I could feel the beat of the bass thudding through the floor and the walls of my office as I gritted my teeth and put my hands to my temples, trying to drown it out. It only got louder though, and soon I could hear the screaming of whatever terrible band was playing this heavy metal "music", if it could even be called that. Of course it would be just my luck to land an internship at a law firm that was situated right next to a grungy tattoo parlour whose employees had possibly the worst taste in music of all time.
"Courtney!" one of the partners, Mr McLean, stuck his head in the door of my office that I shared with one of the full time lawyers here whose job it was to teach me while I was here on my internship. She was currently not there yet though so I was alone in the office.
"Yes?" I replied politely, pretending not to know what he wanted.
"You know," he said raising an eyebrow.
"Can't someone else go and tell him? I always do it," I whined. At first I'd been too scared to ever argue with him, since he was the boss, but I'd since learned that complaining to him was the only way to get your way around here.
"That's because you're the only one he listens to. Remember when Noah tried to tell him?" Mr McLean reminded me.
I did remember when Noah had tried to tell the tattooist to turn his music off. He'd returned with a black eye and a lip piercing and the music was still as loud as ever. He refused to tell anyone what happened and when I'd gone over to tell the dumb punk to turn his poor excuse for music off he'd simply said Noah was asking for it. He had however, turned his music off. But he still proceeded to turn it up full blast everyday until someone (namely me) came over to yell at him.
I groaned at Mr McLean who just rolled his eyes and ordered me to go. I huffed and marched from the office to the tattoo parlour next door. The first time I'd been in there I had been extremely intimidated by the dark shop front and the menacing pictures on the walls, but now I'd been in there so many times it didn't even phase me. I stormed past the creepy goth chick who was always at the front counter chewing gum and she didn't even glance up from her magazine as I strode to the back room and wrenched open the curtain to see that gross ogre's green mohawk bent over some girl, tattooing what appeared to be a butterfly on her ass. I stood in the doorway with my hands on my hips, looking down at them disapprovingly.
"Do you mind, Princess? I'm a little busy," Duncan said without looking up.
"Who's there?" the girl asked nervously.
"Relax dollface, it's just the uptight lawyer bitch from next door come for her daily dose of Duncan," he told the girl.
"Yes, it's me. Turn your music down, Duncan. Do I have to tell you everyday?" I said exasperatedly.
"Appears that way," Duncan said nonchalantly.
"Seriously, it's getting on my last nerve. I have better things to do than come over here everyday!" I snapped.
"Well, why do you then?" Duncan asked.
"You know why!"
"Get thicker walls," Duncan sniggered. I made a noise of exasperation and he finally looked up at me with his striking blue eyes. He would be so attractive if he didn't have all that metal on his face and ears, and maybe got a better haircut. He grinned, putting the needle down and I pursed my lips at him. That charming smile might work on all the other girls but it did absolutely nothing for me, I can assure you. It was for a completely different reason that my heart was racing and my palms were sweating.
"I'm just kidding, Princess," he said, standing up, his hulking form seeming to fill the room all of a sudden.
"Where are you going?" the girl asked.
"I'll be back in a second," he told her. "Come on, Princess," he said to me, putting a hand on the small of my back and leading me out of the back room. I felt weirdly hot at his touch so I quickly extricated myself from his arm and kept a few feet away from him. He raised an eyebrow at me, showing that he'd noticed my reaction, but he said nothing. I followed him to his computer which was plugged into the building's sound system. I studied his tattooed arm as he dragged the volume down to a minimum. Why did he have so many tattoos? What was the point? He had nice arms though. Wait. I did not think that.
"Happy now?" he asked, turning to me.
"Ecstatic, thank you," I said dryly, quickly snapping my eyes back to his so he wouldn't notice I'd been checking out his arms. I turned and walked from the room, Duncan following me.
"Got a busy day ahead of you?" he asked.
"Reasonably," I replied. "And you?" I asked, more out of polite habit than any actual interest I had.
