It Wasn't Meant to Be Like This

They weren’t joking, I was dragged into a tattoo parlour that very morning, the sound of buzzing and yelps of pain not to mention the smell of disinfectant. I was actually terrified.

“Guys, this isn’t funny anymore…I’m not doing it!” I argue, as I’m held onto the waiting seat. I just heard a scream, my stomach dropped and I felt nausea.

“Dude, stop being a pansy. I have two tattoos!” Jack laughs, patting my shoulder rather firmly. April was happily dancing around, choosing my design apparently.

“I don’t see why I should get one this year…I was 21 last year…” I mumble, feeling rather sulkily. Beth smiles, leaning in when Jack wasn’t drooling over her.

“You live once Finn….a tiny tattoo is all we’re asking” Beth teases and I grumble a swearword.

“Have you got one?” I demand and Beth shrugs.

“No…” she says, dragging the word out.

“See! Beth doesn’t have one!” I argue, but Jack simply laughs and continues talking to the very scary looking man, with loads of tattoo all over him. He had longish hair, with about five piercing in his ears each, and three on his face. Black clothing completed the cliché look of a tattooist.

“April! Don’t touch anything!” I snap, as I see her talking to some random guy, who looked about our age, with a eyebrow piercing, dark emo hair, and he was having a tattoo of skulls on his forearm, not even wincing. Stupid prick.

What was worse. He was flirting with my baby sister. “April, come back here now!” I hiss, and April glares at me.

“I’m talking to Dave-” she says but my glare said it all.

“Dude! She’s 14!” I shout suddenly and the guy immediately gives April a look of “Sorry, but I can’t back to jail because I asked you out” and April immediately stomped back over, huffing and puffing.

“Loser, he was really-” she begins, to tell me how attractive the pervert was.

“Don’t finish that sentence if you want to see another day” I hiss, and April immediately stops. Jack comes back over, clapping his hands together once.

“Okay, you’re up. You’re having a dragon tattoo, on the back of your shoulder” Jack announces. My mouth dropped.

“What!” I shriek, and Jack simply pulled me, telling me everything would be fine and it only hurt…a lot. April started dancing again, Beth was smiling with sympathy and I really wanted to hit my best friend.

Hey Finn, can I get a tattoo?” April asks me.

“Good joke April” I say, pretending to laugh.

“I wasn’t-”

“NO!” I interrupt, as I’m taken into the room, with patterns surrounding me.

The scary guy walks in. “Sup dude, I’m Clay…” he introduces, shaking hands. Okay, perhaps he wasn’t so scary.

“Hey” I say, nervously.

“So your friends have dragged you in?” he jokes, as he was preparing things. It looked unnerving.

“Yeah, it’s his birthday!” April suddenly says, jumping in the room. I wanted her to leave, but she never listened to me.

“Oh, happy birthday! How old are you?” the guys asks. I grimace “22” I say, and the guy laughs, a bit hearty laugh.

“Ah, half my age” he says and I was surprised, as he didn’t look 44. Jack was smirking at me, crossing his arms revealing one of his own tattoos. He’s had the one his forearm since he was 19, and the other one is an armband of tribal designs, he got it when he was 17 and purposely wanting to piss off his Dad. I was there when he had it done, he didn’t scream once.

He was determined to get back at his Dad.

“So, in all seriousness…are you okay with this?” Clay asks me and I knew I couldn’t back out now, especially when they all wanted me to do it.

“Yeah…I’ll do it” I say and I hear April say something along the lines of “Mom’s going to freak”.

The guy asked me to take off my shirt, I noticed Beth was staring at me and I wondered why. I use to work out a long, and along with fighting in my teens it gave me an okay body. I was muscular and tanned from the sun…but I didn’t see why she stared.

Jack wolf whistles, teasing me and I rolled my eyes. April watched me carefully, as I sat against a chair, and the guy asked me again if I was sure. I nodded and within minutes, pain was put on to me.

