Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
DOG DROOL AND INK STAINS
A fter our day on the boat, something felt different between Ollie and I. It was difficult to explain because I’d felt my feelings blossoming for him for quite some time, but it just felt different. He was a gentle, kind soul. He was always concerned about my well-being and very attentive to how my body was handling the stress of what we were doing.
He pulled me onto his lap to drive the boat and it surprised me. It wasn’t the first time we’d been close, but the way he held me had awoken something deep inside me. It gave me a weird sense of hope, yet I knew things could never grow into anything more between us.
That hope had to be extinguished immediately. Oliver had an entire life ahead of him; one he hadn’t even started yet. I was dead weight and would only continue to weigh him down until I was gone. I wouldn’t do that to my best friend. I would never burden him with my feelings because I knew Oliver better than anyone else in the world and I knew what he would do with that information.
He would rather lie to make me happy than break my heart because of his own feelings.
…
I was sitting on my front porch with my mother, soaking up the rays of sun, as I waited for Oliver to come pick me up. He made sure to tell me our plans ahead of time—well, maybe not with what the day would hold, but more so the summer.
He knew how easily my body became fatigued, so he didn’t want to exhaust me. Oliver said every two days we would work on checking off an item on my bucket list. And that was at the minimum. I didn’t expect him to spend every day with me, but the past two days he hung around the house with me while my body regained some of its energy.
Yesterday, we spent the day inside laying around and watching movies. It was just like old times, like when we were kids. We made popcorn and a bed of pillows and blankets on my living room floor. I tried to ignore the times he held my hand or wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in to cuddle with him.
We could never be more than friends so there was no sense in reading into it.
Plus, it’s not like it was anything new with the way Ollie acted with me. He was my partner in crime and we were best friends. That’s what best friends did, right?
Today was a brand new day, and I woke up feeling completely refreshed.
“What do you and Ollie have planned for today?” my mother asked me as she sipped her hot cup of coffee. She was home yesterday, and I didn’t miss the way she smiled at the two of us together. She never dared to speak anything of it, but she noticed it.
“I have no idea,” I told her with a smile on my lips. “He likes to keep me on my toes and doesn’t like telling me before he comes to pick me up.”
My mother smiled back at me. “How things have changed,” she said with a look of amusement dancing in her eyes. “Oliver used to be the worst with surprises. Do you remember when your father and I got you Tank, and Oliver completely ruined the surprise?”
I glanced down at my massive dog lying on the floor by my feet. My parents had gotten me Tank as a service dog. Oliver and his parents knew about it because they kept Tank for a few days until my birthday. It was my eighth birthday and my parents wanted it to be a surprise.
Oliver kept it to himself for about thirty-six hours before he broke down and told me. He was just too excited and since we shared everything with each other, he thought it was okay. I still remember him sneaking me into their laundry room and showing me the brindled puppy sitting there.
No one could be seriously mad at Oliver for it, and it didn’t make getting Tank any less special. He was always by my side, from that day on. Tank wasn’t exactly happy when Oliver took me out on the boat and he wasn’t allowed to come along.
Tank lifted his head as Oliver began to walk up the walkway to our front porch. A smile pulled on the corners of my lips as I watched him approach us.
“Hello, Ollie.” My mother smiled at my best friend.
“Good morning.” He smiled back at her before his gaze collided with mine. “Hey, Luna.”
“Hey,” I said quietly as I fought a shy smile. Every now and then this would happen. I would suddenly find myself feeling shy around him and I knew it was from my feelings I buried deep inside. “What’s on the agenda for today?” I asked, attempting to recover from my awkwardness.
Oliver smiled brightly, the dimples in his cheeks on full display. “Now, Luna. You know it’s supposed to be a surprise each time.”
“Funny you say that,” my mother mused, the playfulness heavy in her tone. “Luna and I were just talking about when you ruined the surprise with Tank, and now you’re so adamant on surprises.”
“Hey! That’s not even fair!” Ollie exclaimed as his words were followed by laughter. “I was eight years old, okay? It felt like I was getting a puppy too, and do you know how hard it was to keep it a secret for as long as I did? I was too excited to keep it from Luna any longer.”
My mother laughed, and I couldn’t fight the giggle that escaped me. “I know, Oliver,” my mother told him. “We’re just giving you a hard time. No one holds it against you.”
“Hmm, it seems like you do if it’s still getting brought up ten years later,” Ollie threw back with a joking tone. There wasn’t a cruel bone in that boy's body. Oliver couldn’t be mean to anyone even if he tried. Although, I had seen him stick up for me on a few occasions, but that was just him being protective, not mean.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked Oliver as I rose to my feet. “I’m ready to see what item we’re checking off today.”
“Let’s do it.” Oliver smiled. “I’ll grab your things. Grab Tank’s leash… he can come with us this time.”
