It feels like stealing hearts

Ch1. Blind dates and tattoo guns

-Noah-
I was sitting with
one of my best friends Carter, at a
little café in downtown Baltimore, when the stupidest idea left her mouth that never stopped moving. And I, Noah Rose did not hesitate to tell her so.

"You do realize, that
is the dumbest thing that you have ever said?" I asked picking up a fry from my plate, watching her as she multitasked between graded 3rd grade spelling tests and sharing stupid ideas.

"No, I have in fact had ideas that were a lot worse." She pointed out, while admitting her stupidity could get in
fact get worse. "But come one, it is one blind date, what could possibly go
wrong?"

"Well, he could
murder me for one." I shrugged picking up a fry from my plate, munching on it
slowly before speaking up again, half a fry still in my mouth. "I mean, the
whole experience would be traumatic for you, but not for me because I will be
too dead to give a rats ass."

"Noah, how many times
do I have to tell you that he is not a murderer?" Carter hissed, loud enough to grab the attention of surrounding customers.

"To be honest, he
could be anything really. For example he could be a bed wetter, a drug dealer
or a thumb sucker, who really knows? Because I sure as hell don't" It was true, Carter was refusing to give any detail about the mysterious man she desperately
wanted me to go out with.

"First off, he is
none of tho-" She was stopped short when I cut her off with more of my remarks.

"Carter, I will
believe you when the FBI call you and ask you to become part of the BAU and you are allowed to do an analysis on him." I stood up and pulled a few bills from
the pocket of my overalls and put them on the table.

"Please just think
about it?" She pouted, normally this is where everyone caves. But not I, I have
become immune to those brown eyes of hers.

"Hmmmm, no." I
deadpanned and made my way back to work before she could protest for a 5th
time.

~

"What did Miss Carter
have to suggest this lunch break?" Bear, the owner of the tattoo parlour I
worked in as an artist and piercer asked when he heard me sigh as I walked out
of the back room, where I had slipped my vans off and added a bandana to my
long lavender hair.

"I suggest you put
that coffee cup down first, we don't need another cappuccino covered keyboard." I laughed, walking over to the big, bald tattoo covered man at the front desk. Bear put his coffee down and waited. "She wants me to go on a blind date."

"BAHAHAHAHAHA" Bear
roared with laughter, making the other 3 artists and their clients look over in
confusion. "She really has lost her mind."

"Tell me about it." I
muttered shaking my head and rolled my eyes. The bell above the white wooden door rang, indicating we had a new customer, I slowly looked up and saw a tall lanky guy with short styled black hair walk in. I instantly recognized him as
Jack from the Baltimore pop punk band, All Time Low.

"Hey there." He
smirked, leaning on the counter top in front of me and looked at my unamused face. "I am Jack."

"And I am bored already." My tone said everything, Bear kicked my foot, his way of telling me
to be polite to customers and I mentally rolled my eyes. "I mean Hi, how can I
help you." I spoke through gritted teeth.

"A Nightmare Before
Christmas tattoo." The smirk still plastered on his face as if he was waiting for me to fall under his spell. He would be waiting a while since the only thing I wanted to do to that smirk was slap it from his face.

"You will need to be a tad more specific unless you want me to tattoo the Easter tree to your
ass." I smiled as sweetly as I possibly could, it most likely came out more
like a grimace though. I heard Bear let out a small low chuckle, before
leaving.

"Jack skeleton,
playing my purple guitar." He stood up straight and pulled his phone out of the
pocket of his black skinny jeans. After scrolling through his phone, he showed
me a picture of his purple guitar and I got the perfect idea.

~

"What are you doing tonight?" Jack asked as I was tattooing his chest an hour later

"Shaving my roommates
toe hair." I replied sarcastically, lifting my gun away to get more black ink.

"On a scale of
California to Baltimore, what are the chances of you wanting to pretend to be
my girlfriend at a party tonight?" The smirk was back and I was tempted to put the needle in further than necessary.

"Germany 1945" I
replied rolling my eyes, the smirk didn't falter as he spoke up again. I
continued to do the outline of Jack Skeleton's jacket as he kept trying.

"It is open bar." I let
out a small laugh and didn't even bother trying to protest, it was one night, with free alcohol, only the crazy ones turn those nights down. "This is fucking epic!" Jack sounded like a 4
year old girl at Christmas, minus the profanity of course, as he saw his new
chest piece for the first time a little over 3 hours later.

"I take it you like
it?" I asked nervously, this had been the first big chest piece I had done
since I had become a full time artist, 5 months ago. So I was a tad nervous
about the end result.

"Like? No, I love
it!" He picked me up and spun me around. "It is all I wanted and more!"

"O.K. Barakat." I
scrawled slightly, hitting his shoulder. "Put me down." Doing as he was asked,
when my feet were back on the ground, I grabbed the cling film and tape and
began wrapping up his tattoo. After paying and him telling me he would be back pick me up at 9, he left before I could change my mind.

~

It was 7 by the time
I got to my apartment, opening the door I found my roommate Sam, sitting on the sofa playing videos games, a container of Chinese food next to his feet on the coffee table. "Come sit your pretty ass next to me and help me kill these mother fuckers." Sam spoke without even
looking up from the TV screen

"Can't, I am going out." I responded in an annoyed tone. There was nothing more I would be rather
doing than playing videos games with Sam, while eating Chinese takeout and
drinking whiskey on this Saturday night, but the thought of Jack waiting
outside the store for me for what could be hours made me feel a little guilty.
I don't know why it was getting to me, but it was.

After having a long
hot shower to scrub the even longer day away, I walked back into my room and scanned my closet for the perfect outfit. Eventually I picked a little black
dress, with a lay deep v neck bodice and a lacy skater skirt as the bottom that reached mid-thigh. I paired it with a pair of bright red Mary Jane pumps and a few pieces of gold jewellery, glancing over at my clock and saw I only an hour until I had to leave again and ran to straighten my hair and do my make-up.

"Holy shit balls, I
have a hot best friend." Sam whistled as I walked into the living room to say
goodbye. "There will be hearts broken tonight."

"And it won't be mine." I assured him. Sam and I had been best friends since we could crawl. Our moms had been in the same frat at college and had remained best friends after graduation. So it was sort of expected that we would get along since the first 10 years of our lives we were basically forced to spend close to every second together, not that I had minded. "Should, I wait up for you?" He asked as I put my lipstick and phone in my clutch and picked up my
keys.

"Even if I say no,
you will still do it anyway." I smirked at him before blowing him a kiss and
leaving.

A/n Just an idea I am playing with. Let me know what you think.