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Kennedy smiled beside him. “Did he?”
“Yeah. Keaton was always good at school and Knox is pretty much a genius, but I ditched a lot and never paid attention in class.”
“You were a wild child, huh?” Kennedy asked.
“I thought so, but it turned out I’m just dyslexic.”
“Oh, wow. When were you diagnosed?”
“Not until I was in my mid-twenties. I dropped out of school after my sophomore year because I got a full-time apprenticeship with my mentor Ezra Hawk, he’s a legendary black and white artist. Anyway, after about a decade of tattooing, I decided I wanted to get my GED. I tried to study for it but when I ran into the same issues, I’d had in high school I hired a tutor. After our first session, she told me she was pretty sure I was dyslexic. She gave me a few tests and it turns out I am.”
“Wow, that’s…that must have been tough not knowing until you were in your twenties.”
“Yeah, I always just assumed that I was stupid. No one ever actually said that to me, but I definitely labeled myself as that. I was the stupid one. Ford was the leader. He was the strong, capable one. He could fix anything, handle any problem, do anything. Keaton was the athletic one. He excelled at every sport he played but he always knew he wanted to do something in the martial arts world. Knox was athletic too, but he was the smart one. His IQ is off the charts. And I was the artistic one. I sucked at school, but I could always draw from the time I was little. And then when I was introduced to tattooing it’s like my entire life made sense.”
“That’s great that you found your calling. But I’m sorry you spent so many years thinking that your learning differences had anything to do with your intelligence.”
Seb had talked about his education, or lack thereof, in more interviews than he could count. He had no problem speaking about his story if it might help someone. But talking to Kennedy about it felt more vulnerable. He wasn’t sure he liked feeling so exposed.
“What about you?” He asked, turning the tables on her. “What were you like in school?”
“Quiet.”
Seb couldn’t help but smile. He’d noticed a few times at lunch when the conversation turned to Kennedy, that she quickly diverted it to someone or something else. It seemed she could talk about any subject except herself.
“You don’t like talking about yourself, do you?”
A tiny grin lifted on Kennedy’s full lips. “It’s not my favorite topic, no.”
“Okay.” Seb wanted to ask why, but he realized that would be pushing her to talk about something, herself, that she didn’t want to. There was no way that he was going to put pressure on her, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t dying to know more.
After several moments of silence, she said, “My mom had a tendency to make everything about her. She was sort of like that SNL character that Kristen Wiig played who always has to one up someone. It was embarrassing to me when I was younger. I told myself I never wanted to be like that.”
Seb glanced over at Kennedy and saw that she was staring out the passenger window. He felt privileged that she’d opened up to him, but he didn’t know what to say to her, so he didn’t say anything.
After a few moments she took a deep breath and chuckled a little. “Wow, I’ve never told anyone that before. I’m not even sure I knew that was the reason I didn’t like to talk about myself until now.”
Again, a sense of unearned pride swelled in Seb’s chest. He knew that he hadn’t really been the catalyst for her epiphany, but even being with her when she had it made him feel good about himself.
Kennedy turned her attention back toward him. “You’re really easy to talk to. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Yeah. A lot of people in my chair have told me things they said they’ve never told anyone else.”
“Right, sort of like a bartender or hair stylist.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Seb hadn’t ever thought of it like that, but he was sure that those occupations heard an earful from clients as well.
“I um, I’ve seen your work. You are amazing!”
“You have?” She hadn’t even known who he was until an hour ago.
“Laura has shown me some of it. You are so talented.”
Hewastalented. Now…he didn’t know what he was. “Thanks.”
“I’m sorry, I know it’s probably not something you want to talk about.”
“No, it’s fine,” he assured her even though she was right. With most people, he didn’t want to talk about tattooing. But with her…he felt like he could talk to her about anything.
