daddy issues h.s ➽ [DISCONTINUED]

003.

ana ~

"How was work?" Sophia called from the couch as soon as I walked into the door, a stupid smile on my face. She turned her attention from the tv to me, and jumped at my expression, clearly showing that I hadn't smiled in a while. "Good I assume?"

I nodded.

"What happened?"

"Nothing really, Jesse did a nice rose on this one really pretty woman, and he talked to me which is a start."

She tilted her head to the side, confused. "Huh?"

"There's a guy who works at the tattoo shop, I don't think I like him but he's fairly attractive," I wasn't explaining myself well, which made her head cock even more.

But that wasn't the reason why she was confused. "Wasn't there another guy on Friday?"

I shrugged my shoulders, still excited about Jesse. It was like I was proud for him, and I wouldn't be able to tell him that I was proud, but I still felt good about seeing him succeed in life.

I was so focused on being happy for him that I hadn't realized Sophia was staring at me, with her brown eye brow held up. She bit the inside of her mouth, and that's when I had realized that she asked me a question.

"When I went grocery shopping?" It was difficult having this conversation because I hadn't remembered that night more than her. When I got home we ate a frozen pizza and I drank a whole bottle of wine. She offered me 'lean,' but I felt like mixing soda with drugs was wrong. Not because drugs are 'bad' but because Sprite always reminds me about my childhood.

I always ordered Sprite at dinners.

"You gave him your number," she said. And that's when I started to remember. His name was Harry, and he was handsome.

"Handsome Harry," I whispered before grabbing my phone from my pocket and walking to the kitchen. I sat on top of the counter and put the phone on speaker after clicking my most recent phone calls. Sophia sat on the counter with me and begun to help me take out the two braids that she had helped me put in this morning.

He hadn't answered, but he had a voicemail box.

"Hey, you called me today and I just wanted to apologize for not knowing who you were, but I remember now and I would really-" then it shut off, because I had taken too many pauses and my phone couldn't record a voicemail longer than 30 seconds.

At 8, Sophia put some pizza rolls inside the oven, and pulled them out ten minutes later than what it said to do on the box. They were crispy, but being that I only had cereal that whole day, I ate them anyway. I burned the front part of my tongue, which stayed with me until the next day.

On Tuesday the shop was full, and I managed to finish one tattoo. A young boy my age or older wanted lyrics tattooed on the side of his neck. His girlfriend beside him stayed the whole while, almost as if he were on a hospital bed than one at a tattoo shop.

All three of us made small talk, but the girl did the most talking. She seemed like a very self conscious girl, even though she was very beautiful. She wore a baggy sweatshirt that fell to the middle of her thighs, and the band of the sweatshirt I would normally fold in was folded out so it would cover more of her legs. Her hair looked like it hadn't been trimmed in a while, some strands a golden brown, and the rest a very light brown.

Her name was Judy. After I complimented her name, she talked for about five minutes on how she hated the name. Once she saw my name above her boyfriend's head on my wall, she talked for ten minutes about how beautiful my name was.

Jesse and Zayn came to see me tattoo on Judy's boyfriend who's name I had forgotten, and Zayn gave me a few tips as well. He told me to shade in the letters a little slower so that it looked clean. Not that it would look 'dirty' or nasty, it was just a friendly tip that Jesse agreed with.

After Judy's boyfriend was done, they both thanked me and tipped me. The tattoo looked pretty, but as Jesse and Zayn would say, it looked 'dope' as well.

"What made you want to be a tattoo artist?" Jesse asked me as I sipped on my tea that day at lunch.

I nearly coughed, as he grinned and bit into his sandwich sloppily before wiping the mustard off his face.

"I don't know," my voice came out like a high pitched whisper, very soft but somehow also forced due to how surprised I was. My mind tried to string together a sentence, and I bit my lip before continuing. "I just really like the art, it's like drawing, but with words. I don't know, it's hard to explain how much I love it." The whole time I didn't make eye contact, but I could feel him staring and intently listening, like he actually cared about what I had to say.

"My dad hates that I have tattoos everywhere," he turned to the other co workers who were peacefully enjoying their lunch. Our boss Louis ordered for those who didn't have lunch who were most. I felt that I wasn't that hungry, so he just got me a can of tea and got everyone else sandwiches.

"I think they look cool," I complimented him. He smiled.

"I bet you would look amazing with a whole arm sleeve." He gestured to his own, and I couldn't help but blush.

That was when we really started to talk.

"Hey Ana! I got your voicemail and I just wanted you to know that it's completely fine that you didn't know who I was. But I would really like to hang out as well, how does tomorrow sound for coffee?"

Harry talked really fast in his messages, and I almost didn't understand what he was saying half of the time. But I can't lie and say that my heart wasn't racing when he mentioned coffee. By this time we were both playing voicemail tag, and I was kind of grateful. I didn't think I would be able to hold a whole conversation with him without having awkward pauses, and that's why I was so nervous about agreeing to get coffee with him.

It was a mixture of nervousness and something else. Maybe it was because I wasn't a big coffee person, or maybe it was because he seemed so nonchalant, and I was so jumpy and maybe it was because I was asking myself so many questions.

When I called back to confirm that I was available, the phone rang for a few seconds before he actually picked up.

My heart stopped for a good four seconds.

"Hello?" He sounded as though he was in the middle of doing something, and that he was really busy.

"Hey Harry, it's Ana." My sentence was short and choppy as I could hear other people talking in the background.

"Ana? Oh hey!" He sounded excited, which brought a smile to my face. "How are you?"

"I'm okay, you?"

"I'm a little backed up with schoolwork, but other than that I'm okay as well."

Schoolwork? "Are you a student?"

"Oh no, I'm a teacher and I'm grading my student's work." He had a laughter that was contagious, and his voice like a drug. I wanted to talk to him all night, see how his voice would range and vary in different situations.

That whole phone call my mind was on him, for Harry I couldn't really say the same. He was working.

"That's awesome," we both paused, and I bit my lip before continuing. "So I don't want to keep you from working, but coffee tomorrow?"

"Yes! Coffee sounds great. Do you want to meet at the Golden Diner a little bit before 8?"

I nodded. "I'll see you there,"

"Can't wait." He chuckled, and I nearly passed out right there on the carpet floor of the living room.

"Bye, Harry." The corners of my mouth couldn't turn down, no matter how hard I tried to.

"Adios Ana," he giggled right before I pressed the end call button.

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thanks for those of you who voted and commented on the last chapter !