Inked

Only Time Will Tell...

Chapter 2:

I find myself just staring at it for long lengths of time. It reminds me of his touch, his voice, his laugh, him. I can't get over how real it looks. Granted it is real. But that's the thing isn't it? It's real. It's proof that it all actually happened. That he actually happened. I wonder what he's doing right now. Is he giving another tattoo? Is he telling them the same story he told me? I'm suddenly very jealous of this imaginary person I created in my head. Does he tell everyone about his tattoos? No. He said he doesn't usually tell people. I'm an exeption. I smile and run my fingers softly over the 2-week-old tattoo.

"Liam!" Eleanor brings my attention back to her.

"Sorry what?" I roll my jeans back down over the screw.

"Seriously? You didn't hear any of that?" she pouts.

"I'm sorry El, what's up?" I take a seat next to her on the couch and turn to give her my full attention.

"Nevermind, why don't you just ask him out?" she huffs.

"I can't do that! I've known him for 20 minutes! I need to figure out how to spend more time with him...He might not even be gay!" I sigh in fustration. "I'm thinking about getting another tattoo..." I whisper in fear of her response.

"I could go with you?" she offers, much to my surprise. "I could see if he's gay for you."

"Yeah?" I ask wondering what she has in mind.

"Yeah, I could go in with you and we'll see if he hits on me. Or if he pays more attention to me than you." she says.

"Hmmm... yeah alright. Wait... what should I get?"

"I don't know... we could go in and look at his drawings until you find something, that will give you even more time with him." She smiles proudly. Eleanor has always been really helpful. I've known her since primary school. Back then she was much more shy, but she always had an interest in acting. In secondary school, when I was still in the closet, she pretended to be my girlfriend so I wouldn't get bullied as badly. I had taken up boxing already, but she didn't like to see me come home covered in bruises so she volunteered because she wasn't out of the closet either.

"Yeah alright..." I nod.

"Alright now that we got that settled," Eleanor fixes her hair in front of her shoulders and stands up, "we, are going, to the mall." She smiles, pulling my arm along with her.

"Wait, why?" I ask as she throws my shoes at me.

"I really want to go shopping!" she shrugs and I know she's lying. She's a good actress, but a terrible liar. They always say the hardest part to play is yourself.

"Is this about Nicole?" I smirk.

"Nicolette!" Eleanor barks, which is all the answer I need.

"Nicolette! Sorry!" I hold in a laugh, tieing my shoe and catching the keys she toss to me.

"Shut up! You're getting a tattoo for the guy you like!"

"Wait. Do you think that's a mistake?" my smile falls into a frown as we run out to the car and get in.

"Only time will tell." she shrugs casually while simultaneously giving me the best idea ever.

"That's it!" I say squishing her in my embrace. " 'Only Time Will Tell' " I happily say as I start the car.

"You're insane..." she rolls her eyes and turns on the radio, clearly not getting what I'm on about. We both sing happily to all the songs we know and mutter random words to the tune of songs we don't, never admitting we don't know them.