Hearing the blond she'd forced to the parlor with her, Emily turned away from the tattoos on the wall and quickly made her way back to the sanitary bed. "Come on," she laughed lightly, kneeling down to be eye level with the younger woman. "You're fine."
"Don't tell me what I am!"
Emily looked up to the tattoo artist and winked. "Isn't she feisty?"
JJ reached out to slap the older girl.
"Don't move," the artist reminded her, waiting until the blond lying down kept herself still before he put the needle back against her skin.
Wincing, the teen on the table reached her hand out and held onto her friend's, her teeth gritting as she buried her face into the bed, feeling the brunette she held onto tightening her hand around hers. "Fuck," she hissed, feeling the needle just above her bone. "I fucking hate you."
Emily's eyes widened. "This was your idea," she laughed.
JJ pouted. "I didn't know it would hurt so much," she whimpered, clutching the older girl's hand.
Smiling at the blond before her, Emily sad herself on the ground. "It's painful," she nodded, having experienced it just a month before. "It'll be over soon."
"Thirty minutes," the tattoo artist above her nodded, finishing off the branch that traced along one of her rib bones.
"Ok," Emily laughed, playing with her friend's fingers to get her mind off the pain, "remember when we came to get my tattoo and you said to stop being a baby?"
Jennifer bit her lip. She was regretting those words.
"I'm not going to tell you that because now you feel my pain." Leaning in, the ambassador's daughter flicked those blond hairs from JJ's face and smirked. "Besides, I wasn't crying."
"Shut up," the blue eyed girl tried to laugh.
"Ice cream after?"
JJ whimpered, her manicured nails digging into Emily's ivory skin as she nodded in agreement. "Only if I can pour mine on my back," she sighed, her eyes rolling at the heavy metal song that came on in the tattoo parlor.
Taking out her phone, Emily slipped her hand from JJ's.
"Hello!"
"Damn," Emily snorted. She opened up her camera and took a quick picture of her friend. "Smile!"
JJ glared at the flash. "Emily, come on."
The brunette quickly spun in her seat on the floor and switched the camera on her phone. She tilted her head, smiling up at her phone when she saw her friend in the background. "Selfie," she grinned, holding in her laughter just long enough to take the picture.
"I hate you."
The growl from her friend had Emily laughing into her phone, quickly posting the picture on her Instagram page before taking the younger girl's hand back in hers. "It's a great memory that you'll thank me for."
JJ let her eyes close as her friend sent a text to her boyfriend, feeling the needle start to lighten up on her skin as the artist finished off the picture. "Do you think it'll look good?"
"Hey."
Emily sent the artist a smile before looking to her friend. "Of course it will," she nodded. "Did you see how good mine came out?"
JJ's lips slowly curved into a smile.
Turning off the needle, the tattoo artist helped his client sit up. "Done."
Helping her friend off the table, Emily rushed her over to the mirror and smiled at the sight of the black ink on JJ's side. "Do you love it?"
Smiling, JJ lifted her shirt to see the baby black bird sitting on a branch that went from under her breast to her back side, a redness around each outer line because of how fresh it was. "It's great," she grinned. "Show me yours."
Emily lifted her shirt to show the phoenix on fire just above her hip, and she bumped her against her friend's. "Twins!"
"Not exactly," the blond snorted.
"Don't ruin this."
JJ shared a smile with the older girl, turning back toward the mirror as her friend took her phone back out to take another picture, her fingers tracing over the painful mark on her ribs.
Blackbird.