'Feeling sorry for yourself?' Tori's voice interrupted my thoughts as I was sat hiding out the back of the shop having a smoke.
'No,' I replied, before taking another drag.
'So, the making up plan didn't work,' she sighed. 'What happened?'
'She didn't want to,' I said, apathetically.
'Geez, she sure likes to hold onto a grudge,' Tori scoffed.
'I've done all I can,' I said. 'I ain't trying anymore.'
'Of course,' she said. 'You've done all you can; you've apologised more than once. What more does she expect?'
'I don't know,' I sighed. 'Maybe she just doesn't want this anymore.'
'Well, then don't you think you should just ask her that?' she suggested.
'She's away this weekend,' I told her, taking a final drag and flicking the butt away. 'When she's back I'll be sure to.'
I jumped to my feet and passed by Tori, heading back inside and resuming my place at my station where I was sketching out some new ideas in my pad.
'Dude, I'm so glad you're working today,' Charlie said as I sat down; he was currently in the middle of inking a client's chest. 'Saturdays are usually busy but today is just chaotic. I'm actually pissed that I chose to end my week off a day early and come in to help out.'
He chuckled and I gave him the finger.
'Yeah, seriously though,' he continued. 'It's a good job I did; it's been crazy today.'
'Yeah, my next client should be here any minute,' Tori said as she joined us inside.
'The phone's never stopped and we're up every five minutes knocking back walk-ins,' Charlie told his client as he nodded along.
'Yeah, I mean the walk-ins are constant, like everyday,' Tori said.
'You guys are literally turning away money then,' Charlie's client said.
'Well, not really, we're constantly fully booked,' Charlie told him. 'We don't have the space for them. I wasn't even meant to be here today but I've been away all week and I'm way behind on everything.'
'It's such a shame because people are always saying on Instagram that they can never get booked in because of the wait period,' Tori said as she glanced out front for a sign of her client.
'Really?' I asked quietly. I never spent much time managing the social media pages; I'd left that job to Tori. 'What else is being said?'
'Nothing really,' she said. 'People just wish we had more availability for bookings or even for people to just be able to come in and get tatted then and there. It would be cool if we could slot out a certain time where people could just do that, right, but we're just so full everyday, we can't even give an hour spare to a walk-in.'
'Actually,' I said, as her words moved through my mind. 'That's a great idea, Tori.'
'What is?' she asked.
'People are struggling to get booked in,' I said. 'If we could dedicate one day a week to taking no bookings and just allowing walk-ins it gives people a little more opportunity to get in.'
'We're full everyday for the next four weeks,' she told me.
'Except Sundays,' I told her.
'Because we're closed,' she reminded me.
'So, let's open up and make Sunday a walk-in day,' I said. 'No bookings allowed.'
'You want us to work seven days a week now, Jesus!' Charlie said, jokingly.
'I'm happy to come in and do it myself,' I said. 'I'm not expecting you to come in.'
'I will,' Tori said. 'After all, like you said it was my great idea. I'll go do some promotion on our pages.'
She darted off out front and Charlie gave me a frown.
'You know I can't say no now,' he said.
'Charlie, the two of us can manage,' I chuckled, in amusement.
'It's my only day with my kid,' he sighed, giving me an apologetic look.
'It's fine,' I said. 'I don't expect you to drop that for this. We'll manage it.'
'Thanks,' he replied.
Charlie's ex only allowed him to have their four year old daughter once a week a Sunday, which worked for him anyway with his hours here. There was no way I'd expect him to let work get in the way of that important time.
My day continued and I finally finished off my final client and headed home to my quiet, empty apartment. I cracked open a beer and lay on the sofa, wondering what Bethan was up to in The Falls. She was probably doing family things and not even thinking about New York or me.
My phone sounded and I read a text from Tori letting me know she had announced the start of walk-in Sunday's tomorrow and I let out a large breath, realising this bright idea was now taking away my full weekend.
