The Boy With The Face Tattoo

The Meeting

"No I told her five times that I can't stay later," I said to Kat turning the corner of the aisle. It was 6 pm and the manager of the supermarket we worked at had just come to ask me, again, to stay until 12 am instead of 11 when I was supposed to. "But I don't want to be here alone" Kat began to say. As I turned to answer her, I saw the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life talking to the manager at the front of the store. He was dark skin with a tattoo on his face and an earring in both ears. The supermarket had just opened a month ago and we were still hiring new people. I assumed that was one of the new hires. My eyes couldn't leave him as he went to swipe in with his new employee card. "Him," I said to her putting away the pancake mix in my cart.

"What are you talking about?" She asked me, clearly confused.

"I have to go!"

While talking to her, I had lost the mystery boy. Damn it. I continued pushing my cart past the people and through the aisles. I had two more carts left to do before I could leave for the day, but I couldn't stop thinking about the boy with the tattoo face. Some people say that when boys have that, it means that they killed someone or that they were in a gang. If that's the case, he's just my type. Lost in my thoughts, when I turned into the ethic aisle to put away the cream sodas there he was. He looked up and smiled at me. I smiled back turning to a pulp. I have to have this man. I left my cart at the back of the aisle and ran through the semi-empty store to find Kat. It was Tuesday, so there was barely any rush. She was in the back playing with the boy from dairy.

"Kat I need to talk to you right now!" I said frantically.

"What is it?"

"I just found my boyfriend and I'm going to have him"

"Who are you talking about?"

"The new boy, the one with the tattoo on his face-"

"Tamia calm down. Who are you talking about!"

. You're just a witness. Watch and see! He's beautiful and I'm going to make him my boyfriend."

I looked around the store and found him again. Angostura bitters. That was the only thing in my cart that I wasn't sure where it went. I ran back to my cart in ethic foods and I went over to the area he was in and started looking around confused. This was the only way I could speak to him without looking crazy. Even though I had already decided he would be my boyfriend, I had to make sure that he talked and acted as he should. Looks aren't everything. I'm not the type of girl that believes in love at first sight but this was definitely it. He was packing out waters behind me. His uniform shirt was off and he was wearing a white T-shirt showing his muscles as he lifted them. I turned to him.

"Hi!" I said it perkier than I've ever said something in my life.

"Hello." he said back. It was somber, but it was still the start of a conversation.

"Do you know where this goes?" I picked up the bitters and showed him. The question seemed silly coming out of my mouth. I knew it was his first day.

"Lemme see." he said taking it from my hand.

He came in front of me and took the bottle from my hand.

"Courtney said it goes over here" I started "But I didn't see it. I usually can't see top shelves though. I'm kinda short"

He chuckled. "Yeah I can definitely see that, it's right there."

"Omg thank you! You totally saved me, that was my last item. You can't be my hero without telling me your name." At this point, I was grinning like a complete idiot.

"Tyrone" He looked back down at his work.

"So you're not going to ask me mine?"

"I already know yours because I read your nametag Tamia" he chuckled.

My cheeks immediately turned red.

"Okay then. I'll let you get back to your work"

"It was really nice meeting you Tamia."

"You too" I said back staring at his tattoo. It said hustle in a circle. Good to know.

I figured that that was enough conversation for the day. The rest of it went fairly well. I noticed that he had two friends that had just started too. Devin and Riq. Devin was tall with dreads and apparently had a thing for May, which he told her the first time he saw her. He was super friendly to everyone though, so we didn't really think much of it. Riq was quiet and nobody paid him much mind. Together they made the new crew. They were the only new hires that came that week so that's what we called them.

When I left at 11 that day, I completely forgot his name. But I did have his face tattooed in my brain, his voice tattooed in my ears and his cool demeanor tattoed in my heart. Like I said, I usually don't have this problem. But it was something about this boy. I had to get to know him, no matter what it took.