Ineffable

43 | DAD KNOWS EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING

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Iris

Colt murmurs, "This is a really bad idea."

Adi says, "Yes, it is."

I groan, turning towards them. "I want you both to support me and be excited for me."

Now, we are in a bright red room. Designs and drawings cover every available wall. At the other end of the room, there are two black salon chairs, a long mirror in front of it, and the sharp needle equipment near. A bright neon sign hangs above a counter.

Tattoo shop.

Colt whispers to Adi, "This room looks like a torture room."

"Isn't tattoo a form of torture?" Adi asks in reply and Colt snorts. "Yup, you get it. Why doesn't she get it?"

I reply, loudly, "She is right here and she wants a tattoo."

It was a quick decision while I was talking to Tanner during lunch today. He had asked me what do I want to do on my birthday. Before I could answer, he asked me if I wanted a tattoo and my answer was yes.

I do not know if this is my 'I am sad and hurt but I do not want to be so I will get a tattoo' phase but it probably is.

Right now, I clear my mind of those thoughts and focus on the present. I look around the room and call out, "Romeo? You here?"

Colt questions me, "You know the guy?"

Adi turns me towards him, holding my shoulders. He says, "Think this through, Milady."

I roll my eyes at them. I, of course, am going to get a tattoo but I wanted someone with me if I bail out at the last minute. Unfortunately, these two are doing nothing except being a series of negative thoughts.

Adi questions, "How did you even—"

Colt says, "Mia and Mom are gonna kill—"

"Oh, shush," I brush aside Adi's hands and glare at them, keeping my hands on my hips. "It is my birthday and I want to gift something to myself! What's wrong with that?"

Adi gapes. "You want to torture yourself on your birthday?" He turns to Colt. "Can we take her to a spa?"

Colt snaps his fingers. "I don't know about spas but we can Alyssa—"

"No," I complain. "I want a tattoo! Not a spa! You both are... cowards, ugh!"

Both of them look at me for a solid moment until they look at each other and start laughing.

"She just—"

"—stomped her foot!"

Adi holds on to Colt's shoulder while Colt keeps his hand on his chest—both of them still laughing. They look at me and laugh, louder—of course, because I am pouting, angrily, at them.

But when someone starts screaming in Spanish and a machine purrs – yes, purrs, they both stop immediately. Colt and I share an amused look, while Adi holds out his phone—to translate the words obviously.

Adi starts, "Did he—"

A dark-skinned man with a lot of tattoos and pierced ears and lower lip looks out of a corner room and says, over the angry voice in the room, "Ah, customers! Romeo—"

The angry voice slows down until— "Yeah, you should go and suck your own—"

Suddenly, Adi puts his hands on my ear and I can't hear the next sentences but I can see the tattooed guy's expression from amused to mortified. When he lets out a breath, Adi removes his hands from my ears.