Because Of Him

When he came back

Hayes kept driving quietly through the empty streets as more cars started coming out to start their day. I didn't get any sleep at all and I felt like i was having a headache. "Ugh..." I mumbled to myself as I placed my Head on the cold window wishing it would numb the headache. "What's wrong?" Hayes said as he flashed me a quick glance before eyeing the road again. "Nothing."

"Stop lying and just tell me the damn truth already"

"Headache and just tired. That's all."

"Are you sure Thats all?" Hayes questioned. "Yes you dumb f**k now keep your eye on the road" I joked. "Cramps?" Hayes said as he smirked and raised his left eyebrow at me. I nudged him playfully as a chorus of laughter escaped our mouths. "My head just hurts so much. It's like I'm in serious pain." I muttered.

"Relax. After this you'll be fine."

"I guess so, you're just getting a tattoo right? Then we'll go back to Taylor's?"

"We."

"What?"

"We."

"WE WHAT?"

"WE are getting a tattoo"

"What the hell Hayes!? I never said I'd-"

"You'll Like it. Trust me."

"What the f**k!? No I won't! I hate-"

"Don't say you hate something until it actually happens. Hey, you probably hated me before. And now look at you, you're practically attached to my lips" Hayes smirked.

"I didn't hate you, I just didn't want anything to do with you. And for your information, YOU are attached to MY lips! And you said hate 'something' well you're not a something. You're a someone."

"I'm your someone special right?" Hayes said. Does he always have a comeback for whatever I say?

"Ugh. Your so irritating-"

"Here we are." Hayes said as he took the key out of ignition and unbuckled his seat belt. The car was parked in front of a small shop. The words 'welcome' were lit up in bright blue and red bold words that were hung in the front window of the shop. The area around the shop made everything seem normal around this part of town. Torn up rock concert and other ads that were plastered onto the brick wall. The gloomy and misty feeling as I opened the car door. But the air felt wet because of the rain earlier and for some reason it felt like it had emptied my lungs and made them feel some what lighter. I undid my seatbelt slowly as I eyed the shop more. Hayes's phone buzzed and he slipped it out of his pocket. I eyed the phone at the corner of my eye and saw the name 'Dante' again. Curiosity flowed through my veins to the part where I felt like my brain would burst, My cheeks burning. "Hayes, why are you always messaging dant-?"

"Hayes!" A voice yelled. Even though the windows were closed the parson's voice boomed through it. Hayes rolled down the window and a fairly tall man came and squatted down so he could see through the window. Eyeing Hayes and I. "Hey Matt," Hayes said as he extended his hand out the window to do a little handshake with Matt. "What're you doing here? And how'd you know it was me in the car?"

"Cameron was being a lazy ass and wanted me to get him some lunch," he brought up a small brown paper bag which I assumed was the sand which he was talking about "and, It couldn't have been Taylor even though this is his car. Taylor would've been checking himself out in the mirror and not once did I see you do that. And It couldn't be Nash either because I was just texting him a few minutes ago." I eyed Matt and his gaze stumbled upon mine. Matt had darkish blonde hair with a nice quiff. I could already tell he was wearing brown khakis with his white short sleeve shirt. "Oh, this is honey. Honey, this is Matt" Hayes said as he finally got the hint. "Nice to meet ya" Matt said in a quick and jumpy tone. "You too." I gave him a gentle smile. "And why are you guys here? Shouldn't you be in the hospital getting your bruised hand checked because of what happened with carter?" Matt asked.

"Naw, I'm fine. How'd you hear?"

"Nash, Taylor, gilinsky, basically everyone is talking about it."

"Well, honey and I are just getting a little tattoo. That's all."

"Oh cool, got anything in mind?" Matt looked at me as if I had an answer. My mouth stuttered to even open and I felt myself choke. "Actually, it's a surprise for her that I had planned" Hayes said saving my embarrassed ass. My cheeks started burning even more. "I'll come with you guys inside. Maybe Cameron and I could help you guys out" Matt said. I got out of the car just like Hayes. And the three of us walked inside the little tattoo shop.

