K. Robinson - Twisted Ties

She still had a lot of healing to do, but she was definitely getting there. I was willing to wait for her and help in any way I could. We would figure things out together.

At the end of the day, love is not perfect. It doesn’t protect us or save us from the darkness surrounding our lives. Instead, it is the light that shines through to help us. Without it, we would be consumed by the darkness.

Life was the craziest journey that a person could ever take. I had no idea where Emma and I would be ten months or ten years from now, and I didn’t care. All I knew was that she would be with me wherever I ended up at in life.

After all, we’d been to hell and made it back alive.

Five Years Later

I knew something was up the minute Emma walked through the door. She was trying her hardest not to smile, but she was failing miserably. She’d always been terrible at keeping secrets.

“What’s up with you?” I asked.

“Nothing. Why?” she asked innocently.

I wasn’t buying it. “Bull. You can barely contain yourself. What did you do?”

“Promise me that you won’t be mad first, or I won’t tell you.”

I raised an eyebrow. I couldn’t remember the last time that I’d been mad at Emma. She never gave me a reason to be mad. She made my life perfect.

“I promise,” I said slowly.

“Okay, so you’ll have enough hours to become certified soon, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Why?”

I’d finished college over a year ago with a bachelor’s degree in business. My mother had been thrilled until I told her my plans to get an apprenticeship at a local tattoo shop. She couldn’t understand why I would waste four years of my life at college if I hadn’t planned to use my degree for anything. She thought I was throwing my life away instead of bettering myself like she’d hoped. I’d never seen my mom so angry with me as when I told her I only went to college for her. I’d explained that I had done it to make her happy, but a desk job just wasn’t for me. I wanted to tattoo. She’d cried and begged me to reconsider, but I’d held my ground.

In the back of my mind, I think I always knew that I would go back to tattooing. Or maybe I would have done what my mom had wanted if it wasn’t for Emma. She’d convinced me to go after my dream. I’d told her no over and over at first. I knew I wouldn’t make a lot of money tattooing, and I wanted her to have the best of everything.

Emma had laughed at me every time I’d told her that. She’d said money didn’t matter to her as long as we were together. I knew she meant what she said, but she’d never lived without money before. It was a completely different thing to actually live that kind of life rather than talk about it.

I’d finally caved a few months before I graduated college. The closer we had gotten to graduation, the more depressed I’d become. I knew once I had my diploma in my hand, working life would become a reality, and I’d need to find a job within my chosen career path.

I knew I couldn’t spend my entire life doing something I hated, so I took a chance and walked into a local tattoo shop for the first time in years. I hadn’t known how much I’d missed it until I was back in one. There was just something about the sound of a tattoo gun and rock music playing somewhere in the shop that felt like home. I’d been lucky and caught the owner at the shop when I stopped by. He was a nice enough guy, and he’d agreed to give me a chance.

I’d started by working at the shop part-time while I finished college. Once I’d had my diploma, I’d started taking the courses I needed before I could start my official apprenticeship. Once I had finished them, I’d started my apprenticeship. I was paid next to nothing, but I loved every minute of it.

Emma and I had moved into another house right before we started our sophomore year of college. Neither of us could stand to be in the house that was tied to Ally. The new house was smaller, but it worked fine for us. I tried to find another part-time job to help with rent and bills, but Emma wouldn’t have it. Instead, I felt like the biggest ass ever as Emma paid for everything.

“You know what? I think I’d rather show you instead of telling you. Come on,” Emma said as she grabbed my hand and led me out of the house.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Shush. You’ll see soon enough,” she teased.

I was silent as Emma drove across town. I had no idea what she was up to. Usually, I could tell what she was thinking but not this time.

She pulled up to an empty building close to the college campus. “We’re here,” she said excitedly.

“Where is here exactly?” I asked.

“Come on.”

I stepped out of the car and followed her to the empty building. I noticed a sign in the front window that had For Sale written across it.

“Emma, what did you do?”

