“Did you take your medicine? Can you handle this?” My laugh was deeper than usual, rumbling inside my throat. I pulled her tighter to me. She nodded her head and quietly laughed. Her eyes were intense and were drilling into me.
I put my hand on the back of her head.
I ran my fingers thru her silky hair.
I bent down pressed my lips against her mouth.
It was gentle and G-rated at first, like every other kiss we had shared. But then she put her hand on my cheek and kissed me with more passion. It was so natural it was like breathing. She tucked her body against mine without breaking contact. Now I knew all oxygen had left me, but I didn’t care. I was going to die so happy.
Finally, I drew my face back and saw her eyes closed, her long lashes touching all the little smile lines she had under her eyes.
“I’m going to have to figure out a way to put sugar pills in that bottle,” I whispered in her ear.
She pulled away, her eyes filled with teasing maliciousness. I smiled back, dodging punches.
I grabbed her left hand and raised it to my lips, kissing that little ring.
15. KIDNAPPED
When I thought back on my life, the way I lived as a young child and into my teenage years, I thought in slow motion. I was seventeen before I experienced a healthy home, boundaries, and even being kissed. Although I didn’t like to talk about my first kiss, I did like talking about my girlfriend.
The few friends I had at my new high school teased me about Lucy, not because I had a beautiful girlfriend who was a good little church girl, but because they didn’t believe that she was real.
I talked about her and showed them pictures, but they were sure she was a model cut out from a magazine. I went as far as making my grandma take a picture of the two of us together so I could show them. “Amazing what people can do with Photoshop these days,” they said.
When it came to Lucy, I thought of my life in fast forward. The moment I met her, my life changed constantly from one thing to the next. My life went from empty to exciting to terrifying and out of control in a moment. All the time.
It was a cold day in May, the twenty-third. My eighteenth birthday. I sat in English class, looking at the clock tick by slowly and the pattering of the rain drizzle down the windows. I was not a fan of English; give me math or science but English was horrible. I did like reading but I didn’t like formulating sentences or paragraphs. There were too many rules and too many different ways things could turn out.
Math had one possible answer; there was comfort and steadiness in it.
Lucy loved English, she would often help me with my English papers and I would help her with her math homework. The girl knew four plus four; that was about it. Anything else she just looked at me like I was speaking a different language. Sitting at the dinner table in her house, next to her, trying to explain something to her was my idea of purgatory.
It was frustrating when she didn’t get what I was saying, but not just because of her. Every time we sat down to do homework, it was painfully obvious that I wasn’t a patient person. On top of that, I was sitting right next to this amazing girl that held every single part of me wrapped around her little fingers and toes. Her long hair always smelled amazing. Her eyes would always squint together when she was frustrated. It was so cute.
By the time her math homework was done, Lucy’s hair was up in a messy bun on the top of her head, making her cheekbones stand out and her big blue eyes look bigger than usual. She looked like a lost puppy, big sappy eyes looking up at me for help. I always felt bad for being so impatient.
The great part about the homework thing, though, was I hadn’t read a single word in a school book since I started dating Lucy. Unlike me, she was patient, happy, and understanding when I didn’t get the things that she understood. Whenever I had something I needed to read, she would read it out loud to me. Once I had to read Beowulf over a weekend and give a verbal report on Monday. I had tried to read it but that poem bored me senseless.
I’d mentioned it to Lucy as we reached the end of our weekend. I’d said that I was going to pretend to be sick that next day so that I wouldn’t have to stand in front of a bunch of my classmates and talk about something I didn’t understand. She told me that I was forbidden to skip class and avoid talking about such an amazing story. Crazy girl.
It was so much more interesting when she read to me. The way she told the story was fascinating. She understood the characters and spoke so eloquently that she made even Beowulf sound interesting. When she finished, she explained it all, like how the two monsters were a byproduct of their fathers’ sin. She tied it into “lessons learned” by outlining how Grendel's mother seduced the kings into giving her a son by promising them power. That was a play on how humans interact with the world at large – we often choose power over our better judgment.
