The Tattoo Parlor

"Just Friends"

               *Josh's POV*

It was 4:52 on my laptop's clock. I was finishing up this girl's tattoo and eager to see Kaitlyn. The tattoo was a dolphin with her kid's name below it on her ankle. I heard a knock and smiled. "Come in" I said loudly over the buzzing of the tattoo gun.

"Hey, what's up?" she looked at the tattoo I was finishing and tried to make conversation with my client.
The only part that was weird was when I was starting to get the plastic taped over her ankle.

Me and Kaitlyn were laughing really hard at something and then my client said, "You guys are such a cute couple."

We both stopped laughing and tried to say we weren't together. I looked back over at Kaitlyn and noticed the blush still on her cheeks and the smile on her face was still wide. I smirked and felt my face grow hot.

The lady apologized, thanked me, and left. Kaitlyn hopped off one of the stools and onto the empty tattooing chair opposite from me. "You ready to go?" she asked me hesitantly. "Yeah let me just put away my ink" I tried to clean up quickly and without making even more of a mess. "So Madi and Ally will be at my apartment. They're the ones that live out of the country. They're trying to meet Jacksepticeye in Ireland. Polly wants to go with them for Christmas. They say they've come close to seeing him. They don't want to stay in a hotel so they'll be taking turns sleeping in each of our apartments. You'll meet them tonight but everyone else is at work" she explained quickly. I washed my hands and then we walked out to the parking lot. 

I got into my car and followed Kaitlyn's car as she drove to her house. It took us about 15 to 20 minutes later. "There's no reserved parking. Your car is fine where it is" she said shutting her car door. "That's good" I said sarcastically. "I know, it doesn't really matter" she replied. 

She opened the locked glass door and we walked down 1 flight of stairs to get to the basement/first floor. When we walked in she said, "I'm going to change real quick and just... get comfortable" she walked to a room to the left and I noticed two people sitting on the couch. Madi and Ally I guess. "Hi... Josh?" "Yeah" I replied. "I'm Madi and this is my senpai! AKA Ally" she pointed to the girl with shorter hair and whisper-shouted "Say hi! It's Kaitlyn's boyfriend!" 

Ally looked up from her phone, said hello, and went back to texting. "Um... We're not dating. We're just friends" I replied awkwardly. I wish we were, I thought to myself, but she doesn't know me too well. "Yeah... Sure. Friends with benefits" Madi said. Kaitlyn came out of her room and walked across the room with deodorant and went into a different room. "Why did Aaron or Derek put their deodorant in my room?" she hollered from the second room. Madi yelled back, "Because they're weird like that! Scavenger hunt for their stuff! 1.Deodorant 2.Socks 3.Beanie 4. Derek's smokes-" "Shut up senpai no scavenger hunt!" Ally yelled then once more, went  back to texting. 

For a minute I thought Derek and Aaron sounded like one of her boyfriends but then I remember her telling me they were just friends at lunch earlier today. Great. Just friends, like my relationship with her. Kaitlyn ran back to her room and I sat down on the couch. I heard a few things fall, a loud crash, and "FUCK-A-CHICKEN!" I got back up and ran in her room. "Chicken?" I asked. I was worried but I just had to know why she said chicken. "Yeah, inside joke between me and Polly" she said trying to rearrange things on a table. "When we were younger she stubbed her toe, yelled fuck-a-chicken and her mom came in the room and was like 'did you just cuss?!' She replied with hugging her foot and 'no....' " "Can I help you?" I asked as kindly as I could. "No... I was going to give you a tour..." "I like your room so far" I said looking around the walls. 

She had posters EVERYWHERE. On almost every inch of wall space there was something, a poster, magazine clipping, she had stuff like wind chimes hanging from the ceiling, she even had POSTERS on the CEILING. "That's not even the best part" she said heading towards the darkest corner. She flipped on a light and revealed two closets. One was small and full of crap and the other one was also filled with posters, a bed, a TV, and different electronics with charging stations. "Wow" I said walking into the large closet. "This is our hangout." 

I laid down on the mattress and relaxed. Madi and Ally came in and sat down by my feet. "So I'm guessing everything is OK?" Ally said and for the first time since I met her put her phone down. "Yeah, I tried to fix my poster and my 5SOS bulletin board came crashing down on my table" Kaitlyn said turning on the TV and searching Netflix. I sat up and scooted over so that she could sit by me, Madi, and Ally. 

"So you staying the night Josh?" Madi asked me. I looked at Kaitlyn and asked if she was OK with it. She nodded her head and went to get more pillows and blankets. We watched American Dad and spent all night on the internet watching weird viral videos like Don't Hug Me I'm Scared and Charlie The Unicorn or the evwn better spin off, Charlie Teh Unicron.

Madi and Ally slept on the mattress in the closet, Kaitlyn slept on the floor next to them, and I went in the extra room. About 20 minutes later Kaitlyn came in the room.

"I can't sleep and Madi and Ally fell asleep" she said sitting down on the bed. "Well what do you want to do then?" I asked her. "Try to sleep" she said pulling the covers over her. I scooted more over to the wall and tried not to look nervous. "Not what you were expecting, huh?" "Not really" I replied honestly. "Relax, you said we were just friends right?" I was shocked. She heard us in the living room earlier? "Uh... Yeah. Goodnight" I turned over and closed my eyes thinking of today's events. Kaitlyn turned, our backs facing each other. "Goodnight Josh"