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Iris
Colt murmurs, "This is a really bad idea."
Adi says, "Yes, it is."
I groan, turning towards them. "I want you both to support me and be excited for me."
Now, we are in a bright red room. Designs and drawings cover every available wall. At the other end of the room, there are two black salon chairs, a long mirror in front of it, and the sharp needle equipment near. A bright neon sign hangs above a counter.
Tattoo shop.
Colt whispers to Adi, "This room looks like a torture room."
"Isn't tattoo a form of torture?" Adi asks in reply and Colt snorts. "Yup, you get it. Why doesn't she get it?"
I reply, loudly, "She is right here and she wants a tattoo."
It was a quick decision while I was talking to Tanner during lunch today. He had asked me what do I want to do on my birthday. Before I could answer, he asked me if I wanted a tattoo and my answer was yes.
I do not know if this is my 'I am sad and hurt but I do not want to be so I will get a tattoo' phase but it probably is.
Right now, I clear my mind of those thoughts and focus on the present. I look around the room and call out, "Romeo? You here?"
Colt questions me, "You know the guy?"
Adi turns me towards him, holding my shoulders. He says, "Think this through, Milady."
I roll my eyes at them. I, of course, am going to get a tattoo but I wanted someone with me if I bail out at the last minute. Unfortunately, these two are doing nothing except being a series of negative thoughts.
Adi questions, "How did you evenâ"
Colt says, "Mia and Mom are gonna killâ"
"Oh, shush," I brush aside Adi's hands and glare at them, keeping my hands on my hips. "It is my birthday and I want to gift something to myself! What's wrong with that?"
Adi gapes. "You want to torture yourself on your birthday?" He turns to Colt. "Can we take her to a spa?"
Colt snaps his fingers. "I don't know about spas but we can Alyssaâ"
"No," I complain. "I want a tattoo! Not a spa! You both are... cowards, ugh!"
Both of them look at me for a solid moment until they look at each other and start laughing.
"She justâ"
"âstomped her foot!"
Adi holds on to Colt's shoulder while Colt keeps his hand on his chestâboth of them still laughing. They look at me and laugh, louderâof course, because I am pouting, angrily, at them.
But when someone starts screaming in Spanish and a machine purrs â yes, purrs, they both stop immediately. Colt and I share an amused look, while Adi holds out his phoneâto translate the words obviously.
Adi starts, "Did heâ"
A dark-skinned man with a lot of tattoos and pierced ears and lower lip looks out of a corner room and says, over the angry voice in the room, "Ah, customers! Romeoâ"
The angry voice slows down untilâ "Yeah, you should go and suck your ownâ"
Suddenly, Adi puts his hands on my ear and I can't hear the next sentences but I can see the tattooed guy's expression from amused to mortified. When he lets out a breath, Adi removes his hands from my ears.
"Sorry about that." The guy says, "Some person gave the shop's number as a Mexican restaurant. That was the seventh call of the day. I was fed up with answering so I gave it to my bouncer."
Adi murmurs, "He has a bouncer. Colt, you protect us."
Colt replies, confused, "Why do you thinkâ"
The guy claps his hands, excitedly. "So, I am Romeo Martinez."
Romeo looks at me and he grins more widely â if the grin wasn't wide enough. I would have been intimidated by his looks if he didn't smile so cheerfully and the vibe is so warming and welcoming.
"Um, hi," I reply, moving forward and ignoring my friends' voice not to move away. "I amâ"
"The amazing and funny and cute girl Zander told me about?" He asks, still grinning.
I laugh, hearing the name Tanner's so-called street name. I say, "I am Iris and I am here for a tattoo."
"Ooh," He smiles, leaning back. "Are who are these gentlemen?"
I look at the idiots behind meâwho are gaping at Romeo. I turn back and say, "They are my brothers."
Colt snorts and chuckles but when I look at Adi, he looks at me in shock. He asks, "Really?"
I shrug. "Why not?"
Adi blinks, rapidly, and sniffles. Colt looks at him and says, "Man, are youâ"
"No, I am not. Gimme a damn tissue."
While Colt tries to find tissues for Adi and Adi trying to keep his emotions at bay, I talk to Romeo.
He says, "Zander told me that you turned eighteen todayâso, happy birthday."
I let out a laugh. "Thank you."