I said word for word what Lucy had told me the next day in class. It was a pretty awesome feeling when I stood up and surprised everyone.
Unfortunately I didn’t have Lucy here with me now, in the most boring English class ever. We were reading some Shakespeare, Macbeth, the part with the Weird sisters. That bell couldn’t ring soon enough. The teacher was calling on people at random, but he had already called on me three times. I was a good reader, but I really didn’t like reading out loud in class. It still made me feel awkward even though it was a vast improvement from a few months ago, when I would have rather crawled into a hole and died before I read out loud in a classroom setting.
My new friend Justin was sitting a few rows behind me. He was probably asleep. He was a cool guy, not very talkative. He had greasy brownish hair that probably would have been blondish if he actually cared about it. He had a long face with rosy cheeks. He kind of reminded me of a basset hound looking for a warm home and someone to take care of him. I’d told Justin that whatever Lucy had planned for my birthday, I wanted him to come, and not just because I wanted him to see that my girlfriend was real, but because I thought that he was a pretty cool guy. When I’d unofficially invited him along, he’d done this weird laugh/shrug thing.
He was kind of twitchy; he reminded me of Isaiah.
Lucy had told me that she was going to plan something for my birthday but I had no idea what. I imagined some kind of obnoxious party at my house with balloons and cake and singing. Something that she would love for a birthday celebration was bound to be something I would hate. But I didn’t really care. I knew she’d throw all her energy into whatever it was she had planned, and she’d be so freaking happy to be doing something for me that it’d be worth it.
Honestly, I couldn’t wait to see what she was going to do. Three more minutes and this school day would be over. I could drive home with Justin in tow and see what kind of shenanigans Lucy had planned for me.
Finally that bell rang, breaking the spell of Macbeth bizarreness. Everyone started shuffling their books and putting things away, which drove our English teacher crazy because he wasn’t done talking yet, even though his time was up. He spoke over the growing clatter, but we all ignored him in our rush to get out.
“Hey,” Justin said, as he walked over to my desk.
“Hey, you still coming to my house?” I asked hopefully as we walked to our lockers.
“Yeah man, I can’t wait to meet this phantom girlfriend.” He gave me a smile overflowing with crooked teeth. I smiled back; I couldn’t wait to show Lucy off. We walked to the main doors together, both of us putting up our hoods to ward off the rain. I saw a shuffle from my left eye and jerked my head over to see what it was. For a flash of a second I saw Isaiah, the next thing I knew he was putting a pillowcase over my head. I heard a little giggle that made my heart jump.
“What are you doing?” I didn’t struggle. I figured it was part of some stupid plan that Lucy had worked up.
“Hey, it’s you,” I heard Justin say, like he recognized someone but was surprised to see them. He must have seen Lucy standing there with Isaiah. I wanted to touch her
so badly, but seeing as my hands were now tied behind my back, I couldn’t.
“It’s me,” I heard her say. She sounded like she was doing something dreadfully wrong and enjoying it.
“I didn’t think you were real,” Justin said stupidly. Lucy just laughed and grabbed the front of my shirt, pulling, so I knew to follow her.
“It was nice to meet you; we are going to be kidnapping him now.” Lucy spoke hurriedly. I could only imagine what this looked like to everyone around me, leaving school. I had become a bit of an attraction in this school. Now, a boy that everyone thought was a Goth was being kidnapped by Isaiah, another Goth, and a beautiful girl. They probably thought it was some crazies trying to kidnap kids to perform an exorcism.
“I’m coming with,” I heard Justin say.
“Sweet, more people to help hide the body.” Isaiah’s deep voice rumbled.
“Good idea, he’s seen our faces, we should take him with us,” Lucy’s sweet voice chimed in, playing along.
“You guys are both nerds,” I muttered from under my pillowcase, feeling very happy. Not only had Justin just seen Lucy was real, but I’m sure he was now aware that she was just as pretty and cool as I always claimed.
