The Fear Of Faith [2]

24. Cal

'Dude, your round,' Charlie said, patting my arm as he placed down his empty pint glass.

After a long and busy day at the shop, we had made a stop at the bar down the street for beers. It had been one of the most stressful and irritating days so far after Tori decided to call in sick. I'd had to take on most of her clients, with me not having bookings on Saturdays, and rearranged the ones I couldn't fit in, to which the clients were not too happy about considering how long they had already been waiting for their appointment.

I had luckily already been down to work that day due to having Bethan's friend Georgie in the studio. She had planned to come in with him but was still in bed when I'd left and Georgie had turned up alone, stating that she hadn't answered her phone. I knew she was probably going to sleep most of the day with me being gone.

Georgie surprisingly took his first tattoo very well, not complaining at all and at the end, he almost shed a tear at how happy he was with it, hugging me and thanking me repeatedly. After he left, Charlie and I were stuck with the rest of our busy day without Tori.

I ordered two more beers and returned to the table where Charlie was looking like he was ready to fall asleep right then and there.

'Man, I swear I'm going to kill that girl for being sick today,' Charlie groaned.

'Happens,' I said. 'She said she woke up with the worst headache but she'll be back tomorrow.'

'A fucking headache,' Charlie said, clicking his tongue. 'Dude, I wake up with a fucking headache everyday, you don't see me crying like a bitch and calling in sick.'

'Actually!' The sound of a pissed off voice came from behind us and we both turned to see Tori standing there. 'I had one of my migraines and they get really bad.'

'What the hell are you doing here?' Charlie asked.

'I went to the shop to grab my purse that I left yesterday and saw that it was closed but your cars were still there so I figured you'd be right down the street getting drunk in here,' she said, moving to sit down at the table.

'We're not getting drunk,' Charlie told her. 'We are de-stressing from the shit-storm you left us in.'

'Sorry,' she said.

I kept my eyes on my drink and avoided making conversation with her but the feeling of the three of us in this small space together was damn awkward.

'You want a beer?' I asked, forcing myself to look at her. I'd started feeling a little guilty that I had yelled at her so loudly and made her cry and now that she had accepted what she'd done and apologised, I just wanted us to move past it and work together properly again.

'Sure,' she said, giving me a small smile. 'Thanks.'

I nodded and got up again, heading to the bar and buying her a beer before returning to the table and setting it down in front of her.

'Thank you,' she said, grabbing it and taking a sip.

'So, please can I break the ice?' Charlie said, leaning back in his chair and eyeballing us both.

'About what?' I asked, even though I had a feeling what he was about to do.

'Can we all be friends again?' he asked with a smirk.

I felt myself groan quietly and bit my lip, moving my eyes to the wall at the far side of the bar in an attempt to not make eye contact with her.

'Look,' I sighed. 'I just want to forget about it, okay?'

'I do too,' she said, her cheeks going a little pink.

'Great,' I said, grabbing my beer and bringing it to my mouth. 'That's settled then.'