I made myself dinner and took a shower before spending a little time doing some sketching and tidying the apartment. It was a strange feeling to be alone here. Being alone was a theme that had continued throughout my whole life and it was my biggest comfort until I met Bethan. Now being alone was a strange and unsettling feeling; I was used to hearing her joyous voice chatting away about something she'd learned that day or about some gossip she'd heard from her friends. I was used to the sound of Grey's Anatomy or Friends constantly running in the background as I worked or Bethan laughing loudly on the phone to someone. The silence now was uncomfortable and it was lonely.
Eventually, I retired to bed, with no contact at all from Bethan, and woke up the next day early, heading straight to the shop where Tori was already waiting with coffees. She was excited for our first day of trialing our walk-in idea and I couldn't help but admire her commitment to my business. She worked our social media pages so well that demand for bookings had been growing everyday and our waiting list was starting to get out of control. I couldn't complain about any of that; this was what I had envisioned for myself when I'd first decided I wanted to do this.
Sure enough, when opening time hit, there were several people waiting at the door to come inside and Tori and I got right ahead in working with each client to discuss what they wanted. We would send them away for a half hour period while we drew up their design and template and when they returned we'd ink them. The second a client left, another one was entering and the whole day consisted of a continuous queue of customers lined at the desk. Not wanting to disappoint, we stayed open an extra two hours later than we should have and eventually locked the door to stop any further customers entering.
Once we got through our final clients, we collapsed into the chairs at our stations and I rubbed my eyes in exhaustion.
'Whose fucking idea was this?' I groaned.
'Shut up,' Tori giggled. 'It was a success!'
'It was a success alright,' I said. 'We haven't eaten all day; I don't even think I've taken a piss all day either.'
'Yeah, I think it's time to go home and take the biggest bubble bath in the world,' she sighed.
'Let's just come in a little earlier tomorrow and clean up,' I sighed. 'Leave it for tonight.'
'Good plan,' she agreed.
We grabbed our things and locked up, waving goodbye on the street as she walked to her car and I hailed a cab home. I hadn't heard from Bethan all weekend so I had no clue when she planned to come back but I knew she had college tomorrow. She had skipped it a couple of times in the last week so it wouldn't surprise me if she didn't bother coming back for another day or so.
As I walked down the hallway and pulled out my key to open the door, I heard a faint buzzing sound on the other side. I listened closely and heard roars of laughter coming from the TV; she was home. I hadn't even noticed the car outside but my mind had been pretty distracted all weekend.
I unlocked the door and stepped inside to see Bethan turn away from the TV and look right at me. She was in her pyjamas on the sofa with a blanket over her. The sight was almost heavenly. The second I saw her my chest felt heavy; I had missed her so fucking much.
'Hey,' she said, softly.
I had no clue what I was feeling at that moment. I wanted to run to her and scoop her up and kiss her but also yell at her and tell her she shouldn't have just left all weekend without contacting me at all. I had no idea what the fuck was going on in Bethan's head right now but I was growing a little tired of the constant back and forth and if she thought she was just going to act like nothing had happened now that she'd had her little break from us; she was wrong.
'You're back then,' I mumbled as I closed the door and pulled off my jacket.
'I got back a couple hours ago,' she said.
'Thanks for letting me know,' I said, kicking off my shoes and heading for the kitchen.
'Well, I just figured I'd see you when you got home,' she said, as I grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. 'Where were you?'
'Where was I?' I asked with a frown. 'Does it matter? You've been gone all weekend without a care what I've been up to but as soon as you're back you want to know what I've been doing.'
'I didn't mean it like that,' she sighed. 'It was just a genuine question.'
She shook her head a little in annoyance and turned back to the TV.
'I was at work,' I told her, heading to my desk and sitting down.
'On a Sunday?' she questioned.
'We've opened on Sundays now,' I told her. 'To allow clients to walk in for some work done if they struggle to get a booking.'
'Wait, what?' she said, turning on the sofa to look at me.
