Chapter 7

“Hey I forgot to tell you that Tony and Dani are coming here today.” Hernan said to Kenji while looking at his phone.

“Oh okay, thanks for telling me.” Kenji ripped the page of his drawing pad out and quickly hid it in his desk drawer.

Dani was still writing when Tony was finished getting ready to leave. “Hurry up! We have to go see them.” Tony pulled her up from the couch and pushed her into the bathroom with her backpack.

Danielle slipped on a thick yellow knit sweater that she grabbed from her bag. She paired this with dark blue jeans and white sneakers. She shoved everything else back into her bag and walked out of the bathroom.

“Okay, we can leave.” Dani grabbed her notebook and pencil. Tony got up and looked at Dani’s outfit with a soft smile of adoration.

The two guys in the tattoo shop waited in an awkward silence of unspoken words. Kenji flipped a marker around his finger as he sat at his desk.

“Kenji, I'm seriously sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have questioned you like that. I was just looking out for Dani.” Hernan filled the silence of the shop with a sincere apology.

“Look, I’m not upset about that. In fact I’m thankful that you’d look out for her like that. At first I was angry that you thought I could do something like that but, I realized it’s not about me or my hurt feelings. So thank you for looking out for her.” Just as Kenji finished speaking, the bell on the door chimed, indicating that someone had walked in.

Tony quickly made her way over to her boyfriend and started talking. Dani made her way over to her seat at Kenji’s station and sat down.

“Hey, blondie.” Kenji smiled. “Thought you had to finish writing a paper?” Dani smiled back and waved her notebook in the air.

“I do.” She said before opening the notepad and continuing to write.

“When you gonna let me read it?” Kenji asked while attempting to peer over her shoulder. Dani turned away so he couldn’t read it and giggled when he huffed.

“You can read it after it’s graded.” Kenji reluctantly compromised.

“Fine, fine, keep your secrets.” He smiled.

Dani smiled and continued to write before her pencil made a loud breaking noise as the lead snapped against the paper, creating a large mark.

“Dang it!” She pouted as she looked down at the broken pencil. “Do you have a sharpener, ink?” She asked while holding up the pencil to show him.

“No, but I can sharpen it for you.” He took the pencil from her and pulled out a pocket knife, using the blade to sharpen it.

“Oh okay, thank you.” She flushed as she accepted the newly sharpened pencil.

“No problem, blondie.” Kenji smiled at the blushing woman.

Danielle continued to write her paper with Kenji secretly admiring her from behind his drawing pad.

“Dani, we have to go.” Tony called out from across the room.

“Oh, already?” Dani asked as she shoved her pencil into the spiral binding of her notepad.

“Yeah we got a lot to talk about.” Tony side eyed Kenji as she waited for Dani to get up.

“Oh okay, um I guess I’ll text you later?” She asked Kenji who nodded with a soft smile and a wave.

Both girls left the shop before Kenji spoke, “What the hell did you tell her, Hernan?”