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I sat down and Logging into Tinychat, I entered the family chat room and found Lisa, Tod and Adrian were already there. I waved at the webcam, "Hey guys!"

They waved back before Tod spoke up. His voice digital, he instructed, "Get everyone on we've got something to tell you Rue."

And so I yelled for everyone to hurry and get on Tinychat. They gave me an odd look until I told them that Tod and Lisa were online.

Everyone gasped and laughed as they gathered around Jade, Cassadee and my computers. I noticed the boys all jostling for screen space on Adrian's computer. Tod and Lisa were laughing their asses off at the Boys.

"Well first off," Tod chuckled, the noise dying down some. "Happy day-early-birthday to you Rue!" He was forced to pause again as a chorus of Happy and Crappy birthday's rose from the other screens. "Well, Lisa how about you tell her about her present?"

"Sure," she smiled. "Adrian has a slip, giving you our permission, to get your tattoos that you want. Your Dad and I are paying for the hands, Jace and Jade are buying you the double sixteenth Note and LOVE, Matt, Alex, Rian, Zack, and Jack are paying for the heart, and Adrian's gift is something else all together."

I looked at Adrian's screen and he grinned, "How 'bout those snakebites?"

I stared at the screen in complete and utter shock. Everyone was smiling and completely content. "Seriously? You've got to be kidding me."

"No, we're not joking. Adrian and Zack are taking you tomorrow, to a place Zack's heard about,"
Lisa smiled into the camera, it temporarily pixilating and freezing her screen. "Now, it's late and you guys have a show tomorrow too! So, Go. To. Bed. Goodnight, don't let the bedbugs bite."

"Night, you either," we all chimed back before logging off. I felt a warm liquid start welling up in my eyes and eventually overflow. Everybody saw my tears and walked over to me and embraced me as tight as I have ever been held.

I say this: New or Old, Friends are worth more than gold.

~!~

Walking into the tattoo and piercings parlor, I squeezed Connor's hand tightly. He looked down and grinned. Peering into his eyes I saw a glint of stealthy mischief. I raised an eyebrow, and he rolled his eyes before walking up behind Adrian at the counter.

A heavily tattooed woman, I would assume to be in her early thirties, looked up and put down her spiral journal. Leaning over the marble counter and showing off an unnecessary amount of cleavage, she spoke up, "So what 'cha need kids?"

Flashing his uber charming smile Adrian replied gracefully, "We're here to get my lil' sis tatted and pierced."

"Well I can handle the piercings; Evan will have to handle the tats. I'll need you to fill these out," she handed me a clip board. "And since you are under aged, you will need proof of parental permission. Hey, that was alliteration!" she laughed and took the sheet of paper Adrian was holding out. "Alright than, while you fill those out I'll ring Evan!' She skipped away, light as a feather, and just a little more thick than a board.

As I finished filling in the last of the information, I heard footsteps enter the room, and Never Shout Never, began to pound out of the speakers. Christofer Drew's wonderful voice filled the room as I took the papers up to the desk. They were picked up as soon as I set them down and a British voice spoke aloud, "Ruelle is it?"

"That's my name," I answered turning on my heel to face a man that could be Oli Sykes brother or something along those lines.

He guffawed, "I'm guessing that you are mentally comparing me to Oli Sykes?" He seemed carefree in his words so I loosened up. I looked away from his face and noticed him pointing at the Bring Me the Horizon shirt I was wearing.

"Basically, so are you Evan?" I stuck my hand out and he shook it.

"Yes, tattoo artist extraordinaire. So what and where?" we followed him to a cluttered desk, mostly covered by a light board similar to the professional one I owned back Home in Texas.

