tattoos || c.h.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ sɪx

mia

"i'm paying." my best friend tells me as soon as i reach for money in my wallet. "my tattoo and i forced you to get one." she explains why she's going to pay.

i let out a huff and lean against the wall that's in front of the counter you walk up to when walking into the tattoo parlor.

ashton and june talk as she pays and i decide to scroll through my messages, seeing my dads have texted me a few times today. i check my calls and see if they've called me. no surprise they've called me multiple times today.

i walk out of the building and call my car freak dad. he called me more times than my other dad. as usual, he answers my call swiftly.

"are you ignoring me?" he jokes around. whenever i don't answer his calls he always jokes that i'm ignoring him.

"could never." i lean against the brick building. "just been busy. oh! i got a few more tattoos and june and i got matching ones!" i inform him on the new ink on my skin.

"can't wait to see them!" he seems genuinely interested. my dads have always been interested in my life and have supported me in everything i do. i'm lucky i have them. "speaking of which. when will you be visiting your dad and me?"

"i don't know, but i will be coming for thanksgiving and christmas. i miss you two." i answer his question as i see a body walk towards me in the corner of my eye. i turn to the look and there stands calum. "i'll call you back, love you."

"love you, too!" he replies before we end the call.

"hello." i place my phone into my back pocket as i face calum who now stands a few feet from me. i hate people who're taller than me, specifically people over the height of 6' ft, i always have to look up to keep eye contact and it makes my neck hurt. "may i help you?"

"just came to tell you that your friend and ashton have decided to get into a nice conversation that seems to not end any time soon." calum explains and i lean the right side of my body on the brick wall, due to the fact i stood up when calum walked over.

"i'm her ride." i let out a sigh as i rest my head on the brick and close my eyes. this woman and always starting random conversations that could go on for hours and hours.

"why'd you leave in a hurry yesterday?" calum asks at out of the blue. that's very random, but it's a fair question. i did place down $500 and ran out.

"there's times where i just want to yell at these people." i admit to calum. "it's either 'i didn't ask for these kind of photos' or 'thank you'. and it's, ironically, these mid age, rich, prissy women who throw these stupid fits." not like i'm going to see this guy again unless i'm getting another tattoo. "but i keep it together and don't lose it."

"that sometimes here, except it's teenagers." he relates with annoying rich people as he leans against the brick wall with me. with him so close i can finally take in his features. his chubby cheeks, his dark brown eyes, his beautifully shaped lips, his black tank top showing me two tattoos on his collarbone.

"what's the feather and roman numerals for?" i trace his body one more time before looking up to see him already staring at me.

"it was supposed to be a silver fern, but it looks more of a feather. the roman numerals is when i met all my best mates." he explains the meaning behind the two tattoos. "i would ask about yours but i don't think there'd be enough time for all of those explanations." he jokes with me. i know he's joking as he fails to hide a slight smile.

"ask for a few." i tell him. i'd be glad to answer the questions he has about my tattoos. it's also the least i could do as he explained his to me when he didn't have to.

"when i did your cross tattoo," he points to my right ear, "i saw your neck tattoo."

"oh, you mean the 'kiss here' one?" i raise my eyebrows and he nods. "it's my favorite place to be kissed, thought it'd be funny to get it."

"the two sunflowers on your right forearm?" he asks about my one of my favorite tattoos.

"they're my favorite flowers." i smile as i move my arm to show the two flowers. "also both of my dads tattoos."

"'both dads?'" he picks up on that.

"you'd think with that sentence i'm adopted, but i'm one's biological daughter, but when my mom and him got divorced because he found out he was gay. she wasn't a huge fan, so she just left in general. no goodbye. literally packed up and moved with no communication. but i have another cool ass dad, so i'm fine. my biological dad, tyler, raised me by himself for a good four years before edward moved in and they got married two years later." i take a huge breath. "that was a lot. sorry." i laugh at how i opened up that much to him.

"no, you're fine." there's a smile tugging on the side of calum's lips as he shakes his head. "it's nice advice for a friend of mine." he tells me.

"dad stayed and mom left with no goodbye?" i raise my eyebrows and gives a slight nod. "sorry for the dude, but he's going to be fine. at least the kid doesn't have to choose a favorite parent." i try to lighten the mood and calum chuckles.

"i guess that's true." he says. "but he feels like total shit. he's trying his best to be a present dad, but he's working long hours to make sure he can support both of them."

"sit down with him and let him just talk about all of it, or if he doesn't feel that comfortable get a close friend of his and do that." i give him a piece of advice to give to his friend. "sometimes it's easier to talk about it with someone. sometimes the kid can pick up on it too. not every kid, but some do."

"really?" his tone of voice and facial expression show he's scared. hold. the. fuck. up.

"what's your friends name?" i ask and he has the same look of panic he did at the store. "i mean it'll actually probably be easier to talk to a stranger who he'll never see again. doesn't have to worry about it spreading to other people he knows." the panic leaves his face as he realizes that i caught on.

"when, uh, did you, i guess figure it out?" calum stumbles with a few of his words.

"put together the panic of ice cream and the panic on your face a second ago and you get it." i explain how i "figured" it out. "if you do need some advice i could easily let you talk to my dad. he struggled for a little while too." i offer him and he shakes his head with a small smile on his lips.

"it's fine." he says and he seems more relaxed now. "i can figure this out on my own." i don't know if he's reassuring himself or me. either way, i don't want him to feel like shit.

"don't feel like shit by the way. from the way you panicked over a brand of ice cream i'm pretty sure you're a great dad already." i continue to joke about how he freaked over ice cream.

"thanks." dimples find their way next to his lips and eyes scrunch again because of his smile.

"mia, i got his number!" june yells and i stand up to look to the side of calum, not being able to see over his tall figure. "oh... uhm, please don't tell your friend i got this excited over his number." she soon realizes calum's presence.

"don't worry." he laughs as we both see someone walk into the store. "i won't tell him, but i gotta go." he walks away before turning around. "nice talking to you, mia." calum turns to his left to walk back into his tattoo parlor.

"what's with you two?" june wiggles her eyebrows and i hit her shoulder as we walk to my car. "i just want to know what's going on in my best friends love life. is that so bad?"

"june." i say sternly as we hop into my car. "we're not even friends. just acquaintances." i start the car and carefully pull out the parking spot.