“Okay, buddy, what’s your name?” Lucy stopped and, I’m assuming, looked at my friend.
“Justin.”
“Okay, Justin, you take his backpack and carry it so we can drag him more easily.” I was really wishing I would have seen her before this pillowcase went over my head. I imagined she had her blue and white striped raincoat on, hood up. Her cheeks were no doubt rosy from being cold. One of her brightly colored hand-knitted scarves was probably wrapped around her neck. Hopefully they would release me soon.
I heard a beep. It was Lucy’s car, unlocked with the key remote. Lucy and Isaiah must have driven here together. It occurred to me that she must have skipped her Ritalin. If she had taken it, I think she would have over thought the riding situation and not been alone in a car with Isaiah, thinking I might get upset about it.
If this was true, I was going to have to try to get her alone at some point this evening. I felt guilt rush through me as I thought this. But then I banished it, knowing I wouldn’t do anything she would regret. I just wanted to be alone with her when she wasn’t so tensely on edge, with such a harsh wall up.
I felt hands on my head, bending it down like policemen do in those cop shows, so I could get into the backseat of her car. I expected Justin to sit next to me but was happy to feel a much warmer, softer body next to mine. Isaiah started driving the car while Lucy untied my hands, she scooped them up quickly and held them in hers, kissing them every few minutes.
“You untied him?” Isaiah accused.
“Oh come on, I wanted to hold his hand.” Lucy kissed my hand again, she was bouncing all around in the back seat, excited about something.
“Do not take that pillow case off,” he said in a warning voice. Lucy snorted at his commanding tone, but the pillowcase stayed where it was, firmly affixed to my head.
“We’ll be there in about ten minutes,” Lucy whispered to me. Her voice was pitched higher than usual in excitement. She grabbed both of my hands, clasping them together.
“Happy Birthday,” she said it quietly, so just I could hear.
“Thanks sweetie.” I kissed the top of her head, thru my pillowcase.
The thing was starting to annoy me.
“We’re almost there,” Isaiah said after a few minutes, in a kind of warning tone. I was about to find out what these two had planned for me. I really had no idea, which was kind of cool because it wasn’t easy to surprise me. I guessed that was why they had put something on my face.
I don’t know why Isaiah tied my hands together, probably just because he thought it would be funny. Jerk.
“Wow, neat,” I heard Justin say from the passenger seat in front of me.
“What?” I asked, hopefully.
“You have to wait, prisoner,” Lucy whispered in my ear.
The car stopped and everyone got out, helping me by holding the top of my head again. Lucy grabbed my hands instead of dragging me from my shirt this time.
We sloshed through puddles for a bit then walked into a room that felt colder than I expected. There were drilling sounds and a distinct smell, I think it was rubbing alcohol but I couldn’t be sure from under this thing.
“Did you take me to the dentist?”
No one answered me for a minute. I heard some male voices speaking in low tones off to my left but couldn’t make out any words.
“Okay, Luce, let him see.” Isaiah spoke suddenly.
Lucy pulled the pillowcase off my face.
It took a second for my eyes to focus and for me to take in where I was standing. It looked like an art studio, but with six big sections where people were either getting tattoos or piercings of some kind.
“Holy crap.”
Smooth, I know, but that’s all I could think to say.
“Happy Birthday!” Lucy’s voice burst out, her arms around my neck and jumping up and down.
“What?”
I always think of the best things to say. Lucy stopped jumping and looked at me.
“Isaiah and I are going to pay for a tattoo!” That took a moment to sink in, as well.
“Wow…” I spoke in a dazed voice, but then snapped to reality as I looked down at Lucy’s hopeful eyes. I smiled.
“This is amazing. Only thing is…” I didn’t want to hurt her feelings so I edited my words, “I don’t want just anyone’s art work.”
“You’re such an artsy fartsy snob, man.” Isaiah smirked at me, standing with his hands in his pockets, looking amused.
