A Start of Something New

At exactly 12 pm Olivia was drifting in out sleep. She began to wake up. Fluttering her eyes open. she rolled over and stretched out and arm only to be touch an unoccupied space. Ronnie had left just like he said he would.

Sighing Olivia got up and pulled out a pair of jeans t-shirt from her dresser and went to the upstairs bathroom to take a shower. When she got back to her room afterward she noticed the time

‘What to do to waste time?’ Olivia thought as she was walking down stairs just in time to see Jacky and Derek skipping merrily to the front door 

“Where are you guys going?”

“Gonna go get some tattoo’s filled in” Derek answered

“Can I come?” Olivia asked

“Why you gonna get inked, Olivia?” Nason questioned Olivia from behind her popping literally out of fucking no where

“Maybe, what’s it to ya?” Olivia asked jokingly and raising an eyebrow

“Tread lightly, once you start getting tattoos you only wanna get more and more” Nason warned then walked away Olivia simply rolled her eyes and shook her head forgetting about her cousins warning

“Can I still tag along?”

“Yeah c’mon” Jacky said

Olivia watched Jacky and Derek skip all the way to the car. She slid into the back seat and buckled up. Jacky took the wheel.

“So, is there any particular reason as to why you guys are skipping?”

“Yeah believe it or not.” Derek stated.

“Scotty dared us into this bet between Derek and me. Who can skip the longest, winner gets 50 bucks. We’ve been going at since this morning” Jacky explained pulling out of the drive way

~~xXx~~ 

Jacky drove into a crowed parking lot in front of a building were the sign read Skin Factory 

Derek and Jacky continued to skip inside the piercing and tattoo studio.

“Derek, Jacky! Wassup?” A woman asked greeting the pair as soon as they skipped through the doors. Olivia nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of this woman.

“Hey Militia!” Jacky returned the greeting hugging her and Derek did the same by greeting what seemed to be a good friend

Militia was a tall, skinny, dark skin sister, That was over 6 feet in height. She had really big afro hair, about a dozen facial piercings and stretched ears you could probably fit a new born’s head through. She had both arms inked with tattoos. On this particular day Militia was wearing a lime green tank top and black tripp pants.

“Hello.” Militia spoke to Olivia

“Hi”

“I’m Militia” she introduced herself holding out a friendly hand

“Oli”

“What can I do for you today?”

“Huh?”

“What do want done?”

“Oh nothing, I just came to observe”

“You sure? I’ve been told I’m the best piercer here in Vegas, and just take a look at my handy work.” Militia said showing off Jacky’s left arm displaying his sleeve Tattoo of the Nightmare before Christmas

“C’mon Oli, I’ll pay for a piercing if you want one.” Derek persisted

“Or if want a Tattoo, I got you.” Jacky said nugging her with his elbow

Tattoo’s? Piercings? What did I get myself into!?....well I always wanted a nose ring… 

“Well…” Olivia started to speak everyone looked at her anticipation

“I guess, a nose piercing would be ok”

“Can I pierce both sides?”

“Why?”

“It will look cool. Trust me.”

Olivia ponder the thought for a little bit. It was bad enough having a needle shoved on one side of her nose.

“Fine” Olivia agreed huffing

“Awesome! I’ll do myself. I’ll finish filling in your tattoo Jacky after I’m done with Oli. And Derek, Marc is in the back he can start on yours now.”

Derek skipped back to of the skin factory and sat down on black retractable chair and began talking to a guy with tall purple and green Mohawk and naturally had a ton of tattoos

“Why is-” Militia started to ask

“Don’t ask” Jacky warned

“C’mon lets pick your jewelry” Militia said smiling leading them to a wall the displayed all the stores stock body jewelry.

“I’ll just take these” Olivia said picking two black studs and the next thing she knew she was sitting on a black chair watching Militia put on pink latex gloves and began opening needles out of blue and white packages.

“Are you ready?” Militia asked she held the needle above Olivia’s left nostril after she had properaly cleaned the area of skin

“Mhm” Olivia said closing her eyes.
There was a sharp sting, and then nothing.

“That’s it?” Olivia questioned opening only one eye expecting it hurt

“Nope, I gotta do the other side” Militia said disposing of the old needle and opening up a fresh one. She did the same with the other nostril accept this time Olivia had her eyes open and saw the needle puncture her skin.

“Now you’re done” Militia told Olivia holding up a small mirror. She examined herself.

“Awesome! Thanks, Militia. It didn’t even hurt.”

“Now, how about that tattoo?”

