Life in Stoneybrook #19 - A Part of You
Title/Prompt- A Part of You (Table 1, Prompt 051: Oak)
Author-
bookplayer
Wordcount - 1904
Rating- PG
Summary- Claudia designs Jack Rodowsky's tattoo to be a part of him, and finds a part of herself as well.
Link to table - Over here.
Author's note - Sorry this is late. I'll try to get back on track this weekend.
Previously on Life in Stoneybrook: Claudia is a single mom of a three year old named Zee. She just opened a daycare center with Mary Anne. Claudia ran into Jack (Jackie) Rodowsky, who is now 22 years old and owns his own landscaping business, and agreed to design a tattoo for him.
It was just getting dark as I walked up the driveway to Jack's door. Stacey dropped me off, she was keeping Zee for the evening. She also loaned me most of the outfit I was wearing; a gray short sleeved shirt with a black sweater over it, a pink belt and a necklace of pink beads. The black jeans and fedora were mine, though.
I nervously knocked on the door. It was a little house with a big yard, and Jack must have done a ton of work here. There were hedges and and bushes and gardens with bright mums almost spilling out of them. There were some big trees in the yard that must have been here forever, but the trees and the house and gardens all gave the place this cozy feeling.
Jack opened the door right away, grinning. “Hey, Claudia. I'm glad you could come.”
“Thanks. Uh, me too.” I said, trying not to stare at him. He was wearing a light blue t-shirt and blue jeans that looked amazing with his red hair. He stepped aside so I could come in, and lead me from the tiny foyer into a small living room.
The place looked nice. It didn't look like the house of a 22 year old guy, for one thing. Most of the furniture was older, and none of it matched, but it was neat and clean. There were photographs on the wall of trees and flowers. Of course there was also a really big screen tv, and I saw the controller for whatever gaming system he he was trying to hide peeking out from under the couch, but that really wasn't bad.
It was warm, though. I took off my sweater as I looked around. “This is a great house.”
“Thanks. It's small, but it's only me here and I was more worried about the yard anyway. Sorry about the heat in here, I've got some plants in the dining room that like it warm.”
I looked over at him suspiciously. “What kind of plants?” Jack didn't seem like the type to smoke, but you never know.
He laughed a little and picked up on that, “Petunias. And you can't smoke them. David Thomas tried it once, and that's why I don't have parties here anymore.”
“David Michael Thomas was trying to smoke stuff in your house?” I asked, a little surprised. His brother was a cop and his sister was a lawyer, I would have thought they would have kept him out of trouble.
“Yeah. . . I shouldn't have invited him. I don't know about him, Kristy must be really disappointed.”
I nodded, even though I had no idea about any of this. But I was sure going to ask Kristy about it this weekend.
“So,” he said, changing the subject. “Did you get some time to draw anything yet?”
“Yeah! Here. . .” I sat down on the couch, and pulled out my sketch book. I'd done a few pages of sketches of leaves and vines. I even looked things up online, so they looked right. I figured Jack would notice.
He sat down next to me on the couch and leaned over to look at my sketches. He smelled like soap, like he must have showered right before I got here. I kind of thought that was even sexier then cologne or aftershave.
“Wow, they're all awesome.” He said, still looking at the pages.
I smiled, “Thanks.”
I looked at his arm, then the drawings. None of them seemed right, to me at least. A tattoo needs to be who you are, because it's there forever. None of these were Jack.
He pointed to a leaf, “I like this one. I've always liked maple trees.”
“That one is good.” I said, hesitating, “But do you think it's really you?”
He looked at it a while longer, then looked at me apologetically. “No.”
I nodded, “I can do better then these. I just need to figure out what would be. . . you. Like, totally a part of you. Like my birds.”
Jack looked at the birds on my arm that were showing, then he looked at me for a minute. I held my breath, because he looked like he might kiss me. At least, I hoped he might.
After a while he just smiled, and said, “They are a part of you. They're beautiful.”
“Thank you.” I whispered.
“So, how do we find what's a part of me?”
“Okay, so, well. . . tell me about yourself.” I said, leaning back a little and trying to relax.
He flashed a smile, “You've known me since I was seven.”
“Yeah, but not much in between. How did you start landscaping?”
“Well, when he was thirteen Shea started mowing lawns for some extra cash. By the time I was old enough to help he was working a real job, so I took over his business. You should have seen my mom's face when he was teaching me to use the lawn mower.” He said with a grin.
