Can You Stake My Heart?

"Aaaand... done!" the tattoo artist, Josh, said turning of the tattoo machine. I winced as he wiped off my hip and handed me a mirror and angled it down at the spot where the new image glowed.

"Do you like it?" He smirked, as my jaw dropped open.

I told him I wanted an elf priestess holding up a cross with a pointed end, like a stake. I wanted it to symbolize that I could ward off any evil that came into my life. Pretty cheesy, I know. But I thought it would look cool. I expected it to be good but the work he had done was absolutely amazing.

"Wow... Josh, it's just... incredible!" I whispered, my eyes glued to the artwork on my hip. Along with the Elven Priestess, I had gotten a silhouette of a cat trotting across my wrist. My life motto was basically “cats or get the fuck out”, so I felt like this tattoo was appropriate. I had to admit though, I was nervous that my scars might show when he rolled up my sleeve. Luckily, he only concentrated on the top of my wrist right near my hand, so I got off lucky. I looked up to see Nina tracing the waterfall of flowers that covered her arm from her shoulder to elbow. They were really beautiful; tons of colors and different kinds of flowers.

“Oh Rose, this was really fun! I love them!” She said, taking her eyes off her colorful arm to look at me.

“Yeah, it was. I’m glad we came here.” I sat up in the chair and swung my feet to the floor.

“Thanks for being so cooperative, most girls cry or complain that it hurts too much. You guys are pretty chill.” Josh laughed, walking up to the counter. I took Nina by the hand, who was still hypnotized by her arm and walked up to the counter, following Josh.

I paid for my tattoos and Nina paid for hers. We chatted with Josh for a while, and found out he went to the School of Visual Arts, just like us! He was a pretty cool guy, not gonna lie. I felt comfortable talking to him, which was surprising.

Maybe I was starting to come out of my shell.

“You guys can come back and hang anytime!” Josh waved at us as we walked out the door.

I turned and waved at him, laughing as I pushed open the door. I heard Nina gasp and quickly turned around, only to find myself gasping too.

Leaned against the driver’s side of a black Porsche was Gerard, a cigarette hanging loosely between his lips. On the passenger side was Brandon, smiling brightly at Nina.

“How did… how did they know we were here?” Nina whispered in my ear.

“Oh… I kinda told Brandon to come and take you on a date.” I suppressed a giggle. I had totally forgotten all about it. But I didn’t think he would’ve brought Gerard too; I didn’t even know they were friends!

“Hey guys…?” I murmured down at my shoes. When I looked up, I was staring right into Gerard’s eyes. He quickly closed his eyes and looked away, taking a deep breath. I seriously couldn’t figure this guy out. For one second, he looked as though he liked me and the next… like I was disgusting. I frowned a bit, but wiped it away as Brandon came up to me.

“Hey, so I’m gonna take Nina out. I didn’t have a ride so; I thought maybe Gerard could drive you back? He’s cool, I promise.” He smiled, patting my shoulder. Nina was still standing close to me, eyes glued not on her tattoos, but on Brandon.

“Uh, that’s fine.” I stammered. I walked towards what I assumed was Gerard’s car. I looked around to see Brandon’s hand around Nina’s waist, escorting her to her car and getting in. I waved at Nina in the passenger seat as they pulled away. She was jumping in her seat, too excited to think. I laughed one final time and turned around, realizing I was alone with Gerard.

He flipped his hair back and tossed his cig to the ground.

“Hey Rose. Got some ink?” He smiled at me. My head went fuzzy trying to come up with a response to him.
“Euhh, yeah.” I cleared my throat and rolled up my sleeve, showing him the cat trotting along my vein. He lightly grabbed my hand pulling it closer to his face. The one on my hip would go unnoticed for now. I was pretty sure I was sweating, as this had never happened to me before. I felt my blood start pumping faster, and almost immediately he let go of my hand.

“Pretty cool, I fuckin’ love cats.” He laughed. I let out a small noise of what I hope sounded like a laugh, but I couldn’t really tell. I nervously shuffled over to the passenger side. I was about to reach for the door handle, but before I could even move my hand, he had opened it for me. I blushed and whispered a small thank you, and sat down on the white leather seat.

He hopped in on the driver’s side, and started the car. Backing out of the small parking area, he turned and looked at me.

“I think going back to the dorms would be really boring. How about we go somewhere else?” He winked and revved the engine.

My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to jump out of my chest.

“C’mon Rose don’t screw this up. Be brave you jackwagon!” I internally screamed at myself. Taking a deep breath, I replied, turning to look straight at him.

