The Story of Us (12 page)

“Well, what I mean is some people get
tatted up for loved ones, people who’ve passed, people they want to
commemorate. Or people who are still with us, but just mean that
much to us that we want them permanently with us forever. Everyone
has different reasons.”

I look over at Craig with
questioning eyes, wondering what the puzzle piece is for, or more
importantly,
who
it’s for. I look down when I hear the soft buzz of the needle
starting on his arm and when I look back up into his eyes, he’s
looking right back at me.

“Does it hurt?” I ask him,
seriously.

“Nah.”

“I mean… do you think it would hurt
me?”

He raises his eyebrows in shock. “Is
the princess actually thinking about getting a tattoo?”

“No. Well… maybe,” I
confess.

“Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? Didn’t you
want me to get one? Isn’t that why you took me here?”

“I don’t care if you get a
tattoo or not, princess. It’s about you doing something a little
out of your comfort zone, but only if
you
want to.”

I take a deep breathe. “I want
to.”

“What made you change your
mind?”

“I guess because I
do
want to do something
crazy,” I admit, sheepishly. “I want to live in the moment for
once. And I like the idea of it being a form of self-expression
too.”

“What would you get?”

“It’s gonna sound stupid.” I cover my
face with my hands, but Craig quickly lowers them back
down.

“Princess, what do you want?” he asks
in a softer tone.

“A falcon.”

“As in the WSC mascot?” He scrunches
his face, not impressed.

“Yeah. I mean I know it’s stupid. I
could fail out or transfer to another school, you never know. But…
if I’m commemorating a moment in time, it makes sense. I’m changing
here. I feel it. I’m not the same girl I used to be. And the whole
‘spreading your wings and learning to fly’ motto kind of fits
too.”

He smiles and nods his head. “Yeah,
that’s perfect.”

“Really? It’s not stupid?”

“No. At least, not after you explained
it.”

“All set, Craig,” Jay announces,
shutting the needle off and wiping away at the new
wound.

“My turn,” I declare with a bright
smile.

“Alright princess!” Jay
exclaims.

“Dude, no. Not cool.” Craig narrows
his eyes at him. “I’m the only one who gets to call her
that.”

Jay laughs and then moves about,
cleaning up after Craig’s tattoo.

“So, what does your tattoo mean?” I
ask Craig.

He hesitates and I can tell he doesn’t
want me to know.

“I just told you what I’m getting and
why. It’s only fair,” I whine.

“Okay,” he laughs lightly. Then his
smile fades as he becomes serious. “Alright…”

I give him a look, encouraging him to
go on.

“It’s for Lexie.”

I want to ask him more about it, about
her, but I can tell he doesn’t want to explain any further. I’m
surprised he told me that much, And I don’t have the chance anyway,
because Jay’s ready for me.

“I need you to sign these papers
first,” he explains, handing me a clipboard.

I read through statement after
statement, all of which pretty much just asserts that I won’t sue
Jay for any type of bad reaction resulting from the tattoo. I sign
it, hand it back, and take a deep breath, feeling the nerves
finally hit me.

“Hop on in the chair,” Jay instructs.
He holds up a couple different falcons he has already made up. I
pick one diligently and then tell him I want it on my ankle. He
puts it on like a temporary tattoo at first. Like the ones Hailey
and I used to get when we were kids. We would love to put quarters
in the machines that were filled with those little plastic balls
that opened up and held a treasure inside. Our favorite treasures
were the fake tattoos, although we only liked the flower ones. They
had pirate ships, princesses, and sports ones too, and there was no
telling which one would come out. We’d be bummed for the whole day
if we didn’t get a flower.

Jay gives me a mirror and tells me to
make sure the placement is right. I nod in approval and he moves
about getting everything ready. I feel Craig slide his hand into
mine and I don’t think about it being intimate. I just squeeze
tightly in response. I’m so nervous, I can feel myself shaking. I
close my eyes shut and prepare myself for the pain.

“It’s alright, princess,” I hear Craig
whisper close to my ear. “It’ll be over in a minute.”

I feel the needle press down and it
surprises me that it doesn’t hurt that bad. Then, I feel it scrape
through my skin and I take my first thought back. It hurts like
hell. It hurts so much that I’m afraid I’m going to move my leg and
really mess him up. If I do that I’ll have to live with the
consequences for the rest of my life, so I try my hardest to pull
it together. I concentrate on Craig’s hand in mine and keeping my
leg firmly in place, while I try to block out the fact that a
needle is scraping its way through my skin.

“Talk to me,” I order Craig, squeezing
his hand even tighter.

He hesitates for a moment and then
starts, “My sister, Lexie, is sixteen years old.”

I open my eyes to look at him and he
continues, “But you’d never be able to tell. She acts twelve, at
best. She’s on the spectrum. Autism. She’s fully functioning, just
very… I don’t know, immature I guess you could say, for her age.
She’s great though. She’s a really sweet kid.”

“I forgot you had a
sister.”

When we were in high school and Hailey
and Drew first started dating, we ended up spending the night at
Craig’s house after one of his infamous parties. I remember Craig
telling Hailey and Drew that they could sleep in his sister’s room.
But that was it. There was never any other mention of his sister in
all the time I’ve known him. Then again, it’s not like I’ve ever
tried to get to know him as more than Drew’s irritating
friend.

“You don’t talk about her… like ever,”
I marvel at him.

“I know. It’s not that I’m embarrassed
or anything. It’s just that the type of people I’ve always hung out
with would make fun of her in a heartbeat. And she’s special to me.
I wouldn’t take it very well, and then I’d up a loner.” He smirks,
trying to make a joke of it.

