"You do know that the ribs suck, right?"
Y/N was laying on her left side, shirt off, with her left arm curled underneath her head. Priestly was sitting across from her on a small stool, her bag on his lap. The black vinyl in the tattooist's chair was sticking to every inch of her exposed skin, the nervous sweat she'd broken out into not helping matters.
"I know, but it's easy to cover up and gives this guy," she thumbed to the tattooist (a portly, bearded ginger man named Harvey, covered head to toe in tattoos) sitting behind her, prepping his machine. "Plenty of room to work."
"I don't think you should have to cover it up," Priestly frowned.
"I'd rather cover it up than deal with my parents' comments. This way, everyone wins."
"You shouldn't haveta hide who you are, Y/N." The frown on Priestly's face got bigger.
"Priestly, please, can you give me shit for this after I sit through all this pain?"
He laughed at that. "Fine, whatever you say."
She smiled and held out her right hand, wiggling her fingers.
Priestly pushed off the wall to roll the stool towards her, making her giggle. He then gladly took her hand and even gave it a squeeze.
"Thanks for comin' with me, by the way. I would've been way too nervous to come in by myself," she confessed.
"Please, this is the best first date I've ever been on," he grinned, his eyes trailing over to the artist as he finished prepping.
"I don't know how romantic it is, considering I was going to ask you to come with me either way."
"Well, I do get to see your boobs, so that's pretty romantic."
She laughed at that, burying her face in the crook of her arm.
"Alright, you ready?" Harvey smiled warmly at the couple, holding his needle up.
She gripped Priestly's hand a little tighter, and nodded. "When you are, my good man."
The sound of the needle shutting off was music to her ears. "And we are done!"
"Thank God," she mumbled into her arm, not yet moving a muscle.
"Sure, your ribs might hurt, but I think you broke a couple of my fingers!" Priestly pouted, dramatically stretching his fingers.
Y/N giggled, grabbing his shirt. He ran a hand through her hair, before smiling down at her. "Hey, you did great."
"I didn't move too much, did I?" Y/N asked.
"Nah, you were fine," Priestly practically cooed. "And this guy knows what he's doing."
"Nothin' I couldn't handle," Harvey grinned. "Alright, ready to see how it turned out?"
"After sitting like this for five hours, I might need some help," she smiled.
The men laughed. "Alright," Priestly stood and put her bag where he had been sitting. He then held out his hands to her. "Time to be a good date."
"You've been awesome, Priestly," she mumbled. She let him help her to her feet, but didn't move away once they were standing. "Is it bad if I kiss you right now?"
"Hell no!" he answered practically before she had finished asking.
She giggled, pulling his head down to press a kiss to his lips. She felt him smile into it, and she was sure she mirrored him.
"Sorry to break you lovebirds up," the tattooist chortled. "But let's finish this part up before you two stain my chair."
Y/N pulled away, laughing awkwardly. "Sorry."
Harvey shrugged. "Alright, follow me. We got a full length mirror right here."
She took a deep breath, but followed Harvey—dragging Priestly behind her by their conjoined hands—out into the little hallway, her free arm covering her chest.
She walked up to the mirror and her smile widened as she saw the tattoo.
It was a beautiful black and white quill along her ribs. The nib was at the end of a phrase, written in beautiful script that bordered on calligraphy: write like you're running out of time.
She started jumping up and down in place, her excitement making her unable to keep still. She turned to Harvey, trying to hold in her squeal. "It's…it's amazing, Harvey! I'll definitely be back!"
He laughed at that. "You're welcome anytime. Now, c'mon, let's go get you patched up."
After some quick tips for aftercare and paying the man, the two were walking to Priestly's car. She shivered slightly, the sweat from sitting there so long and the choice of shorts not helping protect her from the cool breeze rolling in off the ocean.
He threw an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side. She smiled up at him. "Sorry. If I'd known it'd be so cool, I wouldn't've made you wear the kilt."
He shrugged, rubbing a hand up and down her arm to try and warm her up. "I'm fine, I run hot."
"Yeah you do."
He laughed at that as they walked up to his car. He opened the passenger side door for her, bowing dramatically and donning a terrible British accent, "Milady."
