Crooked

“And…done!” Julia said and turned off the tattoo pen. She took a final swipe to the woman's arm and started to bandage it, wrapping the clear tape around the woman's new ink.

“Thanks, Julia. You're the best,” the woman–was her name Helen?–said, and started to gather her things.

Julia smiled at the older woman, taking off her gloves and throwing them in the bin beside her work area.

Julia worked at Dylan's Tattoos, in which her parents did not approve of, though she worked there nonetheless. She worked with some of her favorite people in the world, and the cash she made was pretty good.

She took Helen up to the cash register, where, if he wasn't already occupied doing someone's tattoo, Zayn worked. Zayn, the raven-haired, tattooed boy wasn't someone you'd think was approachable; he just had to warm up to you. It didn't take long, anyway.

Helen waved goodbye and left Dylan's. Julia could hear the rain on the roof, and sighed. She hadn’t brought a coat with a hood.

The door to where Zayn did his tattoos opened, and Julia saw that he was with someone she didn't recognize at all. It was a small town–Julia knew almost everyone, so new faces were kind of…unusual.

The other male, shorter than Zayn, with a pale complexion, blonde hair, a dark blue beanie on his head, and the hood of his jacket pulled up, looked at her with shockingly dark-looking eyes. Julia and the man locked eyes, and Julia swore she saw the man’s eyes turn completely black before she looked away.

Julia squirmed on the chair she was sitting on as Zayn and the man walked closer.
“And this is Julia,” she heard Zayn’s voice say. She looked up, and drew in a breath. The man’s eyes were now a crystal clear blue, just hints of brown and green in them. She swore under her breath. “Julia this is Louis.”

Louis nodded. “Hey,” he said. His voice was rough and yet had a smooth sound to it–unlike anything Julia had ever heard before. Louis’s eyes darted to the windows.

“I need to run,” Louis said. “See you, Zayn.” He started to walk to the door, but stopped and turned for just a second. “Julia,”
and suddenly, he was gone.

Zayn looked from where Louis had been to Julia, a worried expression plastered on his face.

Notes