Before our lunch break, Alfie and I had gave our parents a call to tell them that we’d be over after work. Our parents were so excited, and from Mom’s voice I could’ve sworn she was going to cry. We rarely had any time together. Other than short conversations on the phone, I rarely talked to my parents; but when I did I always enjoyed them. I had the best parents in the world. They were always supportive of me, and gave me anything they possibly could. Same with Alfie. They adored us and in return we adored them back. It’s just sometimes you get so caught up in life that you don’t get to see the people you love on a daily basis.
“Does this look okay,” Jersey asked me. We were sitting in her office during our lunch break. She was drawing a tattoo that she had to do for a client once break was over, and I was sitting across from her, with my feet propped on her desk while eating a bowl full of strawberries. My girlfriend held up the drawing for me to look at it, and my eyes widened a bit when I saw just how detailed the picture was. It was the face of a man in his mid-forties, he had a big, bright smile across his face. The picture was realistic from the detail of his lips, to the shape of eyes, and to the size of his nose. Everything about the drawing was perfect but the more I looked at it, the more the man seemed familiar. My heart began to sink as Jersey gave me a crooked, and slightly arrogant grin, “Sick, right?”
“Oh, y-yeah, it’s s-sick alright,” I replied to the best of my ability. I felt like I was going to puke out all the strawberries I’ve eaten on Jersey’s desk. This couldn’t be happening. She could be tattooing anybody anything but this.
“You sure? It looks just like him, right?” Jersey held up the actual picture of a man on a sheet of printing paper. She was right. Her drawing matched up exactly with the picture. Every detail was exactly the same and even though I was amazed by her skill, I just wanted to puke. “Are you okay, baby,” Jersey asked as she finally put down the pictures and scrunched her brows worriedly at me.
“I-I’m fine,” I managed to get out. Jersey gave me a slight smile and then looked back down at her drawing proudly.
“Yeah, this girl rung my business phone at like three in the morning and told me her father had just died. She wanted me to tattoo him on her bicep in his memory. I scheduled her for an appointment and she sent me in a picture of her dad in an e-mail. I’ve been working on it since she had called. To be honest, neither Alfie nor I got much sleep last night after you went M.I.A.” I gulped and removed my legs from off of Jersey’s desk so I could sit up straight. I didn’t feel good at all. I knew exactly who that girl was and I knew that shit was going to go down once she got here.
“I-uh…strawberries,” I excused myself from Jersey’s office and ran into the bathroom. Busting in a stall, I lifted the lid of the toilet and began gagging. I was bent over the toilet, gagging but nothing came out. Not a drop of strawberries, or anything. After a while, I gave up and just pressed my back against the door of the stall. My breathing began getting out of controlled. I was trying to breathe deeply and calmly but instead, I was breathing unevenly and rapidly. My hands shook as I began fanning myself and I exited from the small stall. I paced around the bathroom as I tried to regain my breath. My heart was pounding, but at the same time my stomach was twisting and turning and after a while of pacing, I began sweating. This couldn’t be happening. I was so fucking stupid. I should’ve just told the truth about my whereabouts last night, but I didn’t. Now, Nicky was coming to get tattooed by Jersey and Nicky and Jersey in the same room couldn’t be good. There was no way in hell this could end up right.
It seemed like the three months I’ve been with Jersey was all rainbows and sunshine, but now things were crashing down. I’ve been arrested and I’ve gotten into my first fight, and now Nicky was coming back into my life. The only good thing that had happened was that Jersey and I confessed we loved each other; but something told me that, that wouldn’t last long. Something was going to happen. I felt absolutely sick with apprehension. Nothing after this point could be good. Everything was going downhill.
---
After lunch, I walked out of my office and over to my station. Jade was by it, making sure I had enough supplies before my next client came. “You sure you should be working while you’re pregnant,” I asked her with my brows raised. I couldn’t believe she was pregnant, especially by Alfie. I didn’t know the kid had it in him. But, I guess he did because now when I actually stare at Jade, I can see just a bit of a baby bump. She was already glowing, too. “You know your kid is going to come out so weird looking.”
“Excuse me,” Jade asked as she turned to me. She put her hands on her hips and stared at me. I chuckled a bit and shrugged my shoulders before licking my lips.
“I don’t know. You’re Korean and he’s white. This kid is going to look like Jet-Li mixed with…Alfie.”
“You’re so annoying.”
“I’m serious. The thing is going to come out looking like an alien.”
“Aw, really?! It’s going to come out looking like you!? I can’t wait,” Jade joked before pinching my cheeks. I smacked her hand away as she laughed at her own joke and walked over to Alfie. “Baby, our baby is going to look like Jersey!” Alfie looked over at me and then back at Jade.
“Let’s hope not! She looks like an alien!”
“Fuck the both of you!”
