The idea of a little get-together in their old neighbourhood was a pleasant surprise to the girl. “Saturday or Sunday? I have to work at St. Joseph's this weekend. Actually, I'll figure it out,” she instantly corrected herself. Julie was still lying mostly flat on her back, enduring the not-so-pleasant sensation of the needle gun doing its work. Riley was a diligent worker with a lot of talent, and every time Julie managed to catch a glimpse of her efforts she'd be more and more at peace with her decision. Lying there thinking wasn't the best way to keep her courage up, though, so she gladly chatted away at the tattoo artist, or Mark or even Robin, currently manning the desk, just to keep her mind distracted from the inevitable moment where she'd have to show the rest of the world just what she'd been up to. But Mark didn't need to know how nervous that made her; it always seemed particularly important that he didn't think her the coward she probably was. 

“Suzie's gonna go [i]mental[/i] when she finds out about the contract, you know.” Julie's little sister was about as big of a rock fan as Mark himself and would gladly harass him about the classics, his band and everything else. If she'd been older surely she'd have been the one to hit the venues with Julie when Reckless Life was playing. Unfortunately, she'd only just turned fifteen and Mommy Lancaster wasn't quite so willing to watch her baby girl grow up just yet. [i]“You've grown up much too fast,”[/i] she'd complain to Julie. [i]“Let me enjoy my two lil' ones while I still can.” [/i]

Eric and Susannah, despite being twins, stood in sharp contrast to one another. In fact, where Suzie was a devoted Mark groupie,  Eric and Bryce got along in a way that had surprised even Julie. It was a bit of a relief, really, since Susannah and Bryce were a bit like oil and fire. Another thing her sister and her best friend had in common, she supposed. 

“Right, looks like my work is done.” 

The incessant buzzing of the needle that Julie had long stopped hearing, finally ceased and now the only noise was the more subdued drone of John West working on Mark's arm. Her right side felt like it had been sunburnt, but although she was dying to find out what Riley had managed to conjure up, the moment she was allowed to stand the first thing she did was try and steal a glimpse of Mark's work in progress. Not that she was even remotely successful; he was angled away from her as if the two men had done it on purpose. 

“Aren't you curious at all what it looks like?” inquired a slightly amused Riley. Julie's attention was returned to the dark-haired beauty. 

“Yes, very much,” she nodded and gladly padded after her to the standing mirror on the far end of the parlour. Her shirt was still twisted and tied together to stay up to chest height, and although her skin looked a little inflamed, the end result was way beyond what she had expected. There was no denying that Riley was an artist in her own right, and she'd managed to turn what had seemed to be a serene, yet somewhat simplistic depiction of a flower branch into a true piece of art, with perfect shading, colouring, depth and all drawn in a way that seemed to tell a story rather than just depict an image. The slender twigs seemed to sprout from right behind the waistband of her denim shorts, climbing up along the natural curve of her body. The little birds held her captivated for even longer than the pink, fragile flowers. Something about them affected her in a way that was both uplifting and sad all at once, though she couldn't quite explain why.

It was executed in a way that (though unbeknownst to Julie at this point) offered a sharp contrast to the sensual, graphic and so very alluring image depicted on Mark's upper arm. It was gentle and a little modest, even though it covered a far more significant part of her torso than even Julie had really anticipated. Surely Mark would at least be impressed that she had foregone the 'easy' option of having a little anchor on her wrist or a trail of stars on her ankle. No, it had become a bold expression in a sweet and gentle shape, and the longer Julie stared at herself in the mirror, the more she realized that it suited her to a tee. 

“Wow...” she said softly, and it was clear she was a little overwhelmed. It was only when Mark inquired how it looked that the girl sprung to life again and although it was difficult to tear her gaze away from her reflection, she was growing increasingly curious about Mark's work of art. “You show me yours and I'll show you mine?” she said coyly, keeping the lower half of her body twisted away. 

“You really oughta wait til I've finished the lines,” the owner's son pointed out; naturally, Julie agreed. 

