A Dawn I Thought We'd Never See

“Can I open my eyes yet?”

“No.”

“Oliver,” I whined while he chuckled. “We’ve been walking for at least four blocks! My feet are bloody tired.”

“We’re almost there.” His hand squeezed mien and my mouth glued shut for another minute.

“I feel ridiculous walking around with my eyes closed.” I huffed and then bit my bottom lip. If only I knew trusting Oliver would put me on the streets of some random town with my eyes closed before I said I trust him. This was truly terrifying. Oliver’s hand slipped out of mine and my whole body froze. “Oliver?” My voice trembled with fright as I squeezed my eyes tighter. I swallowed hard and took a steadying breath. “Oliver?” My voice came out stronger but my insides were still screaming.

“I’m ‘ere.” I nearly jumped from how close his voice was. He was standing behind me now and I could just barely feel his chest against my back. His hands cupped over my eyes.

“That wasn’t very funny.” I mumbled and let my body relax at his touch. I leaned back against him and my head rested on his shoulder. It was shocking how easy it was to be around Oliver like this. With any other man, I’d be tripping over my words and wishing I was back working my merch. Oliver just came easy to me.

“Readeh?” He whispered and it tickled my ear. I smiled and nodded, excitement bubbling in my stomach again. “Alright,” his warm hands disappeared and I frowned. His laughter played in my ears. “Yeh’re ‘posed teh open yehr eyes, Emileh.”

I blushed as I opened them. In front of me was a street and on the other side, a chair on small stores. I slid my vision over toward Oliver and raised my eyebrows. “We’re going shopping? I didn’t really peg you as the type to ‘shop til you drop’, Oli.”

Oliver rolled his eyes and took my hand again. “Don’t get up tight with meh ‘cause yeh can’t read.” He smirked and I blushed more furiously. I hadn’t even realized the nickname slip from my mouth. He dragged me across the street and toward a particular shop. My eyes read the neon sign and widened.

“A tattoo parlor?” My mouth went dry. One of my biggest fears was needles.

“Tommeh mentioned yeh wanted one an’ Toreh went on ‘bout ‘ow much yeh love ‘em, so I thought maybeh we could get yeh one.” My overly sized eyes slid to Oliver again. He was smiling sheepishly and scratching the back of his neck nervously.

“I would love one.” I blinked and his whole face brightened. “But I’m petrified of needles.” I finish and he chuckled, nodding.

“Both mentioned that,” he dropped my hand and stepped closer, putting his arm around my waist lightly. “But ‘s not so bad. I promise.” He pulled me over to the front counter and started talking with the big beefy man behind it.

My heartbeat was pounding in my ears. I glanced around at the different designs on the wall. There were plenty of people, all covered with tattoos and piercings, to literally scare the air out of me. I was in a daze and the only thing that made me come out of it was the fingers pressing into my side.

Oliver’s brown eyes were concerned and boring straight into mine. “We don’t ‘ave teh do this if yeh don’t want teh.”

“We?” His lips softened into a smile.

“I figured if yeh brave ‘nough teh get one, a little more ink on meh skin wouldn’t ‘urt.” He shrugged and took a look round the room. “So, what yeh think?”

My insides calmed down as a warm sensation went through me. He was willing to get a tattoo with me. It was a sweet gesture, something I wasn’t completely used to coming from Oliver, but I was starting to.

“I think we’re getting tattoos.” His grin turned lopsided and my stomach flipped. He started to wave over the man again and my chest tightened. “Hey Oliver?”

“Yeah, Em?”

“Will you carry me back if I pass out?” Oliver laughed and I smiled a little though I was being one hundred percent honest.

“Sure Em.” He tightened his arm around me as we followed the giant man to a side room. I was counting each step in my head as we went and held my breath as we entered.

There was a tiny, red haired girl sitting back in the tattoo chair. She had her hands on her stomach and her eyes closed. My eyebrows furrowed as I wondered what the small girl was doing. “Chelle!” The man kicked at the chair and the girls eyes popped open. “Customers.” He nodded toward Oliver and me with a devilish grin.

“Jeez, Dan, give me a heart attack, why don’t ya?” She had a strong southern accent and glared her bright green eyes at the man. He laughed nad left without another word. “Alright, my sweets.” She hopped off the chair and extended her hand toward us. “I’m Michelle, but everyone just calls me Chelle.”

Oliver took her hand first. “I’m Oleh an’ this ‘s Emileh.” I shook her hand numbly. “’S ‘er first time getting’ ink.”

“Ah, it’s been a while since I tattooed a virgin.” She grinned at me and my eyes widened again as I noticed how bright red her lipstick was. “I’m the head artist, so you’re in good hands, my darling.”

“We’re both getting’ one.”

“Right, well, who wants to go first then? You both know what you want, do you?” My throat started to swell again as she looked at Oliver then me, expectantly.

“I’ll go first.” Oliver spoke up and gave my waist a squeeze before he went to sit in the big chair. “Anythin’ yeh like.” He laid out his left palm toward the girl. She chuckled and sat in a swivel chair.

“Fre reign, huh? I like you, Oli.” She giggled and scooted over to a counter where she could wash her hands. “There’s another chair in the corner, sweet. You can pull it over to sit.”

Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh dear god. I pulled the chair over as instructed and tried my best not to panic. I sat and fiddled my thumbs, biting down hard on my bottom lip. This was not a good idea.

“Em?” My eyes snapped to Olivers. “Yeh goin’ teh hold meh hand?” He smirked and put his right hand on my knee.

“You’re full of shit someimtes, Oliver.” I rolled my eyes but let both my hands grip his and lace our fingers.