The door to the parlor opened and the bell that was attached to the door chimed. Jade ran over to the receptionist desk to check the client in, and my eyes followed her. The tall, blonde girl at the desk looked familiar. It was like I had seen her before. I definitely didn’t bang her. It’s not like she’s bad looking or anything, she’s actually pretty hot; but she’s so fucking tall. Like who was her parents Yao Ming and Khloe Kardashian!? “Nicky!?” I looked over at a confused Alfie then back at the girl. That’s who she was! Finley’s ex! Nicky looked up from her conversation with Jade to look at an angry Alfie. “What the fuck are you’re doing here?!”
“I’m here to get tattooed. I’ve got an appointment this time with this Jersey kid.” This Jersey kid. I’ll show her a Jersey fucking kid. Okay, no I won’t. Honestly, she’d beat the living shit out of me. I wasn’t scared of her, but I just didn’t want to spend the rest of my day in the ER.
“Right. You’re getting the tattoo of your father,” I asked her and she nodded. I waved her over and patted the chair for her to sit down. Alfie scoffed but went back to minding his own business. Nicky sauntered over and sat down in the chair. I passed her the sketch of her father that I had managed to finish. “That looks good?”
“It’s sick, dude.”
“So, this isn’t your first tattoo, I see,” I said in a monotone voice as I prepped up the area where she was getting tattooed. Might as well try to be friendly. She’s paying me to get something permanent on her body so the least I could do was act professional. I could hold back a grudge or two for some money.
“And it won’t be my last,” she replied as I began outlining the mural of her father on her arm. There was an awkward silence for a while. It wasn’t exactly fun tattooing your girlfriend’s ex-girlfriend, especially when her ex-girlfriend was pretty tall and just a slight bit intimidating. Other clients, walked in so everyone else was busy with clients, so no one really talked. Everyone was focused on their tattoos. Once I finished my outline, Nicky went to go look at it in the mirror and she came back with a huge smile on her face. “Looks just like him,” she said as she sat back down in the chair.
“Yeah,” is all I said before I began to actually tattoo her skin.
“Thanks, by the way.”
“Hey, don’t thank me until I’m done. I could fuck up anytime,” I joked. She winced either at the thought of me fucking up her tattoo, or the pain of the needle.
“No, I was talking about last night. Thanks for allowing Fin to stay over and comfort me.” I stopped mid-tattoo to stare at the girl. What the hell did she mean? “What’s wrong,” she asked as she looked at me confusedly.
“Finley was with you last night?”
“Uh, yeah…”
“Oh.” What the fuck? Finley told me that she was over at a friend’s house last night, but I wasn’t expecting that friend to be Nicky. Finley hadn’t talked to the girl in months, right? I stared off into space as I tried to piece together what I just heard. Why didn’t Finley just tell me that she was with Nicky last night because her father died? I would’ve understood. I’m not that much of an asshole that I’d shit on her for comforting someone who had just lost their parent. Everything would’ve been fine if she just told the truth, but now I was angry. I was angry because Finley lied. I was beginning to wonder just how she had ‘comforted’ Nicky.
“Are you good,” Nicky asked me and I just nodded as I clenched my jaw. I continued tattooing her skin in silence. For all I know, Finley and Nicky could’ve fucked last night. There was no telling. Finley didn’t come out of the bathroom until I was just about done with Nicky’s tattoo, and so far I’ve been working on the tattoo for about two hours. I assumed she was trying to avoid Nicky but she failed. She knew her little secret was going to get out. When she walked out of the bathroom, she didn’t look over our way, but instead went up to the receptionist desk with Jade.
---
“You okay, Fin,” Jade asked me as I sat down behind the desk. “You look as pale as me after my morning sickness. Don’t tell me you’re pregnant, too. Does Jersey have something that we all don’t know about?” Jade raised her brows at me and I laughed a bit at her joke.
“I’m fine. It’s just that Nicky’s here, and I lied about my whereabouts last night.” Jade’s brows lifted as she urged me to continue. “Since Nicky’s father died I stayed with her. But we didn’t do anything, but I lied to Jersey. I should’ve just told the truth. If Nicky opens her big mouth about last night then things are sure to get messy.” The girl beside me shook her head at me.
“You’ve got yourself in a predicament, sister girl. As if it wasn’t awkward enough that your girlfriend is tattooing your ex.”
“I need a different needle,” Jersey yelled from her chair. I looked at Jade and she just sat there.
“Aren’t you going to go get it for her!?”
“I’m pregnant and she’s your girlfriend! You go get it! Don’t worry, I’m sure Nicky hadn’t said anything about last night.”
“New needle…now!”
“Go get it before she gets mad, Fin.” I rolled my eyes and stood up from the desk. Speedily, I made my way over to the supply closet. I got out two new needles and made my way over to Jersey. Nicky was reclined back in the chair with her eyes covered and I assumed she was in pain.
