“I can’t believe we did it.” Jack stared at his older sister in awe as she gingerly touched the thick white bandage taped securely to her back, between her shoulder blades. Jack lifted his t-shirt slightly and looked down at his own ribcage covered in a matching bandage under his right arm. “Mom and Dad are going to flip.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. Her tank top didn’t reach high enough up her back to hide the bandage and she knew she’d have to change before their parents got home from work. “False. I’m Dad’s favorite, and Mom will look at it as artwork. At least, she will after I explain it to her as such.”
“Stop talking like Dwight, it’s creeping me out,” Jack replied. The Halpert children were well-aware of the existence of Dwight K. Schrute, not only because of company picnics and family Christmas parties over the years, but because of the documentary footage as well. Jack and Liv had stumbled upon copies of the discs a few years earlier and begged their parents for more stories when they’d seen the pranks pulled on Dwight. There had been plenty the camera crews hadn’t captured, and Jim was more than happy to share those stories too.
“Then stop being a doofus. Besides, I’m 18. Legally an adult.” Despite her words, Olivia was more than a little nervous about her parents seeing the tattoo. “Besides, if they’re going to flip about either tattoo, it’s going to be yours.”
“You’re the one who took me along for the ride.” Jack winked at his sister in the bathroom mirror; both knew that they had to stick together on this one. Even though the two youngest Halpert children seemed to argue all the time, Olivia and Jack were the exact opposite of Gavin and Maddie. Jack and Liv picked on each other from time to time, but they were as close as any two siblings could be.
“Fair enough. Maybe just keep it hidden until you’re 18? I don’t want Mack to get in trouble for doing us a favor."
Mack was the older brother of Olivia’s best friend, Sarah, and owned his own tattoo parlor in downtown Scranton. He also knew of Olivia’s incredibly low tolerance for pain – Sarah used to come home with stories of how clumsy Liv was, how simple bumps and bruises typical of childhood would bring the oldest Halpert child to tears. Needless to say, he’d been surprised when Liv and Jack had shown up, designs in hand. He’d also taken a big risk tattooing Jack, who was still 16. Olivia and Jack had been very convincing in that their parents knew exactly where they were and what they were up to, though Mack knew they were lying. He’d given in anyway, closing up the shop early after swearing them to secrecy.
“Yeah, until we go swimming, right? How much longer til we can take the bandages off?” Jack was never the patient one.
“We should be okay now. Here.” Olivia grabbed two washcloths from the cabinet and handed one to her brother. She then slowly began peeling off the bandage, wincing in pain. After running the cloth under the warm water, Olivia gently rinsed away the crusting of blood still remaining and grinned. The words ‘Liv.Laugh.Love.’ were uncovered, surrounded by pink cherry blossoms. Olivia had purposely designed the tattoo to incorporate her own name into the popular saying. “It’s amazing, look at that.”
Jack, though, was too busy admiring his own tattoo. Slowly he pulled at the tape first, then the bandage. Letter by letter, the ink was revealed to say ‘Halpert’ in old-English lettering down Jack’s side. He touched the letters gingerly, then followed Liv’s lead and washed the remaining blood away with the washcloth.
“Looks good. I wish I could show everyone right now. It looks sick!” Jack lowered his t-shirt again and tossed the washcloth in the hamper. “Hey, you missed some.” Jack took Liv’s cloth and wiped the remaining spot of blood from the flesh over his sister’s spine.
“Thanks.” Liv threw the bandages in the trash beside the sink, then took out her hair tie, allowing her dark curls to fall loosely around her shoulders so the tattoo was covered. She grabbed her sweatshirt hanging on the back of the bathroom door and pulled it over her head. Jack reached for the doorknob as they heard their mother’s voice from the kitchen. Olivia grinned. “This is going to be fun…”
Pam was in the kitchen when Olivia and Jackson slinked around the corner from hall, and she immediately knew they were up to something. Though they attempted to act like ‘normal’, Pam simply knew; call it motherly instinct. She raised an eyebrow, a hand on her hip.
“What?” she asked.
Liv and Jack exchanged glances, shrugging their shoulders simultaneously.
“Nothing. What?” Jack pulled a barstool from the counter and sat down, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl.
“You did something.” Pam was not accusatory, just stating a fact. She knew her children well.
“What are you talking about?” Olivia pulled open the refrigerator door and took out the gallon of milk. She gestured to the cupboard and Jack grabbed a glass without even being asked.
“See, right there! What did you guys do?” Pam was a patient person, but not when it came to her children. Especially when she knew something was amiss.
“Mom, you’re losing it,” Jackson told her, handing over the glass to his sister. “Why are you home so early? Where’s Dad?”
