Page 131 of Stolen Hearts
Press play on life and live in the moment.
Fast forward through the bad times.
The buzz of the tattoo gun stops, and the tattooist removes his gloves as I head back to Christopher, who lifts himself upward from the tattoo bed.
“What do you think?” the tattooist asks, handing Christopher the mirror.
“I love it. But my mum’s gonna kill me.”
“Come on. It’s your own body. You’re not a child, you’re twenty-seven. You can make your own decisions,” I say.
My focus flits between his anchor tattoo and the wall, covered in photos of people’s tattoos. I wonder if I should get a third one as the tattooist wraps clingfilm around Christopher’s ankle, but push away the idea.
I pay, thank the tattooist, and we make our way outside. ABBA’sGimme! Gimme! Gimme!blares out from the bar opposite. We’re mere minutes away from midnight and the new year.
I turn to Christopher, who unlocks the bike seat to retrieve our helmets, and my chest immediately tightens, thinking aboutthe question I’ve been wanting to ask him all week. I take a deep breath as he hands me my helmet, causing him to pause.
“There’s one thing I’ve been meaning to ask you,” I say.
Christopher starts to put his helmet on but stops.
“Yeah?” There’s hesitation in his tone.
The beeping sound of a motor bike startles me when it zooms past. My lackadaisical approach to safety here has nearly resulted in me being run over on more than one occasion during this trip.
I cough to clear my throat and continue.
“When we get back, I was wondering if you wanted to make our temporary living arrangement more permanent.”
My heart starts to pulsate faster than the beat of the Killer’sMr. Brightside, which is now playing from the bar. Christopher’s hazel eyes stare back at me in shock.
The awkward silence between us forces me to pull in another deep breath and continue once more.
“You said you didn’t want to return to your apartment. That it has too many bad memories associated with it. That it’d be too expensive to live in on your own. So why not move in permanently? Not for me, but to make things easier for yourself.”
It’s of course a lie. I want him to stay for me, but I’ve worked out that framing it as being for him is an easier sell. The shock on his face finally gives way to a smile, and he closes the gap between us, lowering the helmet to his side.
“I will on one condition.” The right side of his mouth lifts.
“Name it.”
I’ll do anything to make this happen.
Christopher lets out a snoring sound.
“You’ll go to the doctor and fix your septum.”
28.Christopher
Thursday - January 30
Since returning from the Philippines three and a half weeks ago, I’ve barely had a moment to breathe. Time flew by in a blur. Between moving all my remaining stuff into Alexander’s house, the new campaigns starting up at work, and having Marco start at Elemental Creative, I’ve been pulled in every direction.
I just want a moment to stand still, but I wasn’t expecting it to come as a result of the woman standing naked, aside from some pink-bowed underwear, in front of me. She casually opens the fridge door in the kitchen.
My shock finally gives way to fear when she turns.
“Who are you?”
