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      "body": "Within the hour of her receiving the text message from Craig, ordering her back to work that day for a mystery client, Sara nearly power stomped her way into the shop, her bag of tricks slung high over her shoulder, looking more like a sheriff from the old west than a five foot six artist. She looked around the shop, removing the sunglasses from her face in a clean swoosh movement. Then finally, she grinned and beamed with pride. Not willing to let anyone see that she was the least bit defeated or even deflated by Craig’s actions against her and her career. Azzi gave a slyer grin when she watched Sara finally return to the shop.\n\n“People have been asking for you.” Azzi stated in a clear tone as to make sure the whole shop heard it. She leaned in and whispered into her palm just for Sara to hear. “I gave them all your work email, they are still yours.” Azzi winked then went back to her new magazine. Something was clearly up at the shop. If Azzi knew, that means everyone knew.\n\n“I’m happy to hear that.” Sara replied with a sigh pulling at her words. “Craig told me I had a client ‘ASAP’, and no one is here but Emilio’s client and Emilio. Where’s Craig?” She sighed again, this time in annoyance rather than relief. Azzi quickly looked back down to her magazine, and using her thumb to point the way she gestured to the door leading to the private work room. “And my client?” Azzi made the same gesture again. Sara nearly growled as she snatched her bag over her shoulder again. “I hope this…” She stopped, realizing now that Emilio’s client had been watching her nearly the entire time she had been in the shop this day.\n\n“I will go see him in the back then.” She nodded and made her way to the back door. The dark letters of the plaque spelling out the word “PRIVATE” in an almost mistrustful kind of way. She put her hand on the handle and let the weight alone pull it down. The door clinked open and groaned as it kept moving, squealing on its hinges.\n\n“I keep forgetting to pick up some WD-40.” Craig huffed, wiping down the table in the center of the room with sanitary wipes, being careful to get into every nook and cranny. “It almost scared off a girl just wanting her ears pierced. She thought something was going to get her.” He laughed, and again each tooth visibly sparkled. His shirt of the day was taut around his body. Each muscle that lay beneath the thin cotton fabric practically on display. His pants secured perfectly on his hip bones, low, but not obscenely low.\n\n“How cute.” Sara forced a smile onto her face. “So where is this mystery client?”\n\nCraig stood tall and shrugged his arms out wide, his hands falling quickly and slapped each thigh. “You’re looking at him.” He too smacked on the cheesiest grin his body could muster.\n\n“I’m getting paid for this, right?” She cautiously set her bag and sunglasses down on the table off to the right hand side of the room usually reserved for the clients’ “audiences”. “You’re not expecting this to be pro-bono, are you?”\n\n“No, I’m paying you full price for this even though you left work early the other night.” He grinned at her in a way that made it seem like he had her life in his hands at the moment over something as trivial as a couple hours of missed work. “And it’s simple. When you’re done you can get a coffee and clock in to work the desk with Azzi or with walk-ins.”\n\nSara nodded back at him. “Alright, I can do that.” She slipped off her leather jacket and set it on her bag before taking a seat beside him. “What are you wanting?” She asked, looking over the inks he had already pulled out for her to use.\n\n“It’s a design my friend sketched out that I was completely into, and he agreed to let me tattoo it on myself. It’s simple, but I want clean lines, not just a bunch of shading everywhere. And I can’t reach the place I want it well enough.” Craig then proceeded to pull a paper out of his pocket. Barely more than three by three inches with a very rough pencil sketch made out in the middle, about the size of an old fifty-cent piece. It looked like an odd cross between a seven pointed star, a crescent moon, with strange writing in an old dead language around it also encompassed in another circle. Finally, around that were four strange symbols arranged at the compass points of the design.\n\n“It’s quite interesting.” Sara nodded a bit, looking over the small doodle. “And you want it this big? Like, this big exactly?”\n\n“NO, No, no. Clean it up and make it about four inches in diameter. I‘m getting it on my shoulder blade.” His eyes shouted out his excitement of getting a chance to be shirtless around her. “So clean it up, make it look pretty and I’m gonna go out for a bit of coffee. Want one?” He questioned with a ring of sincerity.\n\n“Sure, I’d like one, please?” She gave him a small smile then moved to retrieve her notebook as he left to get their morning caffeine.\n\nDuring his absence she redrew the little sketch into a full clean design, making a copy of it with transfer paper, and getting the set up ready to use by the time he returned. He came back through the screeching door moments later with a chuckle as he kicked it closed again. “I still hate that door. Blended Mocha?” He offered her the drink closest to her in the cardboard holder.\n\n“Just the one I love.” She took it and immediately tried to tongue some of the whipped cream out through the hole in the dome lid. “Thanks very much.” She looked up to catch him already staring at her. Sara’s smile dropped immediately and she sipped at her mocha before setting it aside and washing her hands. “Shoulder blade. Take off your shirt and get comfortable.” She towel dried her hands, slipping on clean gloves as he made himself comfortable with his drink, phone, and wireless headset. “Right here?” She asked about the placement of the tattoo by drawing it out with her fingertip so he could feel the exact spot he was referring to.\n\n“That would be just perfect Sara.” He checked over and agreed to her cleaned up design, and with that, she began.\n\nSara gently shaved the peach fuzz off of him and cleaned the skin with a fresh towel and skin cleanser. Craig shivered as some of the chilling liquid ran down his back, but followed it with a cheeky smile. She paid him no mind as she wet his skin and slowly laid the cut out transfer over his skin, spreading it down smooth with one finger. She watched it sit for a long moment before checking under the edge for strong blue lines. Once satisfied she peeled it up from his back with ease, checking it over to make sure she had all the lines, and filling in the ones that didn’t transfer completely with a fine felt tip pen.\n\n“I picked out that red ink you love to use. I hope you don’t mind.” Craig chortled on as he placed his headphones over his ears.\n\n“Of course not. I have to order more of it.” She held the bottle up to the light, observing how low she had become. “Has anyone used this the past few days?\n\n“I did. I had to know what you loved about it so much. It’s actually quite lovely if I do say so myself.”\n\n“Thanks.” She implied with a nearly inquisitive tone. “I can order you a bottle too if you pay me back.” She filled a tiny ink cup with the red, a black, and a couple shades of blue that Craig had also selected for a bit of background color. “I think this is going to turn out nicer than you imagined.” Sara loved to talk herself up before starting. A tactic that often works with nervous clients. But, when she got no response, she looked at him to find he had already started his music and couldn’t hear a damned thing she said. She shook her head and simply got to work.\n\nSara took her time with the outline, making sure every line was perfect. No one spot thicker than another unless the design demanded it to be so. Everything was clean, neat, and the best geometric lines she’d ever done. She smiled wide at her work, taking a small moment to stretch and get her machine ready for color. Once the needles were switched out she dipped them in her favorite red ink. Nearly the color of blood, it showed powerfully on all skin types from paper white to ebony. This ink was like magic.\n\nSara leaned in, stretching Craig’s skin taut with one hand, she began to lay the red ink in between her lines. Carefully filling in the shape to look smooth and even, like pouring paint onto a flat surface. She made sure to watch every movement, her needles barely kissing the black line as she worked across the piece.\n\nCraig himself was a pro at getting worked on. He zoned out into his music, more muttering along with it in practically unintelligible sounds rather than actually singing the song aloud like most clients who do this sort of thing would. He flipped through the internet on his phone, checking his social media pages, as well as the company email address making sure that any potential customers were being taken care of. Not a single flinch, cough, or sneeze. Tattooing him was as easy as painting on a statue. Barely an hour had passed by the time Sara was adding the finishing touches and making sure everything was the best it could be. She cleaned his skin with green soap and gave the whole thing a total triple check. If her test to come back was tattooing her boss, then she was dead set and determined to make sure it was the best work she’d ever done. With one last nod, she determined it to be an incontestable homerun.\n\n“It’s done.” She tapped his leg and shook his calf to get his attention away from his phone. Craig pulled off his headphones and turned to look at her over his shoulder.\n\n“You’re done?” He tried to crane his neck far enough to look at it without the use of a mirror or two, but to no success. “Let me take a look at it then.” Craig hopped off the table, snatching a hand mirror off the counter as he walked to the full length mirror bolted up on the wall. He stood with his back to the floor length mirror and lifted the hand mirror, angling it so he could see the reflection of the tattoo. He grinned from ear to ear. The hint of a smirk hiding within his smile. “Sara, it’s completely wonderful.” Her heart leaped, she loved high praise. “It’s exactly what I wanted it to look like. Thank you.” He set the mirror down and took his place on the table so she could wrap it up for him. Sara stuck the wrap to his skin with masking tape then stood back and took another look at her latest work. She was proud, and her chin stood an extra inch taller for the moment.