and it was perfect

Chapter 12

The next morning, I woke up and immediately knew this would be the day. I opened my Instagram and scrolled through my following list until I found the tattoo studio. Before I could overthink it, I opened their website and pressed the call button. I hated calling people, but this had to happen today. They had a free spot in an hour. Perfect. I got up and looked in the mirror. I still looked awful. The circles under my eyes made me look like I hadn't slept all week. I sighed and applied some concealer and mascara. Then I put on some comfortable clothes - it was my first tattoo, and I had no idea how to dress appropriately. But I knew I should eat something so I wouldn't faint when the needles hit me. Five minutes later, I knocked on Zoe's door. She still looked tired, but at least she was awake. "Wanna hold my hand while I'm getting a tattoo?" That woke her up for sure. She beamed at me and sat up in her bed. "Oh, absolutely!!"

Three hours later, we were back. I was in absolute awe. The swallow placed on my rib cage on the left side of my chest looked better than I had ever imagined. It was a symbol of freedom. Because I did make it, I did get out of it, and Aiden was right - I should be proud of that. Alex, Bella's boyfriend, was an absolute genius. I had shown him some Pinterest photos I had saved, and he had created the perfect drawing within an hour. Another forty minutes later, it was placed on my skin. It did hurt like crazy, but it was worth it. Zoe had been so impressed that she actually got an appointment for herself for next week.

Both of our parents would kill me. Back home, we unlocked the door and walked in on Josh and Aiden making food in the kitchen. Sometimes they cooked together, and it was the cutest thing. "Jenna is such a badass!" Zoe explained as soon as we walked in, we were starving too. "How comes?" Josh grinned. "I just got a tattoo." I beamed at him. That caught Aiden's attention as well. He looked up from cutting his chicken. "So, you really did it?" He raised a brow, and I saw the hint of a smile in his eyes. For some reason, I felt like he was proud of me. I wasn't sure how much he had heard back when I told Bella about it. I nodded and smiled even wider. "Show us!" Josh demanded and scanned my body for any ink. Of course, he couldn't see it, though. I carefully lifted my shirt, ensuring it would still cover as much of my chest as possible.
Josh let out a little whistle and told me he liked it while Aiden came closer to get a proper look. His look on my bare skin made my heart race. With knowing eyes, he scanned the drawing and nodded in agreement. "Looks pretty good." I was incredibly relieved hearing him say that. And couldn't help but compare him to Nate at that moment. He would've freaked out. He looked up at me again, his eyes being friendly, and ... I didn't know what it was. "Thank you." I replied from the bottom of my heart.

I was hoping my good mood would last for a while, but only a couple of hours later my mother called me. I smiled when I saw her name showing up on the screen. I hadn't spoken with as often as I'd liked since moving here. But who was I kidding, it'd been hard to spend time with her in Seattle as well - her and Dad were either working or sleeping. I'd never understood how someone could be so passionate for their job, but I'd accepted it years ago. "Hey Mum, how it's going?"

She filled me in on work and Dad and asked me all about my classes and roommates, as always. "Have you met any interesting boys yet?" She asked it teasingly, but I could tell by her voice that she did care very much about my answer. I sighed. "Nope, not really. I guess it'll be good to stay single for a while." she quietly sighed. And I knew what was coming. I closed my eyes. "Sweetie, I understand you were very hurt the last couple of months. But do you really think running away was the right thing to do? I ran into Kelly the other day, he's still devastated ..." - "Mom, I don't want to talk about him. You know that." My voice sounded harder than intended, but I was so sick of this. It wasn't her first time trying to talk about Nate. I knew she adored him and wanted us to get back together. If only she knew.

She sighed again. "You know how sorry he is, I know he still calls you everyday. Give yourself a little push and at least listen to what he has to say once." - "Mom-" She didn't even listen. "You know that your Dad and I had our rough phases as well and broke up a couple times. But you guys were so perfect-" I could feel the anger building up inside of me. I knew she only meant well, but I was sick of it. "We we're anything but perfect, Mum, why can't you believe that? Now I'm sorry that I'm not him, I'm sorry I'm not with the perfect son in law you've created in your head. Your supposed to be on my side here. Do you know how that makes me feel?" I could feel the tears building up again and pressed my teeth together. I didn't want to cry in front of her. Especially not out of anger.