Only Us. |j.g|

Chapter Nine - N

Nate centered his concentration hard on finishing the tattoo he was doing on a man, an old Snoop Dogg record playing in the background of the shop. He wiped away blood one last time before eyeing his work, quite pleased with his growth in precision.

"Take a look man." He pushed away, standing up to stretch.

The man sat and gaped at his artwork, "Ah man, I love this shit. You're sick." He smiles to Nate, dapping him with a big smile. This was Nate's favorite part of the whole process, making something come alive for someone.

Nate proceeded to wrap the mans leg, his coworker Janice walking up. She had wild blue hair, face tattoos and piercings everywhere possible, she was pretty punk and extremely bad ass.

"Killer work as always, Nate." She pats his arm.

Nate let himself drop onto his chair, back tense from being busy all day, he rubbed his eyes.
"Why don't you go on home? I'll close up." She waves him off with a sweet smile, Nate gets on his knees and bows to her dramatically.

"Thank you, I appreciate you." He says, wrapping up his stuff and grabbing his jacket before slipping out the door.

The fresh air feels good on his skin, warm and refreshing after a day inside. Instead of heading straight to his car he wanders to the smoothie place a couple shops down. It's a colorful shop with fruit wallpaper that has been featured on one too many girl's Instas. Nate liked to find a quit corner to sip on a super smoothie they called Tropical Trip.

He steps into the busy line and begins fiddling on his phone to distract him from the time. There was always this abundance of similar people online, people he didn't know to hate or to envy.
As he steps up, someone clears their throat to the side of him.

Nate looks up from their Converse, "Shit, hey Lila." he smiles, nerves taking over from the previous night.

She chuckles, obviously nervous as well. "Hi. This place is cool right?"

"Yeah, I've been going here since it opened up." He nods. "What are you doing in town? Your hotel isn't close enough for you to just be here for a smoothie."

"Well, I also came for brownies as well." She holds up a bag. "For your sister and I, of course." The line moves up.

"I guess I'll see you at home then." Nate jokes, regretting it quickly. How could he be even more corny than usual?

"I guess so." She laughs. "See 'ya."

Nate let's out an breath he wasn't aware he was holding in, stepping forward to order, that enchanting blonde invading every thought.

_

Nate stepped inside his home, moving forward to the main room to find Lila and his mother. They greeted him as he skeptically eyed them.

"Elsie isn't here so I told Lila not to rush and go, she should be back soon." His mother smiled.

"Yeah, if she doesn't show up in a bit, I'll go." Lila blushes.

"It's cool, we can hang and wait for her. I'm sure she has a ride home." Nate says sweetly. "Thanks mom."

"It's always good to see you, Lila." She gives her a squeeze before running off to finish work in her office.

"If you want me to go I can, I don't wanna bother you-"

"You're not bothering me, Lila." He says, her shoulders relax. "I'm going to go upstairs and change really fast."