I glanced over at my mom and she shrugged. She had no idea what we were going to be doing today any more than I did. Oliver disappeared into the house and quickly reappeared as he carried my bags out to his car. I stepped inside and grabbed Tank’s leash which really caught his attention.
“You want to go for a car ride?” I asked him as I patted the top of his head. Tank attempted to spin around in a circle but with his huge body, he looked as graceful as a pregnant cow. I laughed and waved to my mom as I walked out to Oliver’s car with my dog on my heels.
I let Tank into the backseat and climbed into the front passenger’s seat before Oliver closed my door for me. It didn’t take long before he was sliding in behind the steering wheel and we were pulling away from the house. I didn’t question where we were going because I knew what his response would be.
I would find out when we got there.
Even though Tank was sitting in the backseat, he positioned his massive head between the two of us. Drool dripped from his lips onto Oliver’s shoulder as he tried to smell the side of his head.
“You’re lucky I love you and that damn dog.” Oliver laughed softly. “He drools like no other animal I’ve ever met.”
My heart soared at his words but I had to calm myself down and bring myself back to reality. Oliver did love me, but not in the way I wanted him to. And I had to constantly remind myself every time he said something like that.
I simply laughed along with Oliver as he drove us into town. He pulled down a side street and into a small parking lot before he killed the engine. I wasn’t familiar with where we were and I turned to look at him with a questioning look on my face.
“Nope.” He shook his head as he pressed his index finger against my lips before I had the chance to ask. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
An exasperated sigh slipped from my lips, and Oliver winked at me before he got out of the car. I glanced back at Tank who was staring at me with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. “I don’t know what we’re going to do with him, boy,” I told him, laughing to myself as Tank just looked at me like he didn’t understand a word I was saying.
After getting out of the car and securing Tank with his leash, the three of us began to walk down the street. There were different stores all around, all of which I had never been inside before. As we reached the one on the corner, I lifted my gaze up to the sign.
Inked Flesh.
I gasped as I looked over at Oliver. “We’re getting tattoos?!”
Ollie smiled back at me. He simply nodded and slid his hand into mine as he led me through the front door. We stopped at the front desk where a girl with bright purple hair looked up the appointments Ollie booked. A guy named Harrison came out and called both of us back. He was big and burly, covered in tattoos and piercings with a wizard-like beard.
“Your dog isn’t going to eat me, is he?” he questioned the two of us as we walked over to him with Tank in tow.
“Tank’s harmless,” Oliver assured him, as he squeezed my hand and smiled. “He’s a specially trained service dog. No need to worry about him at all.”
“Good shit.” Harrison smiled at the two of us. “That’s pretty fucking cool. Having a big ass scary dog like him to be a service dog.”
I smiled down at Tank. “He’s the best one I could ask for.”
We followed Harrison back to his work station and Oliver had me sit down first. Harrison turned his attention to me. “So, what are we doing today, pretty lady?”
“I want to get “Remember to Breathe” in a script font along the inside of my forearm.”
Oliver squeezed my hand and smiled. Harrison studied me with his eyes for a moment before nodding. “We can do that. Let me get some things set up and a stencil and if you like it we can get started.”
I watched Harrison as he busied himself getting all the equipment set up. He showed me different scripts on his iPad, and I picked one out before he wrote my little quote in it and printed it out. After we decided on the placement and size, he got started. Oliver held my hand the entire time, even though I didn’t need him to.
Since it was my first tattoo, I didn’t know what to expect, but it didn’t hurt as badly as I thought it would. It was more of an annoying, burning sensation. After all of the medical procedures I had over the years, it was nothing. And before I knew it, my tattoo was finished and he was wrapping it up to protect it.
I got up from my seat, thinking we were leaving, but instead Oliver took the spot I was sitting in. I looked down at him with a look of amusement. “You’re getting a tattoo, too?”
Oliver nodded. “Yep. It only seems fitting.”
I excused myself for a moment to go take Tank outside to give him a drink of water. I always carried around a collapsible bowl and a bottle of water, but with the mess he usually made, it was better if I took him outside. When I got back in, Harrison had already started on Ollie’s tattoo.
It didn’t take long for him to finish, and I walked over to him to see what it was before Harrison covered it. In the space on his hand between his thumb and forefinger there was a cursive L carved into his skin.
My breath caught in my throat and my mouth went dry. As I lifted my gaze from his tattoo, Oliver was already watching me with emotions rapidly washing over his eyes. He got my initial tattooed into his skin. It was a permanent part of him now, just like he was a permanent part of me.
“Do you like it?” he questioned me, his voice soft and gentle. There was a hesitancy to his words, like he was afraid of what I might say.
I stared into his sage green eyes, lost in the moment with him. “I love it.”
“So do I.” He smiled, but there was so much left unsaid…