PEACHES [bws]

06. CHEATER

06.

Brad had pulled into the parking lot after a five hour, late shift at the tattoo parlour. He loved his job but sometimes it could be slow and boring if there's not many appointments, and not that many people wanted a tattoo late at night.

He'd only gotten the job because as soon as he was old enough, he wanted to move out of his parents' house and live by himself. He had money saved from his paper round when he was younger, and saved up even more money when he was sixteen and could finally get a part time job at some local cafe.

He got lucky when he turned eighteen because of his art portfolio which landed him a part time apprentice job at the tattoo shop. The owner was one of his classmate's parents who came to the art gallery at the school exhibition, and offered him the job as soon as he saw the art displayed under Brad's name.

He would've been stupid not to take it, considering that it was good money and they were willing to work around his schedule with university. By the time six months had passed, he'd moved in nearby and had more than enough money on top of student loans to afford his apartment and car.

Brad locks his car and sighs with exhaustion, making his way upstairs to his apartment. He was considering calling up one of the girls in his phone to keep him occupied for the night, but he was too socially exhausted and felt like sleeping was a better idea instead.

Besides, he couldn't get a certain strawberry blonde girl off of his mind, so he knew no other girl would do.

He looks at the time on his phone and scoffs. Why is he tired when it's barely half past twelve? Usually he'd be up until the early morning, wide awake.

He puts his phone away and when he's finished walking up the stairs and was on his floor, he's relieved to see his apartment in sight.

He grabs his keys from his jacket pocket and fumbles around to find the right one before putting it into the keyhole and twisting.

Maybe I could invite over the boys, Brad thought to himself as he opens the door. But I'll probably get more tired and want them out after an hour so that I can be by myself.

He's pulled from his inward debate as to whether he should see his friends when the apartment door opposite opens.

He looks over his shoulder in hope to see Summer, who he hadn't seen since Christmas which was a week ago. He would've tried his best to see her but he was busy at work since people took the holiday season off. When he was home, it was late at night when no one else was around.

He's disappointed when it's just Charlie opening the door, but he's more surprised when he notices a brunette approaching the apartment. He places a firm kiss on her lips.

Brad frowns. Had Charlie and Summer broken up? Finally? He quickly turns around as the two people start kissing intensely and Brad feels weird looking at them.

Get a room and close the god damn door, at least, Brad rolled his eyes.

He shuts the door and grabs his phone, typing out l a message to Summer before he even takes off his shoes and coat.

bradley: did you and your boyfriend break up?

Partly out of eagerness to find out if he could finally pursue his challenge, and partly out of curiosity if he could be cheating, he sent the text in seconds without a second thought.

When Summer got the message, she was confused. She was sat in bed with Grayson, watching a new show on Netflix called The Order that Grayson had recommended.