\n\n“Damn I’m good.” Sara laughed as she began to clean and sanitize the work area for whoever was going to use it next. After wiping down her bottles of ink a few times, she placed them back on her shelves in her work area.\n\n“How was it?” Azzi asked. Her eyes focused like laser beams on Sara. “Did he do anything strange?”\n\n“No.” Sara giggled. “He just wanted me to do a tattoo for him. It was an original design by his friend, I guess, but it looks great as a tattoo. And now he has me working walk-ins, sooo…” Sara took her seat with her sketchbook and pencils to Azzi’s left at the welcome desk.\n\n“At least you’re here. It’s been so boring without you to jack my jaw to.”\n\n“You’ve always been one for gossip, Azzi. There’s no lie about that.” Sara smiled and opened up her sketchbook to the design she had begun for Gavin, Craig’s alleged friend. Pulling out a .5mm pencil and eraser, she got back to work perfecting the design for him, already imagining his reactions of shock, awe, and praise. Sara knew she was vain, but then again, so was everyone else in the world. “Damn.” She finally broke the silence of the room after a long moment of nothing but the soft hum of the speakers playing whatever song was popular at the moment. “I love pin-ups.” She reached up and added a couple of extra lines into the drawn figure’s hair.\n\n“No kidding. They are so sexy.” Azzi leaned over her shoulder and took a long look at the drawing. “She’s going to look so good on skin, Sara.”\n\n“Thank you, hun. I just hope he really likes it. I won’t take less than completely satisfied before I put this permanently on someone’s body.\n\n“I know that.” She giggled as she leaned back into her own seat, looking at the stack of magazines in front of her, trying to pick out what to flip through next.\n\n“You know, you can bring a book in with you. You don’t have to constantly sit here with a magazine.” Sara lightly elbowed her. “Reading books is good for the imagination.”\n\n“Like I need a stronger imagination, cupcake.” Azzi smiled and picked up an older issue of Cosmo.\n\n“Oh no, not at all.” She picked out a random article off the cover. “You just want to know ‘how to recycle your makeup brushes for use in the bedroom.’ I don’t even want to know what they mean by that.” Sara shuddered a bit then went back to her drawing.\n\nSara worked the desk for nearly seven hours before getting a customer who needed more than a consult and an appointment schedule. She had a grand total of two pieces done by the time she was supposed to clock out for the night. Other than Craig’s strange symbol, she also worked on a girl who had just turned eighteen, and wanted a little pink bunny on the top of her foot as a graduation present to herself.\n\nSara inked the lines using her favorite red, then filled it in with a mix of the same red and white, shading it carefully as to make it seem fluffy and soft to the touch. She also gave it baby green eyes like the client had herself, along with a little green “lettuce” leaf for it to hold. Her client was very pleased, jumping and clapping like a small circus seal once the piece was complete. She tipped well and even scheduled a consultation for the following week in regards to another tattoo she wanted. After that, Sara clocked out and went home to spend the evening with Alistair.\n\nWhen she walked in through the front door, she was immediately greeted with a cupcake on a small saucer with one purple birthday candle stuck into the intensely blue frosting. The wax dripping into the folds of the piped confection.\n\n“A congratulations on your day at work for not killing anyone!” Alistair blew into a party noise maker then dumped a handful of confetti on Sara’s head. “Now make a wish, lass.”\n\nSara, already in a fit of laughter, made the first wish that came to her mind and blew out the candle. “How long were you standing there waiting?” She stepped out the door leaving it open before brushing as much of the confetti out of her hair and off of her shoulders as she could manage, doing her best not to let it get into the house, despite the small pile that was originally left behind.\n\n“Just a moment really, but I had the confetti all day.” Alistair blew a little of it off the plate and watched it flutter to the carpeted floor. “If you want to vacuum that up, dinner is just about ready.”\n\n“Of course, I’ll just clean up this mess that you’ve been planning on making all day.” She stepped back into the house and took off her jacket, shaking it off onto the floor. A sort of in for a penny, in for a pound kind of thing. “Work was fine, by the way. Craig was my first client.” She walked to the small closet door in their hallway between the kitchen and the living room, pulling the vacuum out and plugging it in near the front door.\n\n“What did he have you do? Titties?” Alistair joked as he went about the kitchen trying to finish up dinner. “Or did he want a real tattoo?”\n\n“Oh, it was a real tattoo. It was really strange.” Sara cleaned up the confetti that found its way everywhere in the living room as if cused by dark magic. After putting the vacuum away, she went to the fridge and pulled out a soda, opening it then taking a seat at their dining table. She described the tattoo as best she could to Alistair between cold sips.\n\n“Almost sounds cultish. Maybe from a video game?”\n\nSara shook her head. “He said his friend drew it for him. It was cool, but just another tattoo if you ask me. It’s one of those things that only make sense to the person who got it.” She shrugged and took a large swig of her soda. Alistair set a plate in front of her consisting of baked chicken, peas, and a pasta salad. “Looks like you were busy cooking all day. It smells yummy.” She waited for him to sit too before digging into her well-earned meal. “Mmh, and you were right. I, in fact, did not kill him, or anyone else for that matter.” She smirked, drinking from her nearly empty soda can then continuing her meal.\n\n“The night is still young.” He smirked at his plate while cutting into his meat. “You never know what might happen after dinner.” Alistair winked at her as he chomped down on his cut piece of chicken.\n\n“Oh, I see.” She grinned at him, watching his movements closely. “I’m assuming that school went well today?” Her gaze unwavering, simply enjoying looking at him.\n\n“Had a pop-quiz today.” Sara’s brow quirked. “I know, right? Who still does pop-quizzes other than Elementary teachers with a chip on their shoulder? Anyway, we had a pop-quiz on the differences between meiosis and mitosis. I got every single question correct.” He gave her an almost comically toothy smile before chomping down on another piece of chicken.\n\n“You did the reading on it. I watched you study the shit out of that chapter. I can almost remember half of it.”\n\n“Oh, can you really?”\n\nSara paused and stared at him blankly. “No. Not really. But you know what I meant.”\n\nAfter dinner, Sara assisted Alistair in cleaning up the kitchen before retiring to the couch to watch a movie while wrapped around each other like two stuffed animals lined with Velcro. Another D-horror movie that was basically a straight-to-streaming kind of deal.\n\n“How many ways can they tell a story about a shark? What’s next, ‘Attack of the Mighty Sharkactus’?”\n\n“Sharkactus?” Sara raised her head from his chest, trying to figure out what they hell he was talking about.\n\n“You know. A Sharkactus. Half shark, half cactus, one hundred percent badass.” Sara nodded ever so slowly as she rested her head back on his chest.\n\n“At least tomorrow is a real day off and not just a ‘Fuck you, Sara’ day.”\n\n“Agreed. We can sleep in.”\n\n“We always sleep in.” She corrected him, vibrating both their bodies with her giggles.\n\n“Yes.” Alistair replied, “But this time we can sleep until three. I did the laundry already, so once it’s folded and put away, we don’t have any chores for tomorrow either.”\n\n“Tomorrow is going to be nice then.” She snuggled down more, folding her arms between their torsos to keep her hands warm.\n\nThe night passed quietly. Both of them falling asleep on the couch, waking up at the crack of dawn just to climb the stairs and fall into bed after stripping down to their underwear. 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      "body": "“Who the hell does he think he is?” Sara exclaimed as she paced the bedroom floor, still as frustrated as she was leaving the shop the day before. Her still damp hair clinging gently to her cheeks in soft red curls. Her long white tank stop stuck to her skin, making it slightly transparent against her otherwise bare chest and black underwear. “He literally can’t take a blunt answer let alone a whole fucking hint!” she punched her tight fists in the air then kept pacing. Slightly hunched over and chewing angrily at her left thumb nail, thinking of anything she could do to take care of this and keep her job.\n\n“It’s shitty that we don’t have an independent HR department that I could make a formal complaint to. He is the HR department.” Her upper lip curled in frustration as Alistair watched from the edge of the bed. A damp towel still wrapped around his shoulders, his red flannel print boxers barely clinging to his hip bones.\n\n“I could kick his ass?” He offered as a sort of consolation prize. “Or at least kick him where the sun don’t smile.” Sara shook her head no.\n\n“He has at least one-hundred pounds over you, Pumpkin. I’m more scared he would just sit on your chest and suffocate you. No offense.” She looked at him with one of her more pathetic of pouts.