She laughed as she unlocked the door and walked inside. I followed her in as she flipped on a light switch. The building was large but completely empty. The walls had a nasty-ass wallpaper on them that looked like it’d been around since before I was born.

“What is this?” I asked.

She walked to the window and pulled the sign off the glass. “This is your new tattoo shop.”

“Huh?”

“Remember a long time ago, I said I wanted to help you get started with a shop of your own?”

I nodded.

“Well, here it is. I bought the building today.”

“Emma, you didn’t!”

She laughed. “I did. I know it doesn’t look like much now, but we can decorate it and paint the walls. We can build a wall across this room and make it a lobby. There are rooms in the back that we can use for clients. I’m sure Andy will help us. He can design a few skateboards to hang on the walls and maybe even a few pictures.”

After everything had happened with Ally, Andy had decided to go back to California. I had seen Emma talking to him one night, a few days before he planned to leave. I wasn’t sure what she had said to him, but he’d finally changed his mind and agreed to stay in Morgantown with us. I hadn’t asked, and I hadn’t wanted to know. He’d claimed that there was nothing in California for him anymore, but I wasn’t buying it. I knew Emma was the reason that I still had my best friend around.

After the night of their talk, Emma and Andy had become even closer. Andy was still my best friend, but I understood that they had a special bond. I wasn’t jealous of it. Instead, it made me happy. I wanted both of them to be happy.

The guilt that Andy and I had both suffered from after what had happened to Emma had slowly started to fade away. Both of us had finally realized that Ally had truly been sick, and there wasn’t a thing that we could have done to help her. We’d let go of our guilt once Emma came back to herself. It had taken a very long time for her to do it, but looking at her now, I would never know that something so traumatic had happened to her. She was my Emma once again.

Andy’s boss had fired his brother, Sam, after he caught Sam stealing money. His boss had asked Andy to take over as manager from that point on. He pretty much ran the shop by himself. He’d also started fooling around with photography. He was damn good at it, and he did it as a side job for some extra cash. Andy wasn’t the richest guy out there, but he was happy. He still got into trouble occasionally, but he was slowly becoming grounded.

I was glad to see that he’d found his place in life. I just wished that he would settle down and find a girlfriend. Even after all this time, he still refused to give up his playboy ways. He laughed every time I mentioned it, and he would say that he didn’t want to be a lovesick idiot, like Emma and me. I couldn’t wait until he found a girl who knocked him on his ass. Whoever she was, she would have to have balls of steel to deal with his ass on a daily basis.

“I’m sure he’ll help us out,” I said as I looked around the building. “Why did you do this, Emma?”

“Because it’s your dream,” she said simply.

“What if it fails?”

“It won’t. You have a passion for tattooing, and you have the knowledge of how to run a business. We’ll get this place ready to go, hire a few guys, and watch your dreams come true.”

“I’ll agree to this on one condition,” I said stubbornly.

“And what would that be?”

“You work here, too. I want this to be our dream—together.”

Emma had ended up majoring in accounting. I’d found this hilarious since she’d hated math in high school. When I’d asked why, she’d shrugged her shoulders.

She’d said, Math became my favorite subject the day you walked into my class. I figured if it brought us together, I might as well stick with it.

“I was hoping you’d ask me to,” she said as she walked over and threw her arms around me. “I wouldn’t feel safe with you tattooing girls if I weren’t here. You might run off with one of them or something.”

I laughed, and I pressed my lips against hers. “I only have eyes for you. I’d like you to be my first official client when we open up.”

“I’ll think about it. So, be honest, are you excited? You don’t have to hold it in if you are.”

I pretended to think for a minute. “Maybe a little.”

“I’ll take it. Come on, I want to show you the back rooms.”

I followed her as she showed me each room. I couldn’t help but smile at her excitement. She was more excited than I was. She had no idea how much this meant to me. She was giving me a chance to follow my dreams.

We’d been through hell and back. We’d started out as two high school kids who knew nothing about this world, and we’d slowly grown up together.