Eva woke up the next morning. Her sadness against JC had turned to anger. The one way she did when she was angry was gymnastics. It was one way she could get it to work out of her system. She pulled on some clothes and grabbed some CDs. In leaving a note for Tim she headed over to her house. Once she got there she went down to her gym and put in her Rob Zombie CD. Eva stretched a little and began her work out on the balance beam. She worked rounds on all of the equipment and was finishing up on the uneven bars. She heard clapping when she landed her dismount. Eva turned to see Mike standing there.
“That was great!” he yelled as he jogged over to her.
“Hey, it’s not that hard of a routine, but thanks.” She said as she took off her hand protectors.
“So how are you doing today?”
“Fine, just frickin peachy.”
“Eva.”
“What Mike, what do you want me to say? I just got my heart ripped apart, how the hell do you think I am?”
“Look I just want to know what I can do to help.”
“Nothing, just leave me alone. It was bound to happen anyways.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I meant that everyone I love leaves me or is taken away from me, you, our parents, and now Josh.”
“But Eva, I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Says you, but wait you’ll go too. I was destined to be alone for my entire life. The sooner I can accept that, the sooner I can get on with my life.” Eva took a long drink of water.
“Eva that’s ridiculous and you know it. Look how many people love and care about you, Sam, Alex, Garrett, Anna, Kerrie, Roxy, Tim, mom, dad and me. We all care about you and we’re never leaving you. Face it,” he said poking her in the side, “you’re stuck with us.” Eva glanced at Mike not believing a word he said.
“Whatever.” She replied walking away gathering up her things.
“Eva come on, I’m not gonna let you push me away.”
“Like I said I won’t have to, Mike.”
“God you are so stubborn! We are not going away! We care about you way too much to do so! You want to know how much we care about you? The boys with Tim in the lead, bit JC’s head off for what he did to you.” Eva froze and stared at Mike,
“He did what?”
“Yeah after we went to the car, Tim threatened him saying that, and I quote, ‘if you even breathe in Eva’s direction, I will hurt you. That’s a promise.’” Eva grinned a little,
“That’s kind of sweet.”
“Come on and hang out with us at the park today.”
“If you don’t mind I kind of wanted to hang out with the girls today. I need a break from penises.”
“Whatever you want, Eva.”
“Thanks Mike.”
“You bet.”
“Hey let’s get tattoos.” Roxy said out loud.
“What? Are you crazy?” Eva said.
“Ooo, I've always wanted one but I never knew what I wanted to get.” Anna said
“Yeah, me too.” Kerrie agreed. Roxy pulled into a tattoo parlor and parked her car.
“Let’s go!” She said and the girls hopped out,
“Roxy tattoos are permanent, for life!” Eva said and Roxy shrugged her shoulders,
“Yeah, so? Come on Eva we’re not forcing you to get one, just come inside and look with us.”
“Fine.” She said following Roxy into the store.
“Do you know anything about this guy? Is he any good? Is he sterile?”
“I don’t know that’s a pretty personal question to ask a guy.” Roxy joked and Eva rolled her eyes,
“You know what I mean, Roxy.”
“Relax, Eva, he’s one of the best in the country. I've gone to him before.”
“The rose on your ankle? I love that tattoo.” Anna said and Eva glanced around at all the designs on the wall. There were so many to choose from, she couldn’t get one, her uncle would freak. It was just something that she couldn’t imagine herself doing, totally not her. Then Eva caught a design of a black jaguar on the wall.
“What a cool wild cat.” Kerrie said looking over her shoulder and a smile crept onto Eva’s face, she glanced back at Kerrie,
“You mean a wild pussy cat?”
Hours later the girls came out of the parlor sore but smiling. Each of them had gotten a wild cat tattooed on the left side of their belly button, it was in celebration of their bar.