\n\n“None taken?” his brow went up. “Doesn’t mean I can’t try.” Alistair’s arms shrugged, lifting then lowering his towel with the movements before going back to drying his hair with it. “Start looking somewhere else. Find a better job and rub it in his steroid inflated face.”\n\n“Should I? I mean… I love Azzi, and Emilio is okay.” Sara took her seat beside Alistair, looking at the floor, more depressed about the idea of leaving the shop she loves rather than dealing with one human sized hemorrhoid. “Maybe I could hire a lawyer, sue his ass, and then open my own shop with the money he would have to pay me to settle the case out of court!” She grinned maniacally, rubbing her hands together in an overly cartoon fashion, laughing at the joke, trying to ease her own stress.\n\n“True, and make sure to add that he would have to pay your law fees as well. We don’t want that hanging over us like a sword of Damocles.” Alistair couldn’t help but grin as he tossed the towel into the hamper on the other side of the room near the turtle tank. “I know he’s a bastard, but you have a good thing right now, and all he’s done was ask you out. Annoying, but at the very least, he has yet to lay a foul hand on you. If he ever does…” Alistair paused then slid his arm around Sara’s waist, pulling her closer to himself. “He will have to deal with yours truly.” He smirked then planted a soft warm kiss at the corner of her jaw.\n\n“I will pay real money to watch you knock the shit out of him if I wasn’t so worried about him either murdering you, or you getting deported for assaulting someone.” She couldn’t help but smile at him trying to comfort her. He always tried hard, taking hints from American day time dramas that he absorbed like a dry sponge dropped in a lake. She giggled as he began to plant more kisses along her jaw neck and shoulder. “You are such a dork.”\n\n“Don’t think that I don’t know that.” He nipped gently at her ear lobe. “I am your dork, and you love me, and you don’t want to see me get my ass kicked apparently. You’re a strange one yourself, missy.”\n\n“I don’t think that constitutes as me being ‘strange’, but if you think so then it must be true.” Sara cuddled up against his side, placing her hand on his chest, catching his lips with her own as he passed his face by hers. Their lips lingered together for a moment before she smiled again, pulling her head back to look up at his face. “I love how you try to make me feel better. You always seem to manage at least a grin from me. I can’t be mad around you even when I try.”\n\n“Oh stop, lass. You’re starting to sound like my programs.” Alistair reached up and pushed her hair away from her cheek, tucking the drying lock behind her ear. “Though, some of the ladies on there are rather attractive.”\n\n“I didn’t know you were into comatose girls?” she inquired, poking her finger tip into his side a couple times.\n\n“Oh yes, I love them so much.” He answered in a flat robotic tone that left each word dripping in sarcasm thick as cold honey.\n\n“I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m in a coma. I’ll make sure someone comes in and does my makeup every day so I can look good when you come for a conjugal.” With a laugh, Sara pushed him back onto the bed, straddling his hips with her hands on his chest for balance. “Don’t want to be caught looking terrible as I fight for my life.” Her grin grew ear to ear as she tried to hold in a belly laugh.\n\n“You’re the dork now.” Alistair answered, resting his hands on her thighs, his thumbs gently caressing her pale skin. “But it’s good to know that you would go to such lengths to keep me happy.” He sat up on his elbows and pecked her lips once more before laying back and relaxing.\n\n“You’re a lucky man, Alistair Evans.” Sara leaned down and began to slowly kiss at his neck. “A damn lucky man.” She winked at him then kept trailing kisses down to his collarbone.\n\nAlistair sighed softly as he felt her lips run down his body. Reaching down with one hand, he stroked her fiery curls as she crawled back, kissing lower and lower until she reached his boxers. With a grin she stood back up and removed her tank top in a slow teasing movement. Alistair smiled wider, taking in the sight of her nearly naked form as if it were the first time he’d seen it, his erection easily getting bigger as he watched her move. Her breasts unsettling as she stripped down before him. He admired the shadows that flowed down her body, over her chest and across her waist. Her skin nearly glowing in the light of the bedside lamp.\n\n“Come here, lass.” He beckoned her closer with his finger, his eyes twinkling with excitement. Sara crawled back onto the bed, straddling him again, she pressed her hips down slightly, causing a gentle friction between them. Alistair grunted slightly as he throbbed against her. He ran his hands up her thighs to her hips, then her sides before wrapping around her back and pulling her down into a deep, sensual kiss.\n\nSara held herself up a bit with one flat hand buried deep into the mattress as their lips moved together in an elegant dance, her other hand feeling the peaks and valleys of his chest and shoulders, occasionally running into the brown chest hair located between his pectorals. She wiggled and pressed her hips back against his hard-on, moaning quietly into the kiss. Alistair slid his hands slowly down the arch of her back before resting them on her buttocks, squeezing them softly then carefully thumbing for the waistband of her underwear, rolling them down and over her ass before clumsily trying to work them off of her, causing her to have to move and maneuver with him in an equally clumsy fashion. She giggled as she moved and worked her legs out of the tiny black undergarment, both entertained and a little embarrassed at the less-than-glamorous moment in love making.\n\nQuickly, Alistair slid out from under her and flipped Sara back onto the bed. Without a moment’s hesitation he slipped out of his boxers and into a condom before moving himself back on top of her. He rested his hips between her milky white thighs before kissing her again. His hands cupping her breasts and massaging them leisurely. Sara wrapped her arms up and around his shoulders, breathing deliberately and deep, her eyes closed as she savored his gentle loving touches. Alistair pushed his pelvis against hers, teasingly grinding his erection against her soft wet folds. Sara moaned, her own hips bucking up slightly as he passed over her clit once, twice, three times and more, stoking the flames of her passion and yearning for him. Long moments passed as he did this, enjoying each little squeak, moan, and sigh that slipped past her lips before he finally reached down and lifted her left thigh high up to his own waist. She could feel his muscles tense all over his body as he lined himself up to her and pushed himself inside.\n\nSara moaned, arching her back as she felt each inch of him work its way inside of her. Her body pulsed around his cock, happy to welcome him past her gates of paradise. Alistair let out a happy sigh as his whole length sank deep inside. Holding there a moment, he kissed her again, whispering soft declarations of love against her neck, kissing and sucking at her shoulder as he began to move in a slow comfortable pace. More eager to hear her sounds of pleasure than to get himself off, he took her left hand in his right, lacing their fingers together and then pinning their hands against the bed. Sara clung to his hand as though it was her only connection to the surface of a vast ocean and fresh air to breath. Her free hand rested on his back, each fingernail finding its way to his skin, pushing down but not quite digging in enough to do any damage. Alistair moaned against her skin as his body picked up a little pace, his hand squeezing hers more as his body moved into a more comfortable position while also trying to keep her thigh up with his hip. His thrusts weren’t fast, but they were deep and purposeful. He listened to her carefully, making sure to stay where he was according to the volume of her obscenities. He grunted as he picked up more speed, her fingernails pressing deeper into the skin of his back, pulling down a bit leaving behind freshly pinked skin that ever so slightly welted. Sara’s back arched high as she shouted his name. The hand on his back pulled down quickly, taking a little bit of surface skin with it. Alistair let out a deep grunt as the enjoyable pain washed over his body, thrusting faster, determined to maximize her climax.\n\nAlistair smiled through his panting, pushing as deep as he could before her hand took another fist full of his skin. Sara’s jaw dropped as her eyes rolled back, she bit her lip and moaned loud enough to fill the room with the sweet sound. She held back a shout as her body tightened down on him, clear warm fluid dripping from between her thighs and onto the bed sheets. Her body quivering below him as he went faster and faster, running the race to finish before she was done completely. With a few more deep strokes he buried himself inside of her. His body erupting several times as he spilled himself into the condom, before pulling out. As he did Sara shivered in pleasure as a cool breeze passed between them due to Alistair moving off of her. Sara shivered delightfully as he pulled out, both in remnant pleasure and the cool air left in Alistair’s wake. She smiled as she panted hard, breasts heaving up and down over her expanding and compressing ribs, her thighs shaking ever so slightly as her cloudy eyes tried to focus on him.\n\n“Always a gentleman~” she cooed, carefully moving off the bed, balancing herself with one hand on the mattress as she made her way to the bathroom to wash up. Alistair disposed of the condom and toweled off with his damp towel from the hamper before dabbing the bedsheets mostly dry then crawling in under the blankets as Sara returned to the scene of the crime. She moved onto the bed beside him, pulling the blankets up over her naked form before cuddling up to him and resting her head on his chest. “I love you.” She kissed his chest then resumed her comfortable position as Alistair wrapped his arm around her shoulders.