"You know it. Gwen will hardly have time to read that boring magazine of hers," he said with a sidelong glance at the goth. She rolled her eyes and popped her gum.
"Gross," I muttered.
"Totally," Duncan chuckled. "See you tomorrow then?" he winked as I opened the door to leave. I just sighed as I walked through the door, the bell tinkling as I left. I glanced back to see Duncan still standing in the doorway, watching me walk away. He quickly averted his eyes, trying to pretend he hadn't been looking and I turned back to watch where I was going as a blush covered my face. As much as I hated that guy, I had to admit he was fucking hot, even with the tattoos and piercings, and the notion that he might think the same of me was irritatingly thrilling.
"He was totally ripped and he spoke Spanish and his name was Alejandro," Heather informed Bridgette and me of her latest conquest while we ate take out and watched a chick flick at our house that we rented together. Heather and I that is, Bridgette lived with her boyfriend.
"I thought you made a point not to know their names," Bridgette reminded her.
"I made an exception for this one," Heather sniffed.
"Why, because he speaks Spanish?" I said disdainfully.
"Yes, so what?" Heather shrugged. "It's not like it matters, since I'm never seeing him again."
"I don't know how you do it, honestly," I shook my head.
"Do what?" Heather asked, her mouth full of pizza.
"Hook up with random guys all the time. Don't you feel the need for some kind of connection?" I wondered.
"I always have a connection, it's called how fuckable they are," Heather retorted.
"Classy," I rolled my eyes.
"I agree with Courtney," Bridgette said. "You should have an emotional connection with anyone you have sex with."
"Oh, what would you know? Geoff's the only guy you've ever had sex with," Heather reminded her and Bridgette poked her tongue out. Bridgette and Geoff had been together since high school and it didn't look like they were breaking up anytime soon, so Heather and I both assumed a proposal was in the pipeline.
"Seriously though Courtney, you should try it sometime," Heather told me.
"What? Sex with Geoff?" I asked, taken aback.
"No, you bimbo! Casual sex. A one night stand!" Heather grinned at me enthusiastically.
"No way," I refused. "I actually have some dignity!"
"It's nothing to do with dignity," Heather snapped. "You just need to get some. It's been what, three months since you broke up with that hillbilly Scott? So you haven't had sex in at least three months. That's pretty sad."
"Not that it's any of your business," I muttered.
"Come on, Court, you can't tell me you haven't been feeling a little sexually frustrated lately. One random hook up would do you good!" Heather encouraged. As much as I hated to admit it, Heather was right. I hadn't had sex in three months and I was starting to feel a little desperate. My inexplicable attraction to Duncan was proof of that.
"I wouldn't even know how to go about it," I sighed.
"It's easy, you just need to find a guy who you're attracted to but who you don't respect," Heather informed me. "That part is especially important for you because otherwise you will get attached." My mind immediately conjured up an image of Duncan. Okay, well maybe he'd already been in my mind from the moment Heather brought up the topic of sex, but I couldn't deny he fit Heather's description perfectly.
"Okay… say I knew a guy like that. How would I go about asking him?" I asked Heather.
"Just go up to him, flirt a little bit, then invite him back to your place," Heather said as if it were obvious.
"That's it? No secret code?" I asked.
"What are you, thirteen? No of course there's no fucking code. If you want to fuck a guy you just tell him," Heather said exasperatedly.
"Fine," I rolled my eyes.
"Wait, Courtney, you're actually considering doing this?" Bridgette interjected.
"She isn't considering, she's already decided. Look at her, she can't wait to fuck whatever guy she's thinking of," Heather smirked.
"That is not true," I denied. Heather raised an eyebrow knowingly.
"Who is it?" Bridgette asked.
"You don't know him," I assured her.
"Make sure you establish some rules with him, for your own protection," Heather warned.
"Like what?" I asked. This was beginning to sound more and more complicated. "Do you really give a list of rules to every guy you sleep with?"
