PEACHES [bws]

22. CATCHING FEELINGS

22.

Tristan sits lazily at the counter desk, waiting for Brad to arrive at work since no one else was there. Today was a slow day for the tattoo shop, and the next appointment wasn't for another half an hour.

Brad enters through the door in a caramel button-up that wasn't actually buttoned up, and a white shirt underneath it. A few of the tattoos on his lower wrist were exposed since the sleeves of the button-up were rolled halfway up his forearm.

"What time do you call this?" Tristan tuts, knowing Brad wasn't that late.

Brad looks at the Rolex watch on his wrist. His sister had bought it for him as a birthday present the year before.

"I'm only five minutes late," Brad rolls his eyes, walking over to the check-in desk and signing in on the book that Tristan had left on the edge of the desk. "Not like I missed anything too important."

"It'll just get it cut out of your paycheck," Tristan reminds him but they both know he was only teasing Brad.

"Where's Connor? Thought he was in today?" Brad asks as he lazily puts his bag under the desk beside Tristan's feet before joining his friend and co-worker on a seat in the empty shop.

"He left like ten minutes ago," Tris shrugs. "Guess everyone's taking the shifts off since it's a slow day. Don't blame them; but then again, we're sitting around doing nothing and still getting paid."

"True, very true."

They listen to some music for a while, surrounded in silence otherwise as Tristan checks bookings and Brad rests his head on the back of his chair to look up at the ceiling.

He was in his own thoughts, most of them clouded by Summer. He wasn't sure if he liked her or the thought of fucking her so, for his own sake, he convinced himself it was the latter. He didn't do relationships, there's no need for them in his opinion.

Besides, he was certain that pretty girls like Summer don't want boys with ugly personalities like Brad.

Tristan turns to Brad and grins at him mischievously. "How're things going with Summer?"

"Things are going. . . okay?" Brad says, unsure if that's the right answer. "I mean, we're basically friends with benefits so I don't see why it wouldn't be going okay."

"Ah, I see," Tristan says, playing it off that it's super cool that Brad is fucking Summer with no strings attached while she's starting to develop feelings. "Is that it, then? You're just fucking?"

"Geez, give it a rest," Brad rolls his eyes at his friend, grabbing a pen from the desk to fiddle with. "She's just a fuck for me, that's it. Nothing else is going on between us."

"Do you not feel bad for her? That you're just fucking her?" Tristan asks despite his brain telling him that he should probably stop since he shouldn't annoy Brad too much.

"Why should I? It's not like I signed myself up to catch feelings."

"What if she starts catching feelings for you?" Tristan continues hesitantly.

"Well then it'll be her fault if she's left heartbroken when I find someone else to fuck," Brad says through gritted teeth, his jaw set as he looks at his friend.

"Well, I was just thinking that—,"

"Stop thinking about it," Brad stands up abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor with a painful screen in the process. "I and Summer will never be more than fuck buddies, end of. She's not my type, she never will be. Understood?"