by Marie Cole
I smiled, I bet it stung on the other side of the table. I knew, I'd been there. Before Kent could retreat all the way Jen came by and tapped me on my shoulder. I turned around and was met with the sharp sting of Jen's open palm. My head whipped to the side and my hand covered my cheek. There were collective gasps and "Ooh"s in the immediate area. I turned my face, hand still on my cheek and glared at Jen.
The crackling of glass breaking sounded in the background as Kent moved up between us. He seemed angry. Very angry.
My boyfriend put his arm around my chest, holding me back.
Jen looked at Kent and then pointed a finger at me. "She was groping you!"
Kent looked at me and then looked at Jen. "Let's go, now." He grabbed her by her upper arm and pulled her through the crowd.
I still had my hand on my cheek. "Bitch." I fell back against my new boyfriend and turned, heading to an empty booth with his hand on my hip, not looking back. Good riddance to both of them.
Chapter Forty-Two
Kent had only tried to contact me a few times after the bar incident. One of them was on Thanksgiving. He hadn't left a voicemail so I didn't feel obligated to call him back.
I didn't want to see him or Jen at Christmas so I skipped it and let my mom know I'd be coming in after the party was over.
As I walking up the driveway I saw Kent standing outside in the cold. His cheeks were rosy with color and so was his nose. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his thick jacket. I froze when I saw him and then turned on my heel, heading back down the sidewalk.
My heart hammered in my chest as I heard him call out my name. I heard his footsteps as he came jogging up behind me. "Elly, wait." His hand wrapped around my arm to stop me. I yanked my arm away and turned around, my voice thick with anger.
"What?!"
"I'm sorry. I blew up because of Jen's jealousy issues She got in the way of our friendship."
"Newsflash: That's what she does! And she'll continue to do it because you're getting married to her. You know, I was glad she slapped me. I deserved it. I did. But I won't give her a reason to do it again. I'm staying the hell away from you." I tried to step around him but his large hand stopped me.
"Elly. I've talked to her about it, a lot. Either she accepts the fact that we are friends or it's over between us. I'm not willing to lose you, Elly. I'm sorry."
I pulled my arm away again. "You've already lost me, Kent! Just accept it like you do everything else."
"No, Elly. I will not accept that. We've been through some hard times together and I'm not willing to give up."
"I have nothing to give you. What we had...It's gone. We can't hang out anymore. Our lives are rapidly going in different directions."
"Will you take a ride with me? I have a gift for you, but it's not here."
"No. I won't accept any gifts from you." I tried to step around him one last time.
Kent stepped in front of me, his hands up in defense. "At eight years old we made a promise to each other, that we'd be friends forever, no matter what. I intend to keep that promise and that is what this gift is about. It's something that goes with that promise."
"Yeah, but we aren't. So, you broke the promise. You broke it when you started dating Jen and let her come between us. You broke it when you walked out on me last year and didn't call me all friggin' summer."
"Then what am I doing here now, Elly?"
"You're trying to take it back but you can't." Tears pricked at my eyes and I struggled to keep them from falling. "Tell me this Kent, if I said that in order to get me back as a friend you'd have to break off your engagement to Jen and never talk to her again, would you do it?"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. "I'm not going to lose you, Elly." His fingers started typing in a number, I could only guess it was Jen's. "Is that what you want me to do? Is that what all this is about?"
I stared at him and shook my head, looking down at my feet. I wasn't going to force him out of his relationship. Even if he wasn't with Jen there was no guarantee that he'd pick me and then we'd be in the same situation just with a different girl. "No, I'm sorry."
"I stood up for myself with her. I told her that you were going to be my friend and she had to stop being jealous. I came here tonight to say I was sorry." He put his phone away and got down on his knees in front of me, his arms limp at his sides, like a man defeated. "I'm begging. Do you want me to crawl? Cause I will." He bent forward, putting his hands on the ground too.
"Kent..." I stepped away from him, "Stop. Is this what you did for her too? Crawl on your hands and knees? Beg her to stop being jealous over me?"
