Between Friends

by Sandra Marie

  “Miss Nova,” he called out. “You’re next!”

  Laughter mixed with a scream sounded from somewhere upstairs. Mr. Taylor barked from his spot in the living room.

  “We gotta be so loud when PAW Patrol is on?”

  “Sorry, Rob,” Tommy said, turning the corner into the living room and marching straight for the stairs. His grin was starting to hurt his cheeks, but he was totally fine suffering through it. “I’m in love with your daughter,” he blurted in passing.

  Rae’s father turned his eyes on him, dead-panning. “Yeah, we know. But I don’t know what Rubble just said because you’re all acting like this is a circus.”

  A laugh jolted Tommy’s gut, and he patted Rob’s shoulder. “I’ll keep it down.”

  He headed up the stairs, creeping through the halls for a sweet little girl who also knew his feelings before he did. They all had. And pretty soon, Rae would know, too.

  Rae blew out a shaky breath and calmed her bouncing legs as she sat in the waiting area in the massive tattoo shop. Strip Tattoos was hella busy—busier than she’d ever seen Tommy’s Tats, but that could be because there was just the two of them there. Here, she couldn’t keep track of how many different artists she saw.

  Tattoo guns ran wild, the buzz filling the air. Every station was set up in the open, couches and lounge chairs near the entrance for those waiting their turn. All stations were full except one, and Rae studied it as much as she could from where she sat, getting a feel for where they kept the equipment.

  Tanner had greeted her and said he’d get her set up in a minute. Her fingers twitched around her portfolio in her lap, and she resisted the urge to check her phone for the fiftieth time.

  She hadn’t heard from Tommy all day, and it was starting to grate on her. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d gone a day without talking in some way.

  “Raelynn?” Tanner said, stepping out from a hallway behind the front desk. She rose to her feet, adjusting her shirt. “Your guy is here. He’d like the design you did on page eight. The skydiver. You good with that?”

  She nodded, nerves crumpling her stomach into something resembling a raisin. That design had been for Tommy for whenever he took the plunge and jumped from an airplane. She thought the first time she’d tattoo it, it’d be on him.

  She put on a smile and shook hands with the client, an average-sized guy with tattoos on his knuckles and scattered on his forearms. At least he wasn’t a novice when it came to the needle.

  After introductions and a few tweaks to the design to make it more personal, Rae set up shop at the empty station and asked the guy to lie on his stomach. It was a calf tattoo, a pretty large one at that, and it would be a good couple hours hunched over. She stretched her spine, preparing it for the workout.

  “You had a lot of good stuff in your portfolio,” the guy said, his voice somewhat muffled from the position he was in. “It was a tough choice.”

  “Thank you,” she said, setting the tattoo gun on his skin. “What made you pick this one?”

  “My girlfriend.” He chuckled. She lifted the gun so she didn’t mess up the outline. “I met her on a skydive.”

  “That’s a way to get to know someone.” Nothing like jumping out of a plane and screaming the whole way down to give a great first impression.

  “Heh, yeah… Worked for us.”

  A smile touched her heart, and she placed the needle on his calf. A seventeen-year-old Tommy floated through her mind, his brown eyes lit up with a thousand different ideas as he told her how many things he wanted to do in life. Skydiving had always been at the top of his list, and he made her promise that one day she’d go with him.

  “I must be stupid,” she’d said after agreeing.

  “Nothing wrong with a little stupid.”

  “Jumping out of a plane is not just a little stupid. It’s a lot stupid.”

  He’d wrapped an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her tight to him. As a teen he was a lot thinner than her, gangly and awkward, while she was short and bulky. Yet even though they hadn’t looked like they belonged, they made it fit.

  “Well, I promise to do stupid things with you for as long as you let me.”

  It was such a fresh memory—a good one. For all the stupid things they’d done, she hadn’t regretted a single moment. And that included falling for him in the process.

  Confusion swept through her, and she blinked it back to concentrate on the artwork. No matter where she ended up, she was going to tattoo this again—on Tommy next time.

