Running In Circles || Nicholas Ruffilo

two

"Hey, Cassidy is going to be late," I told him, handing him his coffee and setting hers down next to him.

He knit his brows together in confusion. "Did you get her number or something?" 

"No, I physically ran into her going into the coffee shop as she was leaving and ruined her clothes by making her coffee explode on her," I admitted, making him hold back a laugh.

"You did not," Davis said, sitting up straighter and looking over at us. 

"I didn't mean to. I was just stupid and looking at my feet when I took my sunglasses off and then she was in front of me," I said, making Davis also hold back a laugh. I huffed and went to my station, still too hungover to deal with any of it. I had someone just coming in for shading on a previous tattoo when we open, so I just kicked back and scrolled through Instagram while sipping my coffee. 

The door dinged as Cassidy walked in. Her hair was up in a bun instead of the way it was hanging down earlier and she changed to a cropped t shirt and jeans. I found myself standing up at the sight of her coming in, which urged me to push forward. 

"Hey, I really am sorry about earlier. I promise I didn't see you." It felt like she stared straight through me, not listening to a word I said even though she had to intentionally look up at me. She was maybe six inches shorter than me. I noticed she had a Monster in her hand, probably bought on the walk back over. "I did ask them to make another one of the coffees you ordered, which is at your usual station." I forced a small smile, to which she didn't reciprocate.

"Thanks," she said curtly, walking past me to her station and sitting down. She jumped into conversation with Tyler quickly, working on her sketches soon after. I met Davis's eyes and shrugged at him, to which he did the same back. I shook it off and my client came in, making me spring into work mode. 

"So, are we doing any color today or just some grey shading?" I asked the client as we got her to my station. I admired the bouquet of flowers that I had done on her previously; I usually don't do tattoos like these often, but she is a friend of my sister's and I wanted to make sure she was in good hands.

"I think some purple and yellow would be pretty in there," she mused. 

"I agree, maybe some lighter blues, too?" I proposed, to which she just nodded. I smiled back at her and got her to prop her arm where I wanted it before pulling some colors. 

"Hey, Nick is about to do a cool shading appointment, you should totally go shadow him," I heard Tyler encourage to Cassidy. He's right, she needs to see it all. 

"I'm good," she said curtly. I glimpsed at her and she was just tracing on paper, not even casting a look in my direction. I rejoiced when I saw my client had popped in her AirPod so that she didn't hear that. 

"Cassidy, I don't have anyone today. You really should go shadow someone else today," he encouraged further.

"I said I'm good," she snapped, looking in his direction this time. Davis and I caught each other's eye, raising our eyebrows at her tone. I shook my head a little and deposited color into caps, choosing a needle point, and starting working on the yellow daffodils. 

I try to not let it get to me, I really do. Sometimes people do not have good days and it's not necessarily anything I did, but today her day is bad because of me. I get it. But damn, to not understand that I simply made a human error and take it out on everyone? Ridiculous. I finished the yellows and moved onto the next needle and moved to the blue accents that I want to add. I felt my face tense up, lips pressing into a tight line to make it look like I was focusing, but I was really grinding my teeth instead.

I finished her tattoo, took her money, and immediately went outside to smoke a cigarette. My nerves were shot from the anxiety and anger I felt and I needed it. I tried to not do this at work, but today was an exception. 

"You really shouldn't smoke," Cassidy's voice broke my peace. I flinched a little, looking at her and watching her hit her vape, a small smile to indicate that she was joking. I felt myself huff out an unstoppable laugh before I take another pull from my cigarette, kicking at a rock at my foot aimlessly. "Look, Tyler told me to come and apologize to you-"

My eyebrows shot up into space. "Oh, Tyler told you to apologize?" She looked at me like she was a deer in the headlights of a speeding car. "How earnest of you." I threw my cigarette down, only half-smoked, stomping it out with my foot. "Do me a favor and don't say shit you don't mean. I wasn't even upset with you to begin with because I understand we all have bad days, but at least try to be an inkling of sincere." I walked back into the shop and went straight to the bathroom, which seems to be the only place that I'll have privacy.

I locked the door and sat on the toilet with the seat completely down. I hunched over, putting my head in my hands to breathe for a few minutes. I never ever let myself get that worked up, and yet a girl I met yesterday is doing this to me? What is going on with me? I don't let people get under my skin because I want to believe that people have the best intentions, but damn, I hate people who are so infectiously negative. 

I got up and went to wash my hands at the sink, noticing the bags under my eyes and sighing at them. I was absolutely exhausted. I left the bathroom and beelined to the books, seeing that I didn't have anything down for the rest of the day. 

"Do you need me for anything else today?" I asked Davis, resting my arm on his desk. 

"Not that I can think of, are you okay?" he asked timidly. 

I thought for a second too long. "I'm just really tired and didn't get a lot of sleep last night." It was a half-lie, but I wanted away from Cassidy primarily. 

He saw straight through it. "That's fine, see you tomorrow," he smiled up at me before turning back to his flash sheet. I looked around and everyone else was busy, so I just left. I threw my sunglasses on and headed straight to my apartment, keeping my head high so that I won't run into anyone else. I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw my apartment door, unlocking it and passing out face-down on my couch.