ratatat one of the best parts about my work is that i have the flexibility to work anywhere with an internet connection, provided that i don't have any in-person meetings that day. some fridays, i work from home in my pajamas and sometimes in my bed. last friday, i decided to work at allen's place in the city.

i made lunch plans with jeff, the ex-boyfriend, to return the keys to his apartment he had made for me and to get a reading on whether or not we could be friends again. and that's when he pulled out the big guns.

he looked distraught, like he had been thinking about big things for awhile. i hadn't talked to him for about a month after a series of nasty emails to me, me getting fed up with being patient, me writing him back, and ending with him telling me, "dont' call me, don't email me, don't send me a christmas card," so this lunch meeting was kind of a big deal. we sat down at the sushi restaurant and i tried to keep things light by smiling a lot and joking around a bit. i got him to crack a smile a few times, but he still looked like he had something major on his mind.

then he says, "i want to show you something."

he undoes his black tie, unbuttons the top few buttons of his well-fitted dress shirt and pulls down his undershirt. i stare at him with the most confused face i've ever made in my 23 year old life. i ask him, "what is that?" he replies, "what do you think?" i look at it more closely.

i see the letter 'm' with another m embedded in it. there's a subtle decoration around it: lines, circles and asian-inspired shapes.

"is it permanent?"

"yes." i touch it to make sure he isn't lying.

"when did you get it?"

"almost a week ago. it's still healing."

let me remind you, i hadn't talked to him for about a month. he's been dating other people. i've been dating one other person. we had only dated for 1 month, and 2 of those weeks out of that month, i was traveling for work and to hawaii. yet, there was indeed a tattoo of my initials on his chest, or more specifically, his heart.

his justification for the new "tat" was that ever since he met me, his world changed... for the better. he saw a new way of living and of going about life. his world got a lot bigger. this "little tattoo" was a small change in comparison to all the changes that i brought into his life.

yea, we'll see about that. but in the meantime, if you see me on the 9 o'clock news as the victim in a random revenge killing, at least you know the story.

things to do list:
get a dude to tattoo a symbol of me: CHECK.  ¶ 1:24 AM