"Straight to the point, I like it," I jeered. "So, I want to get a little navy colored anchor on the middle of my left pointer finger, a solid black sixteenth note behind my right ear, the word LOVE inside my left wrist," I took two picture's from my pack pocket, one a drawling and one a photograph. I pointed to the photograph of mine and Connor's hands making a heart, "this on the top of the back of my right calf," I pulled the other sheet over and showed him a drawing of a heart with its edges fading out from black to Grey to the color of the paper, "and last this on top of my left foot."
Evan looked at me, eye's wide, "This can NOT be your first time getting tats. Wow, just wow. Well, Dee, here can do your piercings, while I draw these up. Sound good?"

"Okee, doke," I shook his hand again, boy did he have a firm grip, and walked up to the woman, who was now wielding a piercing gun.

"By the way, I'm Delilah," she stated, starting to clean my bottom lip.

~!~

"Yeah, we're here now...She's getting the one on her calf...Yes Mom... Okay... Of Course... Love you too, we'll call when she's done...Alright, bye," I heard Adrian's conversation with Lis-Mom over the steady hum of the tattoo gun. My body currently stung like a bitch. The gun silenced and I heard Evan open some gauze to put over the tattoo after I looked at it.

"Again, it's perfect," I cited to the tattoo artist, after rising to stand in front of a full length mirror.

"Great, I'll gauze this one and then we'll get this last one done," he said kneeling down and putting the gauze on to the sensitive surface. I winced as he patted the gauze and lead me back to the chair that had been my seat for quite a while now, "So Rue, what's the meaning behind these?"

He stuck the patterned paper onto my finger and let the ink set for a second, " Well the heart on my foot is for my Mom, who passed on when I was really little," He fan dried the Ink and then dipped the gun into a dark, but pretty, navy colored Ink. "The hands are me and Connor, we've been to together for over three years and were best friends before that." He put the gun to my finger and started to trace over the intricate, Lacy, lines that filled the anchor, even in its small area. "The LOVE is for TWLOHA, To Write Love on Her Arms, a self-help group that helped me to stop cutting a few years back." He dipped the gun again and started on the thick outline. "The music note is for my love of music and my band, and the anchor is for my adopted Dad, who is in the Navy."

He looked up from wrapping my finger up and smiled, "That's great, a lot of people your age, and mine, come in just wanting a tat, nothing with meaning or anything like that. They just think it looks cool, and then they come back five months later all 'I don't want this anymore, how do I get rid of it' and I really just want to flip them all off and tell them to get out but instead I have to start treating the tat and erase artwork, permanently from its canvas" He huffed out a sigh and rose from his seat, "You're all done!" He helped me up and then wrapped me in his long tattooed arms. "Let's go finish this transaction up!"

Adrian, paying for Lisa and Tods, and his own, gifts; Matt, paying for All Time Lows gift; Jade and Jace paying for their gifts; and I, for my anchor, walked up to the counter and paid Evan and Delilah. We exited the shop laughing; I had decided that if I ever need any more tattoos or I’m even in town I’m coming here. I pulled everyone into a behemoth hug, and let a sigh escape from my lips, and then a wince. “I love you guys but you need to move, somehow you are on ever tattoo I
have.”

Everyone cautiously shifted about a foot away from me and the aura became slightly stilted. We separated as five 14 or 15 year old girls walked by, each with an ear bud in and another hanging at their hip. My mind seemed to find the solution to the awkward feeling radiating through our group, as I spied the girls were adorned in. The Maine, Hey Monday, FTSK, Blink-182, and All Time Low
shirts had sparked an idea the mad genuineness.

“Zack, Rian, Alex, Jack, one of you give me a piggy-back ride!” I screeched, stomping my foot and crossing my arms; the girls stopped in place. “Merrick?” Zack crossed his arms as an overly charming smirk appeared on his face, and one of the girls turned her head towards another. “Dawson?” Rian chuckled and shook his head, the second girl turned towards another girl. “Ja-” I stopped as Jack jumped onto Alex’s Back and the third girl turned to the neck one next to her.

“Taken,” Alex smirked and wrapped his hands around Jack’s boney ankles. The fourth girl looked to the last girl.