"Also," He looks at me, gravely, "he told me that this your first tattoo, and I should give you some good counseling, before we get started."
"Okay." I nod.
He starts to walk around me as he talks, "Okay, I have to let you know things about tattoos; Different body parts have different pain levels for tattoos. Since you will be getting your first tattoo, I recommend, personally, the forearms, outer arms, or the calves... It is also alright if you get one on that pretty fine behind you have there and on that in front of you."
He points at his chest area, grinning, but stops. Of course, without looking at them, I know the guys behind me are glaring at him. He leans down and whispers to me, "They think they can scare me?"
"Probably, yeah."
"Poor kids."
"Well, last two are a no, definitely," I reply to him, for the sake of the guys, and he laughs, ignoring the glares thrown at him.
"Worth a try." Then, he grins at me, excitedly. "Then, I guess it is all up to you?"
***
Throughout the tattoo process, I was happy the entire time; even Romeo enjoyed giving me the tattoo. I wouldn't be surprised if at one point I start to cry but the tattoo is really beautiful.
Stretching my arm, I look (for some seventeenth time, now) at my first ever tattoo, proudly (screaming out, mentally). I got the tattoo of Chinese Dragon on both of my hands; one curls around my left hand while the second one is on the index finger of my right hand.
There wasn't any special reason for why Chinese Dragonâjust that it looked very aesthetically pleasing to me and I wanted a tattoo so why not of a Dragon?
"This is so beautiful," I say, grinning. I have sent a picture of this to our group chat as soon as we got into the car; my phone is blasting up with their replies, mainly Caleb telling me how irrational I am.
He is so overprotective. Ugh.
"Do not even dare to put your hands anywhere," Adi grumblesâagain, from the back seat.
Adi is grumbling in the back seat of his car while Colt drives it, giving amused glances at Adi through the mirror. I am just sitting in the passenger and just gushing about the tattoo.
I roll my eyes and Colt coughs, trying to hide his smile. He gives me a side-glance and says, "I cannot believe you made us believe that you were going to get a permanent tattoo."
Yes, I got the temporary tattooâa henna tattoo.
I freaked out when I heard that tattoo machine purringâliterally beside me. Romeo, being so nice and happy, gave me an alternative, and damn, am I happy with the result.
I reply to them, "Henna looks really pretty."
"But real tattoos are better," Adi pouts.
I turn to him and say, "Get over it!"
"If I could, I would have!"
Adi made Colt drive because he is just so disappointed in me that I got a temporary tattooâthat's what he said. Romeo's bouncer told me that this idiot lost a bet to Colt about my tattoo and thus, the car keys.
I am not over the fact that he literally bet his keys on the fact that I can get a permanent tattoo.
Adi grunts but admits to me, "It is good."
"Because it is good," I say back to him.
"Okay, it is good," Colt, then, says, laughing a bit, as he stops the car in front of my house.
Opening the door, I turn to them. I ask, "Won't you guys come in?"
Colt shakes his head. "Have to drop Mr. 'I know Milady better than you' and his car first."
Adi blinks for a moment and then, grins. "That's right, Mister Driver."
I groan and give him a look. "I so knew you would say that."
"Aww," He pokes my cheeks, grinning. "Don't miss me much."
Sharing a look with Colt, I get out of the car.
Almost nearing my house, I pull out the house keys but before I can insert the keys and open the door, Mom opens the door.
"Mom?" I look at her, confused. "You had a meeting, today."
"Which is ended early. By the way, show me your tat."
"Tat?" I ask her, showing her my arm.
"You know the short version of tattoo." Mom says, grinning as she looks at it, "It looks so good."
"I know!" I grin, entering inside. "But I have to keep the paste for more hours so that the color stays for a longer time and thenâ"
"Yeah, yeah, I know but it is a tattoo!" She squeals and next thing, I know we both are squealing.
"Woah, Woah!" Dad comes out of the study room, holding up a newspaper rolled in his hands. "Just heard some loud rats!"
"Dad!"
"Steve!"
"Oh," Awkwardly, Dad lowers his hand. He looks between us and grins, sheepishly. "What's up?"
Mom groans. "You ruined our excitement, Steve!"
I groan, too. "Why would you do that?"
"Don't say that!" Dad comes towards us. He grins and does a little dance... I think? He asks, "What are we excited about?"