  Luckily for her, the client was a chatterbox, and his stories kept her mind from wandering. When she finished, she sat straight in her chair, satisfied with the work she’d done.

  “Do you mind if I take a quick picture?” she asked him.

  “Get my good side,” he joked, and she pulled her phone out and snapped a shot. Without thinking twice about it, she sent the photo to Tommy.

  She cleaned up her station, grateful the guy was happy with her work, but there was something missing in her satisfaction. The buzz of tattoo guns and the music from the overhead speakers drowned out much of any conversation happening, and as Rae finished cleaning up, she wondered how much she really wanted this.

  “Well, I think it’s safe to say we’re ready to snag you up,” Tanner said, clapping his hands together. Rae rose from her seat, her mind still in a haze.

  “Sorry… what?”

  Tanner pushed his long hair back, then shrugged his hand into his back pocket. “Guy said it’s one of the best tattoos he’s had, and I have to agree. We have a spot open, and it’s yours if you want it.”

  She let out a long breath, trying to smile through her jumbled thoughts. “Wow. Thanks. Can I have some time to think about it?”

  “I’ll give you a week. We’re getting busy, you know?”

  “Totally fair. Thanks again.”

  He nodded, pulling his phone out. “You want to do a few more while you’re here? You can take home the commission for it.”

  She took another look around the parlor, her heart slowly sinking in her chest at the thought of making the move permanent. Something pricked at her, niggling in the back of her mind.

  “I actually have plans while I’m in Vegas,” she lied. Truth was, she was ready to go back to her hotel and have a long conversation with Tommy, even if they talked about nothing. Hearing his voice might clear the fog in her brain.

  “All right. Give me a call before next week,” Tanner said, looking at his phone the whole time. Rae gathered her things and headed out, resisting the urge to check her messages until she was in a comfy bed and could spend all night talking with her best friend.

  ***

  Tommy hadn’t replied to the photo she’d sent, and Rae was starting to get a complex. He was pissed… had to be. She’d up and gone to Vegas, interviewed for a job she clearly didn’t want, all to run away from a standstill life in Seattle.

  She growled at her infuriatingly message free phone, tossing it across the hotel bed. Her screen flashed on, and the dating app icon caught her eye.

  She could turn the notifications back on now. It was after Valentine’s Day, so there would be no promises broken. But damn him for making her face her feelings. The thought of dating just for the sake of dating sounded… not enough. She wanted more dates with Tommy, and not just because she was going to leave but because he wanted her, too.

  Her face flopped into her pillow, and she let out a scream. She loved and hated him for doing this to her. He was the one to make her laugh or cheer her up or keep her company or do something stupid with her. It was no wonder why she couldn’t find someone; she’d been in love with Tommy her whole damn life.

  She slithered her hand across the sheets, her fingers reaching for the cold rubber cover that surrounded her phone. She let out a sigh, flicking on the dating app out of sheer boredom, curiosity, or maybe just because she didn’t have the guy she really wanted.

  A few messages sat in her inbox, including
a few from Gavin. Oh sweet mother… Gavin. She’d nearly forgotten about him, and now she felt like crap. Wonderful.

  She opened it and had to scroll up to get to the top of his messages, the first one starting the day before Valentine’s Day.

  February 13 at 2:38 pm: Hey there :)

  February 13 at 7:20 pm: Look! People are actually here tonight. Attached was a selfie, Gavin’s cute face in the bottom corner while a table full of patrons held their beers up to toast the camera. They all sat in his new chairs.

  February 14 at 1:00 am: Just closed down for the night. The new chairs must be magic! I had almost a full house. You should’ve seen it.

  February 14 at 1:03 am: Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day. Hope you have a good one. I know it’s short notice, but I’m free in the morning if you want to get some coffee. LMK.

  And the last one was from ten minutes ago.

