Page 19 of Beck

Kole nodded. “That’ll be… Hold on a minute. How do you have a reservation already if you were only just asking me?”

Ethan smirked. “I already booked it. I would’ve forcibly dragged you there if you’d said no.”

“Good to know.”

“You’re welcome to head out now if you want a breather before tonight,” Ani said. “If anyone comes in asking about your designs, we can book them in for tomorrow.”

Kole inhaled and smiled. “No, I think I’m good. I love being here.”

And he did. Even when, in the next breath, a small group of twenty-somethings entered, making a lot of noise about each getting a tattoo and taking forever to choose, and turned the place into a loud group meeting. Their excitement and interest were palpable. Kole disappeared behind the desk so he was out of the way, but he stayed to listen to their conversation, taking titbits of information about what they liked and didn’t like to use in his future designs. Everyone was different, but if he could get ideas about what people liked, it would give him some reference to go with.

When the group finally decided, Ani and Ethan worked at fitting them in for appointments. Beck was almost finished with Denny, and Joey was nearly done with Leyton. Dallas was due at any time. So that meant each tattoo artist had three people to ink. Luckily, all the designs were fairly small and easy, from what Kole could see.

“Do you want to watch?” Ani asked Kole, but he shook his head.

“I saw some at the Bonser event. I know how it works, thanks. I marvel at how different people are. One liked one design, but another hated it, and so on. It’s weirdly wonderful.”

Ani grinned and clasped his shoulder. “That should probably be our slogan. Weirdly Wonderful in every way.”

“Are you channelling Mary Poppins, Ani?” Joey asked as he descended the stairs, Leyton following behind.

Ani chuckled. “If only. Life might be a little easier if I was.”

Kole watched the workings of getting clients into rooms and everything else involved and then retreated to his room to work on some more designs. That time, he wanted to try something colourful. Beck’s angel wings came to mind as he drew, and he incorporated some similar lines and textures. Before he started the colours, he added some shading, but before he could continue, someone knocked.

“Come in.”

Beck entered with a smile. “How’re things going? Ani said you’d been cooped up in here for hours.”

Kole checked the clock. “God! I have. No wonder my back aches. I got distracted.”

“Can I look?” Beck asked.

He didn’t think the design would get him into trouble, if Beck even noticed the similarities to his wings, but it still made his stomach churn. “Sure.”

Beck moved closer, resting one hand on the back of Kole’s chair, and the other beside his paper. At first, he said nothing, and Kole began to worry, but then he shook his head. “Exquisite. I see you kept it within a circular design. If you wanted to change it up a bit, you could extend the wings a little from either side, as if they were emerging from the design itself.”

Kole studied it and saw what Beck meant. He picked up his pencil and sketched a few light pencil marks to get an idea of what it would look like.

“I like it. I’ll add that tomorrow with some colour, too.”

“I keep meaning to add a little colour to my wings, but I never get around to it.”

Kole spun the chair around, dislodging Beck’s hand. “Why not?”

Beck shrugged. “It’s one of those things I keep telling myself to do, but then life happens. One day, I’ll get one of the others to do it.”

The idea of getting his hands on Beck’s skin and colouring his designs made Kole want to train to be a tattooist straight away, but he wasn’t sure if it was his calling or not. It was something to consider later on, after he’d found his feet doing the job he’d already been given.

“Are you ready to break the joint?” Beck asked with a wink.

“I need my bag, but yeah.”

He reached across and grabbed it, throwing it over his head to cross his body, and followed Beck from the room. They met with Dallas as he exited his studio.

“Hey! Are you figuring shit out?” he asked Kole.

“Getting there.”

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