Don't Fall for Me

Part 35: New Tattoos

"You think he's asleep yet?" I whispered to Xander who was looking through the books on my bookshelf. He plucked one out, flipped a few pages, looked at the clock on my nightstand, and nodded. We've been up in my room for about an hour doing nothing and it was almost one a.m. on a school night. I was ready to get out of here.

I leaped out of my chair and grabbed the markers off my bed. Xander had said that they were kind of like henna tattoo markers, so the tattoo we gave Ryker should last for a few days.

I slowly opened my door so it wouldn't creak, giving us away. I opened it just a crack and slid through, Xander following me. Then we tiptoed down the stairs.

One of the markers started to slide out of my grasp. I threw a panicked looked over my shoulder at Xander as I tried to adjust my grip. Too late.

The marker tumbled out of my hand, banging against each wooden stair. I cringed each time it hit a new stair before finally landing on the floor.

Xander and I froze, holding our breath to see if Ryker had heard it.

We waited for a few minutes paused on the stairs, until we deemed it safe to continue. I tiptoed down the rest of the stairs, holding the markers tightly against my chest. Xander should have known to take some from me. I was so clumsy all the time.

He dipped down and picked up the fallen marker once we were both safely at the bottom of the stairs.

We silently made our way over to the couch Ryker was sleeping on and knelt beside him. He was still in the same position on his back, except his arm was hanging off the couch. I waved my hand in front of his face to make sure he was really sleeping. I wasn't breathing and I doubted Xander was either.

Ryker didn't even stir. He was dead asleep. I thanked God that he was a heavy sleeper, otherwise Xander and I would have been in a lot of trouble.

I gingerly pinched the inside and outside of Ryker's wrist between my fingers and laid his hand on the coffee table beside the couch he was laying on.

Suddenly, Ryker shifted on the couch. He turned on his side so his face was now faced towards me and Xander. I dropped his hand on the table where it fell limply. I exhaled a high sigh, wiping my brow and mouthing, "Phew," to Xander. He did the same.

I scooted over to the coffee table so my legs were curled underneath it. Ryker's hand rested on top of the table, right in front of me. Xander nodded, keeping his eyes trained on Ryker in case he woke up.

I uncapped the first marker and hovered it above Ryker's wrist. I started to sweat as my heart beat faster. What if he woke up and wasn't actually a deep sleeper?

I took a deep breath and held it as I poked his skin with the purple marker. I darted my gaze to Xander's then to Ryker's face. In the only spot not already marked by tattoos, I began my drawing.

I switched between different markers to make my creation more vibrant and noticeable.  Xander's shoulder shook as he chuckled silently. I raised a finger to my lips with a smile on my face. He was going to make us blow our cover if he made me laugh along with him.

I capped the last marker, wiping my hands on my pajama pants. I was no artist, but damn; I did a pretty good job.

Tattooed on Ryker's wrist was a drawing of a pair of lips with a ring piercing the bottom lip. A tongue was sticking out right next to the piercing as if it were about to glide right over it. I also drew a speech bubble coming out of the mouth, saying, "Don't fall for the Devil."

I got a flashback of the time I had drawn Ryker as the devil in math class and had written something similar to it. I grinned at my masterpiece.

I stood up and went around to the front of the couch where Ryker's head rested and uncapped another marker. Xander shot me a surprised look as I used my cast to push back the hair on Ryker's forehead. He came around to stand beside me.