\n\n“And I you, lass.” He relaxed back, sinking into his large overstuffed pillow. His eyes slowly closed as the two drifted into a deep comfortable sleep.\n\n\n\nThe next morning came and went as usual. Shower, coffee, and toast with yogurt instead of a coffee shop pastry. Sara finished putting on her favorite crimson lipstick when her phone made a plink sound went off, alerting her to a new text message. She picked up her phone to discover a text alert from Craig. She swiped her lock screen and opened the text.\n\n‘Hey, Sara. Your appointments for the day were rescheduled. Don’t worry about coming in today. –Craig’ Sara pursed her lips and squeezed her phone with all her might, unable to made a dent in the steel body.\n\n“He’s fucking with me.” She smacked her phone down on the table. “He rescheduled my appointments today again, gave them to Emilio, or took them himself. No matter what, he’s telling me not to come to work today. Not even to sit at the fucking desk!” She slapped the kitchen table with the flat of her hand. “Two days straight with no work because of this ‘rescheduling’. All because I told him I wasn’t interested in a date with him. That’s a few hundred dollars at least. He’s costing me money! Well I’ll tell you this…” Alistair, sitting across the table, watched her without blinking as he was being forced to bear witness to his girlfriend go temporarily bonkers. “If I don’t work tomorrow, I’m taking my portfolio to other shops. I know I can get a damn fine job somewhere else.”\n\n“Well,” Alistair finally spoke up. “That is the suggestion I made the other day.”\n\n “I know.” She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I just didn’t want to have to do the interview-foot-work rigmarole. I hate that. I just want to be in a shop, work on my customers, and come home to a hot meal. Is that such a crazy thing to want?” She questioned out loud causing Alistair to scoff into his coffee.\n\n“In this day and age, not having to eat ramen for every meal can be a pipe dream. We have enough in savings to get by for a while if he have to.” He reassured. “I just want you to be happy with the work you’re doing. At the very least, we aren’t making tuition payments.” Alistair referred her back to his full ride. He stretched his arm across the small table and took her white knuckled hand in his. “Don’t let this septic arse hole get you down, lass. You’re a strong woman, and you will pull through with grace and your integrity intact.” Sara couldn’t stop the small smile that tugged at her cheeks.\n\n“You’ve been reading those cheesy romance books again, haven’t you?” She giggled softly into her other hand. “Nerd.”\n\n“I love you too, dork.” Alistair kissed her hand then happily went back to his coffee and newspaper. “So what are your plans for today then?”\n\n“Well,” Sara sighed as she tried a bit harder to relax back into her seat, gaze landing dully on the table as she searched her mind for a decent enough answer. “I suppose I’ll get online and start a list of all the shops within a couple miles of the house, call around, start there. Then, if I don’t end up working tomorrow, I’ll start hitting the pavement and start officially looking for another job.” She nodded once, sealing her agenda for the day.\n\n“Sounds like a perfect plan to me. Honestly, try to take most of the day for yourself. Make a sandwich, drink a beer, take a hot bath and send me nudes. Make today nice for yourself.” Sara erupted into laughter at the notion of sending her boyfriend nudes to make herself feel better, but she appreciated his courage for even suggesting it in the first place, given her mood.\n\n“Christ on a cracker.” Sara rubbed her brows. “What on earth am I going to do with you?”\n\nOnce Alistair left for class, Sara began to gather her goodies for her one day stay-cation. She poured snacks into bowls and covered the surface of the table in all sorts of goodies ranging from salty to sweet, then placed a little foam cooler filled with ice and beer on the right side of the couch. After making a lovely pillow nest on the couch she snuggled down with her laptop and started making her list with some old D-rated horror film playing on the television simply for background noise.\n\nShe made sure to only check for shops that seemed to have more ratings online than others, meaning quantity not quality necessarily, which to her meant that they could have more walk-ins and regular clients than the others perhaps due to reputation or location. Sara also made note of shop layouts from pictures on their websites, privacy walls or screens between stations, and a private piercing room. She knew those would be things that she wouldn’t bend on, as well as their sanitizing methods, and you cannot judge sanitizing methods online through still photographs. As the hunt continued her brows slowly moved into a creased position. The tip of her tongue stuck out the corner of her mouth ever so slightly as her finger tips traced and danced across her trackpad. Site after site popping up then quickly being replaced by another page.\n\nSara spent nearly two hours balled up with her lap top before she finished a short list. Finally closing her computer and setting it aside so she could stretch and pop her bones back into their proper positions. After a hard POP came from her back, she relaxed again, picking up the remote and choosing a more popular movie, she went about her snacking and binge watching on her forced day off. Trying to make the best out of the little time she might have to not face the world or the troubles of adulthood.\n\nA whole television season came and went before Alistair returned home. Walking through the garage door into the kitchen, he smiled at his beloved, as she stood dutifully over the stove, doing her damnedest to make a quick decent dinner for the two of them.\n\n“I hope you’re down for spaghetti.” Sara smiled proudly into her pot of half store bought sauce. “I made dinner for once.” Her voice was high and proud, but also a little slurred. Alistair looked around the kitchen for clues then noticed the small pile of beer cans in the recycle bin beside the trash.\n\n“Amazing. Drunk off your ass, and still managing to cook dinner like a functional person.” He threw a teasing grin at her before removing his jacket and book bag, then wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek. “Smells absolutely delicious.” Alistair sniffed the air. “Do I smell garlic bread?” His tone now more excited at the prospect of his favorite side dish.\n\n“You bet your cute face.” Her favorite expression while inebriated. “I knew you would want some, so I made some, ‘cause I love you.” Sara swayed in his arms a bit, nearly falling if it was not for his secure grip.\n\n“Alright there princess, let’s have a seat and I will finish making dinner. Yes?” He sat her down as carefully as he could at the kitchen table before checking the time on everything. “Just a few more minutes it seems.” Alistair leaned back against the counter and smiled at his little lush. “It seems like you had a nice day. Get your list done for tomorrow?”\n\nSara nodded affirmatively while rubbing her right eye. Half a smile formed from the left corner of her mouth. “Craig is gonna be so mad that he decided to be such a huge ass hat.” She swayed again and laughed.\n\nAfter dinner Alistair helped her up the stairs to their bedroom, handing her a night gown to change into before helping her slide in under the blankets for a good night’s sleep. He also left a full glass of water with two acetaminophen tablets beside it for when she woke up. “I’m going to study downstairs a bit.” He leaned down and kissed her lips. “Sleep tight, lass.” Sara was out like a broken lightbulb in moments, curled up tight in her blanket, a smile stuck on her face as her dreams set in for the night.\n\nThe next morning, Sara awoke at her usual time, happy to choke down the pills with a room temperature water chaser. She sighed, setting her glass down before crawling out of bed and into the bathroom to do her morning routines. With hair and most of her makeup in place (minus her lipstick), she changed into a clean graphic t-shirt and her fitted jeans, stained with a little ink on her thighs from work. She went downstairs to find Alistair already up and alert, frying some hash browns and eggs for breakfast.\n\n“Smells awesome down here.” Sara worked her way over to the coffee maker and poured a tall steaming mug full, sipping at it even before adding cream and sugar. She sat down at the table, stirring her creamy concoction as she monitored her phone like a hawk hunting a rabbit. After her breakfast, it was half an hour before she was supposed to get to work to clock in, still no message. Her hands started to shake, waiting and wishing not to see Craig’s name pop up in her alerts.\n\nPlink! The dreaded sound coupled with the dreaded name. Already she was about to explode with anger. She swooped up her phone and swiped her screen lock to read the message.\n\n‘Hey Sara. You have a Client waiting for you. Get here ASAP. –Craig’\n\n“He messaged me to tell me to come to work this time.” She felt oddly confused. She knew that she was scheduled to come in that day, but she was unaware of any scheduled client for that time frame. “I think he’s trying to ruin me, for sure. Making a client wait for me, making me look like an irresponsible shit.” She groaned, grabbing her things for the day, sliding on her sunglasses. “C’mon Alistair, give me a lift to work?”\n\nAlistair nodded in agreement and grabbed the keys before they both went out to the car.",
