Crossroads

Reflection

Friday, June 10th, 3:45pm:

"Jai, stop it."

Jai pulled his hand away from his mouth, immediately feeling the urge to chew at what was left of his fingernails again.

"You're going to chew your entire damn hand off," Dylan chuckled, looking up from his sketchbook after hearing Jai sigh. "You nervous?"

"I don't think so," Jai shrugged as he looked out the front window of the shop. The world was passing by in what seemed like slow motion. "I don't think nervous isn't the right word for what I'm feeling."

He was feeling a million different things right now. Unsure? Yes. Worried? Yup. Nervous? Not really. He knew exactly what was coming at him.

"Well, whatever it is you're feeling," Dylan stood up from his spot at the front desk as he closed his sketchbook. "Relax. It's going to be great, he's going to be cool."

This 'he' Dylan was referring to was Luke.

Since Monday, Jai and Luke had been relaying short messages here and there. On Tuesday night they exchanged phone numbers. By Wednesday afternoon they made plans to finally meet in person on Friday. On Thursday, Luke clarified that it was just the two of them that were going to meet; Beau hadn't yet come to terms with the situation.

So, that morning, Jai gave Luke the tattoo shop's address and told him he was welcome to come in at any time after his shift.

Seeing as Jai's shift was less than fifteen minutes away from being over, the anxiety was settling in just fine.

Jai wasn't worried about Luke being 'cool,' as Dylan had reassured him his twin would be. He was worried about disappointing Luke.

The more he thought about it, Jai wasn't much. Although he was artistically talented and lived a comfortable life financially, his social life wasn't outrageously interesting and his future felt secure. He was pretty boring, to put it simply.

Hence, Jai was worried Luke would quickly see that after all of the emotional effort, connecting with Jai wasn't actually worth it.

If that were to happen, Jai would have thrown off his beloved, balanced life for nothing.

The shop door suddenly swung open; Jai jumped out of his own skin. He was relieved when he saw that it was only one of Dylan's clients, showing up for his four o'clock appointment.

This meant that Jai's shift was over, and he'd be meeting his twin brother quite soon.

"How's it going?" Dylan greeted the guy with a grin, before leading them back to his station.

"I'm really excited," the customer responded as he sat in Dylan's chair. "It's hotter than balls out there, could I snag a water before you get going, man?"

"I got it," Jai offered from his spot in the window, jumping at first the chance to take his mind off the jittery feelings he was experiencing.

It didn't seem like he'd spent too long finding a water bottle in the backroom, but it wasn't too long before he heard Dylan calling out his name somewhat impatiently.

"I'm sorry I'm coming—" Jai walked out to the front, bottle in hand. He quickly realized, however, that Dylan wasn't calling Jai's name simply for the water.

It took a second for Jai to gather his thoughts and senses—everything he'd seemingly just lost in the quick moment it took for him to realize that Luke was there, standing in front of him, in the tattoo shop.