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But, Naomi was one of my best friends, and since Rory had fallen head over heels for the guy she was now with, I had a lot more time to spend with the other friends I had in my life. Naomi had been happy to have me along to watch her get this new tattoo, though I was spending more time trying to find a place to feel comfortable and out of the way than I spent watching her actually getting the work done.
“Would you please just sit down? You’re making me nervous.” Naomi laughed. “This is supposed to be relaxing, but you’re walking around like you’re about to burst into flames or something.”
“I don’t know how you can relax when someone is doing that to you. You’re bleeding!”
“It’s a tattoo, of course it’s going to bleed. What do you think they do? Stamp it on you?” she asked.
I was surprised with the way the tattoo artist herself was able to ignore both of us, but she must have been used to people like me walking around the place. She didn’t seem all that bothered with how much I didn’t approve of the shop or what my friend was doing, tattooing away as though they were the only two people in the entire shop.
“But doesn’t it hurt?” I asked.
“Sure, but it’s not that bad. You make it seem like I’m about to get my arm cut off or something,” Naomi said. “You’re going to make me laugh, and if you’re not careful, I’m going to mess her up.”
“Then hold still. The last thing I need to do is come along to see you get this thing on your leg and be the reason why you wind up getting something that’s not what you want,” I said.
“I’m not worried about that. Grace is one of the best. She doesn’t have much to say, but she’s great at what she does,” Naomi replied. “Anyway, I thought you were going to hang out with Rory this weekend. I’m glad you hit me up last second like you did, but don’t you two normally hang out on the weekends?”
“Normally, sure,” I said with a shrug. “But like I said. Since she got wrapped up with this guy, she’s doesn’t have as much time to hang out with me. I guess I should be happy for her having someone in her life like him, but I miss the time we had to spend together.”
“You mean she broke the pact?” Naomi asked, raising her eyebrows.
“Do you really want to talk about that here?” I asked in surprise. It wasn’t that it was any secret, but I wasn’t sure this was the time or the place to talk about sex or losing our virginities or anything like that.
“You think anyone here cares? Look around! Everyone is too wrapped up in what they’re doing to care about what you and I are talking about. Anyway, what does it matter? I’m sure Grace here knows a thing or two about sex. Don’t you, Grace?” Naomi asked her artist.
I wasn’t sure what I expected, but the way her artist just smiled and kept on working on the tattoo was also surprising. I wasn’t sure if it was more professional to ignore the question, or more professional to tell my friend that now wasn’t the time or place to talk about sex. Either way, Naomi didn’t seem to be at all bothered with the topic, and she was happy to discuss our friend by name and the fact that she had found someone to give her virginity to.
Of course, once we broke into the topic, I, too, didn’t mind talking about it. The fact that I was so close to Naomi made it easier, and if she didn’t care that there were all these other people around us, that was fine with me, I supposed.
The other tattoo artists seemed to be rather wrapped up in their own clients anyway, and Grace was acting like I didn’t exist, so talking about Rory came almost as a relief. It was something I could talk about and feel like I could relate to, perhaps even better than the things that were going on around us now.
“Yeah, she did,” I said. “She thought long and hard about it before going through with it, and I guess she says it’s the best thing she’s ever done. I don’t know. I’m glad she’s found someone to be with, but I don’t know how anyone would just know that it’s the right person or not.”
“I guess when you know, you know?” Naomi asked. “I don’t know. I guess when you and I and the rest of us made the pact when we were younger, it seemed like sex was so far off in the future, we would have life more figured out by the time we reached as old as we are now, but I really don’t have any more clue what I’m doing now than I did then.”
“I hear you,” I agreed with a nod. “I’ve been so busy with work and doing what I wanted with that, I never really stopped to try to figure out if I was going to date someone. I mean, you know I’ve gone out with guys here and there, but I never got to know anyone well enough to really want to have sex with them.”
“Same. Except I really don’t even go out with guys,” Naomi replied, “what with working and all. I’m so busy with waitressing, I don’t have the time to go out with someone who’s going to waste my time.”
“Agreed,” I said.
But, she was right. When we had made that promise years ago – she and I and ten of our girlfriends – I knew I at least hadn’t thought about having sex at all. It seemed easy to say that we wanted to save sex until we found the right person, but now that we were adults, and now that five of the twelve of us had found someone to break the pact with and were no longer virgins, I no longer was sure I would know when I had found the right person.
I knew it wasn’t black and white for Rory, either. She had been happy that she had chosen the man she did, but I knew she hadn’t been ready to have sex with him right from the start. It was something that came with time.
“Maybe when you get to know the right guy, you’re just going to want to do it. I don’t know,” I said. “Though I have to admit, if this is what you like to do in your spare time, I don’t know what kind of guy you will find that makes you think he’s the right guy.”
“Oh, stop.” Naomi laughed. “I know this isn’t your cup of tea when it comes to pastimes, but you were the one who wanted to come along. I told you my plan for the day, and you said you didn’t have anything better to do so you might as well come along with me and see what this was all about. Why don’t you hop into the chair and get one for yourself?”
“No, and no!” I said, rather too emphatically. “Sorry, I don’t mean anything against you for it. I just meant that I don’t think I can see myself with a tattoo. Besides, I’m an interior designer. Do you really think that I should be covering myself with tattoos, then going around and trying to get people to let me decorate their houses for them?”
“I mean, if they have any taste, yeah,” she said with a shrug. “I don’t see why there’s still such a stigma with tattoos. I think they’re works of art, and I like walking around being a living art piece. But, if you don’t want to wear one, then don’t get one. I’m not going to pressure you into getting one if you don’t want to do it.”
“Thanks,” I said. “You’ve talked me into a lot in my life, and I’m not sure I could forgive you if you talked me into doing something like that.”
“Well, you are the one who has to sign all the release forms, so it really does come down to you,” she said with a shrug. “I don’t think there’s anyone in the city with any sort of good reputation who would tattoo you without first making sure it’s what you wanted. A first tattoo is a big deal, you know.”
“I don’t know, and I’m sure it’s something I’m never going to know,” I said, shuddering as the artist wiped off the tattoo for the last time. It was a sunflower, and while it did look pretty, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have something on my skin forever.