“Um,”

“Here look through these while I’m taking care of Jacky. Tell me if you like any.” Militia gave Olivia giant leather bound scrap book full of tattoos and ideas. She took the book and sat down on a couch while Jacky was getting his tattoo filled in.

Flipping through the pages of the book nothing really struck her. She didn’t want big one or too flashy. She wanted something, small unnoticeable but cool. That’s when she found the perfect tattoo for her. It was small quotation marks that would go on here wrist. 

“I like this one.” Olivia said to Militia. Militia looked up from Jacky’s arm and redirected her attention to the book.

“Eh, it’s a start. Ok then, let me finish up” she said

“Does it hurt?” Olivia asked Jacky who was scrolling through his cell phone with his free arm

“It depends on where it’s at on your body”

“Really, because I’m getting one my wrist”

“Some places are more sensitive than others. Pain tolerance varies in people.”

“How do you feel now?”

“I guess you can say I’m used to it. There is very little pain. But every tattoo will hurt some what, love”

After waiting a while of watching Jacky tattoo filled in Derek came skipping over to them.
“Nice” Derek complemented Olivia on her new piercings

“Look what I’m getting” Olivia held up the book for Derek to view

“Hm, well it’s a start.” He said shrugging

“Ha, that exactly what I said” Militia added turning off her machine

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Olivia asked

“You’ll see in a couple weeks or days” Jacky said hopping out of the seat the three of them laughed.

Militia patted the empty seat queuing Olivia that it was her turn. She slid slowly back on the chair. This time she was a little bit more nervous. And the sound of the machine turning back on was even more nerve raking.
With out warning Militia grabbed Olivia hand began cleaning her wrist preparing it.bAfter that Militia carefully began the process.
It hurt. But it was bearable. Since the tattoo was small it only took less than 10 minutes.

“You’re finished” Militia announced wiping away the excess ink with her cloth. She put a cream over the finished artwork. Then wrapped her wrist in clear plastic wrap.

“How do you feel?” Jacky asked

“Honestly, I’m not sure. But do like my tattoo. Thanks Militia you’re awesome” Olivia said giving her new friend a hug.

“No problem Oli, I’ll spear you the speech on how to care for the tattoo because these guys already know all about it You’re in good hands.”

“Oh ok”

“Yup, I’ll see you real soon.” Militia said waving good bye

“Dude, what time is it?” Derek asked Jacky when they where walking in the parking lot Jacky flipped up his cell phone and told him it was 4 in the afternoon.

“Anyone else like, starving? ’Cause I am!” Jacky asked Olivia and Derek

“I was thinking the same thing, bro! How about you Oli?”

“A little.” She answered admire her first tattoo

“Let’s find some food, man” Derek said and with that Derek and Jacky skipped out of skin factory with Olivia walking behind them

~xX~ 
About 20 minutes later Derek Jacky and Olivia were in Spring Valley eating at Verranzo’s Pizzeria. They were all sitting at a circular booth table waiting for the pizza. Derek and Jacky were talking among themselves. Leaving Olivia to stare off into space.
~
Ronnie woke up turning around in his bed. He stretched then sluggishly got up. He Peaked out of his head bed room door. When he saw that nobody was upstairs he causally made his way to Olivia’s room to check on her. She wasn’t there.
‘Probably down stairs’ he thought then went down stairs he looked around but still couldn’t find Olivia. He looked in the back yard where Nason was smoking a cigarette and tending to Little. Brian was in the living room watching TV with Scotty.

“Hey, where is everybody?” Ronnie asked Brian

“Derek, Jacky, and Oli went off somewhere”

“Like where?”

“I think they said something about the skin factory before they all  left” Scotty said remembering

“Oh” Ronnie said shifting uncomfortably on his feet until he finally sat down trying to watch some TV with the guys. His foot began tapping at a fast unsteady pace.. He also began tugging at his long dark hair.

“You ok, man?” Scotty asked

“Huh?”

“Are you ok?” Scotty repeated

“Um, yeah. I’m ok”

“You seem a bit jiggery?” Brian added also noticing Ronnies strange change in behavior Nason walked in the room with Little in his arm.

“Sup?” He nodded towards Ronnie

“Nothing” Ronnie said then getting up walking back to his room just before he was at the top of the stair case he heard Nason ask

“What’s wrong with him?”

Ronnie didn’t stick around to hear the reply. He buried himself under the covers curling up he unlocked the touch screen of his HTC phone. His home screen greeted him with Olivia’s picture.