Maybe Just Once More

When I woke up I realised that two things had gone. The first was that I no longer felt like vomiting up my liver, and the second, Zach had left.

After changing into more comfortable clothes, I trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen area, where Sean, Gavin and Zach were discussing different games for his ‘Nintendo DS’ thing.

“Ey! Mummy’s awake! Does she look a bit pale to you?!” Sean asked Gavin sarcastically, to which I replied with a quick hand gesture.

“Did you see that?! That wasn’t very nice mummy!” Sean carried on.

“Sean stop shouting!” I shouted, and then cringed as my headache increased. Of course Sean found it amusing though.

“Want some breakfast mum?” Gav asked, offering me some toast. I found it amusing that since I’d had Zach, the boys had become fond of calling me mum instead of Jess

“Thanks.” I mumbled, and sat down beside Gav. He put his arm around my shoulder, and we watched as Zach and Sean poked each other.

“Mornin’” Curtis whispered, feeling more fragile than I did.

Everyone said hello apart from me, to which I simply nodded, and Curtis knew how shit I felt. I checked the time, and decided I’d need to go if I was going to get my tattoo. Gavin said he’d come with, and Zach complained about wanting to come. Sean said he’d bring him over for a little while and go for a walk, so I grabbed my bag and headed into the warehouse that all the artists were in. We walked around until we spotted Louis in the back corner.

“Hi. I’ve a session booked for midday.” I told him and he checked the book.

“Ah yes, you must be Jess.” He said and I nodded. “What are you thinking about getting done?”

“I wanted a group of stars on my wrist, but I wanted there to be one big one, and then little ones surrounding it. I also wanted to get my son’s name, Zach, in the middle of the large one.” I told him and he nodded, while sketching it up.

“Black and grey or colour?” He asked.

“I was thinking of it just being black and grey.” I said and he nodded.

“Well if you want to just take a seat, and get comfortable, while I get set up and then we’re good to go.” He said and I nodded happily.

We got a spare seat for Gav to sit on, and he was going to help me through the painful parts.

*****

About half an hour later, we were just finishing off on the shading, when Zach and Sean appeared.

“Zach come and look at mummy’s tattoo.” Gavin said, and Zach walked over nervously and cautiously. We were shading the last part of one star and it was right on the bone.

“Sean come here.” I said quickly and he was aware that I needed to hold his hand.

“I’m here.” He said softly, as I flinched and kept my eyes closed.

“Ahh it hurts.” I hissed.

“Is mummy alright?” I heard Zach ask Gav, and he chuckled.

“Yeah mummy’s okay. It just hurts a little bit.” He told Zach.

The burning on my wrist soon stopped, and Louis wrapped up my wrist. I paid and thanked him, before we decided to head over to the food tent and meet up with the rest of the guys. Once we reached the tent, I noticed a familiar girl with her head on the table and her pyjamas. We reached the table and I smirked.

“Morning Sarah” I smiled and she just groaned.

“Mummy, sit here!” Zach insisted, and just as I put my bag down someone approached me from behind.

“Jess? Can I talk to you for a minute?” They said and I sighed but nodded.

So much for a nice lunch…