All The Small Things

138

[You guys, I'm so sorry it's taken me forever to update again 😭. I had writers block really bad]

[Luca POV]

It was officially November 9th. We worked today, but it was Jacob's birthday, and I wanted to do something special. We were gonna go celebrate with his family after we got off, but I wanted to get him a present. He's been obsessed with this tattoo artist close to us. Almost all the reviews were positive, and the negative ones were about his prices or 'attitude'. Not the way he actually tattooed people. Leading up to today, I had asked him so many questions while trying to still be secretive. Questions like 'Do you have plans like the week of your birthday?' or 'Do you know what you would want if you went and got a tattoo?" I really tried to ask them throughout the last few weeks, so he would be less likely to question up on why I was asking. Every time he said he didn't have plans other than his mom's house and that he'd definitely get black widow and web on his upper arm. He showed me a couple of reference pictures, and they looked cool.

It took literally every bone in my body to make myself call the place and schedule a consultation for Jacob as a birthday present. I really haven't had much to spend my check on, other than when we got groceries and I helped pay, so I knew I had the money for it. I called him on my break, so we scheduled the consult to be the 10th. I figured we'd get off work, get ready to go to his mom's, and I'd tell him about the appointment tomorrow on the way there. So when it was time to leave, I was this mixture of anxious and like excited. We got to the apartment, and I got ready the fastest I could.

"What are you excited for?" Jacob asked me, unlocking the passenger door.
"I gotta tell you something special," I said, climbing into the passenger seat.
"Well then, what is it?" He asked as he pulled his seatbelt on.
"You know that tattoo guy you were wanting to go to?" I asked, messing with my ring. I can't help it. Sometimes, I just have to fidget with it.
"Mhm," He answered, suspicious of me.
"Um, I scheduled an appointment with him for you. And I was gonna pay for it and your tattoo," I explained, second guessing if this was a good idea. Maybe I should've just asked him. Jesus christ. What if he gets mad at me for that?

"Baby, you're fucking kidding!" He exclaimed, stopping the car before even pulling out of the parking space all the way. He sounded happy, but I don't think people say that when they're happy.
"Are you... like happy about it?" I hesitantly asked, begging in my head he was.
"Yes! Baby, thank you!" He exclaimed, turning and kissing me. I was sitting in the middle instead of the passenger side today, so he didn't have to really move much to do so.
"I might have to fuck you for that," He commented as if he was just stating a fact.
"Jacob!" I whined, a little embarrassed.
"Birthday sex isn't unusual. Okay? I'd say it's normal," Jacob defended himself.

The time at his mom's was good. She made dinner and got a store bought cake, which I hadn't last had at my 19th birthday as far as I could remember. I didn't get it growing up since I didn't really have many friends in school until high school. I met another freshman that I shared most of my classes with. But, since I never had friends and my momma's family cut her off, I didn't go to birthday parties. And asking for a pre-made cake on my birthday just put her in a bad mood, so I stopped after a while. So, on the day of my nineteenth birthday, I drove with my best friend to Walmart and got a small one. One I could've reasonably finished by myself in a day or two. I ate half of it and left the rest in my room so I didn't get yelled at when Momma saw it in the fridge. She found it anyway. She barged into my room, talking about how her friend was picking her up to give her a ride somewhere. She was supposed to be getting clean, but I could tell she was going to go relapse. It wasn't worth begging her to just stay home. She would just get mad, go anyway, and I'd have used that energy for nothing.

Before I could tell her I'd leave the door unlocked until she got back, I saw her look at the plastic container. I kept biting my fingers until she decided to say something.
"Why the hell are you spending your money on things you don't need?" She asked. I looked up at her to try and read her face. She didn't sound like she normally does when she's mad.
"My friend got me it for my birthday," I explained, only half lying. He offered to just pay for it, but I really didn't want someone to buy me something and then make me feel guilty about it after.
"If you want a girlfriend, you ought to throw that away. You already aren't tall. You've got no good qualities if you aren't pretty, cause we both know what you're like," She told me. I just shrugged and tried to force my regression off. Jesus christ, now is not the time for that. I know, but I sometimes can't help when I feel myself slipping.
"You know I'm right. Give me it," Momma demanded. So I did. I didn't wanna fight.
"See, you can be a good kid. You used to be great, and then you started the whole crying phase," She sighed, shaking her head at me. She means when she would break her own rules that she made me follow, causing me to have a meltdown.