The guys, seeing that Steph was asleep, quietly said goodnight.
"Brian!" I whispered, but loud enough for him to hear.
"Yeah?" He turned around.
"What am I supposed to tell her?"
"Well…just give it a few days."
"Are you POSITIVE?"
"Look, I can’t promise you anything. I don’t think Gandhi could promise you anything as far as that girl goes. I don’t know if you noticed, but she’s not like other women. She’s not like other people, in general. And if you haven’t noticed by now, you’ve got a major problem. But that’s not the point! Just, give it a few days to think about it, and tell her whenever and however you feel comfortable that she’ll feel comfortable."
I nodded. "Thanks man. See you…in the afternoon."
"Yeah," he smiled, turning back around and heading drowsily back to his room.
I sat there for a while, thinking about when and how I was going to tell Stephanie and how she would react. It wouldn’t bother me so much if she wasn’t in the position that she was in; no parents, no family, no where to go but our house, losing friends left and right due to not being in school, and all the crap she had been going through in the past week. I looked down at here, out like a light, still curled up into a little ball, leaning on me. Thinking about it was making me sick. Screw it, I thought, and grabbed a blanket, pulled it over the both of us, and drifted off to sleep.
I woke up to the sound of yelling and barking dogs the next afternoon. I glanced over at the VCR, which read 2:30. Seven hours of sleep wasn’t bad, considering. I looked around, but it seemed that everyone in the house was still dead to the world. Well, everyone except Steph who was just then waking up. "Good morning," I smiled, pinching her nose.
"Damnit, Nick! Have I not taught you anything? Do not say ‘good morning’ because mornings aren’t good. Do you understand?" she groaned, wearliy.
I lauighed. "Yeah, I got it. Bad morning! then."
"You’re such a quick learner!" she yawed, pulling the blanket around her and sitting up. "What time is it?"
"Two thirty."
"Why the hell are you up so early?"
"Steph…try 2:30 in the afternoon. Remember, we were at Brian’s party at 2:30 in the morning!" I laughed.
"I knew that. Just making sure you knew. Is anyone else up?"
"Nope, don’t think so. Wanna go jump on Brian’s bed?"
She gave me an evil look. "You betcha!" she grinned, pulling me back to his room. "While we’re here, jump on Brian Jr. where he can’t have children!"
"I can’t steal Brian’s manhood! That’s like…killing the man! I mean come on! It should be one of the Ten Commandments!" I laughed.
"Whatever dude, it was a joke!" she sighed, pulling me into his room.
"RISE AND SHINE!" I yelled, jumping up and down right beside him in effort to wake him up.
"What the…" Brian yelled, shooting up from his spot on the bed. "NICK!"
"No, it’s…THE GREAT WHO-DINI!" I answered with a wicked crackle. I saw the evil look on Brian’s face and decided I might wanna stop if I wanted to keep my manhood.
"What the hell is goin’ on in here!? I thought Nick and Steph were getting’ their groove on!" AJ laughed, puttin his arm around Steph.
"Very funny," she said sarcastically. "I’m sure that if we really were, you would just HAVE to come and watch!"
"Damn straight!" he grinned. "Just kidding!"
I shot him a quick "get-your-hands-off-my-girl" look and he quickly removed his arm from around her shoulders.
"Like I was sayin…" he said, leaning up against the wall in nothing but a pair of boxers, "anyone wanna go shopping tonight?"
"I’m up!" Steph answered.
"If I’m awake, sure," Brian yawned.
AJ looked over at me. "Sure," I shrugged.
"Okay, it’s 7:00, and AJ said we were LEAVING at 7:00, so why am I the only one down here and ready?" I yelled, looking down at my watch.
"Okay, okay! I’m ready!" AJ hollered from the guestroom.
"NICK!!!!! BRIAN!!!!!"
"I know the feeling," AJ agreed, checking out his latest tattoo.
"What exactly does that say?" I asked, referring to the Chinese writing on his left arm.
"It says Bone. The guys call me Bone."
"Cool. I’ve always wanted a tattoo," I informed him.
"Really? What of?" Nick asked, busting into the living room.
"Butterfuly…on the small of my back."
"Sexy!" he grinned, slipping his shirt on over his head.
"Where’s Bri?"
"He’s comin’."
"Here I am!" he yelled, making his first appearance in the living room in about five hours.
"Everybody ready?" AJ asked.
"Yep!" Brian answered.
After the crammed ride down the elevator, we all piled up into AJ’s Explorer. AJ was driving, Brian was in the passenger side seat, and Nick and I were in the back. AJ spotted some small shops that he "hadn’t been into in a while" downtown on the bay, so we decided to hit there first. They were all on the strip, so we went from store to store, no problem. Well, that is, until we came across the Smiling Buddha – one of the best and widely known tattoo parlors in the state of Florida.
"Wanna?" AJ asked, giving me a quick smile.
I shrugged. "Sure."
Nick and Brian both exchanged worried glances.
"You guys gonna come watch or stand there like freggin’ idiots!?" AJ asked.
"Ooooooooh yeah!" Brian smiled evilly. "As long as I get to see Steph suffer!"
"There’s NO way I’m goin’ first!" I said, pushing AJ in front of me. "No way, no how!"
"You are such a pussy!" he sighed, showing the design he had picked out to the tattoo artist. He took a seat on the stool and they got started. He had gotten pretty familiar with the pain, so for the most part he was used to it. The occasional squint here and there, but other than that it was really no big deal.
"Alright, you’re go!" he said, pulling his shirt back over his head and nudged me toward the stool. I gave him a nervous look and slowly made my way over to the stool. I gave the guy the butterfly I had picked out and sat down. I told him the three colors I wanted (baby blue, lavender, and pink) and where I wanted it.
"Yo man, somewhere needs to go over there and hold her hand or something, it’s gonna hurt her like hell," AJ suggested, bumping Nick with his elbow.
"Good idea!" he said, walking over to me. "Nervous?" he asked, pulling up another stool and sitting in front of me.
,
"Yeah," I admitted. "Very!"
"Gimmie your hand," he said, holding his hand out for me to take. "Hold on tight!" he laughed.
Twenty minutes and much pain later, I was done. It was all swollen, so you couldn’t make much of it.
"For being such a good patient," the tattoo artist laughed, handing me a band-aide, "you get a very pretty band-aide!"
"Gee, thanks," I said sarcastically, putting it over the freshly done tattoo. I gave the guy his money and a tip and I was out of there as quick as I went in.
"Wanna know something funny?" Nick asked, engulfing me in a hug.
I nodded.
"When AJ got his first tattoo, he cried like a girl!" Nick laughed hysterically, wiping the tears off my face.
I couldn’t help but to laugh.
"It makes to feel so much better to know that you find joy in my pain!" AJ laughed, rubbing my head and messing my hair all up.