'It was Tori's idea,' I said, knowing that I purposefully did this to see if she was still going to act childish over the matter.
'Of course it was,' she said, quietly. 'You work all weekend now then?'
'Well, I guess,' I said as I shrugged.
'Well, that's great,' she sighed. 'So you're going to be away all week and all weekend?'
'And you care why?' I asked, moving my eyes away from my desk and over to her. She narrowed her eyes and began to scowl at my remark.
'Why do you think?' she asked, as if it were an obvious question. 'I'll never see you.'
'Again; you care why?' I repeated. I was deliberately acting this way because the truth needed to come out. Frankly, I hadn't felt like Bethan had cared about us at all the last few days so she wasn't going to suddenly start acting like she did without answering for herself first.
'Okay, I know what you're doing,' she sighed. 'Fair enough; you're mad that I left.'
'I'm not mad,' I said and shook my head. 'You can go home to your family whenever you like; it doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that you've acted cold with me for days now over the most stupid and fucked up thing and you just left because things didn't go your way. Now you're back you think you can just act like nothing happened?'
'Well, no,' she replied. 'Look, I gained a little clarity while I was home. It was completely wrong of me to tell you to fire her.'
'Yes, it fucking was,' I said.
'I shouldn't have done that,' she sighed. 'I'm sorry, okay? And for leaving unexpectedly; it shouldn't have taken me going all the way back to Leiper Falls to see that but I felt like everything was getting on top of me and I just needed breathing space.'
'That's fine,' I replied. 'But you could have talked to me about it first instead of just packing your shit, giving me a shitty attitude and getting fucking driving lessons off that dick.'
'I'm sorry,' she said, the big, round, dark, glossy eyes beginning to form as she looked at me apologetically. The eyes that always got me.
'Fuck's sake,' I hissed, dropping my head into my hand. 'We really need to just talk everything over and then move on from it.'
'I agree,' she said.
'So, I'll start,' I said, lifting my head. 'I don't care if you want to still be friends with him, okay. I trust you and I know you're never going to betray my trust but if he tries anything again then you'd better tell me and then it's my fucking turn to deal with it.'
'I don't even care about being friends with him,' she said. 'I just care about you and me.'
She rested her forehead against her forearm and I heard her sniff as she began to cry. I let out a deep sigh and shook my head; it was never easy to see her cry. I put my bottle down onto the desk and got to my feet, heading to the sofa and sitting next to her. Reaching over and gripping onto her shoulders, I pulled her across the sofa and into my lap where she rested her head on my shoulder and buried her face into my neck.
'Don't cry,' I murmured. My words didn't stop her from doing so and I waited quietly for her to settle down a little, holding her while she let her emotions pour out.
'Bethan.' I eventually spoke when she quietened down. 'This thing with Tori needs to stop too. There's nothing going on, okay?'
'I know,' she sniffed.
'We need to start being open about things that bother us,' I told her. 'Otherwise this is what happens. No more secrets, yeah.'
'Okay,' she said again and let out a deep sigh.
'Good,' I said. 'Let's draw a line under it all then.'
'Yes, please,' she sniffed.
'Okay, baby,' I whispered. 'Let's go to bed.'
I turned off the TV and scooped her up, carrying her through the apartment to our room. Once I dropped her down onto the bed, I stripped down to my boxers and climbed in beside her, pulling her close to me. Her legs wrapped around me and her hands gripped onto my arms as she pressed her body against mine.
'I've missed you,' she murmured into my chest.
'Baby, I have missed you too, so so much,' I told her. 'I can't do this shit again.'
'Me neither,' she said.
'How was your trip home?' I asked her, as I laced my fingers into her hair and pulled her as tightly against me as I could without hurting her.
'It was really good,' she said. 'We drove into Chester and spent Saturday there; it was nice.'
'That's great,' I said. 'See any old friends?'
'Umm...no, not really,' she said.
'I guess pretty much everyone moved away for college,' I said.
