2 Chapter 2
The first time that Dani saw him was August 4th, she remembered it like it was yesterday. He sat at a station in the small tattoo shop that her friend had dragged her to, drawing on a sketch pad.
He had tan skin and black hair that was just long enough to get in the way of his eyes while he was trying to draw. He had a slightly muscular build and tattoos painted his tan skin in various places.
He had a sleeve of tattoos going up his left arm, visible from the sleeveless black hoodie that he wore. He had on black sweatpants that seemed to tie his all black outfit together.
Despite his dark clothing his tattoos were rather bright. He had a red, green, and yellow dragon that wrapped around his left arm, surrounded by many other designs such as flowers and a sun.
He seemed very dark and mysterious and it intrigued Dani, but it scared her as well. She wanted to know more about him, what his tattoos meant, why he dressed so dull, anything that he wanted to tell her she wanted to hear.
But she was too nervous to speak to him.
After Dani’s friend had finished at the front desk she followed her towards the station that the man was sitting at. When he stood to shake Tony’s hand and introduced himself, Dani realized that the man was actually quite tall.
Compared to her short frame of 5’1 the man seemed like a giant. He was easily 5’10 or 5‘11 and she couldn’t help but hide behind her friend.
While Tony, Dani’s friend, spoke to the artist she listened and wrote in her notebook quietly.
“Hey, my name is Kenji.” His voice was smooth and deep.Her face heated up as she listened to the man’s voice, not being able to help how the sound of it made her blush.
Kenji, such a fitting name for the man. It seemed tough and confident, everything Dani wasn’t.
She closed her notepad as she watched her friend get ink pressed into her skin by a sharp needle. She cringed at the thought of the pain while her friend handled it perfectly, she was able to talk and laugh like it was nothing.
When the tattoo was finished Tony asked the artist for a picture for her Instagram. He agreed happily and Tony was pushing her phone into Dani’s hands as she asked for her to take the picture. ‘
Dani blushed as she carefully took the picture, trying not to focus on how nice the man’s smile looked in the picture, before quickly handing the phone back to her friend.
She listened as her friend boldly asked if the man she had spoken to at the front desk was single, she couldn’t imagine having the confidence that Tony had, it was something she had always admired about the woman.
Once Tony had gotten the man’s number they had left the shop. Tony gushed over the guy the entire walk to the car while Dani let the tattoo artist linger in her mind.
The next time she had seen him she was anticipating the encounter all day. It was November 24th and she was hanging out with Tony for the weekend. Tony had practically begged her if they could go see her boyfriend, Hernan, who owned the tattoo shop that they met in.
After what felt like hours of begging, Dani finally caved and agreed that they could go visit. She just prayed that the cute artist wasn’t going to be in on that day.
Her prayers seemed to have been ignored that day as she walked into the tattoo parlor to see the one boy she was hoping to avoid. Tony immediately ran over to Hernan, leaving Dani standing awkwardly in the middle, looking for a place to sit.
The only open spot was by Kenji, and she just couldn’t bring herself to ask to sit there, so she stood in the middle of the room and looked down at the floor.
"Hey, Blondie, don't just stand there all day while these two talk, have a seat." She felt the heat in her face as she walked towards the seat, she must’ve looked like a fool standing there the whole time.
“Thank you.” Her words were quiet as she thought about the embarrassment of standing alone in a small group of people. The small moments like these haunted her, these were the things she thought about when she couldn’t fall asleep at night.
“No problem, Blondie.” Dani felt the slight irritation of his words on her skin. Just slightly annoying her.
"My name is Dani, not Blondie." It was a quiet fight back but the tattoo listened closely, hearing the small bite of her words. He ignored it all the same though.
"Oh really? Well Blondie your name is quite suiting." Dani couldn’t believe it, he just brushed past it like she never said anything. It was embarrassing, everything about him made her feel so small.
"Well, if you're gonna call me Blondie, then- then, I'm gonna call you Ink!" Her attempt to tease him back was weak, she couldn’t think of anything and went with the first thing that popped into her mind.
And he laughed, laughed, right in her face. She couldn’t win against him and it made her stomach pool with butterflies.
"That's cute Blondie, but I prefer you call me Kenji." His teasing was endless as he smiled at her with an evil grin. One that was reassuring yet made your stomach turn.
"O-okay, Kenji." She meant to fight back, but with the he was looking at her she couldn’t think. She squirmed slightly under his gaze as she tried to find something else for her to focus her attention on.
She brought her focus back to her story, continuing to write to take her mind away from him.
"What're you writing in that little pad of yours, Blondie?” She realized he was trying to peer over her shoulder and quickly closed her notepad.
"It's not finished yet." She shoved her pencil into the binding of the notepad.
"Well, you'll have to let me read it when it's done then." Despite her mind telling her she shouldn’t, a smile formed on her lips as she thought of the boy showing interest in her work.
"I don't think you'll ever read it but, if we ever see each other again then maybe I'll allow you to." She smiled as she watched Kenji roll his eyes jokingly before smiling back down at her. She opened the pad and continued writing although it was hard to focus when she felt the man's eyes on her. His gaze left a burning feeling behind on her skin.