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      "body": "@@ -185,17 +185,17 @@\n t her pe\n-r\n+t\n  turtle,\n@@ -458,17 +458,16 @@\n  before.\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9DYe mi\n@@ -631,23 +631,8 @@\n ers,\n- joining her in\n  wat\n@@ -656,18 +656,17 @@\n for his \n-br\n+l\n unch. %E2%80%9CH\n@@ -691,18 +691,20 @@\n  if he c\n-an\n+ould\n  see thi\n@@ -733,16 +733,118 @@\n s I can.\n+ Then again, if he knew what kind of state you lived in, he might turn out to be a sour puss like you.\n %E2%80%9D He chu\n@@ -941,15 +941,13 @@\n es a\n-ll over\n+cross\n  Sar\n@@ -993,23 +993,9 @@\n room\n- from the bed. \n+.\n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CD\n@@ -1030,21 +1030,21 @@\n .%E2%80%9D Sara \n-grinn\n+smirk\n ed, ligh\n@@ -1187,16 +1187,25 @@\n asion.%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CDeporta\n@@ -1219,12 +1219,12 @@\n  not\n-%E2%80%99in%E2%80%99\n+hing\n  to \n@@ -1238,16 +1238,17 @@\n ound wit\n+h\n , love.%E2%80%9D\n@@ -1320,24 +1320,33 @@\n terribly.%E2%80%9D%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CI know.%E2%80%9D Sa\n@@ -1382,16 +1382,46 @@\n inst his\n+, letting out a contented sigh\n . %E2%80%9CYou k\n@@ -1460,17 +1460,16 @@\n  thing. \n-%E2%80%9C\n Besides,\n@@ -1669,16 +1669,25 @@\n  a loud \n+forceful \n Thump-Ba\n@@ -1696,15 +1696,12 @@\n um, \n-flutter\n+beat\n ing \n@@ -1740,28 +1740,11 @@\n elf \n-in his own mind, hoe\n+how\n  he \n@@ -1807,19 +1807,35 @@\n ld make \n-you\n+a complete stranger\n  feel li\n@@ -1837,19 +1837,20 @@\n el like \n-you\n+they\n  were th\n@@ -1855,40 +1855,55 @@\n the \n-only person in a crowded room.%0A%0A\n+most important person in her world. %0A%0A        %09\n %E2%80%9CDam\n@@ -1915,20 +1915,21 @@\n listair \n-sigh\n+groan\n ed in an\n@@ -1938,16 +1938,25 @@\n yance.%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CWhat is\n@@ -1962,16 +1962,25 @@\n s it?%E2%80%9D%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CI have \n@@ -2001,17 +2001,18 @@\n s, and y\n-e\n+ou\n  have wo\n@@ -2022,16 +2022,25 @@\n soon.%E2%80%9D%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CSame as\n@@ -2058,19 +2058,20 @@\n %E2%80%9D She re\n-pli\n+tort\n ed with \n@@ -2174,16 +2174,25 @@\n rthy?%E2%80%9D%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CI could\n@@ -2223,28 +2223,63 @@\n Alistair\n- smirked and\n+%E2%80%99s lips stretched into a mischievous grin as he\n  waggled\n@@ -2289,22 +2289,23 @@\n s brow, \n-sugges\n+insinua\n ting a r\n@@ -2347,16 +2347,25 @@\n ities.%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9COh, of \n@@ -2609,16 +2609,25 @@\n oms.%E2%80%9D %0A%0A\n+        %09\n Alistair\n@@ -2739,16 +2739,25 @@\n Fair?%E2%80%9D%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CFair.%E2%80%9D \n@@ -2811,16 +2811,25 @@\n , Al.%E2%80%9D%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CI love \n@@ -2845,16 +2845,25 @@\n Lass.%E2%80%9D%0A%0A\n+        %09\n Sara wig\n@@ -2882,21 +2882,33 @@\n his arms\n- then\n+, hoisted herself\n  off the\n@@ -2916,16 +2916,19 @@\n bed,\n+ and\n  pick\n-ing\n+ed\n  out\n@@ -2958,18 +2958,23 @@\n ar, \n-no\n+she didn%E2%80%99\n t car\n-ing\n+e\n  eno\n@@ -3100,26 +3100,30 @@\n and \n-lacing up her tall\n+her tall tightly laced\n  bla\n@@ -3229,19 +3229,27 @@\n sh brew.\n- \n %0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CAlistai\n@@ -3577,18 +3577,16 @@\n e table.\n- %0A\n %0ASitting\n@@ -3798,17 +3798,17 @@\n ly, \n-taking \n+examin\n in\n+g\n  eve\n@@ -4082,12 +4082,19 @@\n yes.\n- %0A%09%0A\n+%0A%0A        %09\n %E2%80%9CIt%E2%80%99\n@@ -4197,17 +4197,17 @@\n poke as \n-m\n+h\n e moved \n@@ -4435,19 +4435,27 @@\n g table.\n- \n %0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CYou%E2%80%99re \n@@ -4518,16 +4518,25 @@\n piece.%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CWow, I \n@@ -4639,24 +4639,33 @@\n ext words.%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CWell yes yo\n@@ -4743,16 +4743,25 @@\n  you.%E2%80%9D%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CSo she \n@@ -4784,13 +4784,22 @@\n thin\n-%E2%80%99\n+g\n ?%E2%80%9D%0A%0A\n+        %09\n %E2%80%9CMid\n@@ -4827,16 +4827,17 @@\n e there.\n+%E2%80%9D\n %0A%0A%E2%80%9COh da\n@@ -4861,17 +4861,16 @@\n l I do?%E2%80%9D\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CFrank\n@@ -4903,24 +4903,16 @@\n  darn.%E2%80%9D%0A\n-        \n %0A%E2%80%9CThe li\n@@ -4994,22 +4994,53 @@\n eks.\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9C\n-Don%E2%80%99t care\n+My point exactly. I. Don%E2%80%99t. Give. A. Darn.\n .%E2%80%9D S\n@@ -5109,19 +5109,29 @@\n  to \n+t\n he\n-r drawing\n+ crisp ivory pages\n . %E2%80%9CD\n@@ -5241,31 +5241,53 @@\n t.%E2%80%9D \n-He jumped up,\n+Jolting up and out the his chair, he\n  snatch\n-ing\n+ed\n  his\n@@ -5313,20 +5313,36 @@\n at rack \n-then\n+while simultaneously\n  scoopin\n@@ -5359,17 +5359,19 @@\n  out of \n-a\n+the\n  wooden \n@@ -5383,17 +5383,19 @@\n kept on \n-a\n+the\n  side ta\n@@ -5523,18 +5523,11 @@\n  her\n- to do it.\n+.  \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CN\n@@ -5672,17 +5672,16 @@\n my bike.\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CAs yo\n@@ -6074,13 +6074,9 @@\n  at.\n- %0A   \n+%0A\n %0A%E2%80%98Go\n@@ -6268,9 +6268,9 @@\n she \n-(\n+,\n like\n@@ -6285,9 +6285,9 @@\n ople\n-)\n+,\n  hat\n@@ -6354,24 +6354,16 @@\n to him.%0A\n-        \n %0A%E2%80%98Throw \n@@ -6595,22 +6595,18 @@\n esponse \n-to the\n+of\n  affirma\n@@ -6607,18 +6607,18 @@\n ffirmati\n-ve\n+on\n , she re\n@@ -6676,26 +6676,18 @@\n ils \n-in a\n+with\n  hast\n-y fashion\n+e\n . Wi\n@@ -6756,18 +6756,22 @@\n was off.\n- \n %0A\n+%0A%0A~~~\n %0A%0A%0ASara \n@@ -6796,20 +6796,19 @@\n or open \n-then\n+and\n  stepped\n@@ -7363,16 +7363,18 @@\n  skin, a\n+nd\n  short c\n@@ -7387,16 +7387,17 @@\n uild who\n+m\n  they al\n@@ -7435,16 +7435,19 @@\n  reason \n+as \n to why t\n@@ -7520,20 +7520,44 @@\n uit her \n-more\n+eccentric personality better\n  than ju\n@@ -7565,17 +7565,16 @@\n t Karen.\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CHey, \n@@ -7660,18 +7660,23 @@\n ontrast \n+agains\n t\n-o\n  her dee\n@@ -7750,16 +7750,18 @@\n  coffee.\n+%E2%80%9D \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CPerfe\n@@ -8554,20 +8554,16 @@\n  on her \n-own \n desk, an\n@@ -8641,16 +8641,23 @@\n ked the \n+nearly \n empty sh\n@@ -8988,17 +8988,16 @@\n n next.%E2%80%9D\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CThen \n@@ -9088,23 +9088,30 @@\n tch \n-her belongings,\n+the tools of her trade\n  the\n@@ -9273,17 +9273,16 @@\n herself.\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CHe%E2%80%99s \n@@ -9331,16 +9331,17 @@\n ponded. \n+%E2%80%9C\n Someone \n@@ -9613,19 +9613,8 @@\n tomy\n- in private\n , as\n@@ -9756,16 +9756,17 @@\n wn work.\n+ \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CThat%E2%80%99\n@@ -9910,28 +9910,21 @@\n ng under\n- the surface\n+neath\n . %E2%80%9CHe%E2%80%99s \n@@ -9973,16 +9973,17 @@\n k again.\n+%E2%80%9D\n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CYou k\n@@ -10087,17 +10087,16 @@\n zically.\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9COh, I\n@@ -10180,30 +10180,15 @@\n red \n-just above the surface\n+over it\n . He\n@@ -10629,21 +10629,24 @@\n t lines \n-rough\n+graceful\n ly acros\n@@ -10927,17 +10927,16 @@\n person.%E2%80%9D\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CBecau\n@@ -11436,17 +11436,16 @@\n reement.\n- \n+\n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CBesid\n@@ -11775,25 +11775,24 @@\n th a smile.%0A\n-%0A\n %E2%80%9CYou. Are. S\n@@ -11918,15 +11918,18 @@\n r a \n-certain\n+particular\n  col\n@@ -11940,16 +11940,25 @@\n  pencil \n+floating \n around h\n@@ -12206,17 +12206,17 @@\n gling li\n-n\n+k\n e a mari\n@@ -12696,17 +12696,17 @@\n er lips.\n-%E2%80%9D\n+%0A\n %0A%E2%80%9CDeal.%E2%80%9D\n@@ -12823,17 +12823,16 @@\n anyway?%E2%80%9D\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CYour \n@@ -12997,16 +12997,17 @@\n ra kept \n+%0A\n working \n@@ -13211,16 +13211,18 @@\n a smile.\n+  \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CYou m\n@@ -13264,17 +13264,16 @@\n e, yes?%E2%80%9D\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CYes.%E2%80%9D\n@@ -13291,35 +13291,65 @@\n r a \n-smile worn down by his\n+worn out smile ; it was obvious that he definitely\n  rush\n+ed\n  to \n@@ -13417,18 +13417,16 @@\n e desk. \n-%0A%0A\n %E2%80%9CThat mu\n@@ -13672,16 +13672,17 @@\n ercings.\n+ \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CWelco\n@@ -14067,23 +14067,24 @@\n m anyone\n+'s\n  nerv\n-ou\n+e\n s about \n@@ -14321,16 +14321,17 @@\n ouldered\n+,\n  and mus\n@@ -14335,20 +14335,20 @@\n muscular\n-. He\n+ and\n  was mor\n@@ -14379,16 +14379,17 @@\n  his bod\n+y\n  with ti\n@@ -14509,24 +14509,58 @@\n s. His smile\n+, being his most defining feature,\n  was nearly \n@@ -14567,17 +14567,21 @@\n blinding\n-,\n+ with\n  each to\n@@ -14600,20 +14600,19 @@\n ing \n-pearly white\n+white pearl\n . Hi\n@@ -14633,48 +14633,34 @@\n ays \n-done perfectly with no fly-aways, and no\n+meticulously smooth withou\n t a \n@@ -14772,17 +14772,16 @@\n olorado.\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CIt is\n@@ -15043,18 +15043,21 @@\n rom her \n-ic\n+blend\n ed mocha\n@@ -15291,16 +15291,17 @@\n  Circle%E2%80%9D\n+,\n  as they\n@@ -16062,17 +16062,16 @@\n changed.\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CThen \n@@ -16163,16 +16163,25 @@\n s hands \n+ tightly \n together\n@@ -16327,16 +16327,21 @@\n ogether,\n+ body\n  facing \n@@ -16427,15 +16427,9 @@\n  her\n- body. \n+.\n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CT\n@@ -16686,23 +16686,21 @@\n curious \n-smile. \n+grin.\n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CJust \n@@ -16864,16 +16864,17 @@\n tners?%E2%80%9D%0A\n+%0A\n %E2%80%9CYou wou\n@@ -16916,24 +16916,33 @@\n  in here to \n+actually \n get names or\n@@ -17123,78 +17123,58 @@\n she \n-looked over the sketch, imagining the beauty she would design for him.\n+imagined how to masterfully recreate his vision.  \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CO\n@@ -17487,20 +17487,20 @@\n  little \n-more\n+less\n  than a \n@@ -17511,16 +17511,17 @@\n  later.%0A\n+%0A\n The rest\n@@ -17635,17 +17635,16 @@\n en black\n- \n listed i\n@@ -18148,17 +18148,16 @@\n e night.\n- \n %0A%0ASara s\n@@ -18205,21 +18205,24 @@\n ls, and \n+a \n drink\n+,\n  with he\n@@ -18440,24 +18440,33 @@\n foot to the \n+grinding \n beat as the \n@@ -18540,24 +18540,30 @@\n ropping his \n+hefty \n bodybuilder \n@@ -18605,17 +18605,16 @@\n g thud.%0A\n-%0A\n %E2%80%9CYou did\n@@ -18928,17 +18928,16 @@\n ouch it.\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CThank\n@@ -18990,17 +18990,16 @@\n d and re\n--\n schedule\n@@ -19044,17 +19044,16 @@\n  on me.%E2%80%9D\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CIt ki\n@@ -19244,17 +19244,16 @@\n ind a re\n--\n+\n schedule\n@@ -20120,18 +20120,16 @@\n fection.\n- %0A\n %0A%E2%80%9CWho ar\n@@ -20179,19 +20179,19 @@\n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CCraig\n-. L\n+, l\n et it go\n@@ -20191,16 +20191,85 @@\n t it go.\n+ It%E2%80%99s not going to happen. I thought we had established that already?\n %E2%80%9D She fi\n@@ -20633,16 +20633,17 @@\n ssional \n+%0A\n relation\n@@ -20772,17 +20772,16 @@\n esponse.\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CDude,\n@@ -20827,16 +20827,114 @@\n  insult.\n+ Not to mention that I have said no in the past, yet here we are with you asking me out yet again!\n %E2%80%9D%0A%0A%E2%80%9CI di\n@@ -21095,17 +21095,16 @@\n her bag.\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CI%E2%80%99m g\n@@ -21156,13 +21156,14 @@\n  be \n-berat\n+harass\n ed b\n@@ -21324,16 +21324,14 @@\n ily \n-barely a\n+a mere\n  blo\n@@ -21359,17 +21359,16 @@\n  Craig.%E2%80%9D\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CWait,\n@@ -21485,17 +21485,16 @@\n er 10pm.\n- \n %0A%0A%E2%80%9CThen \n@@ -21586,20 +21586,16 @@\n r-bells \n-now \n signalin\n",
