Personal assistant

Roses and Dragons

My foot tapped again the floor impatiently. My poor car had been ragged all week through traffic, today I had taken the subway to be quicker, but unfortunately luck wasn't on my side, there were some delays.

"And what time do you call this?" Sofia asked softly, smiling lightly in jest.

"Um... twelve-past seven?" 

I tried, and she rolled her eyes, murmuring "Hmm." In a voice which made me literally shiver, even though I swore it was one hundred degrees in here. It was finally the end of the week, the first time I'd actually been late, even though it was a close call every single morning. Her shirt was a smart black, and her sleeves were rolled up casually due to the heat. As I neared her desk, I was able to glimpse that tattoo in more detail. The intricacy was impressive, and the colours were beautiful. I took the opportunity to study it fully as I sat down, because she was looking at her computer screen. The pattern didn't end where her cuff did, and so I assumed it went further up her arm past her elbow. Though it was large, her forearm wasn't entirely inked so I wouldn't call it a sleeve. The main colours were fiery, dark crimsons and oranges mixed with black, and the design edges were incredibly crisp. The body of a lithe dragon was wrapped around intermittent black and red roses. A clear-cut, series of inky lines were fractured between the print, random yet purposefully placed, all linked to the centre. Vibrant golds peeked along and in between these fine lines, which appeared to glitter as if they were liquid under the sunlight. The mythical beast's wings spiralled up and disappeared under her shirt. The fact this woman even had a tattoo shocked me, and I was so intrigued I desperately wanted to know if there was a reason or story behind it.

"This is stunning, when did you get it done?" I was feeling confident this morning and she pulled her eyes away from her computer screen to look down at it, moving her arm away from the sunlight by blocking it with her body to cast it into shadow. I flicked my eyes up to her face, concerned I'd made her uncomfortable. She was looking at her arm as if it were foreign to her, but briskly shook herself back to present, even tugging up her sleeve slightly higher, revealing a little more for me. Her bicep was undeniably toned, and so the cuff was forced to remain below it. I pondered how far up the design went, and struggled to simmer down at the thought of her showing me any more she may have hiding.

"I suffered an injury and the scar didn't heal right. I hated the way it looked, so I covered it with art, but I can still feel where it was." I tracked my eyes over her forearm, but couldn't see what scar she was referring to. Without thinking, probably because I was absolutely mesmerised, I extended my fingers and brushed faintly over the centre of the design until I felt a raised section, an invisible fault line cloaked by intricate shading. I traced up the length, following along the gold with feather-light touch in an absent minded way. I didn't realise how intimately I was behaving until I reached the bottom of her shirt cuff, looked up to her face and she was staring down at me intently. She wasn't shocked, and she didn't pull away, she just seemed confused, like my behaviour didn't match the little fact file she had put together for me in her head. I retracted my hand hastily and she paid my dauntless actions no attention before she spoke again.

"Surely you have one or two somewhere," she smiled, and I timidly returned the smile. She was right, I did. I had a tiger on my hipbone, and an inking on my wrist which hinted to the sapphic side of myself. That tattoo was usually covered with bracelets and watches in work environments like this.

"You've ogled at mine, it's only fair that I see yours now," she debated, and I gave in. She regarded me, curiosity piqued as I took off my watch and placed it on the table, turning over my forearm to expose my wrist and offering it to her. She took it in her warm hands and studied it. My stomach flipped at how gentle her hold was, I hoped she didn't notice.