The tattoo shop was empty. I'm guessing it wasn't busy hours. The tattoo shop felt tight spaced because of the black leather chairs that were pushed against one wall and the back rooms where you would get tattooed, on the other side. The bright painted red walls beamed into my eyes. "There you are Matt! Give me my sand which. I'm hungry as fuck." A man behind the counter said. "Jeez, fine here." Matt said as he handed the sand which bag to the man behind the counter who I assumed was Cameron. "oh hey Hayes, what can I do for ya?" Cameron said.

"You think you could help us get a little tattoo?," Hayes said as he gestured towards me. I crossed my arms loosely as I wanted to sulk in shyness. "Cam, this is honey, honey this is cam." Cam gave me a wide smile and I have to admit, He was quite attractive. He wore a short sleeve shirt that his muscles and abs seemed to seep through and he didn't seem to mind at all. "Well, do you have anything in mind for a tattoo design-?"

Hayes rushed over to cameron who was behind the counter and whispered into his ear. Cam nodded his head lightly to the very few words that Hayes had told him. "Who's going first?" Cam said. "She is." Hayes pointed towards me as he smiled and pushed me to cameron. I stopped myself from falling and stared back at Hayes over my shoulder. "What?! Me? Why can't-"

"It'll be fine. Come on, you'll like it" cam said as he started walking to the back room. I sighed and tried to convince myself that what he wash saying, was actually true. Hayes followed Cameron and I to the back room.

The back room was more spacious than I had imagined. One chair was placed in the middle of the room with other chairs to the sides and several other machines and all that junk were placed around the room. It looked chaotic. "Hayes you didn't have to wait. Matt could've done your tattoo for you" cam said as he started moving things around. I awkwardly slumped into the chair as I switched my gaze towards the both of them. "I know. But I wanted to make sure you wouldn't make a move on her or anything" Hayes said as he crossed his arms across his chest. Cameron scoffed, "please, I'm not carter" he muttered beneath his breath. "I know, I know, just making sure." Hayes retorted

"Why? Jealous?" Cameron sarcastically said as his eyes danced towards Hayes. "Maybe." Hayes said as he made a look. Cameron shook his head side to side before gazing down to the tools, needles and such that were placed around the room. "Close your eyes" Hayes said.

"Why do I have to close my eyes?"

"because,"

"Because?"

"Because I said so."

"Ugh, whatever." I shut my eyes and I saw completely nothing. I heard little clangs of tools or whatever it was that cameron was doing. "Hayes is better when your eyes are closed" Cameron said before laughing. Even though my eyes were closed I felt like I could already see cameron clutching onto his sides because of the laughter.

"Shut up cam." Hayes said and I laughed. "Unless, you like it better when your eyes are closed. If you know what I mean." Hayes said. I didn't need to open my eyes to know that Hayes's face was leaned in towards mine. His warm breathing on my cheek. "Grier, you are one of the most sickest people I know"

"Sick bad or sick good?"

"What the hell is sick good?!"

"Sick good, as in, good at something, you know? Like, woah man that was so sick! Or Hayes is soo sick in bed!" Hayes said referring to himself in a third person. "Well you're sick bad."

"Wrong. I think I'm sick good."

"Says who"

"Says me. I'm probably great in bed"

"As if."

"Wanna find out?"

"Go away"

"Love you" Hayes said in a high pitched down as if he was trying to impersonate a girl. I scoffed and shook my head. I had forgotten that Cameron was even in the room. Cameron started drawing with a marker on my wrist. "Wait, what are you doing??" I said panicked. "It's nothing. I'm just drawing the design that Hayes said to get." The little scribble of the marker felt like he was only drawing circles on my wrist that caused me to flinch from time to time. "Alright, time for the needle" Cameron said as he left the room. I felt my heart racing as the room dimmed quiet. My eyes were still shut and I tilted my heads down which caused my hair to curtain in front of me. "I can hear your heart beating." Hayes said.

"Stop. I'm already scared enough for the needle, no need to make me self conscious"

"I think your heart beat is a beautiful sound." Hayes said softy and his voice sounded scratchy.

"Really?"