“Well, birthday boy, I knew that, believe it or not. So I brought you this.” I looked down at what she was waving at me and, for the first time, noticed that she held my sketchpad in her hands. I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Did you go through my stuff, Lucy?” I wasn’t really mad; I didn’t have anything to hide, but I felt like putting her on the spot.
“It was Isaiah’s idea.” She pointed quickly to the side where he stood. Isaiah’s face instantly went bright red.
“Yes, but I would never violate your privacy like that, dude. I’m not a privacy violator like your girlfriend, here.”
“Traitor.” She slapped at Isaiah’s arm absentmindedly, more focused on me. “I’m sorry, David, but I wanted you to have what you drew.”
“How do you know I have the drawings I wanted to get a tattoo of in this particular sketchpad?” Making her uncomfortable was really fun. I rarely had this kind of power.
“Um, it fell open?” She said it like a question.
“You are a horrifically terrible liar.” I scooped her up in my arms and kissed her. I had wanted so badly to do that since I heard her voice outside of school. “So did you see yours?” I kissed her softly again.
“I did and I love it!” She grabbed the book and flipped right to it.
It was a cross, in honor of all her religious stuff. The top, bottom, and sides were exaggerated and wider than a normal cross would be. Two intricately detailed wings sprung out from the sides. I had the words “Psalm 63:3” written underneath it.
“How did you find this verse?” Her eyes were sparkling with hope.
“I Googled ‘bible verses with the word love’ in them. I read through them all and this one was my favorite.”
“What does it say? I haven’t had time to look it up.” I looked down at her, my amazing girlfriend. She was like no one in the world, like no one I had ever met before. I loved her so much it was becoming ridiculous.
“It says, ‘The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.’” I kissed her nose gently.
“Wow.” She put her fingers over my artwork.
I grabbed her hand and walked the book over to Isaiah and Justin to show them what I’d drawn for myself. It wasn’t a full sleeve, like I said, I’m too chicken. It was a half sleeve that I wanted to put on my
left arm. It started at my shoulders and ended above my elbow. It was a mixture of different pictures. There was a sun setting over waves, some koi fish with long wavy tails, a tree with roots that hung and ended the picture by growing out to the sides.
“How can I help you?” I heard a surprisingly quiet voice behind us.
“This guy is getting a tattoo,” Isaiah said, blushing furiously when he saw the cute-looking girl with black hair and bright red lipstick talking to us from behind the counter.
“I need your ID.” She sounded unconvinced, like we were wasting her time. She smiled when she looked at it, wished me a happy birthday, and brought me over to a large woman with so many tattoos that her arms just looked blue if you didn’t look closely enough.
“Hey cutie, what’s it gunna’ be?” She was smacking bright green gum and made me feel very uncomfortable. As an artist it was hard to give my work to someone I didn’t know, with questionable taste in her own tattoos, then ask her to permanently put it on my body. I looked sideways over at Lucy who looked back at me with excited eyes.
“He drew this.” She opened up the sketchbook for the woman to see and the lady whistled.
“That’s pretty sweet.” She took the book from Lucy and looked at it more closely. “It’s going to take a lot of work, and money. You’ll probably need more than one session.” She smacked her gum in her big teeth again.
“Could I see some of your work please, ma’m?” I was trying not to sound rude but there was no way I was going to let her get near me with any kind of ink if I wasn’t convinced she could do this.
“Sure can, love.” She walked over to a photo album that held hundreds of pictures and handed it to me. “I’m going to go and copy this on the transfer paper. Be back in a few.”
“She’s good,” Isaiah said, looking over my shoulder. “She’s already over there copying your stuff. She knows you're going to let her, man.”
It was true. Just from looking at the first three pictures I was amazed at the fine detail that she put into her tattoos. There were pictures of her and the people she had tattooed. The more pictures I saw the older she got and the more tattoos were added to her body. It was like watching a time machine. She started out young, platinum blond, and as she got older and older her hair altered in length but stayed pretty much the same color. She really was amazingly talented. I almost wished I’d given her free reign to do whatever she wanted. I bet she would have come up with something incredible.
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