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“Mom! You promised you would take me!”
Tessa was never one to complain to her mom. She was aware of how much she did for her and how much she sacrificed for all her kids to make sure that they were all happy. But when it came to the promise that her mom made to her that she could get her belly button pierced when she turned 16, she meant business.
“Tessa honey, I’m sorry, I have to go grocery shopping and pick up things all over the place. I just don’t have the time today. Ask your sister.”
Tessa scoffed and went up to her room to call her sister. Jordan had moved out already, but it couldn’t help to ask. The phone rang twice before a peppy Jordan answered on the other end.
“Hi, Tess! What’s going on?”
“Hey Jordy, listen, I have to ask you something.”
“If it involves coming over, I can’t. Going out to lunch with some girlfriends.” How Jordan always knew exactly what Tessa needed without even saying it still blew her mind.
“I guess never mind then. I’ll leave you be. Have fun at lunch Jordy, love you!”
“Love you more, call me whenever.”
Tessa hung up the phone and stared at it, not sure who else she knew that could drive her somewhere on such short notice. She immediately ruled out her brothers, they were at a baseball game together. Being 16, not knowing how to drive a car, and not having any friends that did made her life hard sometimes. She locked her phone and slumped on her bed, turning to face her nightstand and her framed 4x6 of her and Scott at an earlier competition.
Scott.
Why didn’t she think of Scott first? It’s not like he hasn’t shut up about the stick shift pickup truck he saved all his money to buy and drove Tessa around everywhere in. She unlocked her phone and scrolled through to call him. The phone could barely ring once before she heard his voice.
“Kiddo! What’s up?”
“Hi, Scott. Can you please do me a favor?”
“Of course, T, anything. What do you need?” Tessa paused and smiled before starting again.
“Can you pick me up and take me somewhere?”
“That’s all you needed? I’m on my way!”
And like clockwork, 21 minutes and 13 seconds later, Scott knocked at the door to the Virtue home. Tessa let him in and he immediately scooped her up in a hug.
“How is my favorite girl ever doing today?”
“Great, thank you for coming to get me, Scott. Sorry it was so last minute.”
“Hey, you know I’m not doing anything and I’d much rather be hanging out with you anyways. So, where are we going?”
“We are going to the tattoo parlor!”
Scott stared at Tessa and scanned her up and down with his eyes before responding.
“And what exactly are we doing there?”
“Calm down, psycho, they also do piercings there. I am going to get my belly button pierced!” Tessa proclaimed with excitement while lifting the bottom of her shirt to expose said belly button.
“How do you plan on doing that? You’re 16, I’m still 17, and neither of us are old enough to legally do this alone.”
“And that, my inquisitive best friend, is why,” Tessa reaches into her back pocket to pull out a card, “I am going to use Jordan’s old ID. I guess having all those people ask us if we were twins growing up has lived to pay off.”
“Tessa, we could go to jail for this, you get that, right? What has gotten into you?”
“Would you please stop being such a goody-two-shoes? Everything is going to be fine. And besides, weren’t you the one who said that I need to be more adventurous and quote on quote ‘live a little’?” With every word of Tessa’s speech, she was inching closer to him, so close that she ended her sentence with her face directly in front of his.
“You’re right. Let’s go.” Scott takes out his keys and leads Tessa to his car. She follows with an ear-to-ear smile and her chin in the sky.
-
They arrive about 25 minutes later and are greeted by a man covered in tattoos and piercings in just about every place imaginable. He almost laughed at the pair before greeting them.
“The ice cream parlor is a few doors down, kids.”
“Oh, I know! I was just there the other night with Tessa, remember when we were there Tessa and-”
Scott was cut off by an elbow to the ribs before Tessa took a hold of the conversation.
“I’m not looking for ice cream. I came here to get my belly button pierced.”
“And what makes you think you’re old enough for that?” Tessa pulls out her (Jordan’s) ID and practically slammed it on the counter in front of the particularly rude employee.
“I think my ID tells you everything you need to know.” The man picks it up and scans her face and the card back and forth before placing on the table with a huff.
