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“I’ll pay for this one but you’re on your own if you want to get another,” Caleb told me as we sat, watching as the girls got their tattoos done.
While my brothers and I were getting the roman numeral eleven on the inside of our biceps, taking up nearly the entire underside, the girls were getting the XI much smaller and on the inside of their wrists, under the base of their thumbs. The girls’ tats would be done much quicker than ours would.
Because of state laws, we had to cross over into Michigan to get these tattoos, as I wasn’t eighteen yet. Our family lake house was in Wisconsin, but right on the state line so it was an easy trip to make.
“You getting another one?” Jonny asked from my right, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his thighs, looking over at me.
I shrugged a shoulder. I was considering…
And I may have stupidly mentioned it to Caleb on the drive over, as I was the lucky one to shout ‘Shot Gun’ before everyone else left the house.
“Porter boy here has a girl these days,” Caleb said, pushing at my shoulder so I leaned into Jonny. “You remember Mo, right?”
“Caleb,” I warned. Not that a warning from a kid nearly eleven years younger than him was going to heed anything.
“Wasn’t she your best friend in middle school?” Jonny asked me, curiosity on his face.
“Yes.”
“The boy only has one word answers. He’s smitten,” Caleb said, making Jonny laugh.
“That’s a big word for you, Cael,” Jonny retorted.
It was like a verbal war going on either side of me. Eventually I was going to have to cut in because being the monkey in the middle was never fun.
“Yes, Mo from growing up. Yes, I’m dating her. It’s only been a few months.”
“But boy-o there is in lo-o-ove,” sang Avery from the tattoo chair nearest us.
“Oh my God, you guys!” I said.
“Leave the boy alone.” McKenna had my back. Thank God. “He probably has a secret wedding Pinterest board, but we won’t snoop.”
“Jesus,” I muttered. Ok, so maybe Ken didn’t have my back.
“You know I met Jenna in middle school, yeah?”
I looked at Jonny.
Yeah, I knew.
Was that a warning?
Or a comment on how he married his middle school girlfriend?
Either way, I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about it.
“Speaking of Jenna,” Caleb said, his voice serious now.
“No. Not speaking of Jenna.” Jonny’s voice had that hard edge again, the one he lost the moment he walked through the lake house doors the other day.
I glanced at Caleb before doing what he was doing, staring down Jonny. Something was totally going on there. But what?
“Just don’t be stupid and tattoo her name on your body,” Myke broke through the stare-off from her own tattoo chair. “Anything can happen in the next few years, Ports. I know she’s been a part of your life for a long time, but you just started dating. Don’t be a stupid kid.”
***
The elevens were all completed and I was the lone Prescott kid still in a tattoo chair while my five older siblings stood around.