“So none of your friends ever
knew?”

“Nope.”

I think about how sad that is. That he
didn’t have one friend who ever knew him well enough to know that
he has a sister with special needs.

“That explains your major,” I state,
realizing the connection.

“All done,” Jay declares.

I look down at my ankle, amazed.
“Seriously? That was fast!” I twist and turn it so I can see the
falcon better. “I love it!” I smile from ear to ear, thrilled that
I actually went through with it.

“It looks awesome, princess.” He
returns my smile, looking genuinely happy just to see me
happy.

“Hailey is gonna freak! I can’t
believe I actually have a tattoo!”

“I can’t believe you actually got one,
either. I’m proud of you,” he beams.

And for some reason, his statement
fills me with pride.

Chapter 10

Craig stops at a hotdog truck parked
on the outskirts of a lake on the way back. I insist on buying our
hotdogs, chips and sodas since he paid for my tattoo. He gets mad
about it, but ultimately lets me. We sit on the grass, right by the
lake. I wrap my sweater tightly around me before taking a bite out
of my hotdog. It’s a chilly November day, but it’s not freezing
like it usually is this time of year. In New England, you never
know what kind of weather you’ll get. I’ve seen snow storms as late
as April and as early as October. We’ve had frost coating the
ground in the same week as air conditioners become a necessity.
They say New England is bipolar and I wouldn’t disagree. Today
feels more like mid-September than mid-November, but I’m not
complaining one bit. I love the crisp autumn air with the sun still
shining brightly down on us.

“What are you thinking?” I ask when I
realize how quiet he’s become.

“That’s a loaded question, princess.
You sure you wanna know the answer?” he smirks.

I roll my eyes back at him. “Yes, I
wanna know.”

“Okay. Just remember, you asked for
it,” he warns.

I give him a pointed look in
return.

“I was thinking about you.”

“No you weren’t. C’mon, I’m
serious.”

“I’m serious too.”

“Fine then. What about me?”

“You’re different than I thought you’d
be,” he remarks.

“Because you thought I was a prissy
brat when you first met me?”

“Well, yeah. But you’re still that,”
he teases, laughing as I feign shock. “But seriously, you’re just
so… intriguing.”

“Intriguing? What could possibly be
intriguing about me? I’m completely ordinary,” I reply, not because
I’m fishing for a compliment, but because it’s true.

“Let me ask you something, princess.
But before we have this conversation, can you just convince
yourself, for only these next few moments, that I’m
gay?”

“What?” My mouth hangs
open.

“I don’t want you to get the wrong
idea and think that I’m trying to hit on you right now. So for
these next few moments, and these next few moments only, consider
me gay.”

I don’t respond because I’m laughing
out loud. I can’t help it. Never in a million years did I think
that statement would come out of Craig Morgan’s mouth.

“Okay, stop,” he orders. “I seriously
want to ask you something.”

It takes effort to stop laughing at
his absurdity, but after a few seconds, I manage.

“Do you think Tyler loves you?” he
asks, all joking gone.

My face drops. “That’s ridiculous. We
haven’t even been together for that long. And why on Earth would
you ask that?”

“Okay, then do you think
that he
could
love you, you know, someday?”

“Craig, you’re being absolutely
ridiculous right now.”

“Just hear me out, okay? You should be
with someone who makes you feel anything other than ordinary,” he
starts. I roll my eyes in response, but he ignores it and continues
anyway. “You should be with someone who makes you feel like you are
the most important person in his world. Someone who will study
every bit of you. He’ll know exactly how you take your coffee, what
your favorite color is. He’ll know your biggest pet peeves and try
his hardest not to do any of them. But he’ll push you past your
comfort zone, too. He’ll fall in love with your laugh and he’ll
know your sense of humor. He’ll see your flaws and know your
quirks, and he’ll accept them all. He may even adore them. My point
is, he’ll know you. Really know you. And therefore, he’ll know how
extraordinary you are. And he’ll never pass up an opportunity to
remind you of it.”

“Like you are right now?” I
whisper.

“Nope.” He smirks. All seriousness
once again replaced with humor. “I’m gay, remember?”

I can’t help but smile in
return.

“Going back to your
original question, what were
you
thinking of?”

“The weather,” I respond
dully.

He raises his eyebrows. “The weather?”
he questions, not believing me.

“I told you. Ordinary.”

When we get back to my dorm, it’s
after four in the afternoon. He doesn’t just drop me off, he walks
right in with me and then sprawls out on the couch in the common
room like he owns the place.

“What are you doing?”

“Waiting. You have an hour. One hour,
that’s it.”

“To do what?”

“Get ready,” he answers, like it’s
obvious.

“I am ready,” I respond, looking down
at my outfit and smoothing out my hair.

“Not according to these girls,” he
says, right on cue, as Ashley, Julie, and Hailey come out of mine
and Hailey’s room.

“You’ll never guess where we’re going
tonight!” Ashley gushes.

“Hey,”
Craig says sternly, narrowing his eyes at her. “Anyone tells
her and they’re out.”

“Okay,” Ashley says rolling her eyes.
“I won’t.” Then she turns back to me. “But you’re gonna be so
psyched!” She jumps up and down, unable to contain her own
excitement.

They drag me into my dorm and rummage
through my closet for an outfit. I think what I’m wearing would be
good for most occasions, but evidently they disagree.

“Oh, this is a cute skirt!” Ashley
says, holding up my light brown miniskirt with the chunky brown
belt attached.