It's Not Faith

Leila sat in a cold plastic chair, fidgeting. The guys were all scattered around the tattoo shop; Matt was sitting on her left, and Zacky on her right. Jimmy was talking to his tattoo artist, Brian was looking around the store, and Johnny was sitting across from her. The artist had told them he'd be about ten minutes drawing her tattoo out, and those ten minutes were taking a long time.

After the long afternoon in the recording studio, the boys took Leila out to their "favortist" tattoo shop. Leila had decided to get her tattoo just above her wrist, mid for arm. She had already checked her arm in the bathroom before they left, and for once, there were no cuts around the area she wanted it.
"Leila?" A skinny tall man called out from the desk.
Jimmy's face lit up, and pulled Leila up.
"Oh my God, It's time!" He cried, and dragged her to the back of the store. He had already declared to the rest of the band that he would be the only one who got to be there with Leila. She had thanked him shortly after he announced that; they both knew that it was for the sake of her arms.
Leila slid in the chair, shaking slightly. Though she had another tattoo, she was still nervous. Jimmy sat down in a chair next to her. She rolled up her sleeve, and took off one bracelet. She could feel Jimmy's eyes on her wrist, but thankfully, angry red lines were covered by either bracelets or her pushed up sleeve.
"Is this your first tattoo?" The tattoo artist asked, putting on gloves.
Leila shook her head. "Naw, I have one on the back of my neck."
"You do?" Jimmy cried, making Leila smile.
"Back of my neck!" Leila said, trying to hide the blush creeping on her face
Jimmy pulled down the neck of her shirt slightly and gasped.
"That's so sick! Holy Shit, does your dad know?"
Leila laughed, and nodded. Her laughter faded as she felt the artists gloved hands prep her arm. The tracing went on her arm, and she could feel the excitement rising in her.
Jimmy held on to her other hand, and the artist started up the needle.
Leila closed her eyes and squeezed Jimmy's hand. She didn't like that she could see that artist at work. Jimmy laughed as he felt her grip tighten.
"Don't worry girl, one day you'll get used to it!"
The artist and Jimmy laughed; both oblivious to the pain of tattoos now.

Finally, the words Leila had been waiting to hear were said.
"Done." The artist said, and the sharp pain died down. Leila opened her eyes, and stared at her bright red arm. The nautical star was perfect, it was black and red, and just the right size.
"Holy shit, I love it!" She exclaimed, smiling at the artist.
"Good!" He cried, and started to wrap her tattoo up.
Jimmy Helped Leila up, and they followed the artist to the front of the store.
"Just leave that on for about a week, and put Vaseline on it twice a day. Don't scratch at it or hit it against anything too hard, and you'll be good to go!" Leila smiled and thanked the man as Matt paid.
"So how was it, kiddo?" Matt asked as the group of guys headed back to their cars.
"Hurt like a bitch, but it's really pretty!" She said smiling.
"I bet, I can't wait to See it!" Matt said, smiling back. Leila couldn't wait to show off her new tattoo, but that meant that there couldn't be anymore cutting around it.
"So what now?!" Jimmy asked, draping his arm over Leila.
"Well, Zack's going on a date with Gena!" Matt said, putting the emphasis on 'date'. Zack turned around and flipped him off before waving at Leila and getting in his car.
"So It's short-shit and you and Leila, and Bri I guess"
Johnny walked to his car. "I'll call and let you know if I'm gonna come over" He said, before waving and driving off.

"Can we have pizza?!" Leila cried.
Matt laughed, "Yeah sure."
"Oh thank Jesus. I really want pizza."
Jimmy laughed. "Me too!"
"Oh God, Now we have like, a mini Jimmy on our hands." Brian said laughing.
Jimmy laughed and started walking to his car.
"K so your house in ten minutes! Beer, Jack and Pizza!" He cried out loudly.
"And some fucking pot!" Leila cried back
Jimmy's laughter filled the parking lot as her got in his car.
Brian, Leila and her dad got into their SUV.
"Do you really smoke pot?" Brian asked.
Leila eyed her father in the rear view mirror, and shrugged.
"I don't wanna lie, of course I do. But not all the time, just sometimes."
Brian laughed, and Leila got nervous when her father didn't say anything.
"Well, It's better to be honest than to lie to me." He finally said, and smiled at her.
"When I lived with my mom one of the only good things was that she was really laid back with shit like that."
Matt nodded, but didn't say anything else. Leila didn't mean to take a jab at her father, she was just trying to build up the honesty that her mother and her had; with her father. She didn't want to lie to her father with things that she cold be honest about; he couldn't deny his rock star party life. He, out of most people, should understand her desire to smoke a little pot.
Her father pulled into their drive way, and Leila got out. She was suddenly overcome with exhaustion, her body hadn't been used to doing things. In the weeks leading up to her departure from New York, she hadn't really ever went to school; she hadn't really done anything.
She trudged slowly up the driveway.
"You okay, Hun?" Matt asked, following Brian into his house.
"I'm just..tired."
Matt frowned. "You always seem tired. I think we should go to the doctor; especially since you start school soon anyways."
Leila shook her head. She could hear Brian turn on the baseball game, and she tried to focus of what her father was saying.
"No, I..I really don't like doctors. I'm just not used to doing a whole lot; I never went to school last year so I'm just used to sleeping all the time."
She could see that that explanation did not go well with her father. She could see his jaw clench.
"Why weren't you at school?"
She sighed, not really wanting to get into it. "Mom just never really cared if I went or not. I was trying to deal with her, and that's hard at school, so I just kinda stopped going. But I didn't fail any classes!"
Matt smiled at her with sad eyes.He wrapped his arms around her. "Then I'm proud of you. I'm gonna expect you to be going to school, but if you ever feel as if you can't face it, just come talk to me, I'll most likely let you stay home. I never liked school either." He said, a grin on his face.

The door opening again shook them out of their hug.
"Hunny, We are here!" Jimmy cried, standing next to Leana with a case of beer in his arms.
Leana squealed, ran, adn wrapped Leila in a bone crushing hug.
As much as she loved these people; right now all Leila wanted to do was sleep.