"No," he sat back on his haunches, "she begged me. I told her how things had to be or we weren't going to work out. Then I told her that I was going to be friends with you and that I had to show you I was sorry. I also told her that I wanted to get a gift for the both of us. She wasn't happy, but it was accepted. So will you take a ride with me? At least come to my car so I can show you what I want to do?"
My curiosity got the best of me and I felt my wall going down.
"Reluctantly. I will." I waited for him to stand up and lead the way. I followed him to his car slowly. Feeling...I had no idea what I was feeling.
I looked over my shoulder at my mom's house, the lights were all off and I swore I saw the blinds move upstairs. I huffed softly, my mom still had her hopes up that our friendship would be repaired obviously. And she'd been the one to tip Kent off that I was coming home. I'd have to talk to her about that later.
When we got to the SUV, which was parked a few houses down, he opened the door on the passenger side. There was a stack of papers in the seat that he was filtering through. He pulled out a design and held it out to me.
"It's a symbol for friendship. There's a tattoo parlor downtown that's open tonight."
I laughed and shook my head, "Wait. What? You want to buy me a tattoo?"
He waited for my laughter to stop, staring at me in the dim street light with a serious expression on his feet. "I want to buy us a tattoo. I've wanted one for a long time but I was picky about what I would get. Now I've found something I'm willing to put on my body for the rest of my life. Are you?"
I wrapped my arms around myself and shrugged. "I don't know. You're going first. If you cry then I can't do it."
"I'll go first and then I'll be right there with you." Finally, a little smile appeared his lips. "So you'll take a ride with me?"
I nodded slowly. Part of me felt that this was a terrible, terrible idea. Another part of me had been missing him terribly and was desperate for any little crumbs of attention he'd give to me. "Yes, but I'm not promising anything else."
"Fair enough."
Chapter Forty-Three
He picked up the pile of papers in the passenger seat and threw them in the back. He moved around to the other side and got in. Kent started the SUV and turned the heat on to try and warm it up. He was shivering. I reached back and grabbed the papers before buckling up. I flipped through them while he drove. There were several other things doodled on paper. One of them was actually a rather well done drawing of me.
I looked at the drawing, held it up to my face so I could see it better in the darkness. "Who drew this?"
"Remember Sammy from Art History class?" He was watching the road as he drove. "He drew all those for me."
"Does Sammy have a crush on me?"
"That was a possible tattoo I was thinking about. I gave him some pictures of you to draw."
"Hmm." I kept flipping as I mulled that over. Jen probably twisted his arm and told him he definitely couldn't get a picture of my face on his body. I smirked as I imagined them having sex and her having to stare at me on his chest. I shook the thought the away, amusing as it was.
There was also one of my name ornately drawn out and his name mixed into it. Another of two video game controllers, with tangled wires.
I laughed at that one. "You do love your video games."
"It was something we always used to do, not about the video games themselves." He pulled into the tattoo parlor.
I flipped to the one we were going to get, or maybe just him, I hadn't decided yet. "Where are you going to get it?"
"Diamond Thief. It's the only parlor that is open at this time and I've looked at some of the work. It's good." He put the car in park and looked at the parlor in front of us.
I laughed. "No, I meant where on your skin."
"If you can't tell I'm kind of nervous," he chuckled as he looked at the sign that flashed with the large diamond on it. "I was thinking on my arm, maybe my calf."
"I think it should go on your hairy ass." I grinned at my own joke, surprised by how easily I could slip back into being his carefree friend.
Kent smirked. "Is that really where you think it should go?"
"Will you put it there?"
"Do you want me to put it there?" He chuckled as he opened the door and got out.
"It's your body..." I got out of the SUV too and walked with him up to the door of the tattoo parlor.
"Where do you think it'll look good?" He opened the door for me and we were greeted when we walked in by a girl sitting behind the desk. She had lots of colorful tattoos on her arms and facial piercings.
"I don't know. I haven't seen your body lately."
