The Mentor

Chapter 40

The next few days went by without Scott, and I honestly had sort of been avoiding Kyle since our encounter in the supply room. I had to figure out what was really going on between him and Candi before our rendezvous went any further than they already had. I already felt a wave of guilt crashing over me about what happened in my car, and I didn't want to take things any further until I got more information. 

I didn't realize how much I'd truly missed Scott until I found myself alone in my apartment finally allowing my thoughts to drift away from Kyle. I had spent a lot of my time sitting on the couch staring at my phone begging for him to text me back, since our conversations had gotten a lot more sparse than they were when we were in NY. I stared at the phone and waited all day long on my days off, only getting ready to take Instagram pictures to draw his attention, which only worked sometimes. 

One thing that I couldn't stop thinking about was when Kyle broke the news to me that he was going to be entering into the lineup to judge a three day long tattoo convention in San Francisco next year, the big one. The Golden City Tattoo Convention was a huge deal in the community among tattooers and enthusiasts alike. It was invite only, whether you were an artist or just an attendee looking to get some work done. You couldn't just go online and buy tickets for this thing, you had to make your mark first somehow and then send in a letter. All the artists that went were hand picked after sending in their letters and portfolios as well as an audition tape talking about yourself. Whoever was selected to judge had to go in in person and do a full interview, and each judge got to bring an artist of their choosing with them, after said artist went through the screening process of course.  Kyle seemed very excited to be getting interviewed for the con, and while he didn't mention me specifically, I imagined he would want to bring me for friendship and publicity's sake. I wasn't planning on writing in, but I was definitely going to do it if Kyle was going. All hotels and expenses were paid for by the owners of the con. After thinking about all of it for a while, I got lost in the fantasy of spending a lot of special time with Kyle in San Fran. But the con was over a year away, what the hell was I getting so nervous and worked up for? 

But when I wasn't worrying about Kyle texting me back or the big tattoo convention, my mind went out to Scott. I of course hadn't heard from him since he went into the rehab program, and I barely noticed that he'd been gone for longer than just a few days, but maybe he had gotten an extension. I didn't really know how these kinds of programs worked anyways so I just tried to let it go, but I did miss him. He was not only a good mentor, but a good...friend? I don't know, but my heart went out to him whenever the thought crossed my mind. I wrote him a letter and sent it to the facility but didn't receive a response, but I didn't get the letter back either so I guess it was delivered. 

One day at work, just like any other, the day came to an end. All the staff was getting ready to go home but I was taking some extra time to be alone and clean out my room. The packages of my equipment had just been sitting in the shipping boxes for a while, so I unpacked all the stuff and organized it into drawers. I had my music blaring and it got done a lot faster that way. I ordered new ink and put it all in color order on my new floating shelves, trying to bring a sense of style to the place. Once everyone left for the night, I stayed a while longer watching TV and sweeping up. You know, the little chores. I got so wrapped up in my show that I didn't hear the bell on the front door jingle. 

Suddenly, there was a knock on the sliding door to my booth that nearly made me jump out of my skin, but I slid the door open to find Scott standing on the other side, tall and proud. He looked healthier than I had seen him in months. The dark circles under hie eyes were less noticeable, the color had returned to his face, and the subtle smile on his face seemed genuine. Tears welled up in my eyes as I suddenly threw my arms around him and held him tightly. He held me back and chuckled to himself.