The Rockstar Within Me

The Rockstar Within Me - Chapter 13

Copyright 2012

_______________________________________________________________

"Oh. My. Effing. Gawd!!" Jess screeched as the tattoo machine continued to go over her skin. The new black lines covering her foot were coming along nicely, the pain though, was visible on her face and even her foot was red. She was trying her best not to shout out every swear word she knew into the tattoo artist face, but her patience was definitely wearing thin.

"Stop being a baby." Mason called from the other side of the room, as another tattoo artist worked on his new tattoo.

"This hurts!" She continued to whinnied, holding my hand more tightly, making my fingers slowly change colour.

Jess and Mason had automatically agreed to come with River, Drew and I and after some convincing, Jeff had agreed to come and sign the permission form for us. Jeff told us that all he wanted was to see us all cry or chicken out, but at the moment he was leaning up against a wall, fast asleep.

How we were able to find a 24 hour tattoo shop, I'll never know, but only a couple hours later here we were, getting tattoos. The shop was exactly what I thought it would be too; dark walls covered in mirrors and odd paintings of dark looking people and past tattoos. The tattoo artists themselves were pretty stereotypical looking people, in their late twenties or early thirties, they had tattoos all up their arms and the guy tattooing Mason had tattoos covering his head even.

"Jess, can you let go a tiny bit...my fingers are turning purple!" I tried pulling my fingers out of her grasp but she was oblivious to her own strength at the time.

She made a miserable face as the tattoo artist continued to work on her left foot.

"It's going to be worth it." Jess muttered to herself over and over again.

Each of us had decided to get a different tattoo, in different places. Jess chose to get a couple of musical notes on her feet, Drew was getting two stars tattooed on either side of his chest, Mason decided to get a cool grudge looking American flag on one of his arms, and River had decided to get a large anchor on his arm. But picking a tattoo for myself, well that was a lot harder than I thought.

This would be on my body forever. I didn't necessarily want to get a tattoo that I would regret when I was twenty-five. I wanted it to mean something to me. Should I get something to do with my family? Or something to do with my band? Did I want words? Or a picture? It was a tough decision with only a couple hours to decide.

River, of all people, was the one who helped me pick the final tattoo design. He had suggested in getting something to do with music since we were in the middle of our first tour and it was sure to be a pivotal time in our lives. I liked the idea of River's anchor and how it stood for remaining true to you and I liked the idea of Jess' musical notes. After voicing my likes to the tattoo artist, he quickly drew up the coolest design I've ever seen. The picture was a treble clef that was incorporated into an anchor. It was so cool; I couldn't wait to see it on me.

"You're all done." The tattoo artist informed Jess.

She jumped off the table and stood in front of a mirror, looking critically at her foot.

"That's so awesome!" She is exclaimed excitedly. "Thank you!" She gushed, jumping up and giving the artist a hug. It was funny watching the reaction of the man when you knew he wasn't expecting it, but Jess was a bubbly person so I fully expected it.

After covering Jess' tattoo, the artist turned toward Drew, River and I.

"Who's next?"

There was a pause and suddenly I was pushed forward.