Old Me

5 - Flirting?

After filling the car with party decor we finally headed home just in time for me to drop the load off and head to the shop.

As I was walking out Sienna came up and handed me the crumpled-up napkin she had stolen from me earlier.

"Here," she said happily, "now you can text him. But don't reply too quickly, okay. Give it at least 20 minutes between texts."

"Whatever," I said rolling my eyes and taking the napkin.

I grabbed my keys off the counter and headed out.

I enjoyed the slow drive into downtown by listening to the band WILD and singing along. When I finally arrived and parked in the back I walked inside and greeted everyone.

Perris, who is four years older than me and currently the only female tattoo artist working for us, was working on a piece for a girl who looked to be my age. Ale was sat next to her watching intently as she worked. Kyle, who is a little older than Perris, was sketching at one of the desks and my mom's youngest brother Daniele was also tattooing someone, an older man.

Friday's are usually our busiest nights of the week and today wasn't any different. Just as I walked up to the counter, the door opened and a young man walked in.

"Hi," I greeted him with a smile.

"Hey, I'm here to see Alessandro," he said.

"Did you have an appointment?" I asked logging into the computer.

"Yeah," he said.

"Okay, I'll go and get him. Fill out these forms, and I'll need to see your ID."

I wasn't going to let Ale do all the paperwork like I did yesterday. I regretted not getting the chance to know more about Michael. I walked into the last cubicle where Perris works and called Ale to step out.

"You've got an appointment?" I asked, raising my brow.

"Um, yeah. With a friend of Mikey's," he nodded.

"Who's Mikey?"

"The guy who I did the tattoo for yesterday."

"Oh, I thought his name was Michael," I shrugged, "Anyways, your appointment is here."

"Sweet, thanks," he said walking out to the front.

I followed him out and took a seat on the chair behind the counter.

"Hey, it's Calum, right?" Ale asked putting out his hand.

"Yep, nice to meet you. Mikey said you were the man, so here I am."

"Sweet, well let me go grab your stencil and you can take a look."

"Ok, cool."

Calum looked around the room and his gaze landed on me.

"Hey, I'm Calum," he said leaning against the counter in his leather jacket, "you were at The Hideout earlier weren't you?"

"Oh, uh, yeah." I looked at him skeptically trying to figure out how he knew I was there. Did Mikey tell him about me or something?

"Don't worry," he chuckled, "I'm not stalking you, I was at the corner table with some friends and I saw Mikey talking to you."

"Oh," I breathed, "right. Yeah, I remember you guys. The rowdy bunch."

"Yeah, you could say that."

Ale walked up and handed him the stencil.

"So I was thinking it could go on the inside of your forearm?"