A New Beginning

Chapter Nine

The tattoo parlor smelled of smoke and – surprisingly – candy.  Louis was talking to the tattoo artist as I stood behind him, clutching Ollie in my arms.  I had never wanted to get a tattoo before, yet there I was, about to do just that.  When Louis had suggested it, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  At that moment, I began thinking about what getting a tattoo meant: needles, ink, pain. 

         On the walk over, Louis had shown me his tattoo.  It was two small music notes on his ankle, something I hadn’t noticed beforehand.  He told me that it hurt a little, but it wasn’t so bad.  He would get one too, one that symbolizes his relationship with his mother. 

         I looked around the room at all of the samples we could choose from, wondering what I would want permanently stamped on my body forever.  Of course I would get something that reminded me of Nora. 

         “Lane, do you want to go first?”

         I sighed, contemplating whether or not watching Louis get his done would scare me out of getting my own.  “Yeah, I will.  Hold Ollie.” I said, handing the small dog over to him.  I looked up at the displays, wondering how any symbol or word could represent how much Nora meant to me.  I didn’t simply want to write her name, I wanted it to be a symbol of our friendship.  I looked at the poster board that displayed tattoos about friends and even though it wasn’t there, I thought of what I wanted. 

         I looked at the tattoo artist, who could have been a professional wrestler in a previous life.  He was bald with huge brown eyes and piercings all over his nose, lip, and ears.  His arms were extremely large and muscular and he was wearing a black Metallica shirt.  Let’s just say I was glad to have Louis there in case this man decided to randomly attack me. 

         “My name’s Leslie.  What do you want, Sweetie?”

         Louis and I looked at each other; our faces blank yet our eyes screamed that we were laughing inside.  “I want to get ‘BFF’ in cursive letters on my wrist.  Also, if there’s any way you can put a halo and wings on it too, that would be great.”        

         “Do you wanna draw it out for me?”

         “Sure.” I said, reaching for the paper and pen he held out.  I tried to write BFF neatly and without a mistake.  I turned to Louis, “Should I have BFF or best friends forever?”

         “I like best friends forever, it’s more formal and sentimental.”

         “Me too.” I agreed, liking his input.  I scratched out the BFF writing and wrote ‘best friends forever’, adding a halo over the first ‘b’ and wings on either side of the phrase.  This tattoo would mean so much to me because Nora will be my best friend for the rest of my life, even when she is in heaven.  It would be a reminder to me to not blame myself for her death but instead live my life to the fullest for Nora.  A tear slid down my cheek as I wrote this, and I felt Louis’ hand grasping my shoulder. 

         Once I was finished, I handed it to Leslie, who examined it and got his supplies ready.  “Where do you want it?”

         I pointed to the very right surface of my right foot.  “Can I have it curve upward on this side?”

         “Yes, that is a very popular spot.  Take a seat here and we will get started.  Leslie pointed to the black leather chair in the center of the room.  I climbed into it and sighed.  I bit my lip and started to sweat, getting nervous.  Though needles commonly make some people feel queasy, they didn’t bother me.  However, I was too afraid to look, so I brought my attention elsewhere.