I was apparently having a dragon tattoo, one red, one black. April showed me a picture of what it would like and I must admit, Jack had good taste. In all honesty, it reminded me of him. I was the black one, negative and dark…and he was the red one, bright and colourful. It had a secret meaning behind it. I suddenly felt like shit for sleeping with his girl…

The pain numbed eventually and I gritted my teeth, Beth, April and even Jack coaching me through it. Jack was more helpful, seeing as he experienced this before. He also mentioned booze, so it made him all the more appealing.

“After this, we’ll go out for lunch, my treat…then we drop April home as she isn’t drinking…then we’re going out clubbing” Jack says and I smile grimly, as a spark of pain hit my skin.

“Sounds cool” I seethe, as I feel another twinge. God this hurt.

It took a long time, it was an intricate design and I guess he needed skill, which Clay obviously had. We had an hour break inbetween for the black to dry, then he said he could do the coloured one. Within the next hour, we were done. It hurt like a bitch and I wanted to scream and punch something. A bandage was put over it, I could take it off in a week. I must admit, for the first time during this tattoo business, I was excited to see the finished product.

“Okay! Next stop, lunch!” April announces, and I noticed ’Dave’ waved goodbye, I was tempting to go back in there and show him what I could do with his head and that chair. Not good things I tell you.

Jack picked a fancy place, we were underdressed, I kept wincing from pain, Beth looked stressed and April was complaining of hunger. Otherwise, the lunch went great. Jack let me have anything and I took the chance to spend his money, by having a starter, main and dessert, not to mention several glasses of wine.

“Thanks for lunch Jack” I say, swinging my arm around his as we walked back lazily to his car. It was 5pm, so it wasn’t really lunch…but still.

“No problem, let’s go drop your sister off then. We’ll get changed at ours” Jack says and I noticed Beth and April were walking rather quickly to the car. I wanted to question it but I was soon pushed into the car.

“C’mon!” April demands.

“Why you in a rush!” I snap, putting my seatbelt on. April and I sitting in the back. April huffed and started texting again.

“Who you texting?” I ask curiously.

“Ryan” she replies automatically, Beth smiled.

Weird. We drove to Mom’s house, we pulled up. It looked normal, but I had a funny feeling.
We got out and I noticed April was bouncing slightly, as if she was excited.

“What you hyped up for?” I ask. April shook her head and ran to the door.

“I need the toilet!” she shouts and I roll my eyes, getting my house key out. I open the door first, my friends behind me. I open it, and walk in…

“SURPRISE!” a mixture of voices shouted, making me jump and almost slam into Jack and Beth behind me. A load of party poppers went off and I blinked, to see my friends and family all gathered in the living room, with maniac grins.

Aaron, Greg, Harry, Jimmy, Emma, Maggie, some other chick that I knew…and all my family, Grandparents, Aunties, Uncles, Cousins, More Cousins, Second Cousins….overall, about fifty people inside our house.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Mom shrieks, happily and rushes forward hugging me, kissing me on the cheek multiple times. Camera flashes and I try and get my heart to act normal. I was literally stunned.

“Oh my god” I breathe finally, as another camera went off. April hugged me suddenly and we had more and more pictures. I thanked everyone for coming and was hugged by many different people. I had birthday messages from everyone, kisses from family and friends.

It was a big group of everyone I loved dearly. I was so happy, I was surprised and happy.

“This is amazing!” I tell them all, and they all grin. Music is suddenly started and the party got started, everyone filed out in the garden, where a BBQ was going. My Uncle Dan in charge of the Barbie, which I didn’t think was a wise idea, he was in anger management after all.

But beside my dysfunctional family, my grandmother on my mother’s being slightly insane, my grandfather on my mother’s side still hates the Germans from the war and finds it incredible difficult to realize that the war is over, it’s ironic how his neighbours are in fact German. My other grandparents, on my father’s side are complete snobs and don’t watch TV as they say it causes cancer. My Aunt Marie hates me secretly because I’m a fuck up and because my Dad would always complain to her about me, so she loathed me eventually. We have Uncle Josh, who divorced Aunt Marie for a younger look a like and didn’t want children, that bit him on the ass as he soon knocked up Kayla, my new ‘Aunt’ as they are currently engaged and Kayla has two children with him.

