Until My Final Breath Escapes~ A Will Ramos Romance~

1. Captivate Me

*It's been a super long time since I've written and I hope if there's enough readers, I'll find the motivation to follow through! Thanks for reading! *

             It was a winter night, in the middle of New York City and Charlotte had a long day of tattooing a few walk ins. She absolutely loved her craft. She met so many different types of people. And she, ironically, was very sheepish and introverted. Although this didn't really improve over the 10 years she's been tattooing, it was still a daily dose of conversing with another human being and it still pushed her to put herself out there, despite her occasional anxiety when it came to new clients. She had a quaint, hole-in-the-wall shop. It consisted of her, and her best friend Krys, who was also a female tattoo artist. They were mostly by appointment only, but considering it was close to the holidays, it slowed down a lot this time of year and Charlotte would occasionally open her books and take in some small tattoos that would help her get through the winter.

        The sun was setting, despite it only being 5:00 pm. Charlotte was alone in the shop today, as Krys has been away on a small vacation visiting her boyfriend, who was working temporarily in Minnesota. Charlotte was getting tired, with the seasonal depression taking over so many people with the early darkness. She stood up and took a long stretch to help unease her tense shoulders. She spent most of the day hunched over and zoned into her art to give every client her all and her best. Deciding that her day was more than likely coming to an end, Charlotte started making her way to the front door to lock up. Before she could make it to the door knob, a man came in.

*Ding Dong*

      The door chime sounded as Charlotte met her gaze with deep, chocolate, friendly eyes. Her eyes slowly scanned over the unique features of the beautiful man standing in front of her and looking down at her. Charlotte only stood at five feet. Although she was 30 years old, she doesn't remember the last time she could have a seat and her feet wouldn't slightly be swinging from her small stature. This lovely creature in front of Charlotte had a winter beanie on and a winter coat and his nose was slightly red from the city cold. She scanned his body art that was beautifully displayed across his neck and saw he was covered in quite a few tattoos himself.

"Hello, " he spoke, breaking the awkward tension between them. "I was wondering if you guys take walk ins?"

For a minute, Charlotte almost forgot what she did for a living just completely distracted by his warm radiance.
"H-Hi," she snapped back into reality. "Yes definitely. I-I wasn't sure if anyone else would be coming through tonight." She fumbled over her words trying to snap back into her customer service side. Although he was good looking, she knew he more than likely had a girlfriend, and even so, she is socially awkward and isn't the best at flirting. Trying to distract herself, she decided to dive into what she did best. And that was escaping during giving someone a beautiful piece of art they could wear forever.
"Oh awesome," he replied happily, "just as long as I'm not keeping you?"
"Not at all." Charlotte gave him a small, shy smile. She definitely needed what she could get at this time of year and certainly wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to be in the presence of such an adorable soul. He seemed very humble and full of gratitude that she was willing to take him.
Charlotte ended up locking them in for the night, as the city could get a little scary to her after dark and she also didn't want any interruptions for the rest of the night as she was definitely calling it a night after tattooing him.
He eventually got aquatinted with Charlotte and she learned his name was Will. It grew later and a few hours quickly passed as Charlotte tattooed something relatively small on Will's leg. They collaborated over the design that he wanted and she gave it her all just like every other piece she had the opportunity to do.

They chatted the whole time and it came so naturally. Usually, Charlotte was the type of artist that was quiet and reserved. She somewhat disliked chatting with people unless if it was a repeat client or someone she knew well. To others, Charlotte was quiet and sweet. She was a ray of sunshine in a lot of peoples eyes. But due to a terrible dating past and her self esteem deteriorating over the years because of failed relationships, she thought, in the eyes of other people that she might be awkward or non-desirable. But this was extremely untrue due to her false sense of self.

Will shared some of his back story to Charlotte, feeling comfortable being vulnerable with her from the beginning. He was the lead singer of a death core band called Lorna Shore and they were currently on a small tour. He had a couple days off and decided he wanted a new tattoo and had to get out of the hotel while he could. He shared that he was from New Jersey and he sounded completely in love with his career, although he shared that sometimes he got burnt out after being away from home for long periods at a time. He shared some stories from his experience in the band and they laughed together as they had very similar senses of humor. Charlotte had instantly felt like she had known him forever.
When their session came to an end, Charlotte quoted him the price for her time. Will went through his wallet and put his palm to his forehead when he realized he forgot to stop for cash.
"Is there a way I can pay you on Apple Pay or Venmo?" He asked. "Sorry, this was very spur of the moment." He chuckled. "I know cash is king." He smirked.

"Apple Pay is fine." Charlotte chuckled back. Will handed her his phone to put in her phone number. He sent her double the amount she asked for and her eyes grew wide.

"Will," she spoke. "That's crazy generous of you but that's insane! I'm sending you money back." She started to type into her phone and Will laughed and wrapped his arms around her, smushing her phone against her chest so she couldn't continue to type.
"No way," he insisted. Normally Charlotte would be a little odd about being this close to a man she just met but it felt natural and harmless.

"Keep it. Please. I really also just wanted your number and that, honestly, is worth everything." He smiled cutely and let her go giving her space. Charlotte felt slightly sad by the distance between them and felt surprised at her own reaction.

"Charlotte," her stomach started fluttering hearing her name escape his lips, "honestly tonight was a great time and you are super talented. I'm here for another night, maybe if you aren't busy tomorrow we could....I don't know maybe hang out or something..."
Although Will had a normal confidence about him when he spoke to her earlier that night, his tone seemed a little shyer this time, which actually made him even more attractive to Charlotte.
It made her feel flattered and she felt like it was almost surreal.
"Of c-course, Will." Charlotte looked up into his eyes. "Also, I really do appreciate the generosity" she said looking away at her phone to find an excuse to not keep the eye contact as she was growing shyer. "Text me tomorrow and we will figure something out! It's my day off."

"Awesome," Will grinned. "I'll see you tomorrow....are you parked around here or are you walking home? My hotels across the way but I wanna make sure you get home safely."

Charlotte locked up and Will walked with her around to the back of the shop to her car. He hugged her gently and saw her off. He found himself smiling to himself as he walked back to his hotel and wanted to tell the guys from the band about his night.