"Really," I could hear him making his way over to where I sat. His warm breathing back on my cheeks. "You'll be fine. It's just a little tattoo. I'm right here" Hayes's whisper made my heart beat even more and I felt like the more my heart pumped, the sooner it would burst out of my chest like a caged animal escaping from his cell. Cameron came back and i shut my eyes tighter. I learned a long time ago how to shut the noise out of anything and anyone. Once people started seeing me in a awful and different way, tuning them out was the best I could do to protect myself. Hayes sat on the other side of me. I hung onto his arm which was probably marked with my digging nails. I bit my bottom lip. Cameron started tracing the outline of the tattoo and I tried to stop my mind from focusing on the fact that I was actually getting a tattoo. Several seconds passed, then minutes. It actually had felt longer than I thought. "Finished, open your eyes" cam said. I did what he had said and the first thing I saw was hayes's piercing eyes. His eyes struck a needle to my heart every time. I released my grip from Hayes and brought my eyes down to my wrist which was slightly red. A small tattoo of a bird was cemented onto my wrist. I stared at it confusingly as I got up from my seat and walked towards Hayes who was next to get a tattoo. He stopped me and I looked up. He whispered the words "you make me feel like I'm flying" in my ear before he walked towards the chair I had sat in. I smiled to myself as I took a seat to watch Hayes. I then realized why Hayes had chosen a bird for my first tattoo. 'You make me feel like I'm flying.' Even though the bird wasn't very big, it still meant a lot. And the saying meant a lot as well. "So what tattoo do you want this time Hayes? Illuminati? Diamond? Oh I know! Matt came up with this idea with this cool blunt and-"

"A bird. Just like hers." Hayes said straight forward. "Are you sure?" Cameron asked

"I'm sure."

"Well okay-"

"-but, can you also write 1/2 beneath it?" Hayes asked. Now I didn't know what Hayes was talking about with the 1/2 thing. And he knew, of course, that I would ask him sooner or later. I guess he had chosen later because he slumped back into his seat as Cameron started working on the tattoo.

After a long time hayes's tattoo was done. His wrist was red as he got up from his seat and we all walked out the back room. "How'd it go?"Matt asked as he was laying down on a few of the black chairs that were pushed against the wall. "Good" I managed to say without messing up. People just made me nervous and I wasn't and never will be one to socialize. "How much for the tattoos?" Hayes asked cam.

"None. On the house."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Of course. Now go away, I don't need a bunch of people outside thinking I just tattooed some kids" cam hissed even though he was joking. Hayes and I said goodbye to cam and Matt before walking out the door and making our way back to the car.

"Does it still hurt?" I asked as I buckled my seatbelt. "Does what hurt?" Hayes started the car and we were back on the same road we were on before. "The tattoo. I mean, mine still sorta hurts."

"Not really. I've gotten use to it."

"I see. Hayes? What does 1/2 mean?"

"January is the first month in a year. So 1. And January 2nd is the day we went on our first late night adventure. So 1/2. And 1/2 also means, you're my other half." Hayes said as he gave me a half smile. "Wow so cheesy"

"But you love it."

"Yes, yes I do." I said.

"Good." Hayes started turning onto roads that I didn't even recognized.

"Where are we going? Aren't we going back to Taylor's?"

"Not yet. We gotta stop at one more place."

"Where?"

"Your house"

"My house?!"

"Yeah"

"Why?!"

"I remember you saying you missed your mom so,"

"But she'll throw a b***h fit when she finds out I wasn't really on a class trip and been sneaking out with you!"

"Just pretend you're not feeling well. And that you wanted to see her."

"Ugh. Whatever fine."

"Still love me?"

"I still like you"

"That'll work for now." Hayes said. The roads started becoming fresh into my memory and suddenly I knew the roads. Hayes pulled up in my house driveway. He took the keys out the ignition and we sat there in silence.

"Ready?" He asked

"I'm rea-" I looked into the living room window and saw my mom. She was talking and smiling with someone. Someone who I could not see because they were not in the frame of the window. I could see her laughing before the person she was talking to went near her and kissed her. She didn't push him away or even moved a muscle. Instead she followed with her lips. The man's back was towards us. He was practically shoving his tongue down her throat and she looked like she liked it.

"Who's that guy trying to swallow your mom?" Hayes asked.

"I don't know" I replied.

I

Don't

Know.