By the time we got back to my house, neither of us were tired, so I poppedRumoursinto my CD player. It was criminal that she hadn’t listened to the revelation that was Steve Nicks singing “Dreams”.
The striped duvet on my queen-size bed tugged under me as she shifted onto her side to face me.
“Girls are going to hate you because they’re jealous you hang out with them. I just thought you should know,” she told me matter-of-factly.
“Um, excuse you. What do you know about that stuff?” I poked her in the side playfully, earning a burst of giggles as she wriggled away from me.
Catching her breath, she rolled her eyes in thatI just turned thirteen and I know this, so obviously you should know this tooway. “Not Luca, because that’s gross. But they’re kinda hot. I mean, if you’re a fan of that thing.”
“Okay?”
“And you and Wes. It’s going to be hard, but I don’t think you’ll break up. At least not for a while. You should just expect it.”
“Wow. Thanks for the confidence. One problem. We’d have to be dating to break up.” My cheeks heated at the thought of being with him, that Evelyn thought we were. It’s not like I hadn’t considered what it would be like. At winter formal everyone was dancing and sneaking off to dark corners, but all I could think of was getting out of the sparkly dress George helped me pick out and driving to Nashville in hopes of catching the tail end of the guys’ set.
Wes was my favorite person in the world, and I didn’t need to complicate it with romance.
She rolled back over. “Then you should have no problem with people desperate to get their hands on him. Posters of him in their rooms. Imagine waking up in the morning andbam! Jared is up there on your ceiling.”
“I’m okay with not picturing that. And they have a long way to go before they have hordes of fans,” I muttered.
I wasn’t in the mood to hear how Wes would soon have his pick of girls who knew how to bite their tongue and be charming. If he wanted one of them, fine. I’d just have to deal with it. I gotup and turned off the music before curling up with her under the covers.
The next morning, everyone returned to Wes’s to say goodbye. Afterward, our parents went into town for groceries. This left Wes and me alone.
“I know you’re mad but I have nothing to apologize for,” he said, sounding anxious, and it seemed like he’d rehearsed his words. “But I’m really proud of us. This is my dream, Avery. Some days, music seems like the only thing I can control, and I need it. I thought you’d understand that.”
I was taken aback for a moment. Mad at him? How could I be mad at him?
“I’m not mad. I’m scared, Wes.” Tears threatened, pricking the back of my eyes as I voiced my worst fear. “What if I never catch up? What if you forget me?”
I was working hard but still had another year in school. Working with Martin was a once-in-a-lifetime deal. I couldn’t expect to get the same chance. Would I see his face on a glossy magazine cover in ten years, and say I used to know him? It was painful to think of him in the past tense while he stood right in front of me.
As hot tears fell and my vision swam, his arms wrapped around me. My face notched into the juncture of his neck.
He swept his fingers through my hair, tugging gently as they caught on a knot. “Never. Who could forget you? You’re the reason any of this was possible. If you didn’t push us to keep going, we would have given up after the first time we failed.”
“You say that now, but you don’t know.” I pulled back, breaking free of his hold.
“We’re permanent,” he said, then repeated, almost to himself, “Permanent.” Inspiration flared bright in his eyes. “Come with me.”
Dad had black ink wells for a fountain pen he rarely used. With that, and one of the sterilized needles George had for sutures, we had our supplies.
“Are you sure you want a tattoo?” I asked, kneeling at his side on his bedroom floor. The bare expanse of his torso stretched in front of me was an intimidating canvas. He’d gained muscle, arms defined from playing guitar for hours. Last summer his shirts fit so tightly that when he was mucking the stalls the fabric would plaster to his back, clearly displaying the hard shift of his shoulder blades. “This is going to last forever.”
“Why wouldn’t I want it to last forever? If you’re planning on getting rid of me anytime soon, you better break it to me now.”
“Maybe we should wait. We can do it when we’re both eighteen and go somewhere professional. What if I give you an infection?”
“I don’t want someone else to do it. I want to look at myself in the mirror and see the lines you made.” He took my hand and placed it on the left side of his chest, over his heart. It pounded a rapid beat that matched my own. “Right here, this is where it should be.”
“You’re sure?” My stomach fluttered as he continued to hold my hand in place.
“You’re the only person I trust to do this.”
I braced myself against him, laying my free hand on the flare of his ribs, and positioned the needle over his racing heart. As I pressed down he winced, muscles tensing under my touch.
I stopped, but he urged me on through gritted teeth. “Keep going, Ave, unless you enjoy stabbing me.”
