Page 43 of Faithful

On the other hand, it could have been worse. My itch to do something ridiculously out of character could have been left unscratched today since the salon was about to close when I walked in.

Lucky for me, Voltage is here and available to stay and work late.

My phone buzzes and I pull it out to see if it’s Kai. He promised to get me log-in credentials so I could watch the livestream from their Halloween show in New York.

It’s a no cell phone event at the request of both the band and their management and there’s very little chance of anything surfacing on YouTube the next morning.

The text is indeed from Kai. It has user and password info and is topped off by three coffin emojis.

If I were to get those from someone else, I’d be freaking out, but since they are from him it means he’s currently in a decent mood.

Kai Delisa making an effort to search for a goth emoji is always a good thing.

Overwhelmed by the high of the moment, I snap a photo of the reception area and drop it into our text dialogue window but change my mind at the very last minute.

Let it be a surprise.

“You ready?” the guy asks me, returning from behind the partition.

Putting my phone away for a second, I stand up. “I think so.”

He hands me my license. “First-time jitters.” A grin lights up his face and he motions at his forearms that are completely devoid of clean skin. “I bet twenty bucks you’ll be back in less than six months.”

“Sure.” I nod. “I got twenty bucks.”

“I’m Dizzy, by the way.” He offers a hand for a shake and then escorts me to the back where an older dude with a shaved head and an absurd amount of facial piercings gets me settled at his station.

“Voltage. How you doing, buddy?”

“Alright. Never got one done before,” I tell him honestly.

“There’s a first time for everything.” He chuckles and takes my phone from me to study the design I want.

We remain silent for a bit against the backdrop of rock music coming from the speakers somewhere up above.

“So why an eagle?” Voltage returns my phone eventually and shifts his attention to sheets of stencil paper and other drawing supplies laid out on his table. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

It’s funny how sometimes people pose questions the answers to which you have at a specific period of time only. Kinda like I knew without doubt that the eagle meant freedom when I was sitting outside in the parking lot with my gaze darting between the ramen place and the tattoo salon next door.

Now that a person who’s about to burn that symbol into my skin forever has inquired about it, I can’t make words form into a sentence.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it,” Voltage says in a calm voice that doesn’t quite match his appearance. “Some people do. Some people don’t.” He starts sketching.

“Actually… I think I’m envious.”

“Of what?”

“An eagle can just take off. There are no responsibilities, no promises, no secrets. The flight is freedom in its purest form.”

“Yeah. That’s a good one,” Voltage agrees, working on the image I’ve chosen to place on my chest.

* * *

The Candy Drive turns everyone in the office, including Gin, into a bunch of neurotic messes.

Apparently, Val and Winona have a bet going between the two of them. Whoever secures more donors by the end of Saturday will be buying the other a yearly subscription to a local gym.

“Do they do this every year?” I ask my boss on Sunday morning when she shows up with a tray of coffee and a box of donuts.

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