“Here,” I told Jersey as I offered two needles to her. She snatched them from my hand rudely. Yup, Nicky definitely opened her big fucking mouth. “I’m sorry for lying but you really don’t have to be rude, Jersey.”
“I really don’t want to hear it, Fin. Thanks for the needles, now if you could let me get back to work.” Jersey basically shooed me off and I stomped back off to Jade.
“She told her, huh,” Jade asked once she saw my upset expression. I didn’t reply and just crossed my arms as I leant back in my seat. I could understand Jersey being mad at me but she didn’t have to be so damn rude. At the end of the day, I was her girlfriend, and I was innocent of everything except for lying. It wasn’t even a huge lie, it was just a little white lie that Jersey was taking out of proportion. She got mad at me the other night for not trusting her, but here she was not trusting me. It was like a double standard.
“You okay,” a voice snapped me out of my trance, and I looked up in front of me. I was surprised to see Nicky. How long had I been staring off into space? Nicky’s tattoo was all done and was covered with a bandage.
“I’m fine,” I replied a bit hastily.
“Alright, you’ve had tattoos before so I think you know the procedure. We don’t do refunds…” Jade begun telling Nicky everything she usually said to clients after they got their tattoos done, and I zoned back out. Well, that was until a pair of tattooed fingers snapped in front of my face.
“Earth to fucking Finley,” I looked up to see Jersey standing beside Nicky. The height difference between the two was almost implausible. “Why did you lie to me,” Jersey cut straight to the chase and I couldn’t do anything but just stare at her. Honestly, I was in disbelief about just how big of an asshole she was being. “Can you not fucking hear?”
“Hey, don’t talk to her like that,” Nicky said before I could even open my mouth. Oh no. This can’t be happening.
“Why don’t you mind your fucking business?” Jersey turned to face Nicky and I gulped. There was no way she could win a fight against Nicky. I looked over to Jade for help but she was just staring and watching it all go down. I looked over at Big Boy so he could break the two up before anyone threw a punch, but he was too busy tattooing a client. “I’m sure she can take me yelling at her if she could take you beating the shit out of her.”
Nicky sucked in a breath, and she turned around. I thought she was going to walk away, but before I knew it she turned back around and sent a flying hook right to Jersey’s jaw. I flinched at the sound of the punch and all the force Nicky put behind it. “Fuck you,” the girl spat before rubbing the hand she had just hit my girlfriend with. She started for the door, but before she went out, she said a couple more words, “Thanks for the tattoo, asshole!”
I ran over to Jersey and leant down beside her to inspect her jaw, but she just smacked my hand away. “Don’t’ fucking touch me,” she replied before getting up on her own. I watched as Jersey started heading back to her office as everyone stared at her in shock. “What the fuck are you all looking at? Get back to work,” she yelled before entering her office.
“Damn,” Jade gasped out. She was still staring at the floor where Jersey had just fell after the punch. “Did you hear that? It sounded like she broke her jaw. You better go check on her.”
“I think I’m the last person she wants to see right now,” I said as a lump appeared in my throat. This was all my fault. If I would’ve just told the truth from the get-go, none of this would be happening.
“Well, if you don’t go check on her she’s going to assume you don’t care,” Jade said simply. I rolled my eyes and without a word I started heading towards Jersey’s office door. I didn’t even bother knocking and just walked in. Jersey was sitting at her desk, holding her swollen jaw.
“You should’ve just fucking told me,” she said as she stared at me.
“If I did, you would’ve had the same exact reaction.”
“Finley, I’m not that much of an asshole. I would’ve understood that she was going through a tough time and that you wanted to be there for her. I understand that you’re a nice person and you tend to give people way much love than they deserve. I just don’t like how you kept it a secret. The fact that you kept it hidden and the fact that you lied makes me wonder what really happened last night. Did you fuck her?” Jersey was speaking softly, and I didn’t know if that was because she was calming down or if it was because her jaw was hurting too much to yell. I could tell she was angry though, but I was too. How could she assume that I would do something like that before I told her that I loved her? Did she really think that less of me?
“Is that what you think of me? You think I’d have sex with her just because her father died. I’m not a whore, Jersey!”
The girl chuckled a bit and I didn’t see what the hell was funny. “That’s what they all say.” She couldn’t be serious right now. She was being such a dick. I couldn’t believe that she would actually think that I would sleep with Nicky. It took me forever just to break up with her and I’d never put myself in a romantic predicament with her ever again. I only saw her last night because she was grieving. I stared at Jersey only to see her staring at me coldly. “Can you leave me alone now? My jaw is killing me.”
***
I’m not even going to sugarcoat it for guys. You’re going to either love me or hate me for the next like dozen chapters. Shit’s gonna go down. That’s all I’m going to say. :P xx