“No, I don’t think you ‘thought’ at all,” my mother interrupted. “What possessed you to drive your happy-tail up to a tattoo parlor and-“
I saw AJ step forward and didn’t have a chance to stop him before he came to my defense, sacrificing himself to take some of the heat off me. “Actually, Mrs. Kelley…I drove Sam to get the tattoo. It was my idea. We both got one.”
I shot AJ an incredulous look that he ignored. Why would he do that? I’d JUST gotten my father to accept us being together! I didn’t want Daddy thinking he was a bad influence on me or anything. My fear was that AJ’s attempt to help had just made the situation worse. My mother cocked her head to the side and my father wouldn’t look at AJ at all.
“I promise the two of you are gonna give me a heart attack,” my mother said mostly to herself, clearly revisiting some of the other offenses we’d committed in the past. “Have your parents seen yours?” She asked AJ.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“And what did they have to say? I’m gonna guess they weren’t happy either,” she added.
“Not exactly.”
My mother shook her head at us again. Her eyes drifted down to AJ’s wrist, subconsciously looking for what she assumed would be a matching tattoo. When she realized that his wrists were bare, I let out a long breath. Before the questions had a chance to start flying, I mumbled for AJ to just show her his.
My father turned toward AJ too just as he unzipped the collar of his sweater and turned down the right side.
“These kids have completely lost their minds,” my father said as he shook his head and walked toward the window.
“In AJ’s defense, he tried to talk me out of it. I was the one who insisted,” I threw in as a last-ditch effort to save his reputation with my parents.
They were both silent while AJ and I waited for them to deliberate. While there wasn’t much that they could do in terms of punishment, I still didn’t want them to be disappointed in me. Since going away to school, the main point I’d been trying so desperately to prove was that I’m an adult. Now, it felt like I’d taken two giant steps back. They’d never believe that I was maturing after this.
“Well…what’s done is done,” my father said with a heavy sigh. I looked up as he gazed over at me. Some of the anger had subsided, which I was grateful for, but I still didn’t understand. Next, he peered over at AJ. “Besides…it’s hard to be mad at that little thing on Sam’s wrist when this boy’s got her whole government name practically tattooed on his neck.”
Neither AJ nor I knew how to react when my father burst out laughing. We looked at one another, confused. My mother didn’t know what to make of it either.
“James, this is not-“
“Oh, Deb, relax.” He took my hand again and shook his head at what I’d done. “We were young and dumb once too. Emphasis on the ‘dumb’ part,” he said when he let my arm fall to my side. Apparently my father was letting us off the hook.
My mother watched my father in disbelief when he approached AJ to get a closer look at his neck. “And that seemed like a good idea at the time?” My father asked, genuinely curious as to what was going through AJ’s mind when he made the decision.
“I’d do it again,” AJ replied respectfully.
A slow smile crossed my father’s face and then he patted AJ’s shoulder as he led him away to talk without my mother and I being able to hear. “I would’ve loved to have seen the look on your father’s face,” was the last part that I heard before they turned the corner, probably headed for Daddy’s study.