Page 53
“A scorpion, of course,” Izzy says. “Here, we could do the one that Tiny drew.” Pulling out her phone, she zooms in on the little scorpion in their band logo.
Miray’s eyes widen in alarm. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Sure,” Izzy says easily, which is anything but reassuring.
Luca realizes this might have been a very bad idea, but now that it’s out, she can’t very well take it back. At this point, it shouldn’t be so shocking to her that her actions do, in fact, have consequences. If they didn’t, she would be sitting in a lecture hall at London Metropolitan instead of standing here right now.
Florence considers the scorpion for a moment before nodding. “I’m in.”
“But,” Miray says, “what if we break up? What if something happens and we all end up hating each other?”
“Mate, what the hell,” Izzy says. “Don’t say that.”
“Sorry.” Miray winces and looks to Florence.
“Even if we do,” Florence says, wrapping an arm around her, “I would still look fondly at a souvenir from the best summer of my life.”
“Oh, God,” says Miray, blinking very fast. “Fine. I’ll get one too.”
Izzy looks like she could burst with joy. Rocking back and forth on her heels, she tilts her head expectantly at Luca. “Ready to do this, Rookie?”
“Does it have to be big?” Luca asks tentatively.
“It doesn’t have to be anything,” Toni says.
Florence nods in agreement. “You get to pick the size and where you want it to go. It doesn’t even have to be visible all the time.”
Luca leans closer to Izzy so she can study their logo. She really does like the scorpion. And Florence is right; this is the best summer of her life. She has a feeling that this entire tour will feel like a vivid dream the moment it’s over. It’ll be nice to have something to remind her that it was real.
“All right.” She squares her shoulders. “Yeah.”
Izzy’s grin is all teeth as she pockets her phone and gives Luca’s neck a little shake.
The tattoo parlor accepts walk-ins and is half deserted. Luca watches as Izzy chats up one of the tattoo artists, her body language loose and her eye contact intense. By the end of it, the artist is visibly flustered, and Izzy gestures for them to come inside.
“We get a group discount,” she tells them. “Thirty euros each. Should be fine if we don’t eat out for a few days, right?”
“More instant noodles it is,” Miray agrees solemnly.
Squinting at Izzy, Florence asks, “How’d you do that?”
“Raw sex appeal, I reckon.” Izzy nudges her sunglasses farther up her nose. “Are we doing this or what?”
A few minutes and a brief consultation later, Florence slides onto a chair and rests her arm on the armrest. The tattoo artist, Maja—a twentysomething woman with an undercut and a full sleeve of her own—chats to her about the band while she puts down the stencil. Florence is getting her tattoo done on the inside of her arm, right beneath the crook of her elbow.
“Ready?” Maja asks.
“Yes,” Florence says.
Luca carefully watches her face for any discomfort as the tattoo gun is lowered to her skin, but aside from a breathy laugh, she doesn’t seem overly affected. She keeps up a steady stream of conversation with Maja—telling her about how the group came together, how the tour has been so far, where they’re playing tomorrow—and only takes a quick break halfway to drink a sip of Sprite.
Twenty minutes later, she gets out of the chair with a scorpion on her arm and a new fan promising to catch one of their shows if they ever come back to Poland.
“All right,” Maja says. “Who’s next?”
After a brief round of rock-paper-scissors with Izzy, Toni is the second one to go. She gets the tattoo done on her sternum, which is how Luca learns she has nipple piercings.
When Izzy notices her flush, she laughs. “Have you never looked while we were changing before bed?”
