All those years ago- Joseph Quinn

I am home

3 days of no contact, no texts, calls, emails or visits. 3 days since she last kissed him with all she had left in her at that moment, 3 days since she last saw the brown eyes that took over the majority of her mind. It had been 3 days of sadness and she reminded herself, 2 more days is all that's left and she can see him again and it'll be okay, except she didn't know if it would be because she couldn't place her thoughts about it all. The concept of being back in her parents house, in her old bedroom was one she struggled to come to terms with, her family knew better than to push her and ask questions that she wasn't quite ready to answer. Leaving Joe's parents that night was awkward for her, she simply made an excuse about how she felt really unwell and was going to leave for the evening not to risk getting anyone else sick. This of course was a lie because the only unwell feeling she felt was the uneasy knot in her stomach surrounding the unknown to come. However, when she kissed Joe goodbye that night, something felt different- he felt closed off, almost as if the kiss signalled to her absolutely nothing but hurt. When his lips left hers, she just stood there and watched him walk back to his parents house, saying nothing, not bothering to turn back to steal a glance at her at all. She watched him through as window as he left his parents house that evening, noticing how his entire demeanour had changed from the beginning of the evening to then, she felt guilt knowing it was because of her, but reminded herself this was simply just time needed.

But now she was sat on the third day of unanswered calls and texts, feeling hopeless, questioning how one sided this break was. She assumed he'd agreed on the terms that he, well, agreed with it. As the hours passed the realisation set in that maybe he agreed because he didn't know what to do, she never gave him an option to really discuss his wants and needs, just hers. Elle was sick of watching her watch her phone constantly, jumping every time it went off to check if it was him only to be majorly disappointed when the text was simply one from Dominos alerting her of their weekly deals. So Elle had decided a girls day shopping was on the agenda for the day, something easy and fun, she'd convinced Addie to agree on the terms that she'd buy something to wear for her reconciliation with Joe. Addie didn't want to tell her that she wasn't sure if that was going to happen because she didn't want to truly bring up how she felt about it all, she never wanted to seem weak minded, that her entire wellbeing rested on a man. So as they pottered about the shopping centre, Addie tried on dress after dress trying to pick the perfect 'I'm sorry' dress to wear in 2 days. However, no dress felt right so 2 hours later she gave up and insisted that she just wanted to go home and sleep it off hoping she'd wake up in better humour.

Elle reluctantly agreed but she insisted that they stop by the piercing studio not far from the shopping centre and get something fun. Elle was sure she wanted a nose piercing, something cute and dainty and Addie had said she'd be open to having her second lobe piercings done, but nothing crazy. Elle had tried to convince her the entire walk to go wild, so something crazy and fun, she'd complained Addie was always the good girl and it was now her opportunity to find herself and have fun. 20 minutes later Elle had almost peer pressured Addie into getting her nipples pierced, it was peer pressure but if you asked Elle she'd tell you that it was all Addie's idea. So now Addie was laying on the bed with her top pushed up while the guy, Kevin, marked exactly where the piercings would sit. She felt awkward having a strange man fondle her like that, but she reminded herself this was his job and probably his thousandth pair of boobs he'd seen.

"872 actually" he chuckled. Addie's eyes widened realising she'd said it out loud.

"Oh god I'm so sorry" she groaned.

"It's okay, we get girls coming in for them all the time and them being a sack of nerves until it's done. But once it's done you'll love it trust me" he smiled kindly. She couldn't help but notice his personality felt the opposite of her exterior. He was 6ft tall, bulky and coated in tattoos of all shapes and sizes and piercings dotted around his face. She couldn't help but find him the exact stereotype of what you'd expect a piercer to look like.