he says, adding the last part after a long moment of silence. Since Kelby is eighteen, he doesn't need a parental release or signed form.
"Kelby Michaels? May I see your ID?" the girl calls from the desk and he gets up to hand it to her and take it back.
"Alright, you can follow me. We're putting you in a private room," she says and I get up and follow them. Before she lets him lay down on the chair, she gets out a Clorox wipe and rubs it down. Kelby backs up onto me and grabs my hand. I smile, resting my chin on his shoulder, and squeeze it.
"I'll be here the whole time, you can squeeze my hand as tight as you want," I tell him.
He leans his head against mine in response and the girl looks up at us and smiles.
"You two make a cute couple," she says, smiling widely. "Alright, you can go ahead and sit down, in the chair. Your boyfriend can sit on this stool right here and Kevin will be right with you."
She walks out of the room and shuts the door behind her. Kelby looks more and more nervous as it goes. I scoot over beside him and brush a strand of stray hair from his face, gazing at his face.
"Y-you gonna keep staring, or?" he asks, a slight laugh coming out of his mouth.
I blink. "Huh? Oh, um yeah," I murmur, leaning in close. The door opens and I jerk back, moving quickly.
"Alright, you ready?" a man, who I presume to be Kevin asks as he comes in the room with a young girl coming in behind him.
"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess," Kelby says, his voice shaking.
"You'll be fine! Just squeeze your friend's hand and you'll get through. This is Jess, she's shadowing with me today, and I'm Kevin."
I offer my hand to Kelby as Kevin tells him to squeeze my hand.
"You might want to restrain his other hand," I say. "When dealing with needles and pain, he does sometimes jump and move his hands around."
"Alright, I'll have Ms. Jess, if she would do so, to restrain it."
She nods, pulling his hand upward, wrapping her fingers around his wrist and holding it.
"Okay, what are we doing and where?" Kevin asks Kelby.
Kelby pulls his shirt up and pulls down the waistband of his pants a little bit, then pulls up the picture of what he wants on his phone.
"Wow, that is beautiful!" Kevin says. "
"Alright, the first thing I'm going to do is the alcohol, that's the first thing you're going to feel," Kevin tells him. Kelby nods and looks over to me. I have my chin resting beside his head.
"You got it," I whisper as he squeezes my hand.
"Alright, now I'm going to take the needle," Kevin says. Kelby jumps and tries to move away, looking from me, to Kevin, to Jess, with a whimper.
"Hey, hey, hey, look at me," I say, touching his cheek and turning him to face me. "Just look at me, I'm right here."
"Ssh," I shush softly. "It's okay...you wanna hold my other hand?"
I notice tears springing to his eyes. He nods his head, and I grab his right hand, sliding my fingers in between his.
"I'm right here," I repeat softly, stroking his face with my free hand.
Kelby looks at me and squeezes my hand tightly.
"You got it, you got it, you got it," I echo softly.
"Is there a reason behind the tattoo?" Kevin asks Kelby as he is working. "Or did it just look cool?"
"I have a reason behind it," he says, pausing for a moment and turning to me. "The dove is for a messenger and the arrow is for a warrior."
"Cool...is there someone you're getting it for?"
Kelby nods and I wonder why he hadn't told me. "Yeah. I am. I can't wait to show it to them."
