NaNoWriMo Story Snippets

21. Excerpt from THE ARRANGEMENT

Author's note: Subject to editing, etc. A little break between one longer story and (hopefully) the next. Fingers crossed.

"Are you sure I said yes to this?" Becky asked, looking up at the tattoo parlour's sign. Letters that were both barbed and elegant spelled out Iconophilia. It was housed in a heritage building, not some grimy back alley or sketchy strip mall, and at first glance she would have thought it was a museum. "We were in bed at the time. I could have been saying yes to something else."

"You said yes to a lot of things," Roman agreed with a chuckle. "Often and enthusiastically. But I made sure we discussed this again when we were all out of bed—"

Becky scoffed. "Like that makes a difference with you."

"And clothed and not touching." Roman was used to her interruptions by then and simply kept talking. "You don't have to get anything done if you don't want to, Becks. A tattoo is a major thing, no matter what size you get. But I distinctly remember you agreeing. Seth, back me up here, man."

Seth glanced between Roman and Becky and sighed. "Seriously? That's my wife right there. I live with her. I want to keep the peace, man."

With a sigh of her own, Becky went over to Seth and kissed him. "I'm joking, you dope. I know I agreed." She glanced back at the shop windows again, full of framed examples of the artists' drawings and tattoos they had done. "I'm just still not sure where to get it, that's all." They had talked about getting their group tattoo refreshed almost like a commitment ceremony, but if foot tattoos faded that quickly, she didn't want to be getting it redone every few months either.

"One of us can go first," Seth told her, looping an arm around her waist, "and then you can see what it's like. It's a small piece, so it won't be too bad."

They had considered a three in Roman numerals with each of them picking a colour, but Becky pointed out that it could look too much like a flag. In the end they decided on a triangle, again with each of them selecting a colour. Becky was torn between orange and green, but settled on green for Ireland; my hair won't be red forever, she pointed out, but you're stuck with me being Irish. To her surprise, Seth chose red, saying it was because he had been on Raw for so long, but Becky secretly thought he was leaving black for Roman. Then Roman almost psyched Seth out by pretending to pick blue. "And with the black, it won't look like a Google icon."

Roman kissed the top of her head. "You'll be fine, Becks. You're a tough cookie. But it's still totally your call. I definitely want to get something done, but don't let that sway you." Holding open the door, he added, "And this is regular style too, with the tattoo gun. I wouldn't ask you to get it Polynesian style on your first go."

"First?" Becky raised an eyebrow as she stepped inside. "What makes you think I'm getting more than one?" She didn't want to insult the artists, so she kept her voice low.

"You'll see," Roman said with a smile. "It's addictive. Besides, once you two have kids, you might want to commemorate them like I have or like AJ did. No one's saying you have to go for full sleeves. It's a nice way to celebrate something meaningful to you."

Becky slid her gaze over to Seth as he entered. "I think I'll leave that to him. The pregnancy will leave enough marks of its own."

A woman waiting at the counter waited until Roman had shut the door to greet them all. "Hey. Good to see you, as always. Thanks for bringing your friends by." She walked around the counter and held out her hand to shake with Becky and Seth. "I'm Ginette. Nice to meet you both. Roman told me you want something small and simple and he sent me a few samples. Are all three of you getting the triangle or does someone want a different design? There's time to change things if you like," she added with a smile, focussing on Becky. "Especially since it's your first ink, I want to make sure you're happy with it. And I want the guys to be happy with theirs too, of course."