Crossroads

Confusion

Friday, June 3rd

> 8:00am<

Jai's eyes fluttered open to the sound of his alarm clock going off. He didn't have to be in at the shop until 10, but it was finally Friday. He got up and dressed before heading to the nearest Starbucks, sketchbook in hand--his usual Friday morning routine.

This Friday morning was no different—he put his headphones on and started to sketch out tattoo ideas. When he finished his coffee as well as one of his sketches, he got up to leave for work before he felt a hand clap down on his shoulder, catching him off guard. He turned to face the culprit and saw that it was Dylan, waving at him with a cheery smile.

"I've been trying to get your attention for like five minutes, bro," he laughed as Jai pulled his headphones down from over his ears.

"Fuck, sorry mate," Jai pointed at the headphones hanging around his neck. "These things are killer soundproof."

"No worries man, you're about to head over to the shop right?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah," Jai nodded. "I'll wait for you if you'd like."

"Sweet," Dylan said before gesturing to the counter space where customers were told to wait for their orders. "I'll just be a second."

As soon as Dylan grabbed his coffee they were out the door and on their way to the shop.

>4:00pm<

The shop was dead at the moment—neither Jai nor Dylan had any scheduled appointments, and no one seemed to feel like randomly getting a tattoo at four in the afternoon.

There was no noise besides the music playing throughout the shop. Dylan sat at the desk up front and tapped his fingers along to the drums in the track, while Jai sat at his station and looked over his sketches of tattoo concepts from that morning. Just a bunch of skulls, roses, x's and o's; the usual.

"Ugh this song blows," Dylan groaned to no one in particular as the track changed; it was another unrecognizable shitty alternative rock song that their had boss picked out.

"Wish he'd let us play our music," Jai responded, tracing a pencil over a sketch to make one of the lines thicker. "Some more classic shit would be cool."

Dylan spun around on his stool; obviously surprised Jai bothered to answer his complaint.

"Yeah," he said. "Like Nirvana," he nodded and lifted an arm to point at the band design displayed on Jai's favorite shirt.

"Yeah," Jai chuckled as he glanced down at the shirt, "That'd be good."

More silence.

"You workin' on tattoo concepts over there?"

"Yeah."

"Can I see?"

"Sure."

"These are dope."

"Thanks mate."

"You should try selling them."

"Maybe."

"How come we don't hang out more?"

"Huh?" Jai was stunned by the question; their conversation had been going so smoothly before.

"I mean, we hang out every once in a while," Dylan shrugged. "But I feel like we have so much in common that it doesn't even make sense that we don't do more together."

Jai guessed he had a point, and if he had to pick anyone out of the people he knew in Los Angeles to be his closest friend, he'd probably pick Dylan. That is, if they hung out more.