“Sure, where to?” I said,

I saw from the side of his face that afaint smile was painted on his lips.

“You’ll see.” He sang, and stepped on the gas as we went down the surprisingly empty street.

It was silent for a few minutes. I squirmed awkwardly in my seat, looking down at the clean floor of his car. I finally turned on his radio.
“I know we're just like old friends
we just can't pretend
that lovers make amends
we are reasons so unreal
we can't help but feel that something has been lost

but please you know you're just like me
next time I promise we'll be
perfect
perfect
perfect strangers down the line
lovers out of time
memories unwind,”
I hummed along to my favorite band Smashing Pumpkins, closing my eyes and letting the outside world melt around me.
“so far I still know who you are
but now I wonder who I was…”
I opened my eyes to see Gerard staring at me with an awed expression on his face. My eyes widened in shock as I quickly realized what I was doing. I had never sung out loud in front of anyone in my entire life.

“I’m sorry.” I quickly said, looking away. I felt tears of embarrassment well in my eyes. Suddenly. the radio got louder, and I heard Gerard begin to sing,

“so please, you always were so free
you'll see, I promise we'll be
perfect
perfect strangers when we meet
strangers on the street
lovers while we sleep,”
My eyes widened at his voice. I never knew anyone could sing like he did. Honestly, it was like someone having sex with your ear but in a velvet condom. I turned around, and found myself begin to sing along-side him.

“perfect,
you know this has to be
we always we're so free
we promised that we'd be
perfect.”

The song ended and he looked down at the steering wheel, drumming his fingers on it.

“You’ve got an amazing voice, Rosalie.” Gerard whispered. I laughed at him, because what he said should be applied to himself only; I was horrible at singing.

“You should be one to talk, Gerard.” I smiled at him.

The rest of the way to our destination, we sang Iron Maiden and more Smashing Pumpkins. I was busy head banging to “Run to the Hills” when Gerard tapped me on the shoulder. I wiped the hair from my eyes and saw we were parked in front of a Starbucks.

“Man, you really love this place, don’t you?” I giggled at him and hopped out of the car. I followed him inside, still humming to the music that was in my head.

“Can I have a Vanilla Latte? Name’s Gerard.” He asked the man at the counter.

He turned around to face me, his eyes giving me that And you? look.

“Vanilla Bean Frappe, please. Rose.” I told the man, walking towards a table for two near the window.

Gerard came and sat down at the small table with me. I looked into his eyes, wondering where this was going to go.

“What year of college is this for you?” I began.

“Well, it’s only my second. I’m really enjoying it so far, the campus is really laid back. Mainly because it’s an art school and lots of people smoke weed, but whatever.” He said, chuckling. I laughed, probably because it was true.

“Gerard, Rose?” the barista called, and I quickly got up to retrieve our drinks. When I turned around, I caught Gerard staring at me. He quickly looked down at the table, taking another deep breath. I pursed my lip. Did I seriously smell bad? I brushed the thought away and walked over to our tiny table, setting our drinks down.

For a long time, we just talked. He talked about art, his life, family, etc. I talked about the same things, but excluded my dark past. When our drinks were done, we got into his car and made our way back to the campus, singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody. When we arrived at my dorm, he got out to take me to the door.

“Thanks for taking me to Starbucks, Gerard, it was really fun.” I said, looking up at his face through the darkness.

“No problem. And call me Gee, okay? Gerard’s kinda a mouthful.” He smiled, combing his finger through his hair. We stood there for a couple of seconds in silence.

“Uhm, see you later.” I said, turning and walking into the doors.

“So long.” I heard him whisper, and I walked up the stairs. I started to have an anxiety attack. Should I have hugged him or something? Did I do something wrong? God, I was such an idiot. I unlocked my dorm room, trying to push those thoughts to the back of my head. The room was dark, which meant that Nina wasn’t back yet. I smiled at the thought of her and Brandon.

I took a quick shower, got in my pj’s and faceplanted into bed. I sighed in frustration at the mistakes I’ve made. I eventually convinced myself that this was good.

I had gotten two kick ass tattoos, and basically went on a date with Gerard. Squealing a little bit, I burrowed myself under the covers and drifted off to sleep, with one thought still left in my mind.

On Monday, when classes started, the real fun would begin.

Notes

Long chapter to make up for not writing, sorry D:I'll try to update more often now
song featured was Perfect by Smashing Pumpkins

rate, comment and subscribe ❤❤❤
love you guys xoxo