“You’re looking for something that isn’t there,” I called to her as I made my way to the back to start setting up early. I had an appointment in the afternoon with a guy who I’d designed something for. It was out there, a cartoonish alien rabbit thingwith a gun and cowboy hat, but I didn’t ask questions. Whatever people wanted permanently inked onto their body was their business.
I took a few walk-ins in the morning, and the day pretty much flew by. It was an odd feeling, being more relaxed and comfortable at work than I was at home. Anxiety was still nagging at my stomach about if Jordy would say anything about the night before, but I couldn’t go back in time and change it.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what my life had been like before my mom had married Chester and we’d moved in with him and Jordy. We’d moved around so much that I could never really make friends at school, and I was always behind in class. I remembered getting a poster with race cars on it when I was five, and crying because I didn’t have a bedroom to hang it up in. I didn’t want to ruin everything, but I wasn’t a kid anymore. I was responsible for my own destiny and my own quality of life, not some poor little bastard being dragged around by an abusive alcoholic and a woman too scared to leave him.
By the time my client signed in, I’d researched a bunch of cheaper apartments in the area, determining that I couldn’t reasonably move into any of them without a roommate. I kind of hated the idea of a roommate, but nothing could be worse than my current living situation. If I didn’t get out of there soon, I was going to maul my stepbrother like a starving bear fresh out of hibernation.
“Alex?” I asked, waving him back when he hopped up from the seat in the little waiting area up front. “I’m Kieran.”
“Nice to meet you, man,” he said, giving me a quick handshake. He was wearing a backwards cap and the popular expensive sneakers of the moment. I knew that because the ads kept showing up on my social feeds, even though I pretty much never wore sneakers.
Once we were in the back, I got him settled onto his stomach so I could put the stencil on the back of his calf. While I was doing that, he yapped on and on about how he wasn’t from around here, he’d been travelling for awhile, he’d spontaneously wanted this tattoo and had researched local artists and how he’d really liked my portfolio.
“Thanks,” I answered. I knew it was better to match the energy of the client but I didn’t think I had a shot of matchingthisguy’s energy no matter what I did. He had the vibes of someone who was used to performing for an audience. “I appreciate you coming in,” I added, as I started in with the liner.
After about another hour of nonstop chatter, which included many personal anecdotes, he finally ended one story about some girl who’d been borderline stalking him with, “But that’s the job, you know?”
“What do you do for work?” I asked, squinting a bit as I stretched the skin on his calf tight with my thumb and forefinger to be sure I could draw in the tight details of the little gun.
He chuckled a bit at my question, for some reason. “You don’t know who I am?”
I glanced up at his face again after I’d finished shading a small piece to see if maybe I could recognize him from anywhere. “No, sorry.”
“That’s alright, don’t worry about it.”
The rest of the tattoo went smoothly, even though he still didn’t shut up for ten whole seconds the entire time. When we were done and he was gazing at the back of his calf in the mirror, praising my talent, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Reflexively, I pulled it out to check it. When I saw the name on the screen, my fingers tightened on it so hard I thought the screen might crack.
Can we talk?
JORDY
NO.
I STAREDat the reply from Kieran on my phone, narrowing my eyes. I really hated that word, especially when it was being given as a direct response to a request I’d made. Because I could feel my lips morphing into a pout, I set it screen side down onto the floor and told myself I’d deal with him later.
He was totally and completely ruining all of my plans. He’d derailed my seduction attempt by being a total creep and jerking off in the hallway instead of coming in and fucking me. How unsubtle could I possibly be? Did I need to ambush him while he was taking a shower or something? Actually, that probably wasn’t the worst idea…
“Oh my god, Ijustremembered something,” Dani piped up, glancing up from her fingers, where she’d just painted her thumbnail a grungy brown with frosty sparkles. “But do you like this color on me?”
I pursed my lips, tilting my head so I could watch the light hit it at different angles. “Yeah. It’s kind of ‘90s.”
“Cute. I love retro,” she said, dipping the brush back in the bottle to do the rest of her nails.
We were lounging in my room, something we’d done billions of times before. There was a daytime talk show on the TV, one of those really cheesy ones with paternity tests and cheaters confessing to their spouses. They were over the top, but we kind of loved the melodrama.
“So what did you remember?” I asked, shifting a bit to lean back against the side of my mattress more comfortably.
“So you know Andrew, from the center?”
I grimaced, but she didn’t notice because she was looking at the TV.
“Yeah, of course.”
“Did you know he was at Kevin’s party the other night? You know, the one youabandonedme at?” She added, giving me a pointed look.
“Um, yeah. I knew that.” I’d been so preoccupied with Kieran that I’d forgotten to mention the whole Andrew being a creep thing to her. Then again, if I mentioned that I’d probably have to add in how Kieran had charged in like a possessive, pissed off bull. And I was pretty sure that part of the story would have been significantly more noteworthy to her. “And by the way, you wouldn’t have even noticed I was gone if I hadn’t texted you.”
“Well, anyway,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. She'd only been teasing me, anyway. “He was complaining about some other alpha, like… I don’t know, he called it poaching on his territory and cockblocking him or something. It was crazy, I’ve never heard him talk like that before.”