'Yeah, I guess,' she mumbled.
I rested my eyes shut as I absorbed every bit of her vanilla scent and relished in the feeling of her pressed against me. I could never let things get so out of hand with us again; now that we'd agreed to have no more secrets and she had agreed to talk openly with me if she had any issues, hopefully it meant that we'd never end up in this place again.
...
'You seem happy today, bud,' Charlie said. 'You get laid?'
'Fuck off,' I scoffed giving him a light jab to the arm.
'I'm serious,' he laughed.
'Bethan and I finally made up,' I told him. 'I'm just glad I'm not fucking my back up on that damn sofa anymore.'
'Yeah, I'm just glad I don't have to deal with your shitty attitude anymore,' he laughed.
'Shut the fuck up,' I chuckled.
'Seriously though,' he said. 'I'm glad you've sorted things out; I hate it when you're down so I'm buzzed for you, man.'
'Cheers, buddy,' I replied with a grin.
'Buzzed for him why?' Tori asked as she came in from the front, arriving back from the deli down the street with lunch.
'Mind your fucking business,' Charlie joked.
'Charlie, you want me to spit in your food?' she asked him, jokingly.
'I'd rather you spit on my dick,' he cackled, giving her a wink.
'Oh my god,' she said, shaking her head and turning to me. 'Do you hear this? This is sexual harassment in the workplace, Boss.'
'Permission to kick his ass,' I said, taking my takeout box from her.
'I'll take that offer,' she said, smugly.
She gave Charlie a grin as he stuck up his middle finger to her and she threw his takeout box at him.
'What are you guys talking about anyway?' she asked, lounging back on her chair as she opened up her lunch.
'Oh, just Cal finally fixing things with Bethan,' Charlie said, tucking into his sandwich.
'Oh!' Tori chimed, glancing at me quickly. 'You never said.'
'Yeah,' I responded, casually. 'We're good now.'
'Well, that's great to hear,' she said. 'I knew you two would be fine.'
I was glad I hadn't went ahead and followed Tori's advice to let Bethan chase me. It was a childish thing to do and the second I'd laid eyes on her yesterday I'd just wanted to make amends with her as soon as I could. I wasn't into the whole playing games thing; having her chase me wasn't something I could do. Her and I weren't like that with each other and just talking to her properly after letting her have her weekend of space was all we'd needed.
'How was your walk-in Sunday?' Charlie asked.
'Oh, a real success,' she said, quickly. 'Right, Cal? We were packed all day.'
'That's awesome!' Charlie said. 'I think I'll try and join you some Sundays just to help out if I can.'
'Well about that,' I sighed. 'I don't know if I'm going to be able to continue working the walk-in Sundays. In fact, I'm probably going to keep Saturdays dropped too.'
'You're kidding, right?' Tori laughed a little. 'I can't do the walk-ins on my own.'
'I don't expect you to,' I told her. 'Maybe we'll change it to once a month.'
'Cal, it worked out great,' she said as she frowned. 'Why would you...oh, I get it. Now you're on good terms with your girlfriend again, you want your free weekends back to spend with her.'
Charlie glanced between us and dropped his head to look right into his takeout box, feeling uncomfortable by the shift in the atmosphere.
'Yeah,' I answered with a frown. I didn't have to hide the fact I wanted my time with Bethan; I didn't work weekends before and I didn't have to explain myself to her.
'So, I wasted my time even doing all of that promotion,' she muttered.
'Well, it wasn't a waste of time,' I told her. 'I'm grateful you did it and yesterday was successful so just put on there that it's changing to a monthly thing.'
'You put it on there!' she spat, turning away from me in her chair and frowning into her salad.
'Are you a child?' I asked her.
'What?' Her head bolted up quickly and she frowned at me.
'Pouting in your damn chair like a six year old,' I said. 'I'm sorry, but I have a life too.'
'I was all up for this walk-in idea because you asked me to sort it all out,' she said. 'It's fucking annoying that you only wanted to do it because you'd fallen out with her and now you've kissed and made up, you're not interested!'
