Hybrid

Pin Cushion

Henry left in a hurry. The precious humans he spoke so highly of were capable of doing horrible things too, and it was like his tiny pea sized brain couldn't process that. It had been days of radio silence since he left, and we weren't sure if we should be concerned or thankful that he was leaving us alone.

In the middle of breakfast, my mother took Maria's hand and nearly dragged her up the steps. I got out of my chair and followed the women, curious to know what was going on. My mother was standing outside my door as Maria got changed.

"We're going to have a girls day," My mother explained.

Seeing my face not change when she explained herself made my mother roll her eyes and continue, "We're going to go out for awhile and do girl things like shop and maybe get our nails done. We haven't had a chance to bond yet."

That worked perfectly for me because I was going to need time to go out and get Maria's present, but I haven't left her side in a week or so. Maria's eyes widened as my mother took her hand and pulled her back into my room to change her out of the clothes she had picked. My mother emerged moments later pulling Maria around in a dress I didn't know she owned.

Maria's eyes pleaded with mine to stop the accident waiting to happen. I smiled and shrugged, showing her there was nothing I could do. I kissed her forehead before my mother completely pushed her out the door. My mother stopped in her tracks when Maria was outside, waiting for me to do the same for her. I rolled my eyes but kissed her forehead too.

I had decided on the perfect present when Maria first got back to my house. I drove to the tattoo place which was a town over and excitedly checked my surroundings to make sure no one would catch me. I walked in to loud humming noise splitting the air.

"Dylan?"

I turned to greet the woman at the counter, "That's me."

"I'll be doing your tattoo today. Name is Danika," She introduced herself.

She led me upstairs and sat me in a chair that looked more uncomfortable than I assumed getting a tattoo felt. I was wrong. Danika outlined the tattoo in black ink and held small conversation with me. I was completely fine until she started shading. The shading hurt like a bitch, not to mention the sound it was making over my skin made me grind my teeth.

I spoke to Danika for a total of an hour so she could do the outline before I clenched my teeth at the shading and could no longer bring myself to speak. Was I being a wimp? Sure. Danika had her arms completely covered in tattoos so she probably understood why I was acting like an idiot.

I felt myself shifting my weight in my seat to get as far away from the machine as possible. Danika offered me some candies, which she said would be a distraction, and I took them without thinking twice. I chewed away as she spoke to me and nodded along to show I was listening.

The entire tattoo had taken four and a half hours, which was a ton more time than I had originally expected. Danika taught me how to wrap it properly and I watched impatiently as she used two hands and I could only use one. I could figure out how to wrap my forearm, or I could force Isaac to do it.

I held my arm tenderly as I exit the building and pulled my sleeve over my arm to keep the surprise. I knew Isaac would be able to smell the ink when I entered, so I texted him a heads up to keep his big mouth shut. Leave it to him to ruin a completely acceptable surprise because of his stupid wolf senses.

Isaac wasn't allowed to walk me into the room when my mother would try to throw surprise birthday parties for me because he would inevitably ask why he smelled frosting each and every time. He isn't that stupid, so for a long time I assumed he was trying to give me a heads up, not being a fan of getting scared and all. I usually tried to convince my mother to take us out for Isaac's birthday so he didn't suspect anything.