Jordan ~
 
I watched as Danny silently set up the little cups of paint. He washed and dried my foot and ankle, then ran a razor over it. We were good friends, but we didn’t spend a lot of time talking when I was in the chair. He felt he couldn’t concentrate if we were chatting, and I was very interested in him concentrating. The familiar buzzing of needles started. The first time I heard them I was horrified; now they were almost peaceful.

The second the ink was pushed under the skin, I felt better, it wasn’t a sharp pain, like getting cut, but a steady ache with occasional sharp moments thrown in. The steady ache was good, I could focus on that instead of Jace.

“I don’t know why you’re takin' this so hard,” Danny frowned. We were on a break; he’d been hunched over for an hour and needed to stretch. “You had to know it was at least possible they were...”

“Yeah,” I cut him off, not wanting to hear it. “But thinking and knowing…” I sighed. He was right, I shouldn’t get bent out of shape over this. Sex didn’t always mean something; it certainly didn’t mean anything to me most of the time. Even if it did in this case, what had I expected? Jace was a straight teenager, dating another straight teenager, it was bound to happen.

“I kissed him you know,” I blurted out.

Danny blinked slowly. “I did not know that.”

“Yep, and he kissed back, it only lasted a second, but he did.”

Danny took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Did he punch you?”

“No, he just stepped back. I think he’s only about ninety eight percent straight, he once said he’d suck Biersack off.”

“Well,” Danny shrugged thinking it through. “I mean... Andy…” he paused. “He’s really… well... you know. I actually think it’s more telling that he didn’t punch you out. Straight guys don’t think that shit’s funny.”

“You think suckin' some dude off isn’t a big deal?” I was horrified by how high my voice went.

“It wasn’t just some dude, and it could have been a joke or anything. I mean, he knows he’s safe, that situation is never going to happen. Him not getting angry about being kissed, to me, that’s a much bigger deal. I kinda think it might be more than two percent.”

My phone went off, cutting us short. Danny wasn’t much of a talker and jumped at the chance to get back to work. It was Alex asking if I was busy.

Single again? So soon? Weird. That’s the only time Alex ever contacts me. I wrote back saying I’d be free in about three hours, he was fine with that, and I went back to watching Danny. He was wiping a mixture of blood and ink away.

My new tattoo was finished around eight o’clock, Danny gave it a final once over then brought a mirror so I could easily see it all the way around. As usual, I was happy, he’d never botched one yet. Sadly he had to wrap it. That was the only bad thing about fresh ink, you couldn’t show it off immediately.

“Tell me you brought flips.”

“Of course.” I pulled them from my back pocket, surprised he hadn’t noticed. “I’m not an amateur.”

I left my Converse at Danny’s and headed toward Alex’s house, he only lives five blocks away so it didn’t take long. Alex and I had been hooking up off and on for the last year. Every time he was single he’d call me up. Because he was a good lay and I wasn’t interested in him, I didn’t mind. Once he’d asked for a date; I said no. It’d been awkward the next time I saw him, but we were past that now. I mostly liked him because he was the same height as me. It was nice not feeling massive and out of place all the time.

“What took you so long?” Alex pulled me into the house and pushed me against the wall. “I missed you.” His lips pressed against my mouth, I kissed him back a little. I didn’t hate the guy but God, he was clingy. It was such a turn off. His lips tugged at mine, wanting in, while his hands roamed under my shirt.

“Been awhile?” I grinned against his lips.

“Mumhum,” he gently pulled on my left nipple ring. “Wanna head to the bedroom?”

“I’m fine here.”

“My sister is spending the night.”

“Is she hot?”

“Kinky,” he laughed, pushed me toward the back of the house.

My phone vibrated as he unbuttoned my jeans, I would have never considered looking if I had been with anyone else, but that wasn’t the relationship we had. I pulled out my phone while Alex continued to remove my clothing.

‘Where r u?’ ~ Jace

I debated on answering, I wondered why he was back so early from his date, and I was desperate to know what he wanted, but it seemed better to wait and answer when I was on my way home, like I had just seen it.

“You okay?” Alex asked, closing his mouth around me, his tongue and lips mixed with warm saliva was mind numbing.

“I am now,” I lay back with a small moan. God he was good. My phone went off again, I hit the power button. I’d deal with Jace later.