Begin Again

“Did that hurt?” Leah asked pointing to John’s chest. Her chipped nails were short, she was always making sure they weren't too long.

His black V-neck dipped low so she could see letters, but not the entire tattoo.

“Yeah a bit,” He laughed. He took off his beanie and ran his long thin fingers through his hair before placing the hat back on.

“I have a lot of tattoos though, so now it’s not really a big deal, I don't really feel it. Plus, I usually have a couple of drinks before I get into the chair.” He said with a shrug.

“Why did you want to get them?” She asked.

“For different reasons really.” He said before lifting a second cup of coffee to his lips. “But enough about me, tell me a story.”

Leah blushed and shook her head. “Like what?”

“The greatest day of your life,” He said with a smile.

She took a deep breath and instantly smiled. She looked at him and he raised his eyebrows.

“Well, before I moved here for school, my mom brought Tyler and I into the city. It was Christmastime,” she said with a sigh. “There were twinkling lights everywhere, it was staring to snow, and out come this company of ballerinas.”

“How old were you?”

“I was eight,” Leah said blushing.

“So you were in amazement?” John asked as he fingers touched loose hair. He began to wind the hair and she smiled.

“Yeah, but they were beautiful, I wanted to be just like them.” Leah said as her eyes glossed over, she was remembering the tall beautiful women dressed for the show they were performing in that night. She begged her mom to take them, but the show had sold out.

“You were already dancing by then right?”

“Yeah, but at that moment, I knew. I knew I needed to go to more classes, and I think my mom knew something changed in me too.”

He smiled and nodded. “I love how passionate you are about dance,” he said.

“You’re like that with your music, tell me about your shows.” She said sitting forward, their upper bodies almost touching.

He grinned and pulled out his phone. He opened his photos and handed the device to Leah. She started flipping through the images as he talked about the antics of his band mates, the shows across the country, and different people they’ve met.

“That’s amazing,” Leah said as she reached the last photos.

He shrugged but grinned. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m the luckiest guy that I get to do this for a living.” He looked at his clock on his phone. “Wow, you let me ramble on for an hour about it. Why didn’t you stop me?”

“You get this glow about you when you talk about your band and your music. It’s beautiful.” She said smiling.