Chapter 22 Saylor
Saylor
I know I only have one good arm, but I’m ready to fight my mom.
“Will you just hold still?”
I huff out a deep breath and stop moving so Mom can take a picture of my cast. I was up half the night admiring Heaven’s handiwork, but that’s between me and the quiet of my bedroom.
“You know you don’t have to do this,” I reply.
“Of course I do. You come home from your museum trip with a walking piece of art on your body and you think I don’t want to document it?”
“Yeah, that’s great, but Heaven is going to be here any minute. And I want to finish getting ready.” And take like forty deep cleansing breaths so I can be calm when I see her again.
The kiss. Or kisses. They just sort of happened.
I don’t know who started it, but I’ll take the blame and say I do not regret it at all.
Afterward, I was too nervous to say anything.
We shared such a good moment. Actually, we had such a good day, even after I stuck my foot in my mouth with that friend comment.
I didn’t want to blow it by saying anything else.
“I am pretty sure the mall will be there if you arrive thirty seconds after you planned. There. Done. You’re free.”
“Thank you.” I run to go put on my mascara and touch up my lip gloss, and definitely don’t almost fall on the stairs.
The doorbell rings just as I finish getting ready.
I give myself one last look in the mirror.
The scrapes on my face still look really angry, but they are starting to heal.
Luckily there’s a crate of Fosters Healing Ointment (#ad) on the way to help with my continued healing process.
I roll my eyes at the ridiculousness of it all and grab my stuff.
When I get downstairs, Heaven is in the kitchen talking to my mom. I feel a wave of heat hit me when I see her standing at the island. I was literally with her yesterday, but it feels like it’s been forever since I’ve seen her.
“Heaven and I are just comparing notes,” Mom says, laughing.
“What does that mean?” I ask. I walk around the kitchen and look at their phones that are side by side on the counter.
Mom’s showing Heaven the picture she took of my cast like Heaven wasn’t the one who decorated it.
I glance over at Heaven’s phone and see another little Canva type presentation, similar to the one she made for our conversation with Miss Anita.
“May I?” I ask her.
“Yeah,” she says, handing me her phone. Our fingers brush and I know now is not the time, but I might have to ask her to marry me soon.
Anyway.
I look closer at the screen, reading the few sentences she wrote about the exhibits we saw. She included a picture of me looking at the giant comb in the modern art wing and a picture of the postcard I bought her.
“Since we have to do the time capsule if we want to clear the whole board—” Heaven starts to say.
“Which you should,” Mom interrupts. I try not to glare too hard at her and keep my focus on Heaven.
“I was thinking, I could make these for each square we finish and then we can make like a little book to put in the time capsule,” she goes on.
“That’s a great idea. We’ll have little mementos from the summer, but it’ll be nice to have it all documented in once place.”
“Please make a copy for me and Saylor’s dad. Or if you want, you can send me the file and I can have it printed. I have a great place I use for albums,” Mom says. Heaven glances at me and I just shrug and nod. Mom’s prints and albums are legendary among the moms at our school.
“Okay,” Heaven says. “I’ll get it over to you when we’re done.”
“Great. Before you girls run off, I have two things to ask Heaven. Well, a question and an idea. First, Saylor said I have to get your permission before I even think about posting anything Heaven related, so would you be okay with me posting the pictures of the cast on my Instagram? I’ll be sure to tag you. ”
“Oh, uh, yeah that should be fine. I just started a new artist account, so yeah,” she says, looking over at me like she’s still a little unsure, before her fingers move across the phone screen.
She pulls up her account and slides her phone back over to my mom, who quickly looks up her account on her own phone.
It is her artwork so of course she should post it, but there’s this sharp pinprick that jabs at my chest. It feels weirdly possessive or jealous even.
Like I haven’t even had a chance to talk to Heaven about if we’re anything more, if the kiss meant as much to her as it did to me, and here comes my mom trying to rope her into her nonsense schemes that I am currently trying to get away from.
