Office Hours |h.s|

eighty seven

Maude

"You know what we should do?"

I look over at Cassidy, raising my eyebrows which only makes her laugh since I'm dangling upside-down over the edge of her bed, watching her go through my closet. We've decided to spend the weekend purging my stuff in an attempt to start over post Harry.

Honestly, I feel good. Of course I miss him more than anything, but I'm glad we got to have that moment. It gave us some form of closure that I was definitely looking for. I know he has his friends and that they'll take care of him until he's okay with it too.

From now on, I'm just moving on. Trying to rid my life of him. I need to just start over and usher in a new era of Maude.

"Tell me!" I complain, but end up joining her in laughing.

"Okay okay. Let's go get tattoos! I know this place in Boston, they do walk-ins. Noah's friends with the owner since he's his tattoo artist. Let's get tattoos! They don't have to match, but I think it would be fun!"

Old Maude? She would say no because her parents have told her a million times she's not allowed to get tattoos because they're unprofessional.

But the new Maude is a different story. "Okay, let's get tattoos."

Now she looks surprised, "Oh, wow, I thought it was gonna take some convincing."

"Let's go today! Right now, come on, it'll be so fun!" I hop out of bed, ignoring the head rush that comes when I'm finally right side up. "I'm tired of looking through clothes anyway."

Maybe I'm overcompensating with the whole "I'm fine and happy to be moving on" mood I'm in, but I actually am excited to get a tattoo.

"Well what are you even going to get? You decided you were gonna get a tattoo five seconds ago, slow down a bit." She follows me as I head out of my room.

"I'll think about it on the drive! Let's go!"

Laughing, we get our coats and shoes on and go out to the car. The drive to Boston is about twenty minutes, which we spend brainstorming what ideas we have for tattoos. We also decide that I need a haircut. No better way to get over a breakup than cutting your hair off and permanently marking your body.

We park at the tattoo place first since it's a walk in and I had to call into a salon to make an appointment for later in the day.

"Fine Lines... Interesting name choice." I tease as we get out of the car.

Cass laughs as we make our way inside. The place looks pretty clean and like it's one of the higher-end tattoo shops in town. The girl at the front desk has fun colored hair and is accompanied by a little girl no bigger than three. Cass and I share an amused smile before we approach.

"Hi, we called like ten minutes ago and walk-ins, I'm Maude." I flash a quick smile and the girl smiles back.

"Okay great, of course. And you wanted to get tattoos right? Not piercings?"

"Right. Just tattoos." Cassidy answers for me since she's probably scared I'll throw caution to the wind and get a belly button piercing or something in the name of change.

After some typing, the girl nods. "Okay great, you guys could have a seat." She turns toward the little girl. "Oak, why don't you go let Robby know he has two walk-ins?" The girl giggles and nods, getting down off the counter with some help before running further into the shop, her little fairy wings flopping behind her.

She comes back after a minute and gets helped back onto the counter with a smile. It's hard not to watch her as she tells the front desk girl about the drawing she's doing and how she hopes her dad and mom like it. It's really adorable to be honest.