She held in her giggles. "Thank you, my good man!" she returned with an accent making her sound more like a cast member from Monty Python than a member of the royal family.
Then, they were off and driving. She shifted slightly in her seat, trying to fight the urge to scratch at her bandage. "So, when does it put the lotion on this thing?" she asked, looking at her date.
"Weren't you listening?"
"It's 1 in the morning and I have the memory span of a goldfish."
He rolled his eyes. "You just want me to come up and take care of you, don't you?" he wiggled his eyebrows, a lewd smirk covering his face.
"Hey, I wait for the second date, thank you very much!" she huffed in fake indignation.
They laughed and chatted as they drove back to her apartment. At one point, their hands intertwined over the center console but, honestly, she couldn't remember who reached for whose hand first. Not that it mattered.
He took the long way back to her apartment, neither of them saying anything, but wanting to spend more time together anyway. Soon, though, they ended up back at her place.
She stared up at the dorm for a moment before turning to back to the punk sitting beside her. "I can't thank you enough for coming tonight, Priestly."
He smiled, shrugging and trying to play if off. "Ah, it's nothing."
She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek, his sideburns scratching her lips lightly. She pulled back, grinning up at him.
After a moment of awkward silence, he cleared his throat. "You, uh…should get upstairs," he mumbled.
She nodded, her eyes drifting down for just a moment. "I should…yeah."
He turned to face her, the streetlights making his emerald green eyes shine in the low light. "I had an awesome time tonight," he smiled genuinely.
She fell back into her seat. "Me too. Thank you."
There was an awkward moment of silence where she stared at him expectantly.
When he stayed silent, she climbed out of the car, already beating herself up for somehow screwing this up. "Thanks for the drive, Pri. See you Monday, alright?"
"Right," he smiled awkwardly, waving stiffly.
She closed the door, turning on her heel and heading into her dorm.
She heard a door slam, and she whipped around to see Priestly now walking up towards her. He stopped short in front of her and took a deep breath. "Would you…would you go to dinner with me tomorrow night?"
A smile broke her face nearly in half at that. She closed the distance and cupped his cheek. "And here I thought I'd have to do everything."
He gave a nervous yes. "Is that a yes?"
She stood on her tip toes and, thankfully, Priestly met her halfway. All of their kisses up to this point had been quick and chaste, but there wasn't anything to interrupt them now.
One of his arms snaked itself around her waist, trying to pull her as close as he could and her other hand gripped his shoulder. His other arm made its home at the base of her skull, messing up her hair.
Their tongues clashed, and she started moaning into his mouth as they made out like two horny teenagers.
Finally, she pulled away, breathing a little heavy. "Of course it's a yes, ya goofball."
He smiled warmly, leaning down and pressing a quick kiss to her lips before asking, "Pick you up at six?"
She nodded, "Sounds great."
They kissed a bit more before she let him return to his car. He promised to wait until she got into her dorm, and that had earned him another kiss.
Y/N practically ran back to her dorm, texting him that she was safe and sound as she opened the door to her dorm room.
Inside sat her dorm mate, Shannon, sitting pretzel style on her bed with something undoubtedly trashy playing on her laptop. "Hey, how'd it go?" she asked, pulling her earbuds out.
"Heya," Y/N wasn't listening, finishing up her text.
Shannon pushed her laptop to the side and swung her legs over the side of her bed to face Y/N's.
Y/N hopped up onto her bed as she hit send before looking up at her roommate. "Sorry, what'd you say?"
"Oh, really feelin' the love here," Shannon huffed. "How did it go?"
"Awesome, and," Y/N answered with a giant grin. "I'm going to dinner with him tomorrow night!"
Shannon groaned, falling back onto her bed. "Holy shit, you're gonna be unbearable about this, aren't you?"
"Absolutely."
"Guess that means I have to actually meet the guy, don't I?" she sat up, facing her friend.
Y/N shrugged, trying to hide her nervousness. "If you want. But if you say anything about how he dresses—!"
"Unless he dresses like a literal, actual mime, I don't care. What matters is that he treats you well."
Y/N practically leapt from her bed, knocking Shannon back onto her bed with a squeak. "You're the best!"
Shannon laughed. "I know, now, c'mon—get off of me and gimme all the details!"