step into the sun || c.m

chapter twenty two

"It's gonna hurt, I'm trying to be real with you!" Connor laughed in his defense. Even though she seemed a bit frustrated with him, her fingers were still tightly wrapped around his hand. She leaned back taking in a hot, frustrated breath. 

"What normal supportive best friends would say is, 'It will only feel like a flu shot! You'll be fine, it'll be worth it in the long run!'" She groaned, her fingers tightening every breath she took, even though it was seemingly impossible to do so. 

"You see, it really is a lose, lose situation. You would either be angry with me now for being truthful, or angry with me later for lying. I just decided to get the anger over with." He shrugged, trying to get her fingers to loosen around his hand. They wouldn't. 

"Mm, well fuck you." She turned her head to face him. "But don't let go of my hand." She stated, turning her head away again, focusing on the rather large, muscly man who was getting the tattoo gun ready. They had literally walked in, showed the guy behind the counter the flower, signed some wavers, and Cierra hopped in the chair. It was simple, and the man, who looked like the most stereotypical tattoo artist in the world, with his leather getup, cut off sleeves, and huge muscles. His entire body was seemingly covered in tattoos, even his bald head. Connor thought that seemed sort of dangerous. 

"Please don't break my fingers." He chuckled, giving her hand a tiny squeeze, which was absolutely nothing in comparison to what she was doing to his hand. She let out a scoff, her eyes still trained on the tattoo gun, with a fairly small needle,  but a needle nonetheless. And needles are horrifying.

"They are about to break my fucking skin, you can deal if I break your fingers." She let go of his hand just slightly, just to where he started to feel some sort of circulation go into his hand. 

"Yanno what I've been thinking about." He started, trying to get her mind off of things. Her attention was ripped away from the horrifying man and she faced him. Some of her hair was falling out of the doughnut formation she had piled on the top of her head. He forced himself not to push it out of her face. "I haven't smoked pot since like, Christmas." She raised an eyebrow, as if not to believe him. "Seriously, and I can't remember the last time I smoked a cigarette." He wasn't lying. He kinda just decided to not smoke weed when Cierra told him she was leaving. It seemed like a waste of time to smoke when he could be soberly taking her in. Sure, he had a cigarette here and there, and they often shared one. But during their entire month of adventures, they hadn't smoked at all. They did drink, some nights a lot. Especially that one time they went to a club. He swore he got alcohol poisoning that night. Okay, they went to a club a couple of times and got almost black out drunk. He wouldn't admit it, but during the agonizing time they spent apart, he went to that club yet again, and got completely knock out drunk. 

"We smoked one together last week." Cierra chuckled, and he nodded, remembering. They were in Cierra's living room, watching Psycho, and Cierra pulled out a pack of cigarettes and they smoked a couple. 

"Well, I haven't smoked weed in a while." He shrugged. 

"We should get high tonight." He nearly choked on his own saliva. Cierra was never one for weed, she said it made her head feel really tight. She said she never understood why Connor did it so often. He really used to, before the horrible news was dropped. He did it usually when he was alone, to get the longing feeling of being without Cierra out of his head. Before the news was dropped, they didn't spend quite as much time together. They were still probably the only other human beings other than immediate family members that they talked to. So he found himself smoking weed the hours he spent without her. But ever since they found out their time together was limited, he didn't really spend much time without her. And that month they spent apart, he traded in weed for sleep. 

"Cierra, you hate weed." He chuckled a little, noticing her fingers were now loosely locked around his hand, much more relaxed than before. 

"It'll be a one time thing. We go to my house, go in my basement and get high. Sound like a plan?" She raised an eyebrow. The idea did sound appealing, but he also knew you lose a bit of your sense of reality when you get high. He didn't want something to slip out. Then again, she would be high as well. He could simply lie if she remembered, or whatever. He could figure something out. He was good at getting out of situations. Plus, it was always sort of a goal to get high with his best friend. 

"Listen I-" Connor was almost instantly cut off by muscular tattoo man who had apparently gotten everything ready to ink Cierra's collarbone up. 

"You ready?" His voice was deep and bellowing, and his deep auburn beard barely seemed to move as the words left his lips. They both nodded. Cierra's hand stayed tight around Connor's hand, getting tighter by the second. Muscular man, who he could finally see was named Shane by his name tag, pulled up a stool, and the needle pressed onto her skin. He heard his knuckles pop when her fingers got tighter. 

"Holy fuck." She whispered, following the instructions she was given as she was signing the wavers of not moving much whilst the tattoo artist was working so they could get optimal results. 

"It hurt as much as I said?" Connor chuckled, taking every deathly squeeze she gave him as the needle hit her skin over and over again. Connor saw the stem starting to form just below her collar bone after about ten or fifteen minutes. 

"Oh and then some." She managed to mutter out. The man was working incredibly fast, it being forty five and the rose was basically complete. The rest of the most likely hour and ten minute session was spent Cierra breathing and getting her grip on his hand to loosen as much as possible, and the actual tattoo artist adding some finishing touches and getting the rose petals to really look as if they were floating back up to the top. 

"You two aren't getting matching tattoos, right?" Shane asked, his attention staying completely on Cierra's shoulder. They both looked at one another and laughed a little, Cierra making sure that she wasn't moving all that much. 

"No, no we aren't." Connor answered, the laugh in his voice staying as he answered. Shane looked up for just a moment, eyeing Cierra and Connor for just a couple of seconds. He let out a laugh of his own. 

"Good, you won't last." They both looked at one another yet again, and shared a silent laugh. They didn't correct him. Most people would think that they were dating, everyone thought so really. They looked like a grungy couple that shares cigarettes and does artsy shit. Which wasn't totally wrong. They just ignored it. Once Shane was done, her hand didn't leave Connor's.

"See, wasn't so bad." Connor nudged her a little bit as Shane went to go and get the dressings for her wound. Cause yes, tattoos are considered wounds. Cierra got a booklet on how to take care of her healing tattoo, and a little bottle of cleanser. 

"I guess the end result is worth it." She breathed, letting out a shitton of hot air. Shane eventually came back, bandaging up her tattoo, giving her the spiel on how to take care of it, and what to look for when healing and what to pay attention to to know if it's infected or not. 

Her hand didn't let go of Connor's even as they walked out of the tattoo parlor, Cierra's sweater pulled all the way down past her collarbone. She kept her fingers laced with his, a little less tight as they continued to walk to the car. 

"So you have weed?" She sighed, looking over to Connor, trying to push any regret out of her voice. She wanted to make sure Connor knew she was all for this. He looked over at her, pushed those loose strands of blonde hair that were in her face at the tattoo parlor that were bothering the living hell out of him, and smiled at her. 

"It's almost offensive you even have to ask." 

author's note// i have caught feelings for this guy who is cute and talented and swEEt and i LIke himM so MUCH!! heLp meE,, also sorry this was short the next chapter is actUally gonna be LIT aF also the writing in this one was shit i am SorrY it was lowkey a filler