"Of course not, but I'm a seasoned professional, and I know you. If you aren't careful you will fall in love with him or something ridiculous like that," Heather said.
"Trust me, there is no chance of that with this guy," I assured her.
"Still… make sure you don't let him call you pet names like baby or something, don't let him sleep over, or if you go to his place don't sleep over there. And don't let him kiss you on the mouth," Heather listed.
"No kissing? Why?" I asked, a little put out. I liked kissing a lot.
"You will get attached!" Heather said, slapping me on the arm.
"Ugh, fine, whatever you say!" I said.
"Good luck," Heather chuckled. "Let me know how it works out!"
The next day, as predicted, the usual blaring music filled my ears. I didn't bother waiting for someone to come and tell me to go next door. As soon as I was out of the office I quickly tried to make myself look a little sexier, fluffing up my hair and undoing a couple of buttons on my blouse to reveal a fair amount of cleavage. I was already wearing way more make up than usual and a much shorter skirt, and I was glad no one at work had noticed or said anything. I had rehearsed what I was going to say and do in my head, but I was really hoping it didn't seem rehearsed. My main goal was to seem casual, in case he said no.
I was going to walk in, past weird goth girl, directly out to the back and turn the music off. Duncan would come out to see what had happened to his music where I would flutter my eyelashes and ask him if he was busy tomorrow night. It was as simple as that. So why did I feel so nervous?
I took a deep breath as I entered the shop, the familiar tinkling of the bell signalling my arrival. My stomach dropped when I saw not Gwen at the front counter as usual, but Duncan himself. My whole plan had gone out the window and with it my calm façade. Had he seen me primping myself before coming over here?
"Duncan," I gulped.
"Hey, Princess," Duncan smirked, looking me up and down. "Is all that for me?" Fuck, he had noticed.
"Where's Gwen?" I asked, avoiding the question.
"She's out back, giving someone a tattoo," Duncan replied.
"Wait, she's not just the receptionist?" I said, surprised.
"Nope, but she only does tattoos she thinks are really cool and leaves all the shitty butterfly tattoos for me," Duncan rolled his eyes. "So, why are you here anyway?"
"You know why," I said.
"I do?" Duncan asked, confused.
"Yes, I want you to turn your music off, remember?" I prompted.
"Right," Duncan nodded and headed to the back to turn off the music. I waited for him by the front counter and when he returned he seemed surprised to see me. "You're still here," he noted, folding his arms.
"Yes, well there was another reason I came over here…" I started nervously, forgetting I was supposed to be trying to be seductive.
"Yeah?" Duncan raised an eyebrow.
"I was thinking, if you wanted to… maybe we could… oh, forget it!" I sighed and turned to leave, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
"Hey, hey wait," Duncan stopped me and I turned back to him reluctantly. "I know what you want," he said matter-of-factly. I screwed up my nose, ready for him to ridicule me in some way. "And I'm happy to oblige," he grinned.
"Really?" I asked sceptically.
"Of course, babe. I'd be an idiot to say no, especially when you went to so much trouble," he gestured down my body with an audacious grin on his face that I felt the urge to slap off. "We can go out the back now if you like," he winked.
"I don't want to do it now," I sniffed.
"Alright, well when then?"
"Tomorrow night," I told him.
"Great, tomorrow night, my place, 9pm," Duncan decided.
"Your place?" I had been going to suggest my own house but I supposed Duncan's would do just as well, and then I could leave whenever I wanted to. "Fine. Where do you live?" He grinned and wrote down his address on a scrap piece of paper and handed it to me. Heather was right, this actually was pretty easy.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow," I said as I turned to leave.
"See ya, Princess. Oh and don't forget to button up your top before you go back to work," he winked. I scowled at him and quickly did up the buttons I'd undone before stalking out of the shop.
Yo guys, new story! This is going to to be a two chapter story, but it could potentially be more? I mean I have ideas on how to continue it if people like it enough. So let me know, cause if no one likes it I won't bother and I will just leave it at 2 haha :)