Blue went exactly three days and six hours without her parents noticing the black lining her inner left wrist. But when one of her mothers came home from work and caught a glimpse of the skin she kind of flipped her shits.
“You got a tattoo without my consent?”
Blue bit her lip, peeking through her lashes at the incredulous, slightly angry woman before her.
“Isn’t that, like, impossible, anyway?” she asked. Blue cast her eyes somewhere else. “Did you forge my signature?” When her daughter didn’t say anything, Lauren collapsed back into the plush couch, fingers rubbing her brow. “Oh, my god, Blue. What the hell am I going to do with you?” It didn’t help when Mama walked in a moment later to check on all the yelling going on in the living room.
They said that when a couple really loved each other they started looking like each other, but at the moment how similar Blue’s moms’ distressed faces looked was quite eerie. “Come on, guys. It’s just a tattoo! And look how pretty it is!” she jutted her wrist in their faces and with a synchronized huff they shared a look. Finally, they walked off without a word and Blue bit back a smile.
***
Blue had never thought that she would be in such a cliché situation—throwing rocks at a boy’s window in the middle of the night. But here she was, doing just that. She had never quite realized how bad of an aim she had. The girl winced when the rock hit the pane with a crack and bounced off, landing just barely to the right of her. After a few more [bad] throws the window slid open.
“Must you wake me up in the middle of the night every fucking time?” Oliver leaned over the window ledge and fixed her with a tired, exasperated look.
“Come on! We’re almost done with the list, don’t bail now,” she hissed loudly at him and with a sigh he hung his head sharply.
“You owe me,” he grumbled once he had made his way down the tree. Blue smiled a satisfied smile.
☑ #1: Hug the first person I see on the streets
☑ #2: Sleep under the stars (no tent or anything; just on the grass)
☑ #3:Learn to play the piano
☑#4: Go skinny-dipping
☑ #5: Trespassing and have a picnic there
☑ #6: Finish a book under an hour
☑#7: Go to a concert
☑#8: Get drunk
☑#9: Get a tattoo
☐#10: Climb a hill so high that I can see the entire city and just scream.
Many times Blue would see a dark boy sitting at the top of the hill so she steered clear of him—the boy just screamed trouble. But now he was nowhere to be seen (and neither was the girl who had started joining him just recently) and she was glad as she pulled Oliver up behind her. At the top they were both out of breath and collapsed onto the dry glass. The stars were out and it smelled like rain and trees and Blue couldn’t get enough of it. By now Oliver was awake enough to ask questions.
“Why?” he asked simply, but she still understood.
“Because I’m angry, Oliver.”
They stayed silent for a while, listening to each other breathe side by side. Then, he spoke again.
“Tell me something about you, Blue.”
“Why?” she asked this time and he turned his head slightly to meet her eyes before looking back up at the blinking stars.
“Because I’ve known you for what seems like forever—I’ve pretty much helped you complete your bucket list, for God’s sake. And I don’t know anything about you.”
“Well…” Blue brushed her hand over the long grass, grasping a few blades within her fingers, watching them poke out between her moonlit skin. “What do you want to know?”
“Tell me—tell me about your family,” he said finally, pulling a small smile onto her lips. Her family. Okay, she could do that.
“I have two moms that I love very much even when they don’t approve of my tattoo. I also have an older sister. I don’t see her much since she’s married.”
“What’s her name?”
Blue liked this. She liked getting asked normal questions, questions anyone could ask anyone.
“Rion.”
“You guys have weird names,” he smirked, meeting her eyes with his now-awake ones.
“I quite like my name,” she huffed and Oliver’s mouth stretched wider into a smile. After a few moments Blue stood up on slightly unsteady legs, dusting off the back of her pants. And then she walked to the edge of the hill; she could see the lights from there and her breath almost got stuck in her throat. But then with a last glance at the boy behind her, she screamed.
She screamed because she was dying and because she might have been getting attached to Oliver and because she was scared. She was so, so fucking scared. And the entire time Blue thought that everything would get better, but when she sat back down next to Oliver, everything just seemed heavier because screaming had made her remember again.
A/N:
I'm not very satisfied with this chapter, but did you guys catch the connection between this and Late Nights? Rion (LN's narrator) is Blue's sister, if you didn't. When I wrote Late Nights I jsut wrote it and I didn't even plan it out but when I was planning this out I realized that Rion mentions having a younger sister with cancer, so I thought why not?
I feel life if I hadn't mentioned that the tie-in would have seemed more impressive. Whatever.
Dedicated to Sharkes for her gorgeously crafted words. Like they're actually so pretty.
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-Nova.
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The Bucket List
Short Story[a story] in which an ailing girl checks off everything on her bucket list with a little help from her weirdly attractive neighbor. [spiritual #8 // short story #41] WARNING: this shit is cheesy as hell i wanna gouge my eyes out