Mom says, deadpanned. "We are not kids, Steve Cooper." And then, she turns me towards her and pulls my cheeks.
"Mom!"
"Our daughter is big and eighteen!"
And now, I realize. I pull away from her in surprise and she smiles, widely, at me. I look at Dad and ask, "She is high on pink Gatorade, isn't she?"
Mom pipes in, "No, I am not."
Dad replies, "Yes, she is. Because she was in a rush to complete her work and be here, she drank one too many Gatorades."
I let out a breath and smile. "Dad, you know what to do."
"Make pure black coffee and feed it to my beautiful wife who will scratch me in the end? Yup, I know what to do." He sighs but then, hugs me sideways.
I look at him in confusion. "What is this hug for?"
He just kisses the top of my head and smiles. He says, "Nothing." He pulls away and holds me by my shoulder, grinning.
Mom looks at us, grinning. "Tell her about the plan."
"What plan?" I ask them.
"We wanted to take you out," Mom replies to me in a sing-song voice.
Dad chuckles and turns me towards the stairs. "So, get readyâtake your sweet sweet timeâwe all are going out for dinner."
"Butâ"
"Sometimes, it is alright to just chill out," Mom starts. Now, she pushes me towards the stairs. "So, freshen up and wear the dress I have kept on your bed, okay?"
"Dress? Are we going somewhere fancy?" I ask her, starting to move up.
"You will know," Mom says in a sing-song voice, again.
"Um, okay..."
"Oh, and don't tie up your hair. Okay?"
"Butâ"
"No buts," Dad says, loudly.
Mom giggles. "Ha, he said butts."
***
After a literal long bubble bath, I made for myself, I am back to walking down the stairs as I see Mom and Dad talking among themselves. Mom is holding her head while Dad looks so amused that Mom is back to her normal senses.
Gatorade really gives her a sugar-rush.
"Mom, I hope you are back." I smile when I stand in front of them. Both of them look up at me as I come downstairs. Mom grins while Dad gapes at me.
"Iris, you look amazing," Mom says, pulling me into a hug. "Don't worry I am back. Just a mild headache."
"I do?" I look at myself as we pull away. It is a puffed-shoulder blue A-line dress that ends above my knee, paired with (obviously) my converse high-top sneakers. The dress is not my usual style but, honestly, I like it.
"Oh, they grow up so fast," Dad says, looking at me, as he wraps his hands around Mom's shoulder.
"Dad..." I shake my head, smiling.
He shrugs. "The line was coming sooner or later." He, now, smiles at me. "You look absolutely beautiful, kiddo. Really beautiful."
"Thank you, Dad," I say as he gives a kiss on my forehead. Mom and Dad share a look, before looking at me, which I know perfectly well. "You guys need to talk to me? Like talk talk?"
Mom nods, smiling. "You are eighteen and we don't want to delay this, anymore."
"Let's go to the study," Dad says, pointing towards the study. Entering the study, I sit down on one of the chairs while Mom goes through a drawer and Dad looks at another drawer.
"So, you are eighteen," Mom says, getting out some papers.
"You are saying that a lot, Mom. I know I am eighteen. A big number, I know," I say, rolling my eyes.
"Iris Cooper," Mom says, firmly, and I shut my mouth. "Okayâgoodness, we are doing it, I guess, Steve?"
"Mia, well, that's what was written. So, yeah."
Dad puts two wrapped boxes; one is way smaller than the other one but it looks new. The big one looks a bit old.
"Am I adopted?" I blurt out and they look at me, surprised.
"No, you are not. How do you... You know what? I am not even surprised; you are exactly like your mother." Dad sighs.
"What does that mean?" Mom and I ask him.
"Nothing." He waves it off. "Mia, darlin', proceed." Mom gives him a look but doesn't say anything to him.
Mom looks at me, sitting beside me. She points to the boxes. "I suggest you should open the big one, first."
"You, guys, got me gifts?" I let out a laugh, getting the big box towards me. "For a moment, I thought you guys are going to disown me."
Then, I hear Dad. "I think she's delusional."
"Steve, shut up," Mom says back as I try to take off the wrapping, not so delicately (obviously). "Iris, hon, calm down." She laughs.
"What is inâ" I freeze, looking inside the box.
It contains a pair of blue ballet shoes. They are of a beautiful royal blue color with intricate floral design but, probably, a size smaller than mine.