“Don’t try to distract me, I know you’re up to something.” Pam conceded for the time being, knowing that if she didn’t get it out of them now, Jim would later. Instead she began making dinner and Liv fell in step beside her, helping pull the various ingredients from the cupboards while Jack grabbed the dishes and utensils. “Dad will be home soon, he had to drop off a couple contracts downtown.”
As dinner was slowly but surely prepared, eventually Maddie and Gavin joined the kitchen crew. It had become a tradition over time, though all the kids maintained they hated to help make dinner; in reality they didn’t mind spending the time together and it was more fun when one person didn’t have to do all the work. Sometimes though, the ‘helping’ also led to ‘horsing around’ and it wasn’t long before Gavin and Jack were in a tussling match on the kitchen floor. As Gavin barreled his shoulder into Jack’s side, the older boy let out a yelp and immediately Gavin backed off.
“Sorry Jack, I didn’t…” Gavin’s eyes were wide and he looked concerned that he’d actually hurt his brother; they’d just been messing around, like the million other times they’d done the same thing in the kitchen, the living room, the backyard, and so on.
Jack leaned against the counter, clutching his ribs and breathing heavily. “No, you didn’t…it’s not…”
“What’s the matter?” Pam dropped the masher she was using on the potatoes and was at Jack’s side instantly. Olivia was standing up then, looking more than a little mortified that their secret was so close to being discovered. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just…” Jack and Olivia exchanged glances, an act not unnoticed by their mother.
“Okay you two, spill. What is going on? Jackson James Halpert, did you get into a fight at school today?” Pam crossed her arms and stared directly at her oldest son. “Am I going to be getting a call soon from Dr. Henry?”
“No, Mom, relax. Nothing like that…” Olivia shrugged her shoulders. “It’s just…we…”
When Liv trailed off, leaving their mother to get more angry over the fact that they were not coming clean, Jack finally gave in. “It hurt because Liv and I got tattoos today. It’s still fresh, it hurts, and when Gavin bumped me, it hurt even more.”
“What?!” Pam exclaimed, hands on her hips. “No way! First of all, you, young man, are not old enough to even get one. And Olivia, oh Olivia, I don’t know how you conned someone into tattooing your brother too but so help me God, I will – ”
“Mack did them earlier, Mom. It…we…I’m 18!” Olivia finally blurted when at a loss for anything else she could possibly say.
“You might be 18, but Jackson, you are 16. And in BIG trouble.” Pam was furious and it was clear. Maddie and Gavin quickly made themselves scarce as Pam continued yelling. “I can’t believe you two. Let me see them, right now.”
Jack lifted his shirt for what seemed like the millionth time that day, revealing the very subject of Pam’s inquisition. She stared at it for a long time, methodically tapping her nails on the Formica countertop.
“Alright, Jackson. Your turn Olivia.” Pam’s voice was much harsher when speaking to Liv, and the eldest Halpert knew exactly why. She was supposed to be the responsible one who kept Jack and the others on the straight and narrow. Sighing loudly, Olivia pulled her sweatshirt back over her head. Turning her back to her mom, Liv ran her hands through her hair and bunched her long locks into a loose mass so Pam could take a look. After ample time for an inspection, Olivia let her hair back down and turned around to face the firing squad. She wasn’t feeling so smug and adult-like now.
Pam remained silent for a long time, eyes darting back and forth between Livy and Jack. She honestly didn’t know what to say – Olivia was 18, legally an adult and free to make her own decisions by law, even though she was nearly out of high school and clearly not yet out of her parents’ home. Jack, however, was an entirely different story.
“I can’t believe you two, this is absurd! Olivia, you know better than this!”
“Mom that’s not fair! Jack wanted to go along and – ”
“Hey! Don’t just put this all on me, you wanted me to go with you!”
The situation rapidly turned into a three-way shouting match as they each attempted to talk over the other in order to get their own points across. Finally Pam won out with the tried and true, “You just wait until your father gets home!”
Liv and Jack were silenced almost immediately, and as if on cue, Jim strolled into the kitchen, loosening his tie. The tension in the kitchen was thick and as Jim entered, he was completely oblivious to the meltdown that had just occurred. Maddie and Gavin jockeyed for position just around the corner in the living room, ready to watch more fireworks explode. Jim stopped short when he saw the looks on the faces of his wife and children.
“What?” he asked, trying to read their faces. “What’s going on?”
“Why don’t you ask your children to show what they did after school today?” Pam pursed her lips, the anger practically radiating from every inch of her.
“Well…since they’re ‘mine’ I’m assuming it can’t be good…” Jim turned his attention toward the two very guilty-looking teenagers and braced himself for the worst. Jack was expelled, Liv was pregnant, all sorts of thoughts ran through Jim’s head. “Okay guys, let me have it…”
