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The bell above the door tinkled when I pushed it open, and a woman behind the desk looked up, then smiled at us.

She was wearing a black tank, showing off the full-sleeve tattoos on both her arms. Her hair was bright, flaming red, and she had piercings in her ears, lip, nose and elsewhere, too, if I could make a guess.

If Brooke hadn’t been standing right next to me, I would have swooned.

‘Hey. Can I help?’ she called.

I walked past the drawings of tattoo designs on the walls and leaned on the desk.

‘Can someone pierce my belly button?’

‘Sure,’ she said. ‘It’s sixty bucks for the piercing, jewelry and all the cleaning solution.’

‘Great.’ I’d take the money out of my cut from last night.

I glanced over my shoulder at Meredith and Brooke, who had gone a little green.

‘You don’t have to,’ I told her, unable to keep the laugh out of my voice. I wasn’t used to being the confident one, and seeing Brooke like this was … sweet.

‘Maybe I could watch you first?’

‘That’s fine,’ the tattooed lady said. ‘You can bring one person back.’

‘I’m fine waiting here,’ Meredith said, pulling her phone out and taking a seat on a black leather couch. ‘You two go ahead.’

‘Come on through. I’m Sammy.’

‘Jessie,’ I said, not wanting Meredith to overhear me giving out a fake name and then ask awkward questions. ‘This is Brooke.’

‘Nice to meet you both.’ She had a broad Boston accent, and I wondered how she’d ended up here. It was probably rude to ask.

Her space was cordoned off from the rest of the shop, where two heavily tattooed guys were adding more tattoos to people who didn’t seem at all bothered that they were having needles repeatedly jammed into their skin.

The noise from their machines was louder than I had expected – a sharp buzzing that hurt my ears.

I could only imagine how it felt for the people getting tattooed.

I wasn’t sure that I ever wanted a tattoo, but the belly button piercing idea had taken hold in my head.

Sammy had a chair and a bed like the one at my doctor’s office, covered in both plastic and a layer of paper. In one corner, she had a glass cabinet full of jewelry – brightly colored gems winking from belly bars, as well as studs for ears and hoops for eyebrows and noses.

‘I need you to read and sign this,’ she said, handing me a clipboard with a consent form.

I’d gotten my ears pierced at the mall when I was five, and I still remembered the process: holding a teddy bear with pierced ears while a woman jammed the earrings into my earlobes. It had hurt. I remembered that, too, and nerves fluttered in my belly.

It wasn’t enough to put me off, though.

The form was straightforward, and I scrawled my name at the bottom, adding a year to my date of birth in case there was a problem with my age.

She hadn’t asked for ID, and I wasn’t going to offer.

The second page was a ‘How to Care for Your New Piercing’ pamphlet, and I took that and folded it so I could shove it into my pocket.

‘I’ll pierce it with a bar, but you can switch over to a hoop in about eight weeks if you want. You can come back here or to any piercing shop and they’ll help you if you need it.’

‘Sounds good, thank you.’

Sammy went to the cabinet and pulled out a tray with the different jewelry options on it. I wasn’t into the sparkly ones – I was sure they looked good on some people, but I wanted something a little more discreet.

‘How about that one?’ I asked, pointing to a plain black bar with a ball at each end.

‘Nice. Hop up onto the bed for me.’

Brooke came around and I reached for her hand, more for her sake than for mine. I squeezed it, and she squeezed back, and I fought the urge to squirm.

‘You ready?’ Brooke asked, teasing.

‘Definitely.’

Sammy came back with a silver tray prepped with a long needle in a sealed bag, my black bar in another, a Sharpie, a mirror and a bottle of some kind of clear liquid.

Brooke squeezed my hand again as Sammy explained the procedure, showing me that the needle hadn’t been used before and the bar was brand new. I nodded through it all, and nodded again when she put two tiny dots on my belly button to guide where the piercing would go.

‘Does it look okay?’ I asked Brooke.

‘Great.’

She was white as a sheet.

Sammy had me lean back and then snapped on clean gloves.

