She picked up the picture next to her, and studied it for the twentieth time. It was a small picture of a red rose with a small green petal peeking out underneath it. She rubbed her left shoulder, almost as if she could feel the tattoo on it already. "I wish I hadn't told Margaret I didn't need her to come," she chided aloud to herself.
A small chuckle startled her and she looked up quickly. In front of her stood a guy. He was wearing a yellow Tommy Hilfiger tank top and big black pants, silver Oakley sunglasses, and his hair was bright red. He sat down next to her. "Your first time?" he asked with a smile. Sam nodded. "Well, I'm AJ," he said, introducing himself. "And it's not my first time."
Sam let out a nervous laugh. "I'm Samantha, but call me Sam. And I could kind of tell it wasn't your first time," she said, motioning to his arms. He laughed and ran a hand up his arm. "Yeah, I'm a pro, what can I say?" Sam paused. "Does it hurt?" AJ studied her face. "Do you want the truth or the comfort speech?" Sam hesitated, glanced down at the picture in her hand, then looked back up at AJ. "The truth," she said decisively. "It hurts," he stated. "I don't want to scare you, but a needle going in and out of your skin is bound to hurt. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying." Sam bit her lip. "Oh." "But then it's over and you have a cute new body addition," he said with a smile. Sam found herself smiling too. "Is this was you're going to get?" he asked, taking the picture out of her hand. "Yeah. I know it's sort of cliche, a red rose, but I thought it was really cute." "Where are you going to get it?" "My left shoulder," she said, instinctively touching it. "I have a dragon on my shoulder," said AJ, lifting up his shirt and turning his back to Sam. She touched it gingerly. "Did it hurt a lot? Cause I heard the closer it is to bone, the more it hurts. And it'll be right on my shoulder blade." AJ put his shirt down and turned back to Sam. "I told you, it hurts. But I don't think your back is the most painful place to get it. Think about getting it on your ankle. You have that bone right there."
Sam winced as she thought about it. "I guess you're right." She studied his arms, which were covered with tattoos. "What are you going to get and where? And how many would that be?" AJ laughed. "It would be eleven. And I haven't decided what to get yet. Wanna help me pick something out?" Sam was momentarily startled at this stranger's invite. "Sure," she said after she recovered. She laid the picture of the rose down on a seat and started following AJ around the room, looking at pictures. "I doubt I'll be much help," she said after a minute of staring at tattooed body parts. "I mean, I don't know anything about you." AJ looked over at her from the picture of a frog he was looking at. "Well, my name's AJ, I'm 21, and I'm in the music business." "Music?" she asked, facing the wall. "Like what kind of music? Like some indy rock band?" AJ laughed. "Not exactly. Ever hear of the Backstreet Boys?" "Some pop group right?" "Yeah. Well, you're talking to a member." Sam spun around to look at him. "You're joking right?" AJ shook his head. "Nope. AJ McLean, Backstreet Boy extraordinaire." "Whoa..." Sam said, shaking her head. "You don't strike me as pop band stuff." "I'm the edgy one," he said with a smile.
Sam shrugged and went back to studying the pictures on the walls. A couple minutes passed, and neither of them spoke. Sam broke the silence. "What about this?" she asked, pointing to a picture of a treble clef and a staff with a couple music notes on it. AJ came across the room and studied it over her shoulder. "I like it. Keep it in mind." He walked back across the room. "What do you think of this?" He was pointing to a picture of a bow and arrow.
Sam wrinkled her nose. "Ick. Why that?" AJ shrugged. "I think it looks cool." "Nah," disagreed Sam, shaking her head. She went to the wall perpendicular and started looking at the pictures. "Hey, how bout this one, on your lower back?" she asked.
AJ looked at the picture of a sun, but only a portion of a sun. It was low on the back and looked kind of like a sunrise. "Hey, I like that one!" he said. "I really like that one!" Sam couldn't help the smile that crept over her face. "That's the one I'm going to get," said AJ decisively.
Just then, a pain sticken girl came out of the back room, followed by the tattoo artist. He looked down at his clipboard. "Samantha Jacobs?" "That would be me," she said. She walked over to the chair on which her picture lay. "Good luck," she heard AJ whisper in her ear.
She turned around and hugged him. "Thank you so much. I don't think I would have made it through this wait without you here." AJ smiled. "And thank you for helping me pick out my newest tattoo." Sam smiled. "Ooh, I helped a famous person pick out their tattoo!" AJ laughed. "See ya, Sam." "Yeah, I'll see you around, AJ." Sam headed to the back room, following the tatto artist. She turned around right before she turned a corner and made a scared face at AJ.
He make two okay signs with his fingers. He saw her smile as she went around the corner. He sat down on a chair, studying the picture of the sunrise. A few minutes later, a second tattoo artist came out of a second room, and AJ stood up to be helped.
Sam winced as the needle pierced her skin, over and over. She gripped the edge of her table she was laying belly down on. "Almost done," said the artist, noticing her tightened grip on the table. About five minutes later, he announced he was finished. He doctored it up, and explained to her about taking care of it. Then he took her out to the front room and up to the cashier. Sam was disappointed that AJ wasn't in the waiting room, but the throbbing in her shoulder took her mind off of him quick.
About two weeks later Sam was crashed on the couch in the apartment she shared with her friend Margaret. She was watching MTV's Spankin' New Videos when MTV News came on. "And in the news this week, Backstreet Boys AJ McLean gets another tattoo," Kurt Loder's monotone voice said. Sam sat up on the couch. "Mag, come here," she called.
Margaret came into the family room. "What, Sam? I'm working on my English thesis." "Remember when I went to get my tattoo?" "How could I forget? You've moaned about the pain for the past two weeks." "Well, I met AJ McLean there," Sam said, motioning to the TV. Margaret laughed. "Yeah right." "I did!!" protested Sam. "I helped him pick out his tattoo. After commercial break they're gonna come back and talk about it. I bet I can tell you what it is before they even show it." Margaret came and sat down on the couch next to Sam. "Okay, what is it?" "It's a sun, on his lower back. But it's not a whole sun, it's like a sunrise, with the horizon being his lower back. It's mixtures of blue, orange, red, and yellow." Margaret shrugged and both girls turned back to the TV. "Backstreet Boys AJ McLean got his 11th tattoo about two weeks ago. When asked about it in an interview, here's what he had to say:" AJ in an interview came on to the TV. "It's a sunrise, down on my lower back. I just decided one day I wanted another tattoo, and went to a tattoo parlor down in Orlando." "See?" asked Sam. "Ssshhh," hushed Margaret. "I didn't know what I wanted, or where, and was going to decide when I got there. When I did get there, a nervous first-timer named Sam helped me pick out the sunrise." "Eeeeek!!" shrieked Margaret. "You met AJ McLean!!!!" "I told you!" retorted Sam. "I helped her pass the time until she got her tattoo, and she helped me pick out the sunrise. And here it is." He turned his back to the camera and lifted his shirt. "Yup!!" shrieked Sam. "That's it!! I picked it out!!!" Margaret sat back against the couch. "Wow, Sam, you have a claim to fame. You helped AJ McLean pick out his tattoo." Sam beamed, as the TV flipped back to Kurt Loder. "Cool, man..." she said, touching the small red rose on her left shoulder.