“So what brings you to this part of town?” Justin asked Gage.

“Oh, y’kno, the beautiful girls, the fresh air, and the one who got away,” Gage winked at him, as he nodded in my direction. Justin smiled, but didn’t say anything. I stood beside Gage, but a few steps behind him, silently. “No, but really, Audrey’s out of control again so I came to help Liam out and pretty much decided to get tatted spontaneously about fifteen minutes ago. Isn’t that right, Fee?” He asked and elbowed me lightly.

“Yeah,” I chocked out.

“Alright man, let’s get you set up,” Justin’s cousin said and motioned Gage to follow him, “What were you thinking of?”

“ I was thinking of ge-,” was the last thing I heard Gage said before the door shut behind them. Justin and I stood there awkwardly, staring at the wall or the ground, and anything else, but each other. I began to think about what had happened earlier in the day and I flinched.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, still looking at the ground. I could feel his gaze on me, but was too fixated on not meeting his eyes, that I practically bore a hole on the part of the ground I was staring at.

“No, you have nothing to apologize for, I’m the one who should be apologizing,” he spoke up. My eyes shot at him the second I heard his sweet, husky voice. “I was way out of line and I shouldn’t have talked to you like that.” He sighed, and followed it with a sigh of my own.

“I just-, you need to trust me, Justin. I haven’t done anything wrong and I’ve never lied to you, so I don’t understand why you don’t trust me. I mean, given all of the recent events, you should feel lucky that I trust you again.”

“I know, and believe me, I know I’m lucky,” he said, “but it’s not you I don’t trust. It’s everyone else. I’m so scared you’re gonna leave me and I’m gonna lose you to someone better than me.”

“That’s not going to happen, I’ve been waiting for us for a really long time now,” I stated.

“I know, I’m sorry. Please forgive me and come on tour with us. I want to show you off,” he smiled and pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back tightly and whispered into his ear.

“Of course I’m coming. My bags are already packed.” He laughed and we let go, making our way into the room Gage and Justin’s cousin were at. Gage was laying down on his back on one of the tables, and Justin’s cousin was zooming through his chest.

“What are you getting?” I asked as I got closer so I could see the piece.

“It’s gonna say ‘Every storm that comes, also comes to an end,” he smiled.

I returned the smile, “Time bomb.”

“Yes.”

“Huh?” Justin asked, looking more puzzled than ever, just like his cousin.

“Lyrics from a song by All Time Low,” I answered them.

“Oh,” they shrugged.

“So have you decided what you want?” Gage grinned.

“I may have just gotten an idea,” I said, “I want to get, ‘It was like a time bomb set into motion, we knew that we were destined to explode. And if I have to pull you out of the wreckage, you know I’m never gonna let you go…’ “

“The same song?” Justin tensed up a little, “Isn’t that a metaphorical love song for two people who were together, knowing it was a bad idea, and it ended badly?”

“You mean a tragedy?” Gage asked, Justin nodded.

“Yes, the song does mean that, but for us it’s more realistic than metaphorical because when we were younger, around second or third grade, we set off a stupid bomb, that we didn’t know was a bomb, and wrecked our fort,” I explained.

“Blanket fort?” he asked.

“No,” Gage cut in, “Liam and I had built a pretty decent-sized fort, about the size of a normal bedroom, down by the ditch. I’m talking wood walls, bricks, a small couch, a small battery-operated radio, rugs, blankets, pillows; the whole nine yards. Anyways, So Mr. Gosh took us to some flea market after we begged for hours and we went on a hunt to find odd things to decorate the fort with, one being a small toy car-like object that no one knew was a time bomb. When we got back we invited Fiona to come play with us and we all head back to the fort. We were messing with all the things, including the little toy car-like object and some numbers appeared on it. After about twenty minutes, we gathered that it was a time-bomb and decided to see if we could somehow defuse it, knowing that if we did anything wrong, it could go off. Well, things did go wrong and somehow we managed to start it so the numbers began to countdown and we literally panicked and ran to the opposite side of the room. Liam still had it in his hands and panicked so he threw it to the other side of the room, the one that was being held up by brick on the side of the pond, which happened to be the side we were standing on,” he laughed.

I joined his laugh and continued for him, “so the thing goes off, and our fort tumbles down and into the ditch. Liam manages to somehow stay at the top, but he’s freaking out, and Gage and I were rolling down, except I was lucky enough to somehow catch my pants on something, then having enough time to grab Gage’s sleeve and pant leg to prevent him from falling into the wreckage, too. Anyways, so everything’s still tumbling down and hitting us, and Liam’s on his phone going frantic calling for help-“

“And I’m shouting for her to ‘save herself and let me die’,” he laughed, the others joining him. “And she’s going-“

“No, I’m not gonna let you die, we haven’t even held hands,” I said laughing, “So of course, Gage decides it’s the perfect time to move his arm from my grip, almost fall, but swing himself so we can hold hands, and so now I have him by a hand and a leg-

“And I somehow lost my balance and ended up falling in, pulling her down with me,” we laughed even more, “And I had no idea how to swim.”

“No!” Justin gasped laughing, “Oh, god, you’re kidding!”

“Nope, he’s not” I said.

“I was freaking out, so now she was stuck holding on to some broken branch on the side of the ditch with her right arm, and hold me under the arms with her left arm, and I’m screaming and whaling, begging her to not let go. It was fun.”

“I had to stay in the position for about 20 minutes, promising I wouldn’t let go until the police finally came to our rescue, but yeah, we had fun. When we got back to safety, Liam was on a stretcher because apparently he had freaked out to the point where he fainted.”

“Sounds like a great day,” Justin said sarcastically, we laughed.

“Alright, done,” his cousin announced. Gage sat up slowly, then got up and traded me spots. “Where would you like it? And do you have any font preferences?”

“On my shoulder blade, and surprise me,” I said, taking my shirt off and laying on my stomach. The table was warm due to Gage and for that I was thankful. Besides my bra, the entire top of my body was uncovered and if it hadn’t been for the heat he left, I would’ve froze. “We’re most likely gonna bring Liam to get a part of the song on him as well.”

“Sounds good,” he said and started the gun. I winced and Justin held my hand instantly, trying to distracted me.

Notes