  I’m probably pushing my luck here, since you haven’t responded in a while. Hope everything’s okay. There is a gala coming up that my brother puts on every year. Kind of a big deal, and I need to be there. I know it’s a bit big for a first date, but would you like to come with me?

  Rae hovered over the keyboard on her screen, her thumb sliding from the S to the U to the R before she stopped. A gala was right up romance alley. It came from books and movies. She could wear a fancy dress and flirt and have fun with the sexy business owner. The things she thought she wanted suddenly fell into her lap, but her response was still stuck in pause mode.

  She’d had the romantic night, but it was so much more. She wore sneakers with her dress, she rolled around in the snow, they sat through a movie, and she couldn’t even remember the plot since they’d been talking so much.

  And she’d been out with the sexy business owner.

  Yeah, she had that night, but she didn’t realize that she’d had plenty of those nights. Bumming around her place while Tommy gave her a lack luster massage, dressing up in costume and crowd surfing a pit of zombies, a skinny dip at the beach in the dead of winter… Even sitting at the tattoo shop between clients, joking around and comparing sketches… Her entire life was a romantic movie, and the best part was that the leading man was her best friend.

  She hit delete and started over. Do you have a second? Can I call you?

  She didn’t expect him to respond right away. After all, it’d taken her two days to get back to him. But the bubbles popped up, and the only thing that arrived was the ten digits of his number.

  Her thumb slipped over the text, and she brought her phone to her ear. A rogue butterfly flapped its wings in her hollow stomach.

  “Hey,” Gavin answered in his friendly, masculine voice. “Long time, no talk.”

  She sat up and picked at the tassels that hung off the edge of the hotel blanket. “Sorry about that. Been a crazy few days.”

  “You’re telling me. Valentine’s Day was a big boost for business.” He paused a moment as someone shouted something on his end of the line. There was a second or two of shuffling, then the sound of a door closing. “How about for you? Tattoo shop get busy?”

  “We were booked pretty much all day, yeah. But we closed at six.”

  “Six. Seems early.”

  “It was. Tommy… He took me out for the night.”

  Gavin was quiet for a split second, and then a hefty sigh blew through the phone. “Now I know why you wanted to call.”

  “Why’s that?” she asked.

  “Oh, you probably have a long explanation over why you can’t come with me to the gala, but it all ends with the fact that you’re in love with your best friend.”

  She let out a shocked, hollow laugh, her hand shaking against her phone. “You got a camera in my room or something? Hack my journal?”

  “I’m a bartender. I’m a therapist and a psychic all in one.”

  A soft snort rumbled her lips, and her gaze dropped to the hotel blanket. She traced the zigzag pattern. “Are you mad?”

  “No. I figured as much when I saw you two here the other day.”

  “And you still asked me out?”

  “You’re fun,” he said, and she could hear a smile in his voice. Her stomach calmed, and relief cracked over her shoulders. “Even if it’s not a love connection, I’d still like to hang out when we can.”

  “I think that’s the first time I’m actually okay hearing the ‘we can be friends’ line.”

  “You still up for a gala? Two friends dressed up and hanging out with the rich snobs of Seattle?”

  She tilted her head and considered it for a second. “Am I allowed to make fun of Ashton if he gets too swanky?”

  “Please.” He paused. “In fact, you can’t come unless you promise to make fun of him.”

  “Then I’m in.” She stretched out on the bed, falling back into her pillows. They chatted for a few more minutes before he had to run, but when she hung up, a weight had lifted from her.

  Leaving Seattle wasn’t the answer to moving on; no matter where she ran off to, she couldn’t exactly run away from how she felt about Tommy.

  Tommy’s hand ran over the design, a feeling of content washing over him.

  Perfect. It’d taken him all weekend to get it right, and he was sure Rae could’ve done it in half the time, but he was pretty damn proud of himself.

  He eyed the neon clock hanging up on the wall next to a bunch of Rae’s best work. The shop didn’t open for another three hours, but he’d asked her if she’d come in early to give him some ink. Her flight had come in last night, and he was itching to give her a bear hug.