“Can I still show Mark?” she asked him, which he clearly considered to be a silly question but it was just Julie trying not to seem impolite. A one-sided smile tugged at her lips as she whimsically raised her eyebrows. “I bet it's a lot bigger than you expected,” she told her friend, “But I really love it.” There was still a hint of shyness to her before she turned so that he could look at the right side of her body. 

“Do you remember when we would play in the garden, way back when?” she said absently, her eyes again wandering her lower body with fascination. The words she'd picked were written in graceful letters, curving along with the subtle motions of the slender twigs as if they were part of the branches altogether. “That cherry tree had always been a thorn in my dad's side. It was in your yard but half the branches extended into ours and he'd grumble so much about all the little leaves drifting on his koi pond. He never really cares for much but that stupid pond is still his pride and joy. I loved those pink flowers though, well, I guess there wasn't anything pink that I [i]didn't[/i] love, and when dad agreed with your mom that he was allowed to cut off the branches I was so sad.” 

She smiled faintly upon reminiscing. “You'd snap off little twigs from the tree in spring and bring them over. We even tried planting them in my yard so I'd have a tree of my own! That never worked out, though.” A sidelong glance towards Mark made her pause, and the little smirk faded. 

“You don't even remember, do you?” she realized, and Julie blushed embarrassedly at that. “Oh God, I guess that's two for two on being too sentimental, huh. You know, you could've warned me a little sooner so I could've gotten a sexy naked mythical hero on my arm instead.” She prodded teasingly at his (blank) arm, glad to have conjured up some sort of distraction. “Sorry, I peeked,” she admitted. But tease though she might, it was only a moment before she reconsidered her words, finding that even if she [i]was[/i] being altogether sentimental, it just didn't matter. Not really. 

It felt much like the two friends were at a crossroads of sorts, and somewhere, Julie worried that they would be turning into paths that wouldn't reconnect quite as often as they had done in the past. Things were going to be different, what with Mark's future looking so promising now, and with her about to graduate and head off into a life of -- of  – well, she may not be entirely sure yet on the details, but there would likely be a time of moving in with Bryce, of relocating to Miami or New York or somewhere else completely new. Maybe even wedding plans... 

Julie couldn't help wonder what Mark would have to say if Bryce actually popped the question. Kelsey and Selene had been hyping her up about it for weeks now and although Julie had no reason to believe that Bryce was at all eager to get down on one knee and present her with a no doubt hilariously expensive diamond, she was confident that it fit right into his perfect plan of their future together. Julie wasn't  sure how she felt about it yet; it all seemed so official, so... [i]final[/i]. 

She shrugged the thoughts away with a brief shake of the head. The little drawn rose petals offered a comforting sight and she gladly lingered on the birds at the very top of it, situated on the side of her rib cage. They were fairly nondescript creatures, no doves or crows or humming birds, just – plain little darkly coloured bird silhouettes, expressive in their positions only. One was already off into the sky, its head turned down towards the other, as if to encourage it to follow. The second one was still perched atop the little twig, its wings in the process of unfolding and setting off into the sky to join its other half. 

“You know what, it doesn't matter. It's perfect,” she decided, ending her doubts and insecurities once and for all. Julie finally looked up at Mark properly, still seeking some sort of confirmation that she was doing the right thing. Part of her worried about the implications of doing something so outrageous, so well out of her comfort zone without any regard for possible consequences. But in this moment she couldn't care less what the world thought; [i]her[/i] body, [i]her[/i] decision. It wasn't so simple, of course, but for now everyone else could wait. Which said a lot, coming from Julie.

“You know I can't afford to pay for this myself,” she told him reluctantly, “And it's a little late to tell you not to spend so much money on me. But can I at least buy you dinner, or order pizza and ice cream back in the apartment then spend half an hour deciding on a movie before putting the Usual Suspects on?” Julie relaxed her posture, finally lowering her right arm.  “We don't hang out together much anymore – not like this. Though...” And she stole a glance at the beautiful picture on her torso. “...I hope I don't have to get a tattoo every time I want to have you to myself for a while.”