After filling the car with party decor we finally headed home just in time for me to drop the load off and head to the shop.
As I was walking out Sienna came up and handed me the crumpled-up napkin she had stolen from me earlier.
"Here," she said happily, "now you can text him. But don't reply too quickly, okay. Give it at least 20 minutes between texts."
"Whatever," I said rolling my eyes and taking the napkin.
I grabbed my keys off the counter and headed out.
I enjoyed the slow drive into downtown by listening to the band WILD and singing along. When I finally arrived and parked in the back I walked inside and greeted everyone.
Perris, who is four years older than me and currently the only female tattoo artist working for us, was working on a piece for a girl who looked to be my age. Ale was sat next to her watching intently as she worked. Kyle, who is a little older than Perris, was sketching at one of the desks and my mom's youngest brother Daniele was also tattooing someone, an older man.
Friday's are usually our busiest nights of the week and today wasn't any different. Just as I walked up to the counter, the door opened and a young man walked in.
"Hi," I greeted him with a smile.
"Hey, I'm here to see Alessandro," he said.
"Did you have an appointment?" I asked logging into the computer.
"Yeah," he said.
"Okay, I'll go and get him. Fill out these forms, and I'll need to see your ID."
I wasn't going to let Ale do all the paperwork like I did yesterday. I regretted not getting the chance to know more about Michael. I walked into the last cubicle where Perris works and called Ale to step out.
"You've got an appointment?" I asked, raising my brow.
"Um, yeah. With a friend of Mikey's," he nodded.
"Who's Mikey?"
"The guy who I did the tattoo for yesterday."
"Oh, I thought his name was Michael," I shrugged, "Anyways, your appointment is here."
"Sweet, thanks," he said walking out to the front.
I followed him out and took a seat on the chair behind the counter.
"Hey, it's Calum, right?" Ale asked putting out his hand.
"Yep, nice to meet you. Mikey said you were the man, so here I am."
"Sweet, well let me go grab your stencil and you can take a look."
"Ok, cool."
Calum looked around the room and his gaze landed on me.
"Hey, I'm Calum," he said leaning against the counter in his leather jacket, "you were at The Hideout earlier weren't you?"
"Oh, uh, yeah." I looked at him skeptically trying to figure out how he knew I was there. Did Mikey tell him about me or something?
"Don't worry," he chuckled, "I'm not stalking you, I was at the corner table with some friends and I saw Mikey talking to you."
"Oh," I breathed, "right. Yeah, I remember you guys. The rowdy bunch."
"Yeah, you could say that."
Ale walked up and handed him the stencil.
"So I was thinking it could go on the inside of your forearm?"
"Yeah dude this is sick," he said looking at it.
I was looking at it upside down, but from what I could tell Ale's stencil of a dragon looked pretty cool.
"Yeah, just so you understand, today's just going to be doing the outline, and then we will fill in the details another day."
"Right," Calum nodded.
"Alright cool. Well follow me and let's get this thing going."
Ale took him to one of the chairs in the open area where walk-ins and apprentices did their work. I dug my phone out of my pocket and remembered the napkin with Mikey's number on it. I quickly typed the number in, hoping it wasn't a prank and double-checked I had entered it correctly before crafting a text message.
What do I say? 'Hi' seems too boring, but I don't want to send a paragraph. Si says I should be a little flirtatious, but I'm not really good at flirting.
I finally typed something out and my finger hesitated over the send button.
"Hi!" a voiced boomed beside me.
"Cavoli!" I muttered realizing I had accidentally pressed send in my fright.
"Thanks for scaring me, dad," I sighed locking my phone.
"Ehi, that's my job. Gotta keep you on your toes. Whatcha up to?"
"Huh? Oh, you know--same old, same old. Gonna go through the schedule for tomorrow and send out reminder calls."
"Good, good. Tutto a posto?"He asked placing his hand on my head.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just tired. I'm gonna go make a coffee."
"Uh-uh stellina, I'll do it. You stay put. Besides, you know I make the best coffee."
He kissed my forehead before walking to the kitchen.
I've always been daddy's little girl, ever since I was born. When he got my mom pregnant in high school he really had to clean up his act and he did. He stuck around, worked his ass off, and now we're living so comfortably. I really admire his hard work and the fact that despite the opportunity to leave us behind, he didn't.