  How long had it been since they’d spent this much time apart? He couldn’t think of a time, and the fact that they could spend so much time together and still not get sick of each other after more than a decade… No wonder he was in love with the girl.

  He tapped a Sharpie against the desk, whistling the tune of “Power of Love.” It’d been non-stop eighties music since V-Day, and he wasn’t getting sick of it any time soon.

  A familiar head of red hair popped into view just outside the window, and he perked up. She messed with the lock, and he rounded the desk and got to her before the dead bell could clunk against the glass.

  “Morni…agh!” she yipped, his arms wrapping her up and lifting her from the ground. Her thick coat bunched up against his torso, making a very awkward hug, but no less amazing.

  “I may have missed you,” he said, his grin widening over her shoulder. He set her on her feet and pinched his fingers. “Just a little bit.”

  “You don’t say?”

  Damn, those eyes. That spirit of hers. She was a cannonball of fun, and he was ready to jump on in.

  “So,” she said, shrugging her coat off. “Where am I painting you today?”

  His gaze drifted down her frame, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. She was back in her off-the-shoulder gray tee, a pink bra strap peeking out and her neck tattoo on full display.

  “Chest,” he said, resting his butt on the counter by the register.

  “Did you shave?”

  “Waxed it,” he joked.

  “Damn.” She wrinkled her nose. “I was hoping I could rip the hair right off ya.”

  She started to cross the room, but he reached out, snagging her by the pinky. Her gaze floated down, then met up with him.

  As fun as it was bantering, as good and as natural as it was for them, he needed her to know he was very serious about what he was doing today.

  “How was the interview?” he asked.

  Her tongue snaked out and ran across her bottom lip. “Good. They offered me the job.”

  He swallowed hard against the rising fear of her leaving. It was all going to be okay; no matter where she was, he was going to love her. And if Vegas was what she wanted, he’d let her go.

  “They’d be stupid not to.” His eyes trailed down her arm to their joined pinkies. “I’m sorry for not understanding. For keeping you… I don’t know… from moving forward. You were right. It wasn’t fair.”

>   “It wasn’t entirely your fault.” She took a step toward him, and he laced another finger with hers. “I wasn’t sure what the heck I wanted.”

  “You got a clearer picture now?” he hedged, hoping she’d tell him where she was going, whether or not he’d have to love her from a distance or from across the room.

  “I think so.” She squeezed his hand, then dropped her hold, shrugging her hands into her back pockets. “So, you have a design in mind, or am I whipping something up?”

  He nodded to the front desk. “Right up there.”

  She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and leaned over the design. Her face was hidden, but he could hear the hitch in her breath, see her shoulders square and tension roll down her back.

  “You… you want this where on your chest?” Her head slowly turned to meet his eyes over her shoulder. He pushed off the counter and crossed the room.

  “I saved the spot for someone special.” He folded his arms and relaxed next to her. “I figured out who that special someone was.”

  A pink hue covered her neck, and he watched it grow to her cheeks. She was so damn gorgeous, and he wanted to reach out and trace all the ink on her body, kiss paths across her heart, hold her until she knew just how much she was loved. How she’d always been this loved.

  “I didn’t take it,” she said after a moment.

  “What?”

  Her blue eyes lifted. “I turned down the job.”

  He couldn’t help the smile turning his face, the sigh of relief that escaped him.

  She rolled her eyes and let them land on the artwork. “You don’t have to be so smug about it.”

  “I can’t be happy that you’re not leaving?”

  She slid the artwork over to him, and his brows pinched together. “You don’t have to do this just to convince me to stay. I’ve already decided to stick around.”

  “That’s not why I’m doing this.” He pushed the art back.

  “Tommy…”

  “Please.” He took a deep breath and reached for her hand again, slowly. As soon as their palms met, a buzz ran up his arm and shot courage into his voice. “I want this tattooed on me. I want it right over my heart so I don’t forget it.”