“E’eryone says that.” He chuckled as Michelle swiveled back over with dark blue gloves on and a wicked smile.

“So Oli, where’s that accent from?” Heat burned in my gut. She was flirting with him. She was just his type too. Pretty in a fierce way.

“England.” He answered but he was looking at me oddly. Then I realized how tight I was holding his hand.

“You came all the way from England to sunshiny Florida to get tattooed by little me? Well, don’t I feel special.” She laughed and a high-pitched drilling started. Maybe she wasn’t flirting; maybe she was just giving small talk to distract from the tattooing. “Where you from Emily?”

“California, but I live in New York now.” Oliver smiled as I talked. It was a tired kind of smile though I had no clue how he could be tired with needles shooting through his hand.

“Well damn. What the hell you two doing here? It’s a long way home for both of you.”

“Touring.” Answering her questions wasn’t so bad when I occupied all my other senses with Oliver.

“So I got a coupla rock stars in my shop. Lucky me.”

“He’s the rock star. I just sell merch.” I corrected and Oliver flexed his hand that was smushed in between mine.

“Emileh’s ah-mazin’ with a pen an’ paper.” Oliver interjected and I stared at him hard. How did he know that?

“A fellow artist?” Michelle raised her eyes to me briefly.

“I just doodle.” I shrugged, embarrassed that it was brought up. I was baffled that Oliver knew about my drawing habits when I didn’t even show my doodles to Victoria.

“Doodling is how we all start, dear.” She gave me an endearing smile. “You, uh, want to doodle your tattoo while I’m working on Oli?”

“Wha—,”

“She’d love teh.” Oliver winked at me.

“Yeah?” Michelle brightened. “Hold on,” she stopped tattooing and swooshed to the doorway. “Dan! Get your ass in here!” She yelled and I jumped. Oliver chuckled.

“What do you need, Chelle?” The big man from before came in and pushed Michelle’s chair back to Oliver’s side.

“Get some was paper, an ink pen, and turn on the desk light over there.” She rattled it off and Dan went about doing it. “There you go, sweets.”

“Um.” Uncertain about all of it as I watched Dan leave and then glued my eyes back to the paper laying on top of the light thing.

“Go on, Emileh.” Oliver gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Go make prettay doodales.”

I sighed. “Fine, you jackass.” I stood up and let go of his hand as I walked over to the paper. The light was underneath and made the paper look almost transparent.

“I love yeh, Emileh.” Oliver called and my heart thudded as it tripped over itself. I don’t think I was being quite honest about my feelings for Oliver, or maybe I just didn’t understand them myself.

“Aw, that’s real cute. How long you two been together?” I was glad my back was to both of them so neither of them could see how red my face was.

“We, uh, we ‘aven’t. I mean aren’t. We’re not.” Oliver seemed to be just as troubled with words as I was.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry.” I blocked out the rest of Chelle’s babbling and Oliver’s mumbling while I drew. The image flowed from my mind to the paper with ease. I’d imagined this tattoo a thousand times since I was seventeen. I’d drawn it all over the place with permanent markers.

Over the years it had evolved and some fancy words had been added but it was more or less the same. I finished with the design and sat back to admire my work. It wasn’t much, but I liked it.

“Those are gorgeous.” My heart rate increased as Michelle leaned over my shoulder and tapped at the small fairy wings on the left side. “The wings are my favorite. How long have you been doodling like this?”

I cleared my throat forcefully and looked up at her. “I’ve drawn this since the day I moved out of my folks home. My way of coping with being kicked out at an early age, I guess.” I shrugged, not liking the attention one bit.

“’Ey Em.” My head turned to the other side and found Oliver grinning like a fool. “’Igh five.” He laughed and held his left hand up. Around the edges of his palm was smeared ink but in the center was the out line of just those words.

“High five.” I nodded and couldn’t help but laugh myself. “That’s so great.” I held my side as he inspected his hand.

“It’s wicked awesome and completely unique. Now,” Michelle bustled back over to the doorway. “Tristan, dearest. I need your assistance.” She called sweetly before snapping off her gloves and going back to the sink.

A boy who looked about nineteen popped into the room. “Yes, Chelle?” He droned and crossed his arms over his chest.

“This is my nephew, Tristan. Tristan that’s Oli and Emily and I need you to bandage up Oli while I get Emily here ready for her first tattoo.” Michelle talked as she pulled on new gloves and brought out new needles.

My hands started to shake. “Yeah, yeah.” The boy trudged over to the counter and started sifting through draws, pulling out gauze and tape.

“Sorry for his over enthusiasm. We make Trist here work at the shop between his college courses. He doesn’t like it much.”

“Parlors are like a second home teh meh.” Oliver muttered as he flexed his fingers.

“Holy shit, you’re Oli Sykes!” Tristan did a total one eighty as he turned around and stared with his mouth open.

“Tristan! Don’t yell at customers!” Michelle scolded and glared at the now excited boy.

“But it’s Oli fucking Sykes!” He pointed at Oliver incredulously and I snickered. I guess it really was everyone else that called him Oli, even his fans. “From Bring Me The Horizon.”

“That loud nonsense you put on after hours?” Michelle sized Oliver up again. “What is it you do in the band, Oli?”

“He screams.” Tristan answered before Oliver even opened his mouth. He spoke proudly as he grabbed the gauze and came over to Oliver.

“You’re damn tiny to make that much noise.” I snickered again.

“I get that a lot.” Oliver laughed too as Tristan started to layer something that looked like Vaseline on Oliver’s hand.

“I bet you do. So Emily, where are we putting this fantastic piece of art on your body?” Oh dear lord.

“My back.”

“Alright, let me set this back and you can lie down on your stomach.”