Picking Up the Pieces

Today marked a week since Tony asked me out. And since we had a late show (doors were at 7), after we loaded into the small Milwaukee venue, we were free to do whatever we wanted for almost the entire day. Casey, Joe and Jake decided to stay on the bus and play video games; Jaime, Mike, Shane, Evan, Vic and Luke were playing soccer in the parking lot; and Tony and I were going to a tattoo parlor a few blocks away to get him some new ink (he said he was craving a new tattoo). I was also planning on getting my lip pierced.

The tattoo shop was small, but cozy, with almost every square inch of the brick walls covered in tattoo designs and posters. It reminded me of a dentists’ office in the way that there was a counter to check in at, a couch to wait on, and then beside the counter, there was a short hallway that I assumed led to the individual tattoo/piercing rooms.

Tony approached the counter to talk to an employee, while I plopped myself down on a couch to look at some of the artists’ portfolios. I was only a couple pages in when Tony called me over to where he stood.

“You said you wanted your lip pierced, right?” He asked.

I nodded, and he pulled out his credit card to give it to the guy behind the counter. Despite my protests, he handed it to the employee, who slid it through then returned it.

“Alright, I’m gonna make a stencil from this, and Kylie right here can do your lip,” he told me. “I’m Kyle, by the way.” He picked up a piece of paper from in front of Tony then disappeared into the back.

A girl with pink hair and plugs waved cheerfully to me from where she leaned up against the wall opposite the counter. I’m guessing that’s Kylie. “I can get you all done, if you’ll just follow me right this way,” she instructed, turning and heading down the hallway.

Tony followed me into a small room with a three chairs in a row along one wall (one regular one, one big one, and one spinny one), and a sink, some drawers, and a mirror on the other. I took a seat on the big cushiony chair, and Tony sat on the regular one while Kylie prepped some things for the piercing.

“Is this your first time?” she asked, washing her gloved hands.

“Yep,” I answered nervously. “I got my ears pierced at Claire’s when I was, like, six, but I don’t think that counts.”

She laughed. “Yeah, this is gonna be a bit different.” She pulled a small package out of the drawer and opened it. “You’re here for emotional support, I presume?” she asked, nodding to Tony.

It was his turn to laugh now. “Yeah, I’m gonna hold her hand,” he replied.

Kylie walked over to me and put one of those paper things around my neck and on my chest like they do at the dentist office. “Just in case you throw up blood,” she explained, winking.

“I’M GOING TO THROW UP BLOOD?!?!!?” I screamed at her, eyes wide.

Both her and Tony laughed at me. Tony applauded, in fact.

“No, that’s just something I say to everyone to mess with them,” she admitted. “Now it’s not gonna seem so scary when I put this big ol’ needle through your lip!”

“Oh,” I said, calming down. “I guess that makes sense."

Kylie giggled, then wheeled her spinny chair over to me, a clamp in one hand and a long needle in the other. Meanwhile both of Tony's hands were wrapped around my left hand, that squeezed on his like my life depended on it.

"Close your eyes, it'll make things a lot easier," Kylie commanded. I did so, and then I felt something squeezing on the left side of my lower lip. "If you could talk to distract her, that'll be great," she told Tony.

So he did. "Remember that one Halloween, when we were seven and eight, and we dressed up as Leia and Luke from Star Wars?" He began. "I told you that if you gave me a kiss, I'd give you all my candy. And you said sure, so then you kissed me on the front step of your house, and when you pulled back, I pushed you down, took your candy and then ran away. Yeah, that was great.

"And on Valentine's Day in first grade, you were the only girl that gave me a valentine. I still have it, you know. I kept all your valentines. And your letters and cards. And your school pictures that your mom gave me. I did eat all your candy within the first few days after Halloween, though. Sorry.

"Are we done yet? You’re embarrassing me," I mumbled as best I could with the clamp still hanging on my lip.

"Yeah, we were done a couple seconds after he started talking," Kylie said. "Wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Yeah, ah hardluh fet anyfenn," I replied as she took the clamp off.

"You should be good to go, don't eat, drink or smoke anything for the next four hours," Kylie instructed. "And I think Kyle should be done with your stencil in the room across the hall."

Tony and I stood up, and I gave Kylie a thank you hug before we left.

When I joined Tony in the room across the hall, we had switched places. This time, he was in the dentist chair and I was in the folding one.

On the other side of Tony was Kyle, who, now that I had seen them both, looked like an identical male version of Kylie. He spun a tray around in front of Tony's chest (again, much like at a dentist office) and told him to put his right hand on the tray so Kyle could tattoo it comfortably.

As Kyle prepared the stencil, ink and needles, Tony made a bit of small talk.

"I guess you and Kylie are siblings?" He asked, glancing at Kyle.

He nodded in response as he applied the first stencil to the side of Tony’s hand, in the area joining his wrist and thumb. "Triplets. My brother works here too. His name's Kyler," Kyle explained. "Our parents were short on ideas. How bout you guys? You two know each other well?"

Tony chuckled. "’Well’ hardly begins to explain it. We’ve known each other since we were kids,” he said.

“But he didn’t ask me to be his girlfriend until a week ago,” I added, smirking.

Kyle laughed at that. “I’m guessing this is you then?” he passed me the folded piece of paper from earlier that I now realized was the photo my mom had given Tony.

“Yeah,” I murmured, taking it. “Tony, why did he have this?” I looked at him, confused.

He just smiled and blushed a little bit. “It’s what I’m getting tattooed today,” he confessed while tilting his hands to show me the stencils.

There, in my mom’s handwriting, was the phrase promise you’ll take care of her, and on the other hand, it said i need you to be that someone.

I gawked at it in absolute awe. For him to do that for me and my mom....just...wow. It made me feel special. I looked up at him, grinning.

He grinned right back at me. “So I never forget my promise,” he whispered, leaning in and kissing my forehead.