‘Breathe slowly for me,’ she said. ‘Do you want me to talk you through what I’m doing or shut up until it’s over?’

‘You can just do it. I don’t think I need the details,’ I said with a laugh.

‘Okie-dokie. Stay still for me. It’ll be pretty quick.’

I reached for Brooke’s hand again and she threaded our fingers together. Partly I wanted the reassurance … mostly I wanted to hold her hand.

I closed my eyes, not needing to see the huge needle go through my flesh. Sammy grabbed my belly fat, swiped it with the alcohol, and then came a bright, sharp pain as she stuck the needle through my skin.

I forced myself to take another slow, deep breath as she manipulated the bar into place.

Brooke’s grip on my hand suddenly went slack, and I opened my eyes and lifted my head right as Sammy slapped her hand down on my chest to stop me moving.

‘Stay,’ she barked at me. She leaped around the bed to catch Brooke as she slid to the floor in a dead faint.

‘Oh my God,’ I squeaked.

‘She’s fine,’ Sammy said. Then, louder, ‘Brian!’

One of the huge tattooed guys looked over then leaned in to say something to his client, before stripping off his gloves and rushing over.

‘No, stay there,’ he said to me when I shuffled to get up and help.

Between them, Sammy and Brian maneuvered Brooke into a chair, and a few seconds later her eyelids started to flutter.

‘Thanks,’ Sammy said to Brian. ‘I’ve got her.’

I was glad Brooke had been unconscious for that – I knew she would have been mortified. Brian squeezed Sammy on the shoulder and went back over to his workstation.

‘Hey, there you are,’ Sammy said in a soft, soothing voice.

‘Shit, I’m sorry,’ Brooke rasped, covering her face with her hands.

‘No need to be sorry. Just stay there for me.’

Sammy walked back around to her station and took a bottle of water out of a mini-fridge.

‘Are you okay?’ I whispered.

Brooke nodded. Her cheeks were starting to get some color back.

‘Here,’ Sammy said, passing the water to Brooke. ‘Needle phobia?’ she asked.

‘Apparently. Shit. I’m so embarrassed.’

‘Nah, you’re all right. You’re not even my first fainter this week. Stay put while I fix Jessie up, okay?’

Brooke nodded and opened the water, then took a tiny sip. She caught my eye, then gave me a smile and a little nod. I didn’t want to make her feel more embarrassed by asking questions, so I just smiled back.

‘Are you all right?’ Sammy asked me seriously.

‘I’m fine.’

My belly was throbbing with a new pain, hot and aching rather than the sharp sting of the needle, but it hadn’t hurt nearly as bad as I’d prepared myself for.

I instinctively pressed my tongue to my back tooth, wondering if that still hurt, and found it solid and unmoving. It had healed without me even noticing.

‘Great.’ Sammy put another pair of gloves on to swipe more alcohol over my new piercing, which did sting, and slapped a white bandage on top of it, securing it with tape. She held out her hands to me and I took them so she could swing me around and help me stand up.

‘You are golden,’ she said. ‘Take care of it and you’ll be fine. Give me a call if you have any questions. My number is at the bottom of the leaflet I gave you.’

‘Thanks,’ I said with a smile.

I reached out my hand to Brooke and gently tugged her to her feet, then didn’t let go of her hand once she was standing.

‘I’m not touching you for at least twenty-four hours, even if you swear to all the goddesses that you’re fine,’ Sammy said.

‘I’m going to use that as my excuse for why I don’t currently have a piece of metal shoved through my flesh,’ Brooke said.

Now she was standing up, she looked pretty much back to normal. I was still going to stop at the first store we came across and buy her a candy bar, though. She needed sugar.

We followed Sammy back to the front desk, and I added a decent tip to the cost of the piercing for the problems we’d caused her. She gave me a genuine smile when she thanked me.

The whole ordeal had taken less than thirty minutes.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ I asked Brooke, brushing my thumb over the back of her hand.

‘I’m humiliated,’ she said.

‘What the hell happened back there?’ Meredith asked. She was still sitting on the couch, and I thought she might be laughing at us.

‘Brooke fainted,’ I said, making sure to keep a totally straight face.