I think that's why it's so hard for him to swallow the idea of me not working for the family business. He did this all for me so that he could provide for my mom and me, and me not working for him would be the worst thing I could ever do.
My phone buzzed and I swiped across the screen to read Michael's reply.
(me): I almost thought you were stalking me, sending your friend where I work.
(Michael): Haha, bad timing I guess. So you met Calum I take it?
Yep, I replied back.
My phone buzzed immediately with his reply.
(Michael): I was beginning to wonder if you were going to text me at all. I didn't take you for the playing games type.
(me): To be perfectly honest, I'm not. I took some bad advice to try it out. Clearly, I'm no good at it. I think I was supposed to wait 20 minutes before texting you back.
(Michael): To be perfectly honest, I'm not either.
(me): Really? That's hard to find in a guy these days.
(Michael): Well, I'm not like most guys.
(me): Yeah, I can tell. You're way too cheesy.
(Michael): I may be covered in tattoos and my jeans may be ripped, but underneath this inked skin is a gooey ball of cheese. 😉
I smiled and blushed at the wink emoji he sent me. Oh my gosh, Bea, get over yourself. You've talked to guys before. I reread his message recognizing the line.
(me): Are you sure you're not pulling all these cheesy lines from The Cab, cuz that sounds like a line from their song Endlessly.
(Michael): Damn. You caught me red-handed. I guess I might as well say it. I listen to The Cab.
(me): Haha. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you use lyrics as pick-up lines. Wouldn't want to harm your reputation.
(Michael): Thanks, I appreciate it.
(me): Any time
A couple of minutes passed and I anxiously waited for him to keep the conversation going. Well, I guess I could keep it going? Before I could come up with something he responded.
(Michael): So, I was wondering. Since you seem to like music. Maybe you would want to watch some live shows this weekend. There's live music at my shop on Sunday if you're interested.
(Michael): And I wouldn't be working.
(me): I would really love to, but I'm busy on Sunday 😔
(Michael): That's okay.
(me): I'm really not trying to blow you off, I just have a family party this weekend, and I have to be there, cuz it's kinda for me.
(Michael): Well, you can't miss your own party. Happy birthday?
(me): Thanks, yes, it is for my birthday.
(Michael): 🎉🎂🍾🥄
(Michael): Shit. Sorry, ignore the spoon.
"Here you go, bella," my dad said placing a cup of coffee in front of me. "Who you texting?"
"Dad, really, reading my texts?"
"Ehi, it's my job to protect you. So, who's this guy? Is he Italian? Does he go to church?"
"You seem to have a lot of jobs. Protecting me, scaring me...and no, at least I don't think he's Italian. And contrary to what you might think, I don't go around asking every guy if they go to church."
"Well, I want to meet this boy you're dating."
"Dad, chill. We're not dating. We're just texting."
"Yeah, yeah. Sure. I'm not stupid. Va bene, enjoy your coffee."
"Thanks, babbo," I said hugging him before he walked away.
I took a sip of my coffee and sighed as the warm liquid filled my body. I went back to the texts and my stomach flipped with excitement.
(me): 😂
(Michael): On the topic of spoons, well not really. How'd you like the coffee?
(me): It was really good. Did you do the foam art?
(Michael): Maybe 😏
(me): Well, it was cute. And the sandwich was really good too
(Michael): You're welcome. Well, this is a long shot and I swear I'm not trying to sound desperate, but are you free tomorrow at all. Maybe you'd want to hang out?
(me): I'm free after 2. What did you have in mind?
(Michael): Well, don't judge it too quickly, but maybe you could come to the coffee shop. I've got some guitar lessons to teach, but we can hang out afterwards.
(Michael): I promise it won't be boring. And maybe we could grab some food?
(me): Okay, since you offered food, I guess I'm down lol
(Michael): Awesome. Should I pick you up?
(me): Actually, I think I'd rather drive. What time should I meet you?
(Michael): Meet me at the coffee shop around 3?
(me): Okay, sounds good 😊
(Michael): I've got to head into a meeting, but I'll talk to you later 😃
(me): ttyl