“Bobby is going to take care of you. Last door on your right.” Tessa grabs her (again, Jordan’s) ID off the counter with a smug grin and walked to said door. Scott followed with his chest out, not before shooting a glare at the rude tattooed man they encountered. By the time Scott reached the room, Tessa was already laying down with her shirt lifted, and a man, who he can only assume was Bobby, was cleaning her navel area and preparing for the piercing. Scott walked around to Tessa’s right side and took a seat at the chair next to the table.
“You nervous, kiddo?” Scott asked.
“Nope, not one bit. I’m so excited!” Tessa said with enough enthusiasm to make the also heavily tattooed man scoff at her. Bobby turned around for a few minutes to prepare the needle and Tessa’s enthusiasm started to fade as she caught a glimpse of the needle that would soon be puncturing her stomach. While Scott had his eyes flashing all over the room at all the colors and drawings on the wall (he may have been 17, but boy, did he have the mind of a child), Tessa whispered to get his attention.
“Scott.”
“Yeah, T?”
“I probably should have thought this through a little better,” Tessa said with a small laugh. “I’m terrified of needles.”
Scott looked back at her with a small smile. He knew she feared needles the whole time, but didn’t want to scare her away, knowing that was exactly what a piercing entailed. This fear dates to when she had to get an IV drip for dehydration 3 years ago and she just about passed out as soon as the needle entered her forearm. Ever since this event, she refused all contact with needles. Even texted her mom to come pick her up when they had to learn how to knit in her home-ec class.
“I know, T. It’s okay. I’ll be right here the whole time.”
Bobby turns around with the needle in his hand and they both get a glimpse of it together. Tessa’s hand flies around in a search until it finds Scott’s. She squeezes his and in anticipation of what is to come. Scott bends down and kisses her knuckles before rubbing his left hand up and down her arm to calm her down. Bobby sits down to prepare himself for the piercing and Scott can sense Tessa’s nervousness. Scott was never one to put much thought into any of his life decisions, so he made one that he thought would be appropriate for the situation. Scott stood up over Tessa’s body and leaned his head down to kiss her.
Tessa had kissed boys before, of course, but nothing felt the way that this feels. She took her hand out of his and brought it against his face while Scott kept his against the table. She felt his tongue dart out to meet hers and she pulled away breathless.
“All done.”
Tessa and Scott looked down at her stomach in unison to discover a newly minted belly button piercing protruding from her abdomen.
“See, that wasn’t so bad.” Tessa laughed and covered her face with her hand. Scott reached out to her to help her off the side of the bed and she landed with her face in front of his, noses brushing. He reaches up to help her shirt down, fingers brushing her side and leaning down to give her a kiss on the tip of her nose. They walked out together towards the register and paid before walking out to the cool Canadian air.
“Scott.”
“Yeah, T?”
“Why did you do that?”
“Because you asked me to, kiddo. Like I said, I wasn’t doing anything and-”
“No, Scott. Why did you kiss me?” Scott looked at her with a small chuckle before starting.
“Because it’s my job to make sure you don’t get hurt. To make sure you are at 100% always. Whether we’re on the ice or not, it is my job to be your protector and number one fan. I’ve been that guy for you for this long, what makes you think I wasn’t going to do everything in my power to make sure you didn’t get hurt now?”
Tessa was practically in tears by the end of Scott’s little speech and she had no other response than to reach up for his face and kiss him with the same energy he gave her in the tattoo parlor. Scott placed one hand on the side of her neck and the other found itself playing with the bottom of her shirt, continuing to be mindful of her new jewelry. They could hear the footsteps of people walking around them, but neither of them seemed to care. She moved both of her hands that were on his shoulders up into his hair, scratching and pulling before grabbing a firm hold at the roots and forcefully removing his face from hers with a moan. Scott bent down and picked up her shirt, laying a soft kiss right above the silver ball, eliciting a whimper from Tessa. Scott gestures to the bag of cleaning solution (which, at some point, dropped to the floor, neither of them remembering how it got there) and picks it up with one hand before taking hers in the other.
“Come on. Let’s go get this cleaned up.” Tessa smiled and followed his lead, overcome with joy. Not only did she finally get the piercing that she’s been wanting, she got the guy she’s been wanting too, and she isn’t sure what she did to deserve this much excitement in one day. But, she hopes it never goes away any time soon.