When I finish talking, my throat aches and scratches, and my face is sticky with tears that I couldn't keep back, but it's weird how much lighter I feel. I realize that I haven't let myself think about all this in so long, practicing that denial that my therapist preached so hard against, and it feels good to let it all go.
"So the tattoo is for Connor?" asks Tessa, taking my hand in hers again. She stayed quiet for nearly the whole story, rubbing my back and handing me Kleenex like I did for her just an hour previously. Now she takes a closer look at the ink on my skin.
"Yeah," I say, passing one finger over the tattoo. "He's always with me anyway, so I figured I may as well make it permanent."
She lets out a long breath, one of those deep, shuddering kinds that come only after a good hard cry. "Thanks for telling me this, Riley. I guess this really makes my problems seem stupid, doesn't it?"
Singing don't worry 'bout a thing... 'cause every little thing's gonna be all right.
If there's one thing I learned? That only works for so long.
"Don't be dumb," I say, handing her one last Kleenex. "Your problem is just as important as you make it out to be, no matter what others think. Sometimes the smallest things can be pretty damn big to us."
Tessa smiles for the first time that evening. "You're the best roommate ever, Riley."
"Do you have a pen?"
She blinks, raising an eyebrow. "What? Why?"
I get up and rummage around on her desk until a find a black pen. Then I plop back down on the futon and, grabbing her hand, I say, "You're smiling right now. And I know you're upset over that jerk who dumped you, but" – I press the pen against the back of her hand, drawing something on her skin – "whenever you feel like everything sucks, you can look at this and remember that you were smiling once, and you can always smile again."
She tugs her hand away and looks at what I drew.
:)
"There," I say, holding up my arm next to hers so that the black ink etched onto my own hand is clearly visible. "Now we match."
THE END
***And that's it! I hope you guys enjoyed it. It's different than most stuff I've written but it was a great experience to write. Please let me know what you think!
Gracias! <3 vb123321
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