Where Promises Must Glide

05 - Theo

Enjoy my loved 😘

I still smile when I think of her.

The way her cheeks tinted pink when I made bad flirtations towards her, or her giggle that was intoxicating to hear.

"Ay, how about you guys take five, this guy needs some water," I hear Crosby come over and say. I look over at the guy I was tattoo and he was sweating bullets, looking ready to pass out. He was getting a chest tattoo of his girlfriends name, and it was only his third tattoo ever.

The other two were placed in areas that barely hurt. "Did you eat today?" I retorted an earlier question I already asked before he even started the process.

"I had something light," the man replied which made me want to slap my forehead. I got up, setting down the needle and all my supplies on the tray, before removing my gloves and grabbing him some food I always keep for these situations.

I got a bag of chips and some fruit, cookies and crackers as-well so he can hopefully not pass out on me. "If you prefer, there is a restaurant down the road, I can send someone to order you something?" I ask.

"No this should be fine, it's just been so long since I got the last tattoo that I forgot the whole process," he explained, but I didn't really care for an explanation. It was another long day of full bookings and some pretty annoying customers.

Usually, I ignore it, but sometimes they try getting personal with the insults they throw at you—which always gets my blood boiling. I got out of my seat, letting the guy take his time finishing the snacks, and grabbed my phone.

I adjusted the music that was playing in the room before checking my messages and emails. Nothing important, just spam stuff and coupons to a soap store I visited once.

I had one miss call and voicemail. "Hello Mr. Callahan, this is the Richmond fire department informing you that a small fire started in your house, and if you could come over as soon as possible." Once the message stop playing, I was already grabbing my jacket and running over.

>>><<<

All I could muster up was a string of curse words when I saw the fire truck standing outside my house. Some neighbors were outside watching, which made me want to curse even more.

"Mr. Callahan?" One of the firemen asked. It looked as if the fire was mostly gone, I don't even know what was damaged, except for the broken window I can see on my first floor.

"That's me," I reply, trying to catch my breath after running from the tattoo shop to here—which takes a good five minutes.

The fireman walked me over to the side of the truck, out of view from all the people except one—her. She was watching the whole time, face slightly pale as she looked at me, then the house.

"It was a small gas leak, a mess up with the company fixing your stoves," he began to explain, and I released a deep breath thankfully it wasn't something big. I hired people to come in during the afternoon to fix my stove since it wasn't working for the past three days.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, really wishing I had something to punch right about now. "You got lucky," the firefighter assured me, patting my shoulder. "It didn't spread outside of the kitchen, but we don't recommend staying in the house while we are making sure there is no more leaks, and also finalizing everything with the insurance company." He was explaining everything, but I wasn't paying attention.

A part of me was extremely upset about the fact that I was so desperate for my stove to get fixed I hired a shitty company. I was already stressed with the move in that I didn't even care who I hired to handle the utilities in my house.