"This box contains what your grandpa wanted you to have," Dad says as I pick up the shoes.
"So, this like something that I am getting from his heritage?" I ask them and they smile.
"Yes... but we didn't know what was in this," Dad says. I can see Mom and he are holding each other's hands.
Mom, then, says, "I know you haven't seen the videos Father made for you and Daisy... otherwise, you would have known thatâ" Smiling, she runs her fingers on the design. "âThis was your grandmother's."
I look at her, surprised, but she just lets out a laugh. She says, "Yes, Iris, Mother was a ballet dancer but she left dancing because she wanted to focus on the family."
"How did I not...? Why didn't you tell me?" I ask her.
"I wanted to when we saw how you started Ballet but it was your grandpa who told me that it might pressurize you. So, it was not the right time, then... Looking at the shoes, now, he definitely knew when to tell you."
Dad puts his hand on my head, saying, "He wants you to follow your dreams, kiddo."
Letting out a breath, I say, "I can't even believe this. IâI am gonna treasure this for life."
"You haven't even opened our gift!" Dad says, pushing the smaller one towards me.
"Is it going to make me cry?" I ask, eyeing the box.
"No, but it might reverse the effect," Mom says as I open up the box. It is a golden yellow-colored camera that has my name written on the bottom of it.
I let out a laugh, looking at the gift. "See, it reversed the effect," Dad says, excitedly. "Now, how's it?"
"It is great, Dad. Thank you, both of you." They smile at me.
Mom, now, says, "We want you to capture your own memories and store them... you know, for future purposes."
"I will, just like you." I smile at her. "Now, huddle up. Let meâ"
Then, there is a loud crash.
I get up from the seat. "What was that?"
"What was what?" Mom says, casually.
"Yeah," Dad laughs. "What do youâ"
Then, the whole music of happy birthday comes on and a familiar voice arguing, probably Chris or Sam, comes along with it.
"Oh." Now, gears turn in my head. "You guys are throwing me a surprise birthday party, right?"
Dad grins. "Surprise?"
Mom puts her hand on her head. "I told them not to do anything but... kids."
I shake my head, letting out a breath.
"Here it comes..." Dad sighs.
"It was not needed. Really, I was fine with staying with you guys at home, watching a movie â criticizing it most of the time. I would have practiced my dance and completed all of my works while eating Mom's white pasta. That is all okay for me," I reply to them.
"Really?" He gives me a look. "You do know that you would have done nothing of that and would have just laid down on the bed and just have been gloomy?"
"How do you...?"
"I know everything, Iris. Everything," Dad says to me so seriously that I will be lying if I say I didn't get a bit scared.
Mom says, "Iris, sometimes you need to celebrate. We have celebrated it like that for years, now, but I guess times have changed, right?" Mom holds me by my shoulders. "Live, don't exist."
"I read that on Pinterest," Dad mumbles, making me laugh and Mom gives him a glare. "We can't be serious for too long," He says to us, grinning.
Mom lets out a sigh. "The only thing we had to do is ruined by our daughter."
"This was the only thing you, guys, had to do?" I ask them and they shrug. I cough out, "Shame."
"Hey! We also invited people," Dad defends and I roll my eyes. "Okay, do us favor and act surprised."
"Colt will know."
"Actually, no one told him till the last minute. We, all, know you, both, can never lie to each other."
"If you would've told him, things would have gone smoother," I reply to him, dryly.
"Just act surprised," Now, Mom murmurs. "I don't like to fail in my tasks."
"I know how you feel," Dad grumbles.
"Okay, before you both start sulking, lead the way," I say, laughing.
Just as we reach the backyard door, Dad turns to me and mouths, 'Be surprised.'
'Calm down.' I mouth back and Mom snickers.
The door has opened but it is totally dark and pitch black, only thing I can see is the soft spread of stars in the black sky until I actually feel someone licking my foot. A second later, slowly, all the lights turn on and I see my friends and family in front of me.
"Surprise!"
"Woof!" I bow down happily to stroke Yeti but stop when I look at himâNoah.
Then, Mom whispers something to me. I feel all sense in me wash away hearing the words, just reversing my thoughts about the day, and being surprised will be an understatement because...
"Everything you see, Noah did it mostly by himself."
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ooooookay. wait for some time...
yup. there's the next update!