Memoirs Of a survivor

61. Covering Up

The next morning, I rose early, pleased that I didn't have nightmares; I had spent the night dreaming of Nate's admission, and the first kiss I ever shared with him. His lips were so soft and demanding. I was having difficulty thinking of anything but him. I wasn't in school for another day, so I still had 24 hours to fill. Sitting up out of my bead I released a sigh and placed my head in my hands, thinking over what to do. I settled with going for a run before my appointment.

I had hoped that the run would clear my mind, but I was sadly mistaken, though everything else on my mind cleared, Nate's beautiful face remained firmly at the forefront of my brain. I was so absorbed by what was in my mind, I ran into something, it was warm and firm, and had arms?

I looked up to find a Nate, the very man who was on my mind, stood with his arms steadying me. "Nate, hi" I squeaked in surprise, I stood for a moment, just looking at him, before I realized that he was talking
"how are you?" I frowned, as something occurred in my mind, I was running 3 neighborhoods over and he was here. I looked up at him curiously then looked around
"what are you doing here?" he looked nervous, and bit his lip, drawing my eyes away from his. "Honest answer, I was looking for you." He shrugged looking sheepish I was definitely confused now.
"Why were you looking for me at 7 am, in the wrong neighborhood, you know where I live?" I asked completely bemused he shrugged, and stuffed his hands in his pockets, I realized that I wasn't going to get an answer, so I changed track
"err, well you found me, how can I help?" he was avoiding eye contact. I stood there and waited for him to psych himself up for whatever he was asking, he looked as though he was giving himself some sort of pep talk, but I waited, curious about what he could possibly have come looking for me at 7 am for.
"I think about you. I can't stop thinking about you," he blurted out, then actually thought about what he said, hurrying to say "not in the creepy way, just, I just..." he exhaled in frustration, as I stood trying to hide the Cheshire cat smile that was threatening my face, at how worked up he was getting "I like you Scarlett, I really like you" he peaked up at me a rosy blush spreading over his features. 'Oh no, it wasn't a dream, that actually happened' the smile from my face fell away as I watched him fight with himself. I slipped my hand into my pockets, and looked down at my trainers as I shuffled them around. When I looked up at him, he looked nervous,
"I, err" I stuttered over my words, not really sure how to say it but he stopped me from talking.
"I told you before, and you just ignored me, you ran away, scarlet, I'm not messing with you, I promise, and I don't think it's just a schoolboy crush" he sighed looking down at me. The whole time he was talking, I had my head cast down, and I still didn't look up
"I'm broken, you can't be enamored with me, because I can't be fixed, and I can't put you through that, I just can't" I had done it again; I had broken Nate's heart. I watched tears well up in Nate's eyes, and backed away from him, before I cried myself.

I was still distracted when I made it to Mikey's shop. I got there, and tried to pull my focus back to the here and now. "So you're here for the back ones?" he asked, carrying on when I nodded. "Good, I got these drawn up for you" he smiled as he placed the papers down on the desk in front of me. The image was beautiful, mean, and beautiful. Mean looking eagles that looked much too big for my back lay midflight over the paper I smiled and looked at him "wow, they are just..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say
"good, okay, so they are too big for your back, but I thought that I could kill two birds with one stone if I had their heads going over your shoulder, and meeting in the middle here" he placed his finger over the center of his collar bone then followed it round to his shoulder "so I could cover the one up your shoulder as well" he looked at me hopefully and I nodded, with a smile. He released a pent up breath, "great, let's get started" he grinned and les us over to the tattoo bed.

Pain. That is the only way I could describe how it felt to have your full back covered over in one session, it was freaking agony. I couldn't move for a good 20 minutes after he had finished. And it took a while for him to wrap my whole back. In the end I just got my whole upper torso wrapped. Thankfully I didn't have any fights for the next few days, so I would be okay; now all I had to was avoid another beating from my father.

"JA