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      "body": "Within the hour of her receiving the text message from Craig, inviting her into work that day for a mystery client, Sara nearly power stomped her way into the shop, her bag of tricks slung high over her shoulder, looking more like a Sharif from the old west than a five foot six (ten in heels) artist. She looked around the shop, removing the sunglasses from her face in a clean swoosh movement. Then finally, she grinned and beamed with pride. Not willing to let anyone see that she was the least bit defeated or even deflated by Craig’s actions against her and her career. Azzi gave a slyer grin when she watched Sara finally return to the shop. \n\n“People have been asking for you.” Azzi stated in a clear tone as to make sure the whole shop heard it. She leaned in and whispered into her palm just for Sara to hear. “I gave them all your work email, they are still yours.” Azzi winked then went back to her new magazine. Something was clearly up at the shop. If Azzi knew, that means everyone knew.\n“I’m happy to hear that.” Sara replied with a sigh pulling at her words. “Craig told me I had a client ‘ASAP’, and no one is here but Emilio’s client and Emilio. Where’s Craig?” She sighed again, this time in annoyance rather than relief. Azzi quickly looked back down to her magazine, and using her thumb to point the way she gestured to the door leading to the private work room. “And my client?” Azzi made the same gesture again. Sara nearly growled as she snatched her bag over her shoulder again. “I hope this…” She stopped, realizing now that Emilio’s client had been watching her nearly the entire time she had been in the shop this day. \n\n“I will go see him in the back then.” She nodded and made her way to the back door. The dark letters of the plaque spelling out the word “PRIVATE” in an almost mistrustful kind of way. She put her hand on the handle and let the weight alone pull it down. The door clinked open and groaned as it kept moving, squealing on its hinges.\n\n“I keep forgetting to pick up some WD-40.” Craig huffed, wiping down the table in the center of the room with sanitary wipes, being careful to get into every nook and cranny. “It almost scared off a girl just wanting her ears pierced. She thought something was going to get her.” He laughed, and again each tooth visibly sparkled. His shirt of the day was taut around his body. Each muscle that lay beneath the thin cotton fabric practically on display. His pants secured perfectly on his hip bones, low, but not obscenely low.\n\n“How cute.” Sara forced a smile onto her face. “So where is this mystery client?”\n\nCraig stood tall and shrugged his arms out wide, his hands falling quickly and slapped each thigh. “You’re looking at him.” He too smacked on the cheesiest grin his body could muster.\n\n“I’m getting paid for this, right?” She cautiously set her bag and sunglasses down on the table off to the right hand side of the room usually reserved for the clients’ “audiences”. “You’re not expecting this to be pro-bono, are you?”\n\n“No, I’m paying you full price for this even though you left work early the other night.” He grinned at her in a way that made it seem like he had her life in his hands at the moment over something as trivial as a couple hours of missed work. And it’s simple. When you’re done you can get a coffee and clock in to work the desk with Azzi or with walk-ins.”\n\nSara nodded back at him. “Alright, I can do that.” She slipped off her leather jacket and set it on her bag before taking a seat beside him. “What are you wanting?” She asked, looking over the inks he had already pulled out for her to use.\n\n“It’s a design my friend sketched out that I was completely into, and he agreed to let me tattoo it on my leg. It’s simple, but I want clean lines, not just a bunch of shading everywhere. And I can’t reach the place I want it well enough.” Craig then proceeded to pull a paper out of his pocket. Barely more than three by three inches with a very rough pencil sketch made out in the middle, about the size of an old fifty-cent piece. It looked like an odd cross between a seven pointed star, a crescent moon, with strange writing in an old dead language around it also encompassed in another circle. Finally, around that were four strange symbols arranged at the compass points of the design.\n\n“It’s quite interesting.” Sara nodded a bit, looking over the small doodle. “And you want it this big? Like, this big exactly?”\n\n“NO, No, no. Clean it up and make it about four inches in diameter. I‘m getting it on my shoulder blade.” His eyes shouted out his excitement of getting a chance to be shirtless around her. “So clean it up, make it look pretty and I’m gonna go out for a bit of coffee. Want one?” He questioned with a ring of sincerity.\n\n“Sure, I’d like one, please?” She gave him a small smile then moved to retrieve her notebook as he left to get their morning caffeine. \n\nDuring his absence she redrew the little sketch into a full clean design, making a copy of it with transfer paper, and getting the set up ready to use by the time he returned. He came back through the screeching door moments later with a chuckle as he kicked it closed again. “I still hate that door. Blended Mocha?” He offered her the drink closest to her in the cardboard holder.\n\n“Just the one I love.” She took it and immediately tried to tongue some of the whipped cream out through the hole in the dome lid. “Thanks very much.” She looked up to catch him already staring at her. Sara’s smile dropped immediately and she sipped at her mocha before setting it aside and washing her hands. “Shoulder blade. Take off your shirt and get comfortable.” She towel dried her hands, slipping on clean gloves as he made himself comfortable with his drink, phone, and wireless headset. “Right here?” She asked about the placement of the tattoo by drawing it out with her fingertip so he could feel the exact spot he was referring to.\n\n“That would be just perfect Sara.” He checked over and agreed to her cleaned up design, and with that, she began.\nSara gently shaved the peach fuzz off of him and cleaned the skin with a fresh towel and skin cleanser. Craig shivered as some of the chilling liquid ran down his back, but followed it with a cheeky smile. She paid him no mind as she wet his skin and slowly laid the cut out transfer over his skin, spreading it down smooth with one finger. She watched it sit for a long moment before checking under the edge for strong blue lines. Once satisfied she peeled it up from his back with ease, checking it over to make sure she had all the lines, and filling in the ones that didn’t transfer completely with a fine felt tip pen. \n\n“I picked out that red ink you love to use. I hope you don’t mind.” Craig chortled on as he placed his headphones over his ears.\n\n“Of course not. I nearly have to order more of it.” She held the bottle up to the light, observing how low she had become. \n“Has anyone used this the past few days?\n\n“I did. I had to know what you loved about it so much. It’s actually quite lovely if I do say so myself.”\n\n“Thanks.” She implied with a nearly inquisitive tone. “I can order you a bottle too if you pay me back.” She filled a tiny ink cup with the red, a black, and a couple shades of blue that Craig had also selected for a bit of background color. “I think this is going to turn out nicer than you imagined.” Sara loved to talk herself up before starting. A tactic that often works with nervous clients. But, when she got no response, she looked at him to find he had already started his music and couldn’t hear a damned thing she said. She shook her head and simply got to work.\n\nSara took her time with the outline, making sure every line was perfect. No one spot thicker than another unless the design demanded it to be so. Everything was clean, neat, and the best geometric lines she’d ever done. She smiled wide at her work, taking a small moment to stretch and get her machine ready for color. Once the needles were switched out she dipped them in her favorite red ink. Nearly the color of blood, it showed powerfully on all skin types from paper white to ebony. This ink was like magic. Sara leaned in, stretching Craig’s skin taut with one hand, she began to lay the red ink in between her lines. Carefully filling in the shape to look smooth and even, like pouring paint onto a flat surface. She made sure to watch every movement, her needles barely kissing the black line as she worked across the piece. \n\nCraig himself was a pro at getting worked on. He zoned out into his music, more muttering along with it in practically unintelligible sounds rather than actually singing the song aloud like most clients who do this sort of thing would. He flipped through the internet on his phone, checking his social media pages, as well as the company email address making sure that any potential customers were being taken care of. Not a single flinch, cough, or sneeze. Tattooing him was as easy as painting on a statue. Barely an hour had passed by the time Sara was adding the finishing touches and making sure everything was the best it could be. She cleaned his skin with green soap and gave the whole thing a total triple check. If her test to come back was tattooing her boss, then she was dead set and determined to make sure it was the best work she’d ever done. With one last nod, she determined it to be an incontestable homerun. \n\n“It’s done.” She tapped his leg and shook his calf to get his attention away from his phone. Craig pulled off his head phones and turned to look at her over his shoulder.