Meet My Dedication

Daniel's POV

I'm chilling down at Zakk's tattoo shop, visiting my old town in Florida. I moved about three years ago, and I missed the old scene. I'd seen pretty much all of my old friends, except Gavin. I heard he was out of town with his girlfriend, doing only God knows what in California. Usually, that kid told me everything, but lately he'd been distant, ever since fuck-her-face left me.
Yeah, I guess you could say I'm still sore about it, she just up and left and I still didn't know why. Probably because she was cheating on me, behind my back with Jeff or someone else. She was a stupid whore anyway, always talking about that band no one cares about, or work, or whatever.

Zakk was prepping up to give me my next Tatty-baby, I loved having him do work on me. He was giving me a new addition on my chest. We talked about Warped Tour, and how fabulous his life must be being one of the most well known tattoo artists on the East Coast, and even some of Europe.
"So how's Vegas life, man? Sorry I didn't visit you while Warped was in town, I had to come back to the 321 for work and stuff." He tested out his machine, got the ink poured out and had me sit back on the chair. I loved the smell of the shop, and the vibe. It was relaxing and I could never stay away.
"No worries, it's great. I really love it, but I miss home too, ya know?" I got comfortable and took off my shirt, leaning back on the desk. "How's everyone been?"
I didn't even have to mention her name for him to know who I was talking about. He didn't answer at first, no one ever did. He looked up and me and smiled, "where's this baby going again?"
"My chest. Don't try and change the subject, Ross." My tone was stern, but still quite friendly. Everyone always walked on pins and needles on this subject.
What was the big deal, was I not allowed to check up on my ex-girlfriend?
"Everyone's fine, bro. Gavin's doing great with work, I've done some serious work on his sleeve, and his girl's just fine with school. She's going to Med School now. All the guys here are good." He started up and placed the sketch on the right side of my chest, since my left was covered already with three different types of flowers.
At first the needle poking in and out of my skin was a shocking pain, but instantly turned into an annoying throb. I took tattoos like a champ.
Zakk wasn't getting off the hook though for not mentioning her.
"What's Mikey been up to lately? She kind of fell off the face of the Earth, didn't she?" Or she's just blocked me on ever social media site known to man. That, or she finally got the balls to off herself, like she'd tried to so many times. I swear, she'd been long dead if I hadn't stopped her all those times...
Granted, I was probably the cause a couple of times, but I smacked that right outta her. I was the best thing she'd ever had and everybody knew it. I was happy, and that was all that mattered.
Zakk didn't say anything, and most of the shop's artists went quiet, hearing me mention her. One of the artists I knew that she was really close with was Chris, he was the one who did some of her work, if Zakk wasn't around to finish it. He straight up just glared at me the whole time. I ignored him, but Zakk just kept working, ignoring me completely. I could tell he was hiding something from me.
That pissed me off, I hated being ignored and lied to.
"What the fuck, man? I thought we were close. I ask one question, and I get ignored? Come on! I just wanted to know how she was doing." I was fuming, but Zakk just kept on working on me, and we were quiet for the rest of my session.
Now I remembered why I left Florida in the first place.
Stupid bitch had everyone wrapped around her tiny fucking finger, even after I put a ring on it and declared her mine. One thing I knew for sure though, she was and always will be mine. I would find her while I was still in town, and I would get her back, no matter what.

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Zakk's POV

Dan was back in town, and I couldn't have been more happy that Mikey was gone. I mean, yeah I missed her, she was a good friend, and I was totally into her. I had done a lot of work on her, and I loved that she'd really only go to me for it, even if Chris had to step in for me while my family went through it's issues. Dan was a good customer too, but it was more of a artist/client sort of thing, I never really hung out with him unless we were both at the bar or something. Mikey was more of my friend then a client, if she had an idea we'd run through it and soon enough she got herself inked.
Once she left for Cali I was really sad to see her move, but I knew it was time for her to leave the pain she had behind her, even if the main source was long gone.
Everyone knew not to say anything about her and Austin to Dan, that would just be bad news for the now happy couple. All the guys at the shop were happy that she was finally going somewhere and she was smiling again, getting through her problems.

I looked at my phone, which kept blowing up, and got a text from Gavin.
Wanna meet for lunch? I'm starved.
-Gavin

With a client right now, I'm looking at about 20 minutes left.
-Zakk

Sweet, anyone I know?
-Gavin

Daniel.
-Zakk

Oh, shit. Does he know about Mikey and Austin??
-Gavin

No, let's keep it that way.
-Zakk

Roger.
-Gavin

I put my phone back on my work station and continued finishing up the piece and getting Dan the hell out of my shop.
"Something important, I'm guessing?" Dan sounded impatient, and I could feel the tension between us.
"Just my next appointment. Making sure they were still coming in." I lied, but it was best just to keep my mouth shut, no matter how good the gossip could be, I really didn't want to see anyone getting hurt, and I knew someone would.
"Cool."

I wrapped up Daniel's chest piece, and cleaned up my station when he went into the back to go check out his new ink. I looked at my phone and texted Gavin asking where he wanted to meet up. He said DaKines in 20, which worked for me. Dan came back, handed me a $50 and made his way to the front to pay for his work. I grabbed my jacket, backpack, and phone and ran out the door before Dan could stop me.
I hated lying to him, but I was doing what was best for my friends.

Notes

Daniel's tattoo: http://media-cache-cd0.pinimg.com/736x/a1/15/f4/a115f40d95485cf7af2870394f5b69c8.jpg

I GET TO SEE OF MICE & MEN, BRING ME THE HORIZON, ISSUES, AND LETLIVE. TOMORROW GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Or tonight, since it's past midnight now) BUT OMG.

So, you see Zakk does actually have heart, when it comes to the people he cares about. It's awesome, Zakk is a really awesome guy, in reality. You all should know my characters are based off of real people, but fictionalized to an extent.