I looked around to find Matt trying to hide behind Erik. “James Matthew Flyzik!” I started, “Don’t you dare try and hide from me!” the last of the girls heads popped up at the sound of ‘Flyzik’. Matt sighed and swerved around Erik. Walking, defeated, up to me and rotated, “Good job Matty Mouse.” I patted his head like I would a dog and wrapped my arms around his neck. The girls turned on their heels and I chuckled, “Well Howdy there girlies!”

Cassadee Jumping onto Rian’s back, Ri jumping onto Adrian’s back, and Jace and Jade jumping onto Erik and Anders backs, Alex shouted, “RUN!”

~!~

Somehow we ended up at a mall, way bigger than the one back home, but much, much, smaller than the Mall Of America. We mutually agreed that Hot Topic would be our first stop, and that the guys should all put their hoods on for fan related purposes. We had been at hot Topic for ten minutes and I didn’t figure any one had guessed the guys out, since I had heard no squealing.

“Oh let me tell you ‘bout the sad man,” I sang digging through the clearance tees. “Shut up and let me see your jazz hands. Remember when you were a mad man, though you was batma- What are you wearing, Jack?” I asked turning after hearing the dressing room door squeak open.

He positioned his hand on his cocked hip and in a horrible, sassy, black-girl voice, popped off, “what does it look like I’m wearing?”

I chuckled, “It looks like a lime green corset, a pink plastic mini skirt, fuzzy handcuffs and a purple princess tiara.” I fell to the ground grasping my sides after trying to contain my laughter.

He puffed out his skinny chest and replied, “See you didn’t even have to ask.” Before turning and looking in a mirror at his reflection. I heard a weakly stifled giggle from inside the dressing room.

“Come out Alex.”

Alex exited the room with a smirk proudly plastered on his handsome face. I gawked at the boy, when I saw he had adorned himself in a lacey black bra, studded corset/vest, pink tutu, thigh-high tights with navy blue bows on the sides and sparkly red 6 inch pumps.

“Oh my gosh, ALEX! Blind the world, why don’t cha?” I was rolling around on the black floor, howling and hold my ribs tightly,

“Oh man, Alex! Put some pan on before I get a boner!”Jack wailed running around in circles.
The boys looked at each other and then screamed as they hustled into the dressing room and slammed the door shut. I rose from the floor and dusted myself off letting out the last of my chuckles and shaking my head as Connor came up behind me.

“Alex and Jack?” he questioned embracing me.

“Naturally.”

“Will you come outside with me for a bit?” he whispered lightly into my ear, nibbling a bit as he did so.

Giggling I replied, “Lead the way.”

We walked past everyone and only Jace and Jade, who were looking at the lingerie, took notice of us, giving us thumbs up before going back to their perusing. “Those virgins sure do like their lingerie, don’t they?”Connor chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

“What’s up Connor?” I asked pulling him onto the nearest bench.

He pulled a petite black velvet bag, out of his pocket, and took my hand. Opening my hand in front of his, he tugged at the laces of the bag and emptied its contents into my palm. As he peered into my eyes, I saw pure sincerity there instead of the mischief I had seen earlier today. He let out the breath he had been holding in and began, “It’s not an engagement ring. It’s a promise ring, that is, if you’ll wear it? My dad gave my mom one when they were 16. I thought that was too young.” He grinned weakly as I look away from his eyes and down at the ring.

It was a simple silver band that read ‘I Promise’ in elegant cursive. I gasped as I took notice of the small heart-shaped diamond that dotted the lowercase i.

“Connor,” I smiled whole-heartedly. Slipping the ring on I looked back into his marvelous eyes, the one’s that I loved so much, “I love you.” I attacked him, and attacked my sore lips to his. He chuckled and started to twist his tongue around the studs in my lip, causing me to wince.
“Sorry,” he smirked causing me to giggle.