Theo’s eyes opened, and he took in his surroundings. A pain emanated from his chest and he looked down, his hand reaching up over his left nipple.
“What the…”
“Dude, that looks epic,” Tommy said to him.
“A nipple ring, Tommy?” Theo said as his fingers touched the tip of it. “Shit, that hurts, man.”
“People are gonna love it,” Tommy said.
Theo was still coming out of the fog of the whatever they drugged him with when he looked up into the mirror. His hand reached up to his ear. “Shit, Tommy. An earing also.” In his left ear, Theo now sported a piercing that housed a large diamond earring. “Christ, I’m going to get killed at home.”
“Chill, bro,” Tommy said. “You just take it out when you’re home and pop this little gold one in. It looks dashing. And it accents your new hair. Dude, you look totally different.”
Theo regained some of the confidence back that he felt at the barber. “I do look pretty good,” he said. “I mean, I feel totally different.”
“You just need a new shirt and some clean-up and they we are off to the party. Unless there is something else you can think of.”
“No, no,” Theo said. He looked into Tommy’s eyes. “What do you think, man?”
“I think you look great. I think you will totally fit in at the party.” Tommy smiled. “Hey, definitely an improvement.”
Theo took that as a compliment especially coming from Tommy. Even though he felt like he had been pushed into some of these changes, he had to admit that he looked quite good. He studied himself in the mirror for another short minute before he got up and smiled. Not too shabby. He looked back at Tommy who was settling up with the tattoo people. Theo half-wondered if there was a tattoo on his body that he had not yet noticed. The sharp pain in his nipple reminded him that he probably would have felt it if he was inked somewhere on this body.
They handed him a few small bottles and gave him some instructions about what to do to keep the piercings clean and sterile. Theo listened intently until Tommy came up alongside of him and took his hand pulling him out of the store. The touch was pure electric as he felt Tommy’s fingers intertwine with his. As they walked down the street, Tommy strode next to him with a big smile on his face.