“Let’s get nose rings!”
Lina grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the nail salon where a poster in the window advertised a $25 special.
“Sure.”
I didn’t have much more than that in my wallet, but this seemed like more fun than asking someone in our dorm to buy vodka for us.
Our nose rings turned out to be nose studs, colored pieces of glass on titanium posts that were supposed to represent our birthstones. Mine was sky blue; Lina’s was yellow.
I sat down in the chair, and the woman who would pierce me examined my nose in silence. She marked me with a purple dot and held a mirror up for me to judge.
“It’s okay?”
I nodded, and she nodded back before retrieving her piercing gun from a drawer. Her deft fingers slid my stud into the chamber then pulled my cartilage into position.
“Okay?”
She didn’t wait for my reply. I squeaked in surprise as the metal tore a stinging hole through my skin. The woman laughed, and held the mirror up once again.
“It’s okay?”
Taking the mirror, I grinned at my reflection and blinked a few times to clear tears from my eyes without touching my makeup.
“I love it!”
I showed Lina mine, and she showed me hers. With slightly swollen red noses we left the salon, using the last of our money to split a burger and fries.
Lina wore her nose ring for three months. Mine got infected after a week.
I kept the stud though. I still have it now, twenty years later, packed in a box with the rest of my memories.
Inspired by the 5 Minute Freewrite Prompt - Nose Ring provided by the lovely 