This is an excerpt from a story I wrote in 2018. Due to boredom, I decided to rewrite and publish it here.
Jake was laying on his bed with nothing but random thoughts of Stella lulling him into a sea of daydreams. He instantly remembered the girl's passion for art and her desperate yet impossible desire of having tattoos. As much as her heart desired the thought, her heart condition said otherwise.
Stella was diagnosed with congenital heart disease and was advised not to do anything that might risk or threaten her life. It's not that she didn't care about anything, her friends and family were just always keeping a close eye on her 24/7.
He thought of how their day at school went and how beautiful her pink hair and smile looked in the golden sun. He remembered how the melody of her laughter resonated with his when all of a sudden, his trance was broken off by a noise coming from outside his window. There were pebbles being thrown at his newly cleaned window and the culprit was no other than speak of the devil, Stella herself.
He opened the window and rolled his eyes at her. She grabbed her phone and began to type down. Not a minute goes by and Jake receives a text "Let's go out." It was 9:32 in the evening and Jake's parents weren't home and his brothers were busy playing video games so he had every reason to go out, but instead, he replied "Can't. Got homework."
Stella looked up at him with disbelief and started dancing. He couldn't help but laugh at her attempt of making him laugh - it was oddly successful. Her phone dinged and the text read "Give me 3 mins."
While waiting in the dark, she thought of pranks that would scare the living hell out of Jake on Halloween and suddenly remembered the summer in sophomore year when they both saw the lifeguard at the local pool fake bleeding to scare off the kids and Jake ended up fainting. He was scared of blood and Stella who was actually diagnosed with heart disease was more fond of watching gore and horror movies.
"Hey." There stood Jake with his half-grin after 5 mins of making Stella wait.
"Yeah. I'm just going to pretend I didn't wait 15 minutes in the dark." Stella said half-jokingly.
"You should have waited for 5 more." was Jake's retort.
They began walking towards their local library which would close at 10, but that didn't bother Stella and Jake because they always find ways to sneak in and sneak out whenever they want. She was a pro at sneaking out, she never gets caught. Jake, however, always gets caught but not when he was with Stella. Stella took a beer out of her backpack, opened the can, took a sip, and gave the remaining contents to Jake.
Sneaking in was no problem, it was the same as sneaking out. Mr. Rodgers, the security guard was always watching some wrestle mania episode on his phone and he wouldn't notice them laughing and grabbing books from shelves.
Stella had 4 sips and Jake had 4 beers down when he suddenly thought of something. "Stella. Let's go to the tattoo shop." she looked at him weirdly and began laughing hysterically. Jake covered her mouth with his hand but that only made her laugh more.
They didn't notice Mr. Rodgers was wearing earphones so Jake's goal at the very minute was to shut Stella up. He took his hand away from her which in turn made her laugh much more so Jake decided to kiss her to shut her up instead. Stella was in shock, she stopped laughing. When the action finally registered in her head, she pushed Jake and punched him in the jaw.
Jake was shocked by the punch, it wasn't strong or hard, he was just shocked. They stared at each other and a moment later, began laughing hysterically. Tears were coming out the corners of their eyes and when they looked at each other, they'd laugh again. When the laughter died down, they sat side by side.
"I'm serious. Let's go to the tattoo shop, Stells." Every time Jake calls her "Stells" she'd smile, but Jake wouldn't know that because she'd look away before he'd notice. "Yeah. Let's go get our armpits inked. That would be a fun idea." She didn't take Jake's statement very seriously because knowing him, he'd faint with just the sight of the needles.
He touched her chin and made her face him. They were inches apart and Jake's breath smelled like beer that Stella just couldn't stop herself from smiling anymore. His lips were moving and he was saying something but Stella was too busy staring at the color of his lips and the way his lips moved.
"Stella!" He shook her chin and that finally cut her off her trance. "Look, I know you want to have a tattoo, desperately need one. I'll offer my skin as your personal art diary." Stella stopped smiling, opened her mouth, and moved closer to him. Their lips were millimeters apart and Jake felt the tip of her lips move against his. She told him "That would be great. A win-win for me and you, except... You're a wuss, Jake."
She backed up and shook her head. Jake noticed how bright her hair looked in the dark and couldn't help but run his fingers through it. "I just.. It's.. You know we're going to college soon and we're gonna be apart and I just.. I'll miss you Stells. And besides, wouldn't you feel happy knowing your art is a part of someone forever?"
It felt nice that he was running his fingers through her hair but she didn't focus on it too much, instead, she told him "You had me at art and tattoo not gonna lie, but you lost me when you said 'forever.' Jake, come on. Of course, I'd love it, but will you? Because last time I checked, you'd faint with just the sight of a needle, much more if it's piercing your skin."
He put his hand on her cheeks and caressed her lips with his thumb. He stared intently into her lips and said "Yeah. I'd love to."
They went to the tattoo shop and upon arriving Stella noticed Jake's paleness. "Don't tell me you're going to back out! This was your idea!" and burst out laughing.
2 hours later, after Jake's constant swearing and Stella's laughter filling the room's silence, the tattoo artist was done. Jake now had a rose tattoo on his left hand which Stella drew earlier. They walked out of the shop and she grabbed his fingers to inspect the tattoo on his hand.
"Look. It's as if you're holding a rose when you're holding my hand... Stells, I'm your rose, Stells." Stella felt her heart tighten because the night was perfect, Jake was perfect, everything was perfect and she knew if she stayed longer in this perfect world she created with him, it would hurt too much. She let go of her hand and took a step away from him.
"You are my rose... but that would make me your thorns, Jake." and left him standing in the dark with nothing but a throbbing hand and an aching heart.