I laughed, and he went on. “But it was weird, when I was focused on using the lawn mower, or the leaf blower or any of the equipment, I didn't mess up. Maybe I paid more attention because it was dangerous or something. I liked it. It was hard work, but when I finished I could see what I'd done and I was proud.”
“So I did that until high school. That's when I got the growth spurt. The coach asked me to try out for the SHS football team, and it turned out I was a pretty good defensive tackle.”
I must have looked confused, because he smiled and added, “The guy who's right in front of the other team and smashes into them after the snap. Anyway, kids at school were really nice to me, and colleges were talking to me about scholarships, and some of them were saying I should be looking at going pro out of college.”
“You didn't go to college.” I said quietly. “So what happened?”
Jack sighed, “I was a good player, but I wasn't a very safe one. I got hurt a lot, and I hurt some other people. On accident, of course, I never meant for anyone to get hurt. But in my senior year, there was this pile up, and three guys broke bones. Including me. My knee was pretty bad, I couldn't play the rest of the season, and after I saw the other guys in the hospital I decided I didn't really want to play anymore at all.”
He looked down, and I could almost see the little kid Jackie I had known, right after he realized he had caused some accident. I reached out and put my hand on his, and he smiled a little sadly.
“I could have still gone to college. But I had a lot of time to think while my knee was healing, and I realized that mowing lawns was the only thing I'd done that I was really good at and proud of. And I thought, people make good money at that if you do landscaping and maintenance too. It's not exciting, but it's real work and I'm good at it. So that spring I started my business part time while I finished high school, and here I am today. ”
He smiled and sat back. I smiled too, just looking at him for a minute. Then I got it. His tattoo.
“Jack, sit up for a minute and roll up your sleeve.” I said, digging some markers out of my purse.
He looked a little confused, but he sat up and I took his arm. I started drawing the tattoo, right on his skin. I wanted to work every muscle into the design.
It was a tree that started at his elbow and went up his arm to the shoulder. Around the top were branches and green leaves. I did some amazing things with the bark and the texture of the leaves, the lines wouldn't be hard for a good tattoo artist, but when the design was done it looked gorgeous.
When I finished he was looking at his arm, really impressed. “Oh wow, that's amazing.”
It was. It was perfect for him, strong and beautiful and rooted in the earth. That was art.
He walked over to a mirror that was hanging by the door and checked it out some more. Then he looked over his shoulder at me, “Hey, come here.”
“Okay,” I said, getting up and walking over there.
He grinned, “Stand here.” He said, turning me sideways in front of the mirror.
I laughed a little nervously. Then I stopped laughing as he stood behind me and pressed the arm with the tree on it against my arm. He wrapped his other arm around me and pointed into the mirror, smiling. “Your tattoo goes with mine. The birds look like they're landing on the tree.”
I looked at it in the mirror, and he was right. My birds seemed to be flying to the tree, looking for a place to land. I wondered if I had done that without thinking, if I was trying to tell him something, or if I was trying to tell myself something. I caught his face in the mirror, and he was looking at mine.
Then he touched my cheek, and leaned over and kissed me. And it felt natural and right.
When it ended, I opened my eyes.
“So, do you want to go out sometime?” He whispered.
I blinked and stepped away from him, turning to face him, “Yeah, I do. Look. . . this isn't weird, right?”
He looked confused, “No. . . is it supposed to be?”
“No. At least, I hope not. I mean, I'm six years older then you, and I have a kid, and. . .” I trailed off.
“I love kids. And Shea always says I act like I'm forty, anyway.”
“What is Shea going to think of you dating me? Or your parents?”
Now he looked really confused, “That I'm really lucky?”
“You really think so?”
He shrugged, “Yeah, sure. I mean, you're beautiful, and talented, and you have your own business. Any guy would be lucky to go out with you.”
I stared at him. Why was I trying to convince him not to date me? I sounded like an idiot. Or worse, like I didn't like him.
I laughed a little, embarrassed. “Okay. I'm sorry, I was. . . Maybe next weekend we could go to the park? You could meet Zee.”
He grinned, “That sounds great.”
I grinned back, “Cool. Now how about we get a picture of that design?”
He smiled, and we got some pictures, and I did a sketch of it just in case. Then he drove me back to Stacey's house, and when we pulled up out front he kissed me again. It was amazing, strong and sweet and just nice. I never had a kiss like that before. But then, I never dated a guy like Jack before.
