None of Your Business

I was interested in piercing from the age of about 12. There was just something extremely enticing about being able to handle a small amount of pain to have a shiny metal bar or ring in my body. My parents did not share this interest, and neither did they want me to have it. At first, when I asked for piercings, the answer I received was an angry "no!" so I decided to start off with ear piercings. After getting quite a few of those, I felt I was ready to move on to body piercing. My parents, however, did not. Any excuse was used, including, "You're way too young!" and "It looks disgusting!" but I was certain that some day I was going to get piercings, regardless of whether they liked it or not. Eventually I did get some body piercings, and I was smart enough not to get any visible ones. Some came about with parental permission, some without, but there was no trouble nevertheless. It was all going great, and I decided that the rumour that piercings are addictive was definitel y true. I was certainly hooked.

I cannot remember how the idea of getting my lip pierced came up, but I do remember seeing a tiny ring on the side of other people's lips and thinking, "I want that!" It was a matter of time before I decided I wanted my lip pierced. Then there was the small matter of convincing the parents. After a fair few months hassling them, I realised that there was no way my mum would be kind enough to let me have it. I was going to have to wait - but I had serious patience problems, or take any opportunity.

The opportunity came when I started going out with a boy called Aaron. Aaron worked in a hotel and earned his own money, quite a lot of it too. One day we were talking about piercings (one of my favourite subjects) and I mentioned that I planned on getting my lip pierced one day. Aaron's response was, "I want mine pierced too. If you want, we can get them done at the same time. I can pay for yours."

As soon as he said it, I agreed. Everything; parents' wrath,...