112 - The chapter with the new friends

Rose

I felt the needle contact the skin behind my ear, taking a deep breath as I imagined what that drawing would look like. In the end, I went back to campus just to get a change of clothes, spending Saturday night with Josh, being lucky not to meet any of my friends in the meantime, since I would surely get a big lecture for everything that happened since Friday. Liam himself was sending me threatening messages for everything that happened.

Messages that I was making sure to ignore.

" It's getting really good " Josh commented, stopping what he was doing when a notification arrived on his phone.

" How much longer? " I grabbed my phone, activating the front camera in an attempt to see how it was doing.

" Here, let me help you " He took the device from my hand, taking a picture before giving it back to me " I'll start coloring as soon as Cherry gets here. She wants to take some pictures while I work.”

Cherry was his friend who would take my pictures, I had already brought some extra clothes for that and I was looking forward to the result.

" You really took this whole using me as a model thing seriously, didn't you? " I quipped, looking at the picture he took.

Josh prepared to go back to work on the drawing, making me return to the position. We remained silent for a few seconds, until the door of the studio was opened and a woman walked in, smiling when she saw us. She was black, had her hair shaved and bleached and hoop earrings.

" Wow, is this the girl you talked about? " she let out when she saw me as she walked around the counter.

" I told you she was perfect,” he winked, holding my face carefully before tilting it into the position that would make his job easier.

She came closer, placing the large bag she was carrying on the counter, watching us with a smile on her face.

" Why do you always get the best ones? I was at the bar on Friday, why didn't she bump into me? " The girl continued as if I wasn't there.

Did he tell her I spent the last few nights here? I wasn't sure how to feel about that revelation, but I continued to stand there, feeling Joshua work on my skin with his needle.

" You know she's not deaf, right? " he teased his friend.

" Don't worry, you're complimenting me, so I'll just keep listening in silence, pretending I'm not here while my overhuman ego is being fed,' I warned, getting a laugh from the girl.

" o you admit you have an overhuman ego? I'm Cherry, by the way," she opened her bag, taking out a camera and several lenses, starting to set it up without taking her eyes off both of us.

" I'm Rose and I have someone who always reminds me of that." I sighed, looking away.

Why can't I stop missing him? After my conversation with Josh the anger I was feeling started to subside a bit, seeing things from his point of view I had to admit that I needed to talk to Christian more than ever.

" 'I hope you talk to him for once,' Josh commented as Cherry positioned herself to take the first photo.

" Him? " she looked at the first picture " it's official, I'm going to take hundreds of pictures of you.”

" Cherry, can you warn your friend that the last thing I want to hear right now is my ex's name? " I took a deep breath.

" Okay, we don't need to say his name, let's call him John... And I want to know everything about him." She took two more pictures. "Seriously, you need to accept to be my official model for some jobs!"

" I thought I'd be free to talk about Chris while I was away from my friends!". " I complained.

" So his name is Chris? Chris for Christopher or Chris for Christian? " Cherry whispered to her friend.

" Christian Davis, you'll love this story, pure college drama," Josh confided.

" Hey!”

I tried to look in his direction, but he held my face, preventing me from moving.

" Don't move, you don't want me to smudge it,” he warned.

" Rose, come on. I'm taking great pictures of you, I deserve to know the story," Cherry pleaded.

I just rolled my eyes, allowing Josh to tell the story to his friend, just correcting one or another detail that he confused while Cherry seemed to have fun just snapping one photo after another.

" Let me get this straight, the girl has been stalking you since high school, set you up with a gentian violet bath, calls you a bitch at every opportunity and you're going to let that same girl steal your guy? " Cherry stared at me with both eyebrows raised.

" Hey, I don't have to let anything go, if he…”

" Honey, this isn't about him, it's about you showing her who's boss,” Cherry interrupted me.

" I'm done " Joshua walked away.

" 'What should I do then? " I stared at her, taking advantage of the fact that I could move freely " What would you do?”

" "I would react like you, what you saw didn't have much explanation at the moment," she shrugged, "but after I calmed down, I would want to hear the explanation that everyone insisted I should hear.

I stayed silent, listening to her as I felt Josh cleaning the freshly tattooed area.

" 'But from the moment you just let it get to where it did, you let her win,” Cherry shrugged.

" Are you telling me I lost? " I stared at her shocked.

" You gave her the game " the woman shrugged " Wow, you look beautiful!”

I'm really starting to miss my friends! They would never say something like that to me! Deciding to change the subject for good, I admired the picture of my new tattoo that Josh showed me. The open rose with two more buds inked in bright red was so detailed and realistic, that for a moment I caught myself wondering what it felt like to draw permanently on someone's skin.

That's when an idea popped into my mind.

" Josh, can I get a tattoo on you? " I asked, surprising the man.

" What's it like? " He gave me a surprised look.

" I want to know what it's like to tattoo someone's skin. Can I do one on you? " I explained, getting up to approach the boy who was still sitting on the stool.

" That's an interesting proposition,” Cherry scoffed.

" I'm not sure that's such a good idea, Rose,” he gave a small smile, tilting his face slightly to maintain eye contact.

" Please? " I made a little peck.

We held eye contact for a few minutes, watching his face look a little uncertain before making a decision.

" A small one. A very small one. And I choose the venue," he warned, making me smile.

" I can't wait to see this," Cherry teased, grabbing her cell phone and putting the camera aside for a second.

Joshua stood up, starting to clean everything he used to make my tattoo, changing the disposable materials afterwards.

" Rose, what do you say you change and let me photograph your other tattoos while Josh prepares everything? " Cherry suggested and for the next few minutes that's what we did.