Page 55 of The Way I Used to Be

“Okay, okay. Just tell me it’s not going to be a tattoo.”

She smiles. “Nose ring.”

I smile back. “Fine. Let’s go in.” I even hold the door for Mara, just to show her how cool I am with this.

“Hey, you!” Cameron calls out from the back of the room, walking toward us with a smile. Toward Mara with a smile, anyway.

“I told you. As soon as I turned sixteen. I’m here.”

“Wait, don’t you actually have to be eighteen?” I ask.

“Sixteen with parent’s consent,” Cameron corrects.

“But you don’t have parent’s consent,” I say to Mara.

Cameron rolls his eyes and looks at Mara like I must be the most tedious square on the planet.

“Well, we didn’t have parent’s consent last night, either,” Mara says, laughing.

Cameron grins at her. “Do I even want to know?”

“You would definitely not approve, Cam,” Mara tells him. “We were bad girls.”

“Then don’t tell me,” he says, pretending to cover his ears. “I don’t believe you could do anything bad.” He looks at Mara so sweetly, like maybe he really is into her, finally. Then he looks to me: “Edy, on the other hand...”

I roll my eyes at him.

“Kidding, Edy.” But I know he’s not. “Okay, come on back,” he says, leading the way down a hall to a little room. “Have a seat.” He gestures to what looks like a dentist’s chair. It’s all very clinical and sterile. Smells like rubbing alcohol or iodine, or something. It leaves a bitter, chemical taste in my mouth.

“You’re sure you want to do this, right?” I ask her as she climbs into the chair. “It is your face, you know?”

“Is it gonna hurt? Tell me the truth?” she asks Cameron, instead of answering me.

He dabs at her left nostril with a cotton swab and smiles as he looks down into her face. “I’m not gonna lie. It really will hurt. But only for, like, two seconds, and then it’s over, I promise.”

“Okay,” she whispers. Then she looks to me, taking my hand.

“Cameron, do you really, really know what you’re doing? Not being rude, I promise. Just—you can really do this, right?” I ask him.

“Yes, Edy. I do this every day. Really. It’s okay.”

“Cameron’s going to be a tattoo artist,” Mara says.

Yeah, sure he is, I want to say. “Fine, just be careful.”

“I will,” he says softly, gripping on to her nostril with this creepy-looking pair of silver tongs. “Your eyes are going to water, but it’s okay. That’s totally normal,” he tells her, placing a tissue in her hand. “Okay, Mara, turn your head toward me and close your eyes.”

I watch him bring the biggest needle I’ve ever seen in my entire life up to her tiny little nostril. I squeeze her hand harder than she squeezes mine.

“Okay, take a deep breath,” Cameron says. I do. “And exhale.” I close my eyes, and feel Mara’s whole body go tense. But she doesn’t make a sound. “That was it, now I’m just putting the ring in. Take another breath. Okay. And exhale. That’s it! That’s it, you did it!” He laughs.

I open my eyes. Mara has a little sparkly stud in her nose. Tears are streaming from her eyes, but she has the biggest smile on her face as she looks up at Cameron.

“That was it?” she asks him.

“Yeah, look. Here,” he says, handing her a mirror.

“Oh my God!” she shouts, sitting up straight.