Someone Else's Summer by Rachel Bateman

Author:Rachel Bateman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Running Press
Published: 2017-05-09T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Cameron grasps my hand and tugs me along the sidewalk, ignoring my questions of where we’re going. We walk for two blocks before he stops suddenly in front of an unassuming blue door.

“Where—”

“Shhhh. Just… come on.”

A soft bell tinkles as we enter the building, which is dark, smelling strongly of incense. The walls are painted the same color blue as the door, and they are covered with black-and-white sketches. It takes me only a moment to realize they are sketches for tattoos.

“Cameron,” I start to say, but another voice speaks over mine, high-pitched and chipper. “Welcome!” a girl says.

She’s short, maybe five foot two, with purple hair cut into and a fierce pixie cut. Her eyes are crystal blue, and a tiny red gem sparkles on one side of her nose.

“Um, hi,” I say.

“Do you guys have an appointment?”

Cameron leaves me at the door and crosses to meet her. “No,” he says, “but here’s the thing…” His voice fades until I can’t hear what he says.

The two of them talk for a few minutes then the girl waves me over. “First tattoo? Don’t worry. Jim is super good. The best.”

Cameron is watching me, and I’m watching the girl, shocked. She stares back at me in anticipation, so I nod and say, “It’s silly, though. I don’t even know what I want. That’s stupid, right?”

She shakes her head, glances at Cameron for half a second then back at me. “Not stupid at all. But make sure you pick something you want, okay? You gotta live with it for a long time.” I stare, dumbfounded, so she says, “We have some books you can look through.”

“That’d be good.”

“Awesome.” She comes out from behind the counter and leads us to a couch in the lobby. Three huge binders are sitting on a coffee table. “Take as much time as you need. Jim doesn’t have any appointments until tonight, so he’ll wait for you. This book has large color work, this one has small color work, and that far one has the black-and-whites, simple stuff.”

I immediately reach for the third book and pull it into my lap. I flip through the pages, Cameron watching over my shoulder as I breeze past flying birds and blowing dandelions and stylistic arrows. Some of them are great, stuff I can imagine getting done, but nothing really speaks to me. I get to the end and immediately turn back to the beginning.

“Nothing?” Cameron asks.

I shrug. “I don’t know. I liked some of them. I’m just not sure…”

He’s turning the pages now, taking more time than I did, really scrutinizing each image. He stops at one page, flips to the next, then turns back again. “What do you think about these ones?”

The page is filled with words, flowing script on soft skin. Let it be; no regrets; though she be but little, she is fierce. I read tattoo after tattoo, studying the way the letters flow into each other and twirl on the skin. My eyes are tracing

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