"You've seen my body, it hasn't changed since the last time I came out of the shower or the that time I mooned you in the kitchen."
I was uncomfortable thinking about his body so I blurted out the least sexy place I could think of, "Your wrist."
"Alright." He moved up to the girl, who smiled sweetly at him. "Yeah. I need a tattoo done. Maybe two." He turned his head to look at me. "She still hasn't decided yet."
The girl nodded her head. "Can I get a copy of the thing you want?" Kent took the slip of paper I was holding and gave it to her. She stood up and disappeared into the back of the shop. She returned in a few minutes with the picture. "Where do you want it and how big?"
Kent held wrist out to her. "Big enough for the wrist." The girl nodded and disappeared again.
I looked at Kent, smiling. "You're really doing this. Where should I put mine?"
Kent leaned his elbow on the desk as he waited for the girl to come back, his boots crossed at his ankles. "So you're going to get it? I say your chest." His eyes moved to my buttoned up coat and then shook his head, his eyes meeting mine. "I'm just kidding. How about your hip? Or a little farther over where there's more meat so it doesn't hurt so much?"
I smiled. "Maybe I should get it on my wrist, too. Or maybe on my lower back. I've always wanted a tramp stamp. Ooh! How about on the bottom of my foot?"
Kent made a face. "That sounds painful." He chuckled. "I like the wrist idea then we'll match."
"Okay. Let's do it."
The receptionist came back out and looked at me. "How about you, darling?"
"One of the same, hon."
"Alright, just let me see your wrist." When I offered it she took it and measured it with her finger. "Alright. I got one artist tonight so it'll have to be one at a time. I'll get you set up, beautiful. You want to take your man back to the chair?"
"He's not my man..." I pointed at the drawing, a little panic in my voice, "Does that symbol mean he's my man?"
"Oh. I just assumed. I have no idea what the symbol means, sugar." The girl was cute in an emo way because of the black hair and tattoos. "Anyway, I'll get Matt out here in a minute when I get the sheet set up."
"Is Matt hot?" I smiled sweetly.
The girl looked at Kent and gave a little grin. "He kind of looks like him, 'cept with lots of tattoos and glasses."
"Mmm...glasses." I looked at Kent with a grin. "Sounds sexy." I looked back to the tat lady. "Is he single?"
She looked me over slowly, starting at my feet and when her eyes met mine, she said, "We do couples, if you're interested."
Kent snickered and moved for the tattoo chair.
I blushed and then shook my head. "Oh, no...no, I'm pretty vanilla...sorry..." I didn't follow them. "Blood and stuff, I can't." I sat down in the waiting area and picked up a magazine.
"You know where we are if you change your mind." The tat lady winked at me and took a seat behind the desk again. The guy Matt came out of the back and surprisingly he did look like Kent in a way. The old Kent.
Soon I heard the needle start up and watched what I could see from the waiting room which was Kent's non-tattoo arm and his leg. They were resting casually. He didn't grunt or squeeze the arm of the chair too tightly. I wanted to get up and have a look but I was afraid of the blood.
About an hour and ten magazines later Kent stood from the chair. "Not too bad," he said as he examined it.
I couldn't wait to get this over with so I bolted back there and sat down in the chair before the warmth disappeared. "My turn!"
Kent grinned down at me. "Want me to hang out? Or you want me to wait over there?"
"Here, just don't let me see your bloody wrist." I closed my eyes and turned my head away from his raw wrist.
Kent chuckled as he looked at the artist. "Can your girlfriend wrap it up for me?"
Matt looked up at Kent. "Yeah, the wife can take care of you. I'll wait on ya before I start on your girl." I looked over and watched as Kent started out of the room and then stopped. "She's not my girl."
Matt's beautiful eyes raked over my body. I felt warmth pool in my belly. "Shame."
Kent pretended he didn't hear it and went to get his wrist wrapped up.
When Matt put the tracing on my arm I screamed and jumped. He grinned at me, "Sorry, doll. I didn't start yet...relax..."
