Page 39 of The Holiday Swap

“You’re just going to have to trust me,” Priya said, opening the door and gesturing for Cass to go inside. With a sigh Cass stepped into the shop, where tattoo art lined every wall and the constant low buzz of the tattoo gun filled the room.

Near the back of the room a guy was seated on a stool, bent over the upper arm of a young woman where a half dozen deep black swirls peppered her otherwise unmarked skin—the beginnings of an octopus, it seemed.

Cass did not want to get a tattoo. Yes, she was doing her best to play Charlie, but this was taking things too far.

“Hey, babe,” the guy said, looking up at Priya from the tattoo he was designing.

“Hey, Jason,” Priya said. “This is my friend Cass. The one I called about.”

Jason, who had tattoos on nearly every visible part of his body from the neck down, grinned. “Nice to meet you, Cass. I’ll be ready for you in a few minutes, okay?”

“Oh, okay. No rush. At all,” Cass said, squeaking the words out.

“Relax. Take a breath.” Priya led Cass to a chair, then sat beside her and patted her knee. “I won’t let Jason get near you with that gun. I have your back, remember?”

“But... then why are we here?” The buzz of the tattoo gun was back, the sound like mosquitoes circling Cass’s head.

Priya picked up a magazine on the table in front of them. “To get you a tattoo.”

“Priya, what is happening?” Cass was frustrated now, her patience waning with every passing second.

“Jason is an amazing artist,” Priya said. “He did Charlie’s tattoo. And a few of mine.”

“You have tattoos?”

“Only in places you can’t see.” Priya winked. “Anyway, he’s going to do a temporary one for you. Of Charlie’s tattoo. So we don’t have to worry about your clumsiness and flying bracelets taking down croquembouche towers.”

“Oh,” Cass said. She let out a deep breath.

“Did you actually think I was bringing you here for some real ink?” Priya laughed, shaking her head. “I do think we should have some fun, though, and send Charlie a picture and tell her you two now have matching tattoos.”

“She’ll never believe it.” Cass had never really considered atattoo, and Charlie couldn’t wait to get one when she moved to L.A. Sometimes Cass wondered if Charlie had done it as a way to ever so slightly change their physical appearances—as a mark of her individuality. Fair enough, because while there were plenty of awesome things about being an identical twin—not the least of which was the benefit of being able to switch places—it could be hard at times to always be viewed as a packaged deal.

“She’d probably be pissed.” Priya chuckled. “Especially if she thinks I put you up to it. I doubt she’ll believe it for long, but it might be fun to mess with her for a few minutes? That girl needs to chill out sometimes.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Cass said. Charlie’s ambition had never been something she’d hidden, and even if her intensity was at times hard to deal with, it was one of the things Cass admired most about her sister.

“I love her. She’s a really good friend.” Priya set the magazine on her crossed legs. “And spending time with you this week... I mean, I know you two have really different lives, but you’re similar in a lot of ways, too. How hard you both work, for one thing. But sometimes I wonder if Charlie’s as happy here as she could be, you know?”

Cass nodded, although to her it seemed as though Charlie was doing exactly what she wanted to be doing. But she realized she didn’t know for sure. Charlie’s life had seemed so perfect on the outside she had never thought to ask.

•••

“It looks so real,” Cass said, staring at the exact replica of Charlie’s tattoo that now adorned her wrist. It was a Gemini twin sign, with two intersecting triangles (which reminded Cass of the mountainsof Starlight Peak), and a thin circle overlay. It was beautiful and simple, and Cass liked the way it looked against her skin more than she’d expected.

“That’s what we wanted.” Priya held up two fingers to the bartender, and soon they had replenished cocktails in front of them.

After Jason put on Cass’s temporary tattoo—which took all of ten minutes, involved zero pain as promised, and would last about two weeks—Priya decided they needed to celebrate her new ink with a few drinks. The restaurant was busy and the bar area particularly packed, but Cass was feeling relaxed for the first time all day despite the somewhat claustrophobic room.

“I take back what I said earlier. You and Charlie aredefinitelydifferent,” Priya said, raising an eyebrow as Cass took a sizable gulp of her drink. “Cheers, lady.”

Cass air clinked her glass to Priya’s, and then felt her phone vibrate inside her crossbody purse. She reached inside her bag, and upon seeing her screen, smiled.

“What? What is that smile about?” Priya asked.

“Nothing. Just a smile.”

“Uh-uh. No way you’re getting off that easily. That smile wasn’t ‘just’ a smile. It was asmile.”

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