Pins and Needles

I was Burger King desperate

"One more minute," I told Jill. My nervous stomach was twirling around in my body and my hands were a little clammy.

"One more minute? If I stand here any longer I might turn into a statue," Jill argued. She was slowly losing her patience and I didn't blame her. We'd been standing in front of the building for at least ten minutes. Teenage Gwen would've just marched in there like she owned the place but Adult Gwen wasn't feeling it. I didn't know how to adult.

"It's just weird. This is weird. We should leave," I said, nodding my head excessively.

"It's not weird. You're just gonna meet Brad. Don't see it as a job interview," My friend tried to calm me down but you couldn't put flowers in a butthole and call it a vase. This wasn't a nice get together, this was a fucking job interview. I knew it. Brad knew it and I was sure as hell that Jill knew it.

"Why would he even go for someone like me?" I pondered out loud.

"Someone talented? Yeah, no idea," Jill snorted. "Hey, you said I could intervene when you'd start looking for jobs at McDonalds."

"I didn't even apply there!" I knew Jill was trying to distract me from my nerves and in her own weird way she was actually succeeding.

"Just because Burger King has the word king in it doesn't mean it's more prestigious," she said while raking her hands through her hair. It was a hot summer day and we were both melting.

"Whatever," I muttered. It's the prize you paid for doing something artsy. I got full scholarship and ended up doing quite well. I even got an amazing internship during my final year in college and from the beginning they hinted at a job opportunity if they liked my work. Turned out they didn't like my work, they loved it. With a lot of confidence I started my last day of interning only to find out they'd found someone with more experience. Bye Gwen, it was nice knowing you. Stupid assholes.

I came back home after graduation and found no luck in finding a job. I was getting desperate. I was Burger King desperate. Jill had been telling me for weeks that Brad was looking for someone to help him in his tattoo parlor. Technically it was his brother's parlor but he decided to go traveling around the world, leaving Brad to fend for himself.

My experience with tattoos? Those stick on tattoos you got at a gumball machine as a kid. Yeah, I was way in over my head with this one but Jill didn't really give a fuck, that much I knew.

"Oops, I'm opening the door," she said as the pushed the door and went in. I used every curse word I knew against her but followed her inside anyway.

"Love you too, sweetie," Jill laughed.

"Jill, hi! It's been so long," Brad greeted Jill enthusiastically and kissed her cheek. "You must be Gwen," he said after looking at me. I shook his hand and felt uncomfortable because my hands had been sweating profusely. Partly because of the weather, mostly because of the nerves. Brad didn't seem to notice though and if he did, he acted like he hadn't. He had short, blond hair although it was darker than my platinum blonde hair. I noticed his brow piercing before my eyes caught his brown ones. He was wearing a shirt which revealed his tattooed arms. I guess he needed to sell his brand but he suited them really well. He was pretty hot in a rugged kinda way. I'd dated that kinda rugged before and it never ended well. Why was I even thinking about this? Brad could be my potential boss. I swear there was a dog in heat living in my brain.

"Ooh look at all the pretty pictures," Jill said as she looked at all the pictures of tattoos on the wall. I'd been too focused on Brad to notice the interior of the parlor. It was nice, I think. I couldn't really compare it with other tattoo parlors. The walls were filled with pictures and artwork.