'Excuse me?' I sat up in my chair and scowled at her. 'Who the fuck is working for who here?'
She eyed me carefully and dropped her head again, giving a nonchalant shrug.
'Yeah, exactly,' I continued. 'Don't fucking talk to me like that, okay. It's my fucking business and I'll do whatever the fuck I like; I don't have to explain myself to you.'
'You have no consideration for others,' she said, seriously, her voice becoming emotional.
'I don't give a fuck what you think, Tori,' I replied. 'Sorry that you're upset but if I want to use my weekends to spend with my girlfriend instead of stuck in here with you then I'll do just that because it's my fucking shop.'
'You're an asshole,' she said, moving to her feet.
'And you're a bitch,' I muttered, as she disappeared out front.
I shook my head and threw my food to the side table, resting my head against my hand and breathing to calm myself down. She had pissed me off; acting like she had a right to be mad at me for abandoning the Sundays. It was my fucking call to start them up so if I wanted to shut them down then I could; she had to stop acting like she had a fucking say in how I ran my business.
'Dude, that was so awkward,' Charlie said.
'I don't give a fuck man,' I replied. 'She has too much to say sometimes.'
'She's just upset because she loved the idea,' he told me.
'Then she can come in here and carry on if she wants to,' I said, as I heard the door jingle. 'But she's on her own.'
I headed out front where Tori was sat at the desk in silence, scrolling through our Instagram page and I looked up and smiled to greet Danny, my next client.
'Hey man, come on through,' I told him and we headed out back to get started on his leg piece.
...
'How was work?' Bethan asked as we both sat on the sofa in front of the TV with dinner.
'Alright,' I mumbled.
I shoved food into my mouth, not wanting to talk about the shitty day I'd had but I could feel Bethan staring at me. I knew she was wanting to push and as much as I didn't want her to, it had been me that had said we needed to be more open. I looked at her and she gave me a little smile.
'You seem a little miffed,' she said, softly.
Sighing and rolling my eyes a little I nodded. 'Yeah, well, I had a little row with Tori, but we don't have to talk about her; it wasn't a big deal.'
'It's okay,' she chuckled. 'I'm cool with it; you can talk about her.'
'Why because I'll be bitching about her?' I asked with a raised brow.
'Maybe,' she replied with a smirk. 'Just kidding...go ahead.'
'Honestly, it was nothing,' I sighed. 'I said I couldn't work weekends anymore, meaning I can't do the walk-ins either and suggested we change it to a monthly thing.'
'That's a good idea,' she said.
'Tori didn't agree,' I said. 'She was mad that she'd wasted her time promoting it and shit for me to turn around and drop it.'
'I get that she's a little annoyed,' she said. 'But it's your shop so, what you say goes.'
'She was getting all mouthy with me,' I continued. 'Nagging at me like I was a fucking child. I put her in her place; I mean I think I upset her but she shouldn't get involved in my personal life.'
'Personal life?' Bethan questioned.
'Yeah, she uhh...said that I only wanted to do it because you and I weren't talking and now that we've made up, I've just dropped the idea,' I told her.
'I guess it does seem that way,' she said, slowly. 'But it's not her place to say that; you're her boss.'
'Exactly,' I said. 'So I told her to mind her own business and she called me an asshole and I called her a bitch.'
'Oh no,' Bethan said, taking in a little sharp breath. 'Not good.'
'I don't give a fuck,' I said with a shrug. 'If she wants to work for me, she'll do things my way and stop fucking having too much to say about what I choose to do.'
'Fair enough,' Bethan said, returning to her food.
Thankfully, that was the end of our conversation about Tori and I was happy that Bethan was calm and understanding about it all; not that I expected her to take Tori's side but I did expect her to get a little more into tearing her down.
We finished dinner and retired to bed; both of us clearly having missed sleeping by one another all those nights and the pair of us passed out within moments of laying together.