\n\n“You’re done?” He tried to crane his neck far enough to look at it without the use of a mirror or two, but to no success. \n\n“Let me take a look at it then.” Craig hopped off the table, snatching a hand mirror off the counter as he walked to the full length mirror bolted up on the wall. He stood with his back to the floor length mirror and lifted the hand mirror, angling it so he could see the reflection of the tattoo. He grinned from ear to ear. The hint of a smirk hiding within his smile. “Sara, it’s completely wonderful.” Her heart leaped, she loved high praise. “It’s exactly what I wanted it to look like. Thank you.” He set the mirror down and took his place on the table so she could wrap it up for him. Sara stuck the wrap to his skin with masking tape then stood back and took another look at her latest work. She was proud, and her chin stood an extra inch taller for the moment. \n\n“Damn I’m good.” Sara laughed as she began to clean and sanitize the work area for whoever was going to use it next. After wiping down her bottles of ink a few times, she placed them back on her shelves in her work area.\n\n“How was it?” Azzi asked. Her eyes focused like laser beams on Sara. “Did he do anything strange?”\n\n“No.” Sara giggled. “He just wanted me to do a tattoo for him. It was an original design by his friend, I guess, but it looks great as a tattoo. And now he has me working walk-ins, sooo…” Sara took her seat with her sketchbook and pencils to Azzi’s left at the welcome desk.\n\n“At least you’re here. It’s been so boring without you to jack my jaw to.”\n\n“You’ve always been one for gossip, Azzi. There’s no lie about that.” Sara smiled and opened up her sketchbook to the design she had begun for Gavin, Craig’s alleged friend. Pulling out a .5mm pencil and eraser, she got back to work perfecting the design for him, already imagining his reactions of shock, awe, and praise. Sara knew she was vein, but then again, so was everyone else in the world. “Damn.” She finally broke the silence of the room after a long moment of nothing but the soft hum of the speakers playing whatever song was popular at the moment. “I love pin-ups.” She reached up and added a couple of extra lines into the drawn figure’s hair. \n\n“No kidding. They are so sexy.” Azzi leaned over her shoulder and took a long look at the drawing. “She’s going to look so good on skin, Sara.”\n\n“Thank you, hun. I just hope he really likes it. I won’t take less than completely satisfied before I put this permanently on someone’s body.\n\n“I know that.” She giggled as she leaned back into her own seat, looking at the stack of magazines in front of her, trying to pick out what to flip through next.\n\n“You know, you can bring a book in with you. You don’t have to constantly sit here with a magazine.” Sara lightly elbowed her. “Reading books is good for the imagination.”\n\n“Like I need a stronger imagination, cupcake.” Azzi smiled and picked up an older issue of Cosmo.\n\n“Oh no, not at all.” She picked out a random article off the cover. “You just want to know ‘how to recycle your makeup brushes for use in the bedroom.’ I don’t even want to know what they mean by that.” Sara shuddered a bit then went back to her drawing.\n\nSara worked the desk for nearly seven hours before getting a customer who needed more than a consult and an appointment schedule. She had a grand total of two pieces done by the time she was supposed to clock out for the night. Other than Craig’s strange symbol, she also worked on a girl who had just turned eighteen, and wanted a little pink bunny on the top of her foot as a graduation present to herself. \n\nSara inked the lines using her favorite red, then filled it in with a mix of the same red and white, shading it carefully as to make it seem fluffy and soft to the touch. She also gave it baby green eyes like the client had herself, along with a little green “lettuce” leaf for it to hold. Her client was very pleased, jumping and clapping like a small circus seal once the piece was complete. She tipped well and even scheduled a consultation for the following week in regards to another tattoo she wanted. After that, Sara clocked out and went home to spend the evening with Alistair. \n\nWhen she walked in through the front door, she was immediately greeted with a cupcake on a small saucer with one purple birthday candle stuck into the intensely blue frosting. The wax dripping into the folds of the piped confection. \n“A congratulations on your day at work for not killing anyone!” Alistair blew into a party noise maker then dumped a handful of confetti on Sara’s head. “Now make a wish, Lass.” \n\nSara, already in a fit of laughter, made the first wish that came to her mind and blew out the candle. “How long were you standing there waiting?” She stepped out the door leaving it open before brushing as much of the confetti out of her hair and off of her shoulders as she could manage, doing her best not to let it get into the house, despite the small pile that was originally left behind. \n\n“Just a moment really, but I had the confetti all day.” Alistair blew a little of it off the plate and watched it flutter to the carpeted floor. “If you want to vacuum that up, dinner is just about ready.”\n\n“Of course, I’ll just clean up this mess that you’ve been planning on making all day.” She stepped back into the house and took off her jacket, shaking it off onto the floor. A sort of in for a penny, in for a pound kind of thing. “Work was fine, by the way. Craig was my first client.” She walked to the small closet door in their hallway between the kitchen and the living room, pulling the vacuum out and plugging it in near the front door.\n\n“What did he have you do? Titties?” Alistair joked as he went about the kitchen trying to finish up dinner. “Or did he want a real tattoo?”\n\n“Oh, it was a real tattoo. It was really strange.” Sara cleaned up the confetti that found its way everywhere in the living room as if my cursed magic. After putting the vacuum away, she went to the fridge and pulled out a soda, opening it then taking a seat at their dining table. She described the tattoo as best she could to Alistair between cold sips.\n\n“Almost sounds cultish. Maybe from a videogame?”\n\nSara shook her head. “He said his friend drew it for him. It was cool, but just another tattoo if you ask me. It’s one of those things that only make sense to the person who got it.” She shrugged and took a large swig of her soda. Alistair set a plate in front of her consisting of baked chicken, peas, and a pasta salad. “Looks like you were busy cooking all day. It smells yummy.” She waited for him to sit too before digging into her well-earned meal. “Mmh, and you were right. I, in fact, did not kill him, or anyone else for that matter.” She smirked, drinking from her nearly empty soda can then continuing her meal.\n\n“The night is still young.” He smirked at his plate while cutting into his meat. “You never know what might happen after dinner.” Alistair winked at her as he chomped down on his cut piece of chicken. \n\n“Oh, I see.” She grinned at him, watching his movements closely. “I’m assuming that school went well today?” Her gaze unwavering, simply enjoying looking at him.\n\n“Had a pop-quiz today.” Sara’s brow quirked. “I know, right? Who still does pop-quizzes other than Elementary teachers with a chip on their shoulder? Anyway, we had a pop-quiz on the differences between meiosis and mitosis. I got every single question correct.” He gave her a toothy smile before chomping down on another piece of chicken.\n\n“You did the reading on it. I watched you study the shit out of that chapter. I can almost remember half of it.”\n\n“Oh, can you really?” Sara paused and stared at him blankly.\n\n“No. Not really. But you know what I meant.”\n\nAfter dinner, Sara assisted Alistair in cleaning up the kitchen before retiring to the couch to watch a movie while wrapped around each other like two stuffed animals lined with Velcro. Another D-horror movie that was basically a straight-to-streaming kind of deal.\n\n“How many ways can they tell a story about a shark? What’s next, ‘Attack of the Mighty Sharkactus’?”\n\n“Sharkactus?” Sara raised her head from his chest, trying to figure out what they hell he was talking about.\n\n“You know. A Sharkactus. Half shark, half cactus, one hundred percent bad-ass.” Sara nodded ever so slowly as she rested her head back on his chest.\n\n“At least tomorrow is a real day off and not just a ‘Fuck you, Sara’ day.”\n\n“Agreed. We can sleep in.”\n\n“We always sleep in.” She corrected him, vibrating both their bodies with her giggles.\n\n“Yes.” Alistair replied, “But this time we can sleep until three. I did the laundry already, so once it’s folded and put away, we don’t have any chores for tomorrow either.”\n\n“Tomorrow is going to be nice then.” She snuggled down more, folding her arms between their torsos to keep her hands warm.\n\nThe night passed quietly. Both of them falling asleep on the couch, waking up at the crack of dawn just to climb the stairs and fall into bed after stripping down to their underwear. Thankful that the back out curtains did their job so well that the room remained pitch black even after noon. Sara fell back to sleep instantly as Alistair spooned her body and held her hand. His soft breathing in her ear acting like a white noise machine would. Keeping her mind calm and her body relaxed as she revisited dreamland for the second time that day.",