I nodded slowly. "I'm trying..." It wasn't as easy as he made it sound.
Kent returned with a bandaged wrist and took a chair, pulling it over next to me. "The needle hasn't even started yet! Come on. Give me your hand."
"Maybe Matt should hold my hand. He reminds me of high school you, back when you were nice and geeky." I stared at Matt, fascinated.
Kent smirked as Matt laughed. "You're a mess, doll." Matt started the needle up.
I squealed and shut my eyes tight. "Oh my god!"
I felt an arm around my shoulder and assumed it was Kent's. "I got you, Elly. Just look at me. Open your eyes and look at me and think about things from the past. Anything that doesn't deal with right now."
The panic rose inside of me as I heard the needle draw closer to me, "I can't...Kent, I can't." I pulled my arm back from Matt and put it against my chest protectively. "I need booze, lots of booze. Please! ...Or a roofie?" I looked between the two guys who looked like they could be brothers.
The needle gun turned off. "You give me some extra cash we can work somethin' out." Matt said as he stood up. He went to the window and turned the "Open" sign off.
I looked at Kent and nodded my head. "Give him some extra cash!"
Kent reached into his pocket and pulled some money out. "How much, man?"
Matt looked between us slowly. "Thirty bucks and I'll toss in some booze and shot glasses."
I pouted. "I was hoping for the roofie."
"That's eighty bucks, doll," Matt winked at me.
I slapped Kent's chest. "Give him the eighty bucks!"
"A roofie? Really, Elly?" Kent sighed but pulled eighty bucks out and handed it over to Matt. "Alright. You guys stay right here and I'll be back in a minute."
I looked at Kent and smiled. "My first tattoo and my first roofie, all in the same night. This is the best Christmas present ever."
I could hear Kent's soft laughter behind me. After a few minutes of waiting Matt returned with a glass and offered it to me. "It's a shot, but you'll be out of it in about ten minutes. You won't remember a thing."
I pointed at the both of them. "Don't get any ideas. And tell that to your wife, too." I downed the shot and then sat back, smiling.
"The wife got a little interested when I snuck to the back, but she told me you already said no. Your loss, doll." Mat
t grinned, sitting on his stool, waiting for the drug to kick in.
"Merry Christmas, Elly." Kent was chuckling softly as he looked over my face.
"Thanks. Merry Christmas to you too." I inhaled and exhaled slowly, focusing my eyes on Matt. It was easier to talk to him somehow. "I drank like two six packs on your birthday. And then I puked all over my bathroom."
"I drank almost a fifth of rum by myself and blacked out."
"What? Where was Jen?"
"With the people at the party."
"You weren't at your party?" I put my hands down at my sides and closed my eyes.
"No, I was there. But you weren't, and I was depressed. So I drank, a lot. I threw up on Jen."
I smiled, eyes still closed. "That would've been awesome to see. Kent..." it was getting harder to talk, my brain grew hazier by the second, "that night...I can't forget about that night..."
"Which night?"
I couldn't respond, the roofie had fully kicked in and I was out like a light.
Chapter Forty-Four
Things were kind of fuzzy for me, but I was starting to come around. I was on my back and under covers, it seemed like my head was on a pillow. It was kind of dark in the room I was in. I was pretty sure it was a dream.
I moaned softly, "Kent?" I tried to open my eyes but they were still really heavy.
I felt someone take my hand. "Elly. I'm here."
"Kent..." I moaned softly as I took his hand and put it over my breast. It was my dream after all.
"Elly, you're still out of it." His voice was soft.
"Like you were. We'll be even and I won't remember, just like you." I weakly squeezed his hand under mine.
"Elly." He sighed and I felt the bed dip behind me as he almost spooned me.
I groaned softly and pulled his hand down away from my body, my eyes still closed, my speech slightly slurred. "I know...you don't love me that way. You never will."
He whispered my name, "Elly."
"Kent, I'll be a good friend from now on. I promise."