‘Shit,’ Meredith said, and she did laugh. I guessed it was allowed. They had known each other their whole lives.

‘Laugh it up,’ Brooke muttered.

Meredith held the door open for us as we filed back outside.

‘You should’ve told me you have a needle phobia,’ I said. ‘I would never have made you come with me.’

‘I didn’t know I have a needle phobia.’

Brooke lifted her hand to shield her face from the sun, and I rolled my eyes and reached into my backpack for her sunglasses.

‘Well, you learned something about yourself today,’ I said, hoping she wouldn’t mind me joking with her.

‘Thanks,’ she said, taking her sunglasses and sliding them on. Then she threw her arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into her side.

‘Does it hurt?’ Meredith asked.

‘Not too bad,’ I said. ‘It’s kind of throbbing right now.’ Brooke shuddered, and I laughed.

‘Come on,’ I said. ‘I want to get a snack.’

‘No, let’s go eat,’ Meredith said decisively.

‘I’m not going to argue with that,’ Brooke said.

Meredith took us to a little Asian restaurant a few streets away from her apartment that only sold vegan food.

The walls were covered with a thick green carpet of plants, so many plants it felt like the room was alive.

Breathing. Instead of tables, the restaurant had long communal benches with disposable chopsticks stored in terracotta pots.

‘Are you allergic to anything?’ Meredith asked me.

‘Nope.’

‘Great. I’ll order.’

‘Fine by me,’ I said.

I watched Meredith tap our order into an iPad on the table and pay with her credit card before I could offer to split the bill.

‘You eat the weirdest shit,’ Brooke said, tearing open a packet of chopsticks. ‘We couldn’t just go to McDonald’s?’

‘Eat a vegetable for once, Brooke,’ Meredith fired back. ‘It won’t kill you, I promise.’

I didn’t say anything. Watching the two of them interact reminded me that I’d never really had that relationship with someone – not with a sister or a cousin or a really close friend – before I’d had Brooke.

I wanted to be sad, to wallow in regrets, but I forced those feelings into the feelings box so I didn’t have to examine them.

This wasn’t the time for indulging in melancholy.

The food, when it arrived, was better than I’d expected. I couldn’t name anything except the big bowl of sticky white rice, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t good.

‘Is this tofu?’ I asked, holding up a piece with my chopsticks.

‘Gross,’ Brooke muttered under her breath.

‘Yes, Jessie,’ Meredith said pointedly. ‘That’s tofu.’

‘It’s pretty good,’ I said.

Brooke rolled her eyes.

Despite the unfamiliar food, the restaurant was fairly busy, so we didn’t linger after we finished eating.

As we walked back to the car, it occurred to me that we might have actually gotten away with what we’d done in the hotel.

We hadn’t been tracked down by police with sniffer dogs, or a SWAT team, or a man in aviator sunglasses flashing a badge at us before slapping handcuffs on our wrists.

I probably watched too many cop shows.

‘I still can’t believe you got this thing going,’ Meredith said, running her hand over the hood of the car.

‘Did you see it before she fixed it up?’ I asked her.

Meredith snorted with laughter. ‘It was my dad who found it in the first place. He had to tow it back to the garage. Couldn’t even get the engine running.’

‘It runs now,’ Brooke said sweetly.

Meredith pulled Brooke into a tight hug, and surprised me by hugging me too. I hugged her back, grateful for the moment of almost normalcy she’d given us.

‘Take care of yourselves, okay? And call me if you need anything.’

‘We will,’ Brooke promised.

She didn’t bother opening the door to get in the car, she just hopped over the top. I wasn’t sure I had the upper-body strength to do the same, and I knew she’d laugh at me if I fucked it up. But I did it anyway.

It was kind of wild, throwing myself into the car like that, even if my landing wasn’t the most elegant.

‘Nice,’ Brooke said, and tipped her sunglasses down.

Meredith watched us as Brooke pulled out of her parking space and into the flow of traffic. Brooke wasn’t watching the rearview mirror, but I was as Meredith lifted her hand in a wave.

Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.