Overcome [n.m]

Thirty

We blared music all the way to the boy's apartment. I reached to turn down the music and spoke up, "I never asked you what you wanted to get Nick," I stated reached across the center console to hold his hand.

"I want to get a tribal tattoo for my shoulder. I will show you the picture in a minute," he said as he intertwined his fingers with mine.

"Oh, so you want to be like Jacob from Twilight?" Addie joked.

"Gross, no," Nick laughed keeping his eyes on the road. We pulled into the apartment parking lot minutes later and walked up the stairs.

Brandon was waiting on us outside the door and swooped Addie into a hug. "Hey beautiful ladies!" He came for me next and hugged me as well. "Glad your back, we all missed you," he let me go and smiled.

We walked in and Nick went to his room. I followed him. "Are you trying to join me?" he asked with a sly look on his face. I just laughed at him and sat on the edge of his bed.

I rested my cast on my knee and tried to stick my finger in it to scratch a spot. "I am so ready to get this thing off," I huffed in frustration.

"When are you supposed to have it removed?" he asked me while digging through his top drawer.

"I am going in for a check up on Monday afternoon. Hopefully they can give me a boot, or just take it off. It hasn't hurt me since last weekend. If I wouldn't have had so many people at the funeral ask me what happened I would have forgotten about it."

"Well at least it's not hurting anymore Kassidy," he quickly kissed me on the lips and exited the room.

I walked back down the hall to the living room. "Hey stranger." It was Josh.

"Hey." I gave him a quick hug.

"I heard you are getting a tattoo today. That's really cool," he smiled at me.

"Yep," I said and suddenly got nervous again. I was really about to do this. I knew I wanted an anchor for sure, but I didn't know what bible verse to get with it. I sat down on the couch next to Addie and scrolled through them on my phone. I searched 'Bible verses about hope' and a ton came up. One that stood out to me was 'Hebrews 6:19.'

This is perfect, I thought to myself. I screenshotted it and showed it to Addie.

"I love that Kass," she hugged me.

The next thing I knew, we were back in Nick's Jeep heading toward the tattoo parlor. Nick told me he wanted his tattoo artist to do my tattoo. Apparently, his artist was the best in Atlanta. I trusted him, mostly because I didn't know what I was doing anyway.

As we walked into the shop, I had to get out my ID and fill out a few papers while the tattoo artist sketched my idea on to paper. When he was finished, he came up to me and spoke. "My name is Arley, Nick has told me so much about you. So, I get the pleasure of breaking the seal?" I laughed at him. He was so happy he was going to give me my first tattoo. "You chose an interesting spot."

"I know, I have heard and read that it is quite painful," I started to regret my decision once the words left my mouth.

"You got this," Nick grabbed my hand as we walked toward the back of the shop and turned a corner. We stepped into a slightly small room. Pictures and drawings littered the walls. They were really good. I saw one that looked familiar. It was a drawing of the tattoo that Nick had showed me earlier.

"Isn't that the one that you want?"

Nick followed my gaze to the picture. "Yes. I asked him to draw it out for me last week." His eyes lit up as Arley took down the picture and handed it to Nick. "This looks amazing!" Nick's smile grew. Something ignited in my chest every time that boy smiled. He was so perfect.

Arley guided me to the chair that he had set up and told me to lift up my shirt to a little above the bottom of my bra line.

"Do you want me in there or do you want me to wait out here?" Addie asked.

I looked at Nick and realized he was all I needed. I shook my head at her, and she smiled.

"Good luck Kass, you can do it," she turned around and walked back down the hall towards the waiting room where Brandon sat. I kept eye contact with Nick while butterflies soared through my stomach. I felt like I was on a boat that was swaying back and forth by the way my stomach kept turning. I realized I was in over my head when Arley turned on the tattoo machine.

"Nick, I can't do this," I started to sit up straight but Nick grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight.

"If anyone can, it is you Kassidy." His gaze was so deep into my eyes I felt as if he was staring right into my soul. I slowly laid back down into position but never took my eyes off of him. "Think about why you are getting this tattoo," he spoke to me.

Why was I getting it? I guess it was the fact that after everything that I had been through, I still had hope. I had an underlying feeling in my heart that things would eventually get better, I just didn't know how or when. After my relationship with Thomas, everything that my father has put me through, losing loved ones, moving, fracturing my ankle, and now Thomas's death, did I still have hope? Yes. Addie has given me hope. My mother has given me hope. Nick has given me hope. I give myself hope. Thinking of all the things that I have been through lifted some of the pain off of my ribs.

As Arley started, I felt a slight burn and pinching sensation. It truly wasn't that bad. I didn't understand why everyone kept telling me that it was going to hurt. It was bearable. It was simple.

I loosened my grip on Nick's hand but never took my eyes off of him. I had hope; Nick was my hope. I couldn't have gotten through any of this without him and my family. People can change. Just because people make mistakes doesn't mean they can't learn from them and fix them. My thoughts clouded my memory as Arley notified me that he was about to start shading. Twenty minutes had already passed. When the needle dug into my skin I flinched. "Try to be still," Arley flashed his eyes in my direction and then back down towards my ribcage. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I was getting anxious. My position wasn't very comfortable, and this was starting to hurt like shit. The burning feeling only got worse as his strides of the tattoo pen got longer and deeper. I felt as if he was going to hit bone, literally.

"Get Addie," I told Nick without opening my eyes. I just wanted my best friend. Nick's grip on my hand disappeared and a few moments later another hand slid in.

I opened my eyes to Addie smiling at me. "Does it hurt?" she asked.

"Yes, I can't do this anymore. It hurts like a bitch," I said between long huffs as tears welled up in my eyes.

"Yes, you can. You have been through so much and gotten through all of it by yourself. This is nothing compared to that." She was right. She squeezed my hand tighter.

"Where is Nick." I asked her.

"Right behind you."

I felt a hand place itself onto my shoulder. I calmed down a little to his touch. I could do this. I don't know how I had gotten through all the bull shit I had been through, but somehow, I did. Things will always get better. My grandma used to repeat this simple quote to me all the time when she would see me down. Other than telling me I was her grandchild signifying I was basically kin to a bad, tough woman, she would tell me that no matter how big and destructive the storm was, the rainbow will always shine brighter in the end.

Before I knew it, my tattoo was almost finished. I had gotten slightly used to the pain of the needle. Holding my breath with every stroke. With the way I was positioned, my tears had stuffed up my nose and there was no telling how horrible I looked. I would let go of Addie's hand every few minutes to try to wipe it off and clean it up without making big movements or messing Arley up. Nick never removed his hand from my shoulder.

When I was finished and Arley was wrapping my tattoo in plastic wrap, I realized that I would rather get a million tattoos on my ribcage than deal with the crap that I had been put through again lately. I also knew that with the people and support system that I had behind me, I could very well handle it again.

Kassidy is officially a bad bitch!

Do you have any tattoos?

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-Tay 🌼