Tainted

Chapter 54: That's What George Would Say

The soft breeze tickles my nose as my eyes remain closed and my body sprawled across the soft grass with the sound of horses in the background.
"Kira," I peak an eye open and squint as the sun burns my eyes. Sitting up I heave out a sigh as Jesse slides down next to me. Of course we didn't end up going cliff jumping after my little meltdown, instead we settled on driving a little west of Austin to a farm owned by one of Jesse's family friends.

"I've told you hundred times and I'm going to tell you a hundred more times, we're safe here," Jesse sighs as I meddle with the hem of my white t-shirt.
"I don't give a shit if we're safe, I give a shit about the people who are dying because of me," I whisper out hoarsely.
"Kira," Jesse moves closer to me, "Kira look at me," and I do.
"Your father is a lot of things, but one of the things he isn't is stupid, he wouldn't be stupid enough to kill someone a city over who looks absolutely identical to you. He knows we would've fled, and there's no question that he mistook that girl for you, if he wanted to kill you he would've."
"And did we flee?" I question glaring at him slightly, "Or did we just drive 20 minutes out of the city?"
"He can't get you here, I won't let him," Jesse promises and I clench my jaw tightly stuck in thought.

Finally I decide it's not worth arguing over especially if I know I will lose, so I plop right back down in the grass and stare at the bright blinding sky. Once Jesse sees I'm not going to continue the subject he takes a spot right next to me in the backyard.
"I haven't heard from her in five days Jesse," I close my eyes again as something begins to rip away at my heart.
"I know," Jesse's now facing me and I turn my head to stare at him as he holds a desperate expression in his eyes, "It's ok, once this whole thing is over you'll be able to see her, I promise."

Turning my head back to the sky my eyes are closed once more and I begin to attempt at numbing the pain. I wonder what George would tell me to do right now, or how different my life would be if he were sitting next to me right now. Once more it feels as if a wild beast tears at my heart uncontrollably.

"Jesse, I want to do something," I turn to him and he raises a questioning eyebrow.
"Like?" he asks as a calculative smile graces his lips.
"Something crazy as hell that my mother would never approve of," I nod lightly.
"Want to get a tattoo?"

+++

"I can't believe I'm letting you two do this," Naomi mutters as we enter the tattoo parlor.
"I can't believe you're letting us do this either," Jesse snorts as a sketch catches his eye immediately. Once we presented the idea to John and Naomi John's first instinct was to say yes while Naomi's was to say no. Eventually we got her on board too and offered to Katie and Chris, but apparently the voices in Chris's head were getting louder by the hour and he wanted to wait until his medication kicked before he goes anywhere. John of course wanted to come with us but someone had to stay behind with Chris and Katie and Naomi told him these words exactly, "I'm not letting you go to a tattoo parlor to supervise two teenagers who are illegally getting tattoos in which you'll probably convince one of them to get a tattoo of your face on their forehead."

So it ended up being just Jesse, Naomi, and I in a really fancy looking tattoo parlor with people covered from head to toe in various colors and pictures.
"So what are you thinking?" Jesse asks as I flip through different fonts.
"That's a good question," I laugh slightly as I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to get permanently marked on my body for the rest of my life.

"Probably a word and not a symbol," I think out loud as Jesse peaks over my shoulder at different fonts.
"Hm," Jesse nods as he stares at a certain font, "Wait," he stops me and points to a certain font, "Can I do that one?" he asks the tattoo artist whose been watching us tiredly the whole time.
"Yeah I can do that, what do you want it to say?" he questions gruffly and Jesse gets a distant look in his eyes along with a smile that graces his face.
"Intrépide," Jesse smiles, "Here I'll write it down," and just like that Jesse's on the other side of the room explaining something to the tattoo artist and then writing something else down.