Mafia // Ryan Blaney

eleven // tattoo

The guys ended up staying at my house for the night. Dad never came home, so I didn't have to worry about that.

Going into school was rough. Ryan is in a sling, and the rest of us are covered in scrapes and bruises. We look like we got jumped last night. We caught a couple strange looks from kids I've never seen before, but otherwise, everyone ignored us. Maybe they're used to the guys showing up looking like this.

"How's the shoulder?" I asked Ryan who was walking next to me.

"It's alright. It hurts like a bitch but it's nothing I can't handle," he replies, looking towards me and smiling a little. He was trying to hide it, but I saw it. I reached around into my bag to grab him some Ibuprofen.

"Take these, it'll help. If you need more, I have a whole bottle."

"Thanks."

Erik and I strayed from the group and walked towards homeroom. We made some small talk on our short walk.

Sitting there waiting for class to begin, I felt everyone's eyes on me. But it wasn't like it was my first day here. This time was different. This felt much, much worse.

"Just ignore them," Erik whispered. "Just talk to me. It'll help keep your mind off it, I promise."

"What does your tattoo mean? I've been wondering for weeks now, but I was too afraid you'd yell at me for asking."

"Kacey, we're friends. I would only yell at you if it was absolutely necessary." We both laughed. "Anyways, we all have one. Actually, we all have this one. It's thesymbol. Everyone else was smart and got them where they could be easily concealed. Me, not so much."

"It's cool. Not what it stands for, obviously. But I think the way it was designed is what's cool. I've always wanted one, but I'm too afraid. My pain tolerance isn't very high."

"Well if you want one, let's go get one. Today, after school. Us and the rest of the guys can all get one," Erik suggested.

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, why the hell not? If you want, we can get matching ones. Although this time, it'll really mean something."

---

After school, the six of us piled into my car and drove to the nearest tattoo shop.

"So, why exactly are we getting tattoos on a Monday? Do you guys not remember what happened last time we did this?" William asked.

"Guys, Kacey has always wanted to get one. You guys don't have to get them if you don't want to. I'm doing it because I want to."

"Well, what're we getting?" Bubba asked. I just laughed.

---

Since it's my first tattoo, I got to decide what we all got. I decided on a small bird that looks like it's flying, and got it on my wrist. The rest of the guys got them placed a little higher up so that when we line our wrists up, it's a flock.

Ryan thought it was girly, but he got it anyways. And I know he likes it.

It honestly didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would, which makes me happy.

Looks like I'm stuck with them forever. I don't think I'll mind that though.