anymore tonight.
“‘Kay, come have a seat right here…” Marisa pats the chair in the right corner. “And Brody you can have the station next to her if you want to watch.”
“Yeah, please sit next to me,” says as she takes her place in the seat Marisa pointed to. “I need someone to blabber to, ‘cause I’m a little nervous.”
For a second I get real stupid and think she’s talkin’ about being nervous about me. That I make her nervous. But duh… not me, the needle that’ll be stabbin’ her makes her more nervous than I ever will.
And I should not be jealous of a tatt gun.
I plop down at the station next to Hayles, waiting for London to bring me a design to look over. Marisa says she’ll be right back, and then it’s silent.
I should say somethin’, but nothing is going through my brain. Hayley does look nervous, which is cute because I’ve never really seen her like this.
“You all right there, jumpy?”
She purses her lips together and nods like her head is going to fall off if she moves it too much.
“Liar.”
She throws me a sort of smile then starts tapping her knees.
“It’s not so bad. Yours is small. It’ll take maybe forty-five minutes. Hour tops.”
“Yeah.”
Silence.
“Hayles?”
“Huh?”
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I just thought… you said you really wanted to, and I should’ve… you know, maybe should’ve asked you before—”
“Knock it off, Brody. I totally want to do this! Weren’t you a little nervous your first time?”
I shrug. Not really. I was more pissed off, and the pain didn’t outweigh the other crap I was dealin’ with.
“That and I guess…” She shakes her head. “Nevermind.”
“What?”
“Nothing, I forget.”
Liar.
“Hayles…”
She pretends to zip her lips, but then her mouth splits open into a real smile.
“Fine. But I’ll get it outta ya sooner or later.”
Cocking her head to the side, she moves her gaze to the floor. “Hey, Brody? Where are you from?”
“What?”
“Your accent. I’ve always been curious about it.”
I smirk. “I lived in Oklahoma for a while. Probably where I got it from.”
“That’s way awesome! Any of your other family have accents too?”
“Just my brother. Mom’s from here.”
“Oh, so what about your dad?”
I forget sometimes she’s only known me for a little while. That she doesn’t know that mentionin’ bio-dad sets my body on fire. But with her, I don’t mind talkin’ about it.
“Yeah, that’s where my mom and dad met. When they got divorced, we moved to Oregon.”
“Wait, so do you have a step-dad? Or is it just you and your mom?”
“Step-dad. They’ve been married for a while now.”
She starts twisting her fingers, cracking them. Don’t know if it’s ‘cause of the conversation or ‘cause of the tattoo still, but she’s way nervous.
“You like him?”
I give her a big smile when she looks at me. “He’s cool. More of a dad than my real dad was.”
“That’s awesome.” She stops cracking her knuckles. “What’s it like in Oklahoma? I haven’t been anywhere. Lived in the same house my whole life and only been to the major cities around here, but not often. Like, this tattoo shop is a vacation for me.”
“Oh, should I bring in some Slippery Nipples?” Marisa laughs at her own joke, Hayles cracking up with her, but I think it’s more of the nerves comin’ into play.
“You know alcohol isn’t good for tatts,” London says as he straps on his gloves and takes a seat next to me. He shows me a couple of designs, and I probably should be payin’ more attention to him, but I’m watching Hayles try to sit still while Marisa talks her through everything. Then she has her pull her shirt off her shoulder, and I’ve lost all train of thought.
London snaps in front of my face.
“Yo!”
Whoops.
“You okay with this one?” He’s smirking at me.
I think I say yes, but I don’t really get a good look. I trust London, even though he’s been checkin’ out Hayles’ tits this entire time.
He presses the stencil on my wrist, tugs off slowly, and yeah, it’s cool lookin’, so I don’t tell him nevermind or anythin’.
I hear Marisa’s gun go on, and she leans over Hayley’s back. “Try to relax, okay, hot stuff?”
Hayley nods, takes a glance at me, throwing out a scared smile. Two seconds later, the needle pierces the skin on her shoulder.
Her mouth pops open, but no sound comes out. She shuts her eyes real tight and starts mouthing something, but I can’t figure out what she’s sayin’.
We’re