“In two weeks Saylor’s sisters are having their midsummer slumber party. Truly the event of the summer,” Mom says, laughing at her own joke. “Wouldn’t it be great if Heaven came and did temporary tattoos for the girls?”
“No,” I say, trying not to curse. “Heaven does not want to come to their party, Mom. It’s a bunch of twelve-year-olds.”
“She won’t be there as a guest. She’ll be there as a vendor.
They are gonna make T-shirts, but Stella said if I hired a face painter or a balloon animal guy, she would file for emancipation.
The twins are too cool for face paint, but they aren’t too cool for temporary tattoos.
What do you think, Heaven? I’ll pay you, of course. ”
I watch Heaven as she scrambles to come up with an answer. I desperately want her to say no. I know she hates being put on the spot like this and I don’t want her roped into another Cristine Ford extravaganza. Eight different emotions go across her face before she answers.
“Uh, I’ll have to talk to my parents since it’s like, a job, and I should probably talk to Miss Yeun since she’s my mentor.”
“Oh sure, and I’ll talk to them too. Settle on a rate and I’ll make sure you have all the supplies you need. Also!”
“Mom, we gotta go. Please.”
“Just one more second. I had an idea. One of our mutuals is a tattoo artist, WitchyLamb.”
“Oh yeah, I know her,” Heaven says.
“Well, she did a huge campaign with Pentip a few years ago for their body pens. I’ll talk to your parents, of course, but maybe we put out feelers to the pen company to get a little ad revenue for you.”
“Oh,” Heaven says, blinking, and I’m scrambling to think of a way to pull her out of this conversation. Working the slumber party is one thing. I don’t think Heaven (or I!) had any clue my mom was going to try and put her on to a brand deal out of nowhere.
“Mom. No,” I say.
“Um, can I think about that? I don’t think I have enough followers to get an ad deal. Also, I really want to talk to Mrs. Yeun. I’ve never used those pens before, and I don’t want the first time I try them to be on a bunch of twelve-year-olds.”
“Of course. Smart. You talk to your people. I’ll talk to your people, but you’ll work the party?” Mom says, not letting up.
“Yeah, if my mom says it’s okay. It could be good practice.
” Heaven looks over at me, this hopeful look in her eyes, and I know this is totally on me.
I told Heaven I’d help her with all this stuff leading up to her apprenticeship.
I can’t bail on her now, especially if she wants to do it.
If she can deal with my sisters and their friends, she’ll be ready to take on the toughest tattoo client.
I give in, nodding and giving her my best look of reassurance.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be here too,” I say. “I’ll be your assistant if you need one.”
Instantly Heaven’s shoulders relax. “Okay.”
“Great!” Mom says. “Off to the mall you go.”
“Sorry about that,” I tell Heaven as we walk out to her car. “She can be a little or a lot pushy.”
“Oh, is that where you get it from?” She laughs. I scowl at her and then laugh a little myself.
“This is different. I’m trying to hide from her.”
“Well, I need more followers, so she can help with that. And you said you’ll be at the party, so we can hang out, right?
” Heaven says. We stop at the car and she turns in my direction.
Suddenly, I realize what’s really important here.
Heaven actually showed up after we kissed and she’s talking about hanging out with me again, in the future.
Even if my mom is technically paying her, she still wants to be around me.
“Yeah, it’ll be okay.” I look down at my cast so I don’t look at Heaven’s lips, so I don’t accidentally kiss her again right in front of our doorbell camera. And then I’m annoyed all over again.
“I do wish she wouldn’t post my cast. I was feeling like you decorated it just for me and now it’s going out to Cristine’s millions of followers.”
“You want me to run back inside and knock her phone out of her hand?”
“No,” I sputter out laughing, though that would be hilarious to see.
“You want me to draw something else just for you and we can smuggle it into your house so your mom doesn’t see it?”
I can’t help the smile that spreads out over my face. “Yes, please. I’d like that.”
“You got it. Come on.”
We climb into Heaven’s car and head off to the mall in Century City, which is in fact still there even if Mom ate up a good ten minutes of our quality time.