Aunt Marie is border lining lesbianism.
My Dad’s brother, Uncle Andy was the ‘cool’ uncle who didn’t seem to realize he aged, with his several tattoos, earring and Harley Motorbike, he’s about 40 odd and still has one night stands.

My other Aunt, Aunty Tia, my Mom’s younger sister was an Aunt I actually liked. She was sweet and obsessed with Soap Operas. She was has been dating my ‘Uncle’ Zack for about three years, and it seems they don’t plan on getting married. They do however, share five children. Two from Zack’s previous marriage and three of their own.

See what I mean? It’s all very complicated. But on the whole front, I loved my family as weird and misshaped as they maybe. I loved them, especially for throwing me a party.
The party went into full swing, full of laughter, fights, food, music and nausea…all what family parties are about. I lost Jack somewhere between the singing happy birthday and blowing out candles, to the dilemma where Grandma Rose decided she needed to go home as the music was too loud for her hearing aid. My Grandfather Joe decided that the Germans were attacking and almost threw Grandma Rose across the room, because he believed her to be a spy.

After the ‘oldies’ left, the alcohol really kicked in and I soon found Beth, who was dancing with my cousin George. I felt jealous I must admit.

“Hey, Georgie, mind if I steal her away?” I tease and take Beth’s hand pulling her away before he had the chance to argue.

“Thanks, we’ve been doing the Macarena for the past hour. How you doing anyways birthday boy?” Beth asks me slightly, her words slurred slightly. She looked beautiful today and I was pleased to say that soon, she be my girl.

“I’m fine, thank you for a great day” I say, feeling my head go slightly dizzy.

“You’re more than welcome…so about our trip” Beth says, hiccupping which I found adorable.

“Yes?” I say, leaning closer. We had come into the bathroom, downstairs. A bit awkward, but what the hell.

“After our little trip, I’ll end it with Jack. I promise. I’ll tell him straight out” Beth says and I feel myself grinning.

“Really?” I ask, feeling a surge of excitement run through me. Beth giggles, and leans forward, our noses almost touching.

“Really, Really” she says and pecks my lips. She tasted sweet, and I loved it.

“I do feel bad you know” I murmur, as I kiss her again, not really meaning my words. Beth giggles and kisses me softly.

“I know, but you can’t help who you love…and I happen to love you” Beth whispers and I feel myself have out of body experience. Beth said she loved me, not liked me. LOVED ME.

“Love?” I repeat, grinning widely. Beth looked worried slightly.

“Sorry, ignore me” she says, pulling away looking what I’m sad to say: ashamed.

“No, I won’t….Beth. Do you love me?” I ask, it may have been the alcohol, it may have been something else but I needed to know now.

“Yeah I do. I love you one hell of a lot Finn” Beth says seriously and I knew she meant it. You couldn’t lie about that could you?

“I love you too, I always have” I admit and Beth grins, lacing her hands into mine and it seemed it was fate, as our hands fitted perfectly together.

A loud knock at the door startled us. “Shit” I whisper, as the banging continued.

“Hey! Whoever’s in there, hurry up. We’re about to sort out presents with Finn!” it was April, we waited. My heart racing that she might come back….when she got. We let out a chorused sigh of relief.

“That was close” Beth whispers. I smirk at her “I like the thrill” I tease and quickly kissed her again. Beth giggled and we made our plan to leave.

As I was opening my presents, the awful ones I pretended to like and the genuine ones I continuously thanked for, I noticed Beth wasn’t attached to Jack, even though she had his arm around her. Her arms were crossed, and she looked completely unaware of him. Which I liked.

I was content, I was happy.

Then I realized I had to tell my Mom I got a tattoo.

It never lasts for long does it? Happiness…

---

When I awoke from my big birthday bash, I had a hangover and no recollection of where I was….oh the bathtub. Last night was a good night, I got smashed but had a fantastic night. People had took plenty of photos for it.

I had a huge crick in my neck and it freaking hurt, as I manoeuvred out of the bathtub. My head was aching but I thankfully had no sickness. I stretched finally and felt relieved as the bones cracked in my body, giving me satisfaction.