Maybe that was my problem all along.
Author-
bookplayer
Wordcount - 1904
Rating- PG
Summary- Claudia designs Jack Rodowsky's tattoo to be a part of him, and finds a part of herself as well.
Link to table - Over here.
Author's note - Sorry this is late. I'll try to get back on track this weekend.
Previously on Life in Stoneybrook: Claudia is a single mom of a three year old named Zee. She just opened a daycare center with Mary Anne. Claudia ran into Jack (Jackie) Rodowsky, who is now 22 years old and owns his own landscaping business, and agreed to design a tattoo for him.
It was just getting dark as I walked up the driveway to Jack's door. Stacey dropped me off, she was keeping Zee for the evening. She also loaned me most of the outfit I was wearing; a gray short sleeved shirt with a black sweater over it, a pink belt and a necklace of pink beads. The black jeans and fedora were mine, though.
I nervously knocked on the door. It was a little house with a big yard, and Jack must have done a ton of work here. There were hedges and and bushes and gardens with bright mums almost spilling out of them. There were some big trees in the yard that must have been here forever, but the trees and the house and gardens all gave the place this cozy feeling.
Jack opened the door right away, grinning. “Hey, Claudia. I'm glad you could come.”
“Thanks. Uh, me too.” I said, trying not to stare at him. He was wearing a light blue t-shirt and blue jeans that looked amazing with his red hair. He stepped aside so I could come in, and lead me from the tiny foyer into a small living room.
The place looked nice. It didn't look like the house of a 22 year old guy, for one thing. Most of the furniture was older, and none of it matched, but it was neat and clean. There were photographs on the wall of trees and flowers. Of course there was also a really big screen tv, and I saw the controller for whatever gaming system he he was trying to hide peeking out from under the couch, but that really wasn't bad.
It was warm, though. I took off my sweater as I looked around. “This is a great house.”
“Thanks. It's small, but it's only me here and I was more worried about the yard anyway. Sorry about the heat in here, I've got some plants in the dining room that like it warm.”
I looked over at him suspiciously. “What kind of plants?” Jack didn't seem like the type to smoke, but you never know.
He laughed a little and picked up on that, “Petunias. And you can't smoke them. David Thomas tried it once, and that's why I don't have parties here anymore.”
“David Michael Thomas was trying to smoke stuff in your house?” I asked, a little surprised. His brother was a cop and his sister was a lawyer, I would have thought they would have kept him out of trouble.
“Yeah. . . I shouldn't have invited him. I don't know about him, Kristy must be really disappointed.”
I nodded, even though I had no idea about any of this. But I was sure going to ask Kristy about it this weekend.
“So,” he said, changing the subject. “Did you get some time to draw anything yet?”
“Yeah! Here. . .” I sat down on the couch, and pulled out my sketch book. I'd done a few pages of sketches of leaves and vines. I even looked things up online, so they looked right. I figured Jack would notice.
He sat down next to me on the couch and leaned over to look at my sketches. He smelled like soap, like he must have showered right before I got here. I kind of thought that was even sexier then cologne or aftershave.
“Wow, they're all awesome.” He said, still looking at the pages.
I smiled, “Thanks.”
I looked at his arm, then the drawings. None of them seemed right, to me at least. A tattoo needs to be who you are, because it's there forever. None of these were Jack.
He pointed to a leaf, “I like this one. I've always liked maple trees.”
“That one is good.” I said, hesitating, “But do you think it's really you?”
He looked at it a while longer, then looked at me apologetically. “No.”
I nodded, “I can do better then these. I just need to figure out what would be. . . you. Like, totally a part of you. Like my birds.”
Jack looked at the birds on my arm that were showing, then he looked at me for a minute. I held my breath, because he looked like he might kiss me. At least, I hoped he might.
After a while he just smiled, and said, “They are a part of you. They're beautiful.”
“Thank you.” I whispered.
“So, how do we find what's a part of me?”
“Okay, so, well. . . tell me about yourself.” I said, leaning back a little and trying to relax.
He flashed a smile, “You've known me since I was seven.”
“Yeah, but not much in between. How did you start landscaping?”
“Well, when he was thirteen Shea started mowing lawns for some extra cash. By the time I was old enough to help he was working a real job, so I took over his business. You should have seen my mom's face when he was teaching me to use the lawn mower.” He said with a grin.
