Tattooed

A Response

"Gren!" Gren was nearly knocked over when he felt his friends crash right into him, ripping him from Amaya's grasp.

"Our plan worked!" Soren laughs happily as he, Corvus and Crowmaster happily hug their friend. "Hey I didn't know you had a tattoo!"

"Not until a few minutes ago, it's my soulmate tattoo." Gren chuckles, flashing his wrist as Corvus and Crowmaster gasp.

"Dude you actually had a soulmate all along! I knew I made the right choice in giving Amaya your number!" Crowmaster cheers as he hugs his friend tightly. "Who would have thought someone as cool as Amaya would be your soulmate!"

"Hey those are honeysuckle and dahlias, never thought I'd see that combination before."

"I guess Amaya has something similar?" Enya asks as Sarai tugs at the back of her sister's sweater to see the flowers. "Ooh! That's really pretty!"

"This is the best night ever!" Ezran cheers as he hugs Gren. "Hey does this mean I can call you "uncle Gren" now?"

"Oh...I don't know about that." Gren laughs, blushing slightly as he walks back to Amaya.

[Hey if he calls you uncle, you're his uncle.) Amaya sighs with a grin. [No take backs, you just got yourself a cute pair of nephews.]

"So are we gonna clean up so we can go home?" Rayla asks with a yawn. "I'm tired and cold, plus most of us have school tomorrow."

"She's right, we need to clean all this up." Reyna agrees, gesturing to the decorations. "We'll decide what to do with the flowers later, for now we need to take the heat lamps, tables, speakers and chairs back to their respective homes."

"Group clean up it is." Gren agrees. "And lets hurry up so we can go home."

---

The second he got home and crashed back in his bed, Gren was just buzzing with emotions. He couldn't stop touching the new flowers on his arm, admiring the beautiful designs and smiling at the thought that Amaya had one very similar to his. Corvus said that these were dahlias and honeysuckle flowers, and sometimes soulmate tattoos often symbolized a lot of things. Out of curiosity, he decides to look up the meaning of both flowers.

So far he found out that honeysuckle meant pure happiness, devotion and everlasting love; while dahlias symbolize commitment and an everlasting bond. Quite fitting, he had to admit. Was it okay for him to text Amaya right now? She was probably back home with Janai and Kazi, most likely asleep, but it wouldn't hurt to send her a text right now that she could see in the morning.

[Gren]

Out of pure curiosity I decided to look up what meanings the flowers we had appear mean and its white fitting!

Almost immediately he gets a response from Amaya. Guess she wasn't asleep like he thought.

[Amaya]

Devotion, everlasting love and an eternal bond?

[Gren]

I see you've been looking this up too?

[Amaya]

During the car ride home, I thought it was fitting and kind of cute

How are you and Ginger rn?

[Gren]

My poor baby is all tuckered out from tonight, but I think she had tons of fun too

[Amaya]

Aww well I'm glad she's ok and that she had fun tonight

You probably have work tomorrow so you need sleep

I'll come tomorrow for a visit OK?

Gren smiles to himself before writing his response.

[Gren]

Fair enough

Sleep well and goodnight

[Amaya]

You too. Love you

Gren felt himself blush a bit at that response before sending a quick reply and setting his phone back down on the bed. Ginger, who was laying next to him, gave a small bark and moved so she was snuggled against Gren and gave a small whine.

"It's okay girl, we can see Amaya tomorrow at work. Just go to sleep now." Gren assures her.

---

"Thank you, have a great day!" Gren says cheerfully as the customer heads out the door. "Alright, I should do a quick vacuum through the shop and check to make sure no books were placed in the wrong shelves."

It was only ten in the morning, but Amaya still hadn't showed up yet. Gren figured she probably had to be at work to practice for that week's show, so he wasn't disappointed that she hadn't come by yet. Still, seeing the flower tattoo on his arm made him think everything that happened last night was a dream, and yet here it was. And who would have thought Amaya also went through the same thing he did, spending years since she turned thirteen thinking that something was wrong with her because she had no words of a soulmate on any part of her like everyone else. Gren wondered how many people out there were going through the same thing they went through.

As he was vacuuming through the shelves and taking care not to disturb other customers or knock a shelf over by accident, he hadn't heard the jingling of the shop's door swing open, unaware of someone approaching. At least until he felt a pair of arms suddenly wrap around him and squeeze him into a tight bear hug and felt someone kiss him on the cheek. Startled, he twists to see who it was and busts out laughing to find Amaya, grinning widely.

[Sorry, I got held up at home.] She signs to Gren as he switches off the vacuum. [How are you?]

[I'm fine, thanks for asking.] Gren signs back with a smile. [And it's okay, I figured you'd come by at some point in the day. I still can't believe that actually happened.]

Amaya smiles before grabbing his arm to push the sleeve back and reveal the honeysuckle and dahlias decorating his arm. [I can't believe it either, it just feels like a dream.]

[A good dream though. When I have to head on break and close the place down for a bit, wanna go to Ethari's bakery? I feel like trying his new strawberry cinnamon rolls, heard they were tasty.]

[Sounds like a perfect lunch date.] Amaya agrees with a grin.