Skye quickly pulls up on the side of the road in downtown Tampa, with Punk City's sign lit up in LED lights. The fake palm trees were hit slowly by light breezes, and some shops were still open, with their signs also lit up. It was still really nice out, and oh, I think we beat FOB.
"Did we do it?!" Skye exclaims, looking in her rearview mirror. I look behind me, and so does Kass. We see a large bus making a turn onto this street, and we hop out of the car. The bus honks at us, loudly, and we all cheer in victory. A few cars ahead, a huge, open spot was spotted by the bus driver, and they park on the side of the road up there. We walk up onto the sidewalk, waiting by the entrance of Punk City for the guys.
"If it wasn't for GENIUS JOE over here, we wouldn't have gotten lost!" Pete exclaims, walking towards us. The rest of the guys were laughing along with him, and their laughing made us laugh.
"One hundred, please," Skye says, standing directly in front of Pete, with her hand out. She never laid her eyes off Pete, demanding the money with a smirk. He sighs and grabs his one hundred out of his pocket, and Skye grabs it with satisfaction.
We follow Kass in, Patrick holding the door for all of us. Pete and Kass start to look around, wondering what this place was all about. "In Bloom" by Nirvana was playing faintly over the noise of tattoo guns inking skin. Patrick and I stay back behind them, as Andy started to become interested, along with Joe and Skye. I started to wonder who was going to be tattooed tonight.
"Yo! Pete Wentz! Whaddup buddy?" I hear some guy say, as I take a seat by the window nearest to the door. Patrick sits down next to me, and I try to think about what to say next.
"No tattoo for you?" I laugh.
"Hell no. I have nothing to get inked," Patrick tells me, looking at the rest of our group, laughing.
"April, I'm gonna get a tattoo!" Skye exclaims, out of nowhere. She looks through a binder of designs, and I wasn't sure if this was Skye's type of place to be at. She was a girl who you'd think would have a bunch of tattoos (she has many piercings), but she didn't. She told Kass and I she would never, ever, get a tattoo, but I think I know who convinced her...
"Hell yeah!" Pete exclaims, giving her a high five. It was Skye's life, but I didn't want her to make any bad decisions. Then again, she was also an adult, so what do I care what she does?
"Oh boy," Patrick mumbles. I laugh a subtle laugh and close my eyes, sighing.
"Let's just get it over with so we can go out to the bar," I mumble, looking down at the ground, hoping Patrick wouldn't hear me. To my surprise, he did, and he looks at me.
"We can get a head start if you want," he laughs. I smile and him and we sneak out of the tattoo place, nonchalantly. As he holds the door open for me, a nice, cool breeze hits my face. I knew this was going to be a fun night, and it would be even more fun once everyone got together and had some drinks.
"What bar were you guys looking to go to?"
"Nothing specific. Do you know any nice ones?" he asks, politely. I laugh a little.
"I'm not a huge drinker, but I've heard the bar Waterfront is really nice. On the water and has like, a rooftop standing area."
"Neither am I, but holy smokes, I'm in," Patrick says, laughing slightly. As I laugh along with him, I tell him that it's in walking distance from here, and we both agree to walk there. He texts Joe to tell the rest of the guys and girls that we're going to Waterfront.
As he puts his phone back in his pocket, I look at him. "No glasses tonight?"
He looks at me, confused, and then lets out another laugh. "Oh, no. I just like to switch it around once in awhile. Always fedora, though. Always."