I laughed, and he went on. “But it was weird, when I was focused on using the lawn mower, or the leaf blower or any of the equipment, I didn't mess up. Maybe I paid more attention because it was dangerous or something. I liked it. It was hard work, but when I finished I could see what I'd done and I was proud.”
“So I did that until high school. That's when I got the growth spurt. The coach asked me to try out for the SHS football team, and it turned out I was a pretty good defensive tackle.”
I must have looked confused, because he smiled and added, “The guy who's right in front of the other team and smashes into them after the snap. Anyway, kids at school were really nice to me, and colleges were talking to me about scholarships, and some of them were saying I should be looking at going pro out of college.”
“You didn't go to college.” I said quietly. “So what happened?”
Jack sighed, “I was a good player, but I wasn't a very safe one. I got hurt a lot, and I hurt some other people. On accident, of course, I never meant for anyone to get hurt. But in my senior year, there was this pile up, and three guys broke bones. Including me. My knee was pretty bad, I couldn't play the rest of the season, and after I saw the other guys in the hospital I decided I didn't really want to play anymore at all.”
He looked down, and I could almost see the little kid Jackie I had known, right after he realized he had caused some accident. I reached out and put my hand on his, and he smiled a little sadly.
“I could have still gone to college. But I had a lot of time to think while my knee was healing, and I realized that mowing lawns was the only thing I'd done that I was really good at and proud of. And I thought, people make good money at that if you do landscaping and maintenance too. It's not exciting, but it's real work and I'm good at it. So that spring I started my business part time while I finished high school, and here I am today. ”
He smiled and sat back. I smiled too, just looking at him for a minute. Then I got it. His tattoo.
“Jack, sit up for a minute and roll up your sleeve.” I said, digging some markers out of my purse.
He looked a little confused, but he sat up and I took his arm. I started drawing the tattoo, right on his skin. I wanted to work every muscle into the design.
It was a tree that started at his elbow and went up his arm to the shoulder. Around the top were branches and green leaves. I did some amazing things with the bark and the texture of the leaves, the lines wouldn't be hard for a good tattoo artist, but when the design was done it looked gorgeous.
When I finished he was looking at his arm, really impressed. “Oh wow, that's amazing.”
It was. It was perfect for him, strong and beautiful and rooted in the earth. That was art.
He walked over to a mirror that was hanging by the door and checked it out some more. Then he looked over his shoulder at me, “Hey, come here.”
“Okay,” I said, getting up and walking over there.
He grinned, “Stand here.” He said, turning me sideways in front of the mirror.
I laughed a little nervously. Then I stopped laughing as he stood behind me and pressed the arm with the tree on it against my arm. He wrapped his other arm around me and pointed into the mirror, smiling. “Your tattoo goes with mine. The birds look like they're landing on the tree.”
I looked at it in the mirror, and he was right. My birds seemed to be flying to the tree, looking for a place to land. I wondered if I had done that without thinking, if I was trying to tell him something, or if I was trying to tell myself something. I caught his face in the mirror, and he was looking at mine.
Then he touched my cheek, and leaned over and kissed me. And it felt natural and right.
When it ended, I opened my eyes.
“So, do you want to go out sometime?” He whispered.
I blinked and stepped away from him, turning to face him, “Yeah, I do. Look. . . this isn't weird, right?”
He looked confused, “No. . . is it supposed to be?”
“No. At least, I hope not. I mean, I'm six years older then you, and I have a kid, and. . .” I trailed off.
“I love kids. And Shea always says I act like I'm forty, anyway.”
“What is Shea going to think of you dating me? Or your parents?”
Now he looked really confused, “That I'm really lucky?”
“You really think so?”
He shrugged, “Yeah, sure. I mean, you're beautiful, and talented, and you have your own business. Any guy would be lucky to go out with you.”
I stared at him. Why was I trying to convince him not to date me? I sounded like an idiot. Or worse, like I didn't like him.
I laughed a little, embarrassed. “Okay. I'm sorry, I was. . . Maybe next weekend we could go to the park? You could meet Zee.”
He grinned, “That sounds great.”
I grinned back, “Cool. Now how about we get a picture of that design?”
He smiled, and we got some pictures, and I did a sketch of it just in case. Then he drove me back to Stacey's house, and when we pulled up out front he kissed me again. It was amazing, strong and sweet and just nice. I never had a kiss like that before. But then, I never dated a guy like Jack before.
Maybe that was my problem all along.