I washed my face, and realized I stunk from sweat and alcohol so I decided to go for a shower. After, I got out and dried myself, wrapping the towel around my waist. I decided to go into my old room, and see if I left any clothes there.

I had and thankfully no one had procreated in my room. I put on some old, comfortable things as I had a feeling I wouldn’t be leaving the house today. I went downstairs to find Aunt Maria knocked out on the couch, Greg on the floor without his shirt and I then went into the kitchen to find Jack, Mom, April and Beth all having a nice chat.

“Morning” I mumble, shuffling to the fridge and getting a drink.

“Morning” they chorused back in the same mood.

“Thanks for last night, it was great” I say, as I sipped my juice and caught Beth’s eyes quickly. She gave me a slight smile.

“You’re welcome Baby, we all had good fun” Mom says, kissing my head and ruffling my hair. April looked tired but thankfully not hungover.

“I’m going for a shower, I’m going to Ryan’s” she announces and jumps off the stool and wanders out.

“I still hate him” I whisper and it causes Mom to smile, Jack to chuckle and Beth to roll her eyes.

“Well, you’re dropping her off for me…I’ve got some cleaning to do” Mom says and I groaned, and stupidly let my head drop on to the counter. Fuck, my head.

“Well, unlike you lucky people. I have work today. Beth, I’ll see you tonight. Cathy, lovely to see you as always and Finn, we need groceries…so drive by the store later” Jack says, grabbing his keys and jacket. I noticed he wearing different clothes then yesterday, he must have brought them with him.

I loved how I got the orders. He really is a bastard sometimes. A good, best friend type of bastard though. He did after all contribute to my party and my meal and my tattoo.

“Bye” we all said after him, Beth got a kiss, my Mom got a hug and I got a slap around the face.

“Douche” I mutter and immediately get scolded as Mom’s bat ears picked it up. Mom swiftly left, leaving Beth and I alone.

“So, fancy coming grocery shopping?” I as hopefully, I hated grocery shopping.

“I can’t, I have assignments to finish.” she says, giving me a slight smile. I grinned.

“Please….” I say dragging it out. Beth rolls her eyes and smirks.

“Maybe, but I need to go. I’m seeing my Mom today” Beth says sadly. She didn’t really like her Mom, which is understandable as from what I’ve heard. She’s a bitch.

“Ah, good luck” I tease and Beth chuckles.

“I’ll need it” she says, picking up her purse.

“See you tonight?” I ask, praying for a ‘yes’. Beth nods, her curls bouncing. God, she looked beautiful in the morning.

“Yeah, I’ll text you later…maybe” she teases and kisses my cheek which could have been either friendly or romantic. I chose romantic.

“Bye” I call softly, as she left the kitchen, her perfume still lingering in the air. I sigh contently, listening to the peace.

“Ah crap! I’m late!” April shouts, causing groans from the two unconscious people in my living room.

“I’ll be in the car” I shout, knowing the routine. When I got in my car, I smiled to myself knowing that this time next week, I’d be in New York with Beth…

April slammed the car door shut, and started quickly doing her makeup in the mirror. I rolled my eyes but started the car anyways.

“You don’t need any of that crap” I mumble, as I reversed slowly out the drive.

“He hasn’t seen me without it! I don’t want to take the risk!” April argues, slapping on the mascara. I rolled my eyes and switched on the brand new stereo, thanking Jack again silently in my head.

“He’ll love you more without it” I say simply and April shrugs.

“He hasn’t said he loved me!” April snaps. God, she was moody today.

“Hey, what’s up?” I ask, yawning slightly. I needed a nap when I get home.

“Nothing, just…Ryan wants to talk to me about something and he won’t tell me what. So I’m nervous” April admits quickly. I sigh, knowing she was over reacting.

“Stop worrying. If he dumps you…I’ll kick his ass” I say, as if my words solved the problem. April sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Thanks for the help Finn” she says sarcastically.

“Anytime freak” I say, pretending to not notice her tone. I really needed that nap right now…