The Artist - 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐅𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐧

𝕿𝖊𝖓

"I don't have any customers for the next hour so I'm gonna grab a coffee you want anything?" I grab my purse from the drawer at my desk and ask Joaquin. "I'm fine thanks."He answers briefly concentrating on the customer who he's currently tattooing. I shrug my shoulders leave the studio closing the door behind me. Down the street is a small coffee shop I have to say it doesn't taste quite good but it does the job. I managed to get a few customer ready for the day but I feel like I'm still asleep. I couldn't sleep that well this night because Khadijah's words made me think about Hero all again. I would like to see him again but I don't know how to contact him and I'm not going to ask Khadijha she's never going to let me hear the end of it. Maybe I could ask Joaquin subtly to ask her for his number. The coffee shop comes into view and I step inside greeting the cashier. "April didn't see you for a long time here!" Madison says while she cleans up some cups. I walk over to where she's standing behind the counter and give her a quick hug. Madison is a girl my age I met in the shop the first time. "I know I had a lot on my plate but here I am." I tell her smiling. "Tell me how's it going?" She asks while she prepares my usual order. "The studio is better then it could ever be, Joaquin and I are a great team. Oh if you don't know Khadijha is in town she visited a few times we should've stopped by I totally forgot." I say putting my hand flat against my forehead. I was so excited that she came to town that I totally forgot that these two are friends as well. "No need to feel bad I'm just going to ring her up the next days." I nod. "And you? How are you doing how's your future career going?" Madison works hard to get into the same world Khadijha is, her big dream is to be a known actress. Until now she played some little roles in movies but she hopes that she's going to get a big role sometime. Her eyes lit up at my question and she gives me a goofy grin. "It looks like I'm going to get one of the main characters in a series but I can't tell you which one because it's not completely confirmed."
" Oh my god I'm so happy for you! You finally got a bigger role like you wanted." I beam up at her and she tells me to be a bit more quiet. I giggle slightly and look around but no ones paying attention. "Sorry." I whisper and she laughs. She places the cup of coffee to go in front of me and I hand her the money. I grab the cup and wave her goodbye. "Text me if you know anything about that secret thing." I yell while I make my way to the door and she laughs and shakes her head at me. Some customers give me weird looks. Oops I guess now I got their attention. I open the door with my back as I wave at Madison one last time. I turn around and am met with a crowd of people holding their cameras at me, clicking sounds and flashlights blinding my eyes. Some of them hold their microphones to me and everyone is asking me questions that I can't really make out. "April over here!"
"April what do you say about Hero confronting a hater and saying that you're beautiful."
"How long is this affair of you two going?" "Are you a part of the new After cast?"

My breathing gets quicker while my eyes wander quickly from one person to the next. Someone grabs my hand and yanks me around the next corner making me drop my coffee and scream in surprise. I get pressed against the walls a big hand clamped shut on my mouth. I quickly look up and my breathing starts to slow down when I recognize the tall figure. He removes his hands his eyes wandering frantically around the street. "Hero?" I whisper yell earning his attention when he looks down at me. He takes a step back his cheeks flaming up in a cute red. "I'm sorry I just wanted to get you out of there but they're not going to leave until we come out."
"Why are they even here. No wait- how are you here?" He scratches his neck looking at the ground embarrassed. "I was actually at your studio debating if I should come in and say hi for 20 minutes. But I chickened out and made my way back." He mumbles and my brows shoot up in surprise. Now I can feel my cheeks burn up at his proposition. Why am I embarrassed now? "That's too bad because I wanted to see you again." I mumble back and close my eyes for a moment this is so uncomfortable. His face snaps up to me in surprise. "You did?" I nod and try to change the topic quickly. "How is your tattoo doing?" He wants to answer my question but cringes when his phone dings. He checks it quickly and gives me a sorrow look. "I have to be somewhere else right now originally." He says and I can hear the sadness in his voice. I try to mask my own disappointment by smiling at him. "It's no big deal I'm going to be fine." He shakes his head at my answer. "No I at least have to get you out of this mess and buy you a new coffee it's my fault it fell down." With Hero being here I completely forgot the mob around the corner waiting for us to come out again. "Why are they even here? And know my name?" He cringes again putting his hands in his jean pockets. "They're thinking we're dating in some kinda way just because you did my tattoo." I expected a lot of crazy shit to come out of his mouth but this tops it all. Why the hell are they thinking we're dating? We just met once! "I'm so confused right now." I say honestly and he nods his head. "I'm sorry that I got you in this whole mess. This happens every time I let somebody in my life." He says desperately raising his face to the sky. I lightly place my hand on his arm. "It's okay it's not your fault you know that? I am friends with Khadijha too and I knew that there would be a risk that I'd get involved."
"But you didn't, you didn't until you met me and that's why I hate all of this." He says pinching his nose with his index and thumb. I can't stand the desperation on his face and I feel responsible for it. "What about that coffee you still wanna make that up?" He looks down at me confusion written all over his face. I slide my hand into his intertwining our fingers.