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      "body": "“Who the hell does he think he is?” Sara exclaimed as she paced the bedroom floor, still as frustrated as she was leaving the shop the day before. Her still damp hair clinging gently to her cheeks in soft red curls. Her long white tank stop stuck to her skin, making it lightly transparent against her otherwise bare chest and black underwear. “He literally can’t take a blunt answer let alone a whole fucking hint!” she punched her tight fists in the air then kept pacing. Slightly hunched over and chewing angrily at her left thumb nail, thinking of anything she could do to take care of this and keep her job.\n\n“It’s shitty that we don’t have an independent HR department that I could make a formal complaint to. He is the HR department.” Her upper lip curled in frustration as Alistair watched from the edge of the bed. A damp towel still wrapped around his shoulders, his red flannel print boxers barely clinging to his hipbones.\n\n“I could kick his ass?” He offered as a sort of consolation prize. “Or at least kick him where the sun don’t smile.” Sara shook her head no.\n\n“He has at least one-hundred pounds over you, Pumpkin. I’m more scared he would just sit on your chest and suffocate you. No offense.” She looked at him with one of her more pathetic of pouts.\n\n“None taken?” his brow went up. “Doesn’t mean I can’t try.” Alistair’s arms shrugged, lifting then lowering his towel with the movements before going back to drying his hair with it. “Start looking somewhere else. Find a better job and rub it in his steroid inflated face.”\n\n“Should I? I mean… I love Azzi, and Emilio is okay.” Sara took her seat beside Alistair, looking at the floor, more depressed about the idea of leaving the shop she loves rather than dealing with one human sized hemorrhoid. “Maybe I could hire a lawyer, sue his ass, and then open my own shop with the money he would have to pay me to settle the case out of court!” She grinned maniacally, rubbing her hands together in an overly cartoon fashion.\n\n“True, and make sure to add that he would have to pay your law fees as well. We don’t want that hanging over us like a sword of Damocles.” Alistair couldn’t help but grin as he tossed the towel into the hamper on the other side of the room near the turtle tank. “I know he’s a bastard, but you have a good thing right now, and all he’s done was ask you out. Annoying, but at the very least, he has yet to lay a fowl hand on you. If he ever does…” Alistair paused then slid his arm around Sara’s waist, pulling her closer to himself. “He will have to deal with yours truly.” He smirked then planted a soft warm kiss at the corner of her jaw.\n\n“I will pay real money to watch you knock the shit out of him if I wasn’t so worried about him either murdering you, or you getting deported for assaulting someone.” She could not help but smile at him trying to comfort her. He always tried hard, taking hints from American day time dramas that he absorbed like a dry sponge dropped in a lake. She giggled as he began to plant more kisses along her jaw neck and shoulder. “You are such a dork.”\n\n“Don’t think that I don’t know that.” He nipped gently at her ear lobe. “I am your dork, and you love me, and you don’t want to see me get my ass kicked apparently. You’re a strange one yourself, missy.”\n\n“I don’t think that constitutes as me being ‘strange’, but if you think so then it must be true.” Sara cuddled up against his side, placing her hand on his chest, catching his lips with her own as he passed his face by hers. Their lips lingered together for a moment before she smiled again, pulling her head back to look up at his face. “I love how you try to make me feel better. You always seem to manage at least a grin from me. I can’t be mad around you even when I try.”\n\n“Oh stop, lass. You’re starting to sound like my programs.” Alistair reached up and pushed her hair away from her cheek, tucking the drying lock behind her ear. “Though, some of the ladies on there are rather attractive.”\n\n“I didn’t know you were into comatose girls?” she inquired, poking her fingertip into his side a couple times.\n\n“Oh yes, I love them so much.” He answered in a flat robotic tone that left each word dripping in sticky sarcasm. \n\n“I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m in a coma. I’ll make sure someone comes in and does my makeup every day so I can look good when you come for a conjugal.” With a laugh Sara pushed him back onto the bed. Straddling his hips with her hands on his chest for balance. “Don’t want to be caught looking terrible as I fight for my life.” Her grin grew ear to ear as she tried to hold in a belly laugh. \n\n“You’re the dork now.” Alistair answered, resting his hands on her thighs, his thumbs gently caressing her pale skin. “But it’s good to know that you would go to such lengths to keep me happy.” He sat up on his elbows and pecked her lips once more before laying back and relaxing.\n\n“You’re a lucky man, Alistair Evans.” Sara leaned down and began to slowly kiss at his neck. “A damn lucky man.” She winked at him then kept trailing kisses down to his collar bone. \nAlistair sighed softly as he felt her lips run down his body. Reaching down with one hand, he stroked her fiery curls as she crawled back, kissing lower and lower until she reached his boxers. With a grin she stood back up and removed her tank top in a clean movement. Alistair smiled wider, taking in the sight of her nearly naked form as if it were the first time he’d seen it, his erection growing bigger with each little movement that caused her breasts to move and jiggle. He admired the shadows that flowed down her body, over her chest and across her waist. Her skin nearly glowing in the mildly yellow light of the bedside lamp.\n\n“Come here, Lass.” He beckoned her closer with his finger, his eyes twinkling with excitement. Sara crawled back onto the bed, straddling him again, she pressed her hips down slightly to cause gentle friction between them. Alistair grunted slightly as he throbbed against her. He ran his hands up her thighs to her hips, then her sides before wrapping around her back and pulling her down into a deeply sensual kiss. \n\nSara held herself up a bit with one flat hand buried deep into the mattress as their lips moved together in an elegant dance, her other hand feeling the peaks and valleys of his chest and shoulders, occasionally running into the brown chest hair located between his pectorals. She wiggled and pressed her hips back against his hard-on, moaning quietly into the kiss. Alistair slid his hands slowly down the arch of her back before resting them on her buttocks, squeezing them softly then carefully thumbing for the waistband of her underwear, rolling them down and over her ass before clumsily trying to work them off of her, causing her to have to move and maneuver with him in an equally clumsy fashion. She tittered as she moved and worked her legs out of the tiny black undergarment, both entertained and a little embarrassed at the less-than-glamourous moment in love making. \n\nQuickly, Alistair slid out from under her and flipped Sara back onto the bed. Without a moment’s hesitation he slipped out of his boxers and into a condom before moving himself back on top of her. He rested his hips between her milky white thighs before kissing her again. His hands cupping her breasts and massaging them leisurely. Sara wrapped her arms up and around his shoulders, breathing deliberately and deep, her eyes closed as she savored his gentle loving touches. Alistair pushes his pelvis against hers, grinding his erection into the soft wet folds of her vulva. Sara moaned, her own hips bucking up slightly as he passed over her clitoris once, twice, three times and more, stoking the flames of her passion and yearning for him. Long moments passed as he did this, enjoying each little squeak, moan, and sigh that slipped past her lips before he finally reached down and lifted her left thigh high up to his own waist. Using his muscle memory he lined himself up to her and pushed himself inside.\n\nSara moaned, arching her back as she felt each inch of him work its way inside of her. Her body pulsed around his cock, happy to welcome him past her gates of paradise. Alistair let out a happy sigh as his whole length sank deep inside. Holding there a moment, he kissed her again, whispering a soft “I love you” into her neck, kissing and sucking at her shoulder as he began to move in a slow comfortable pace. More eager to hear her sounds of pleasure than to get himself off. He took her left hand in his right, lacing their fingers together then pinning their hands against the bed. Sara clung to his hand as though it was her only connection to the surface of a vast ocean and fresh air to breath. Her free hand rested on his back, each fingernail finding its way to his skin, pushing down but not quite digging in enough to do any damage. Alistair moaned against her skin as his body picked up a little pace, his hand squeezing hers more as his body moved into a more comfortable position while also trying to keep her thigh up with his hip. His thrusts weren’t speedy, but they were deep and purposeful. He listened to her carefully, making sure to stay where he was according to the volume of her obscenities. He grunted as he picked up more speed, her fingernails pressing deeper into the skin of his back, pulling down a bit leaving behind freshly pinked skin that welted ever so slightly.\n\nSara’s back arched high as she shouted his name. The hand on his back pulled down quickly, taking a little bit of surface skin with it. Alistair let out a deep grunt as the enjoyable prickling pain washed over his body, he thrust faster, determined to maximize her climax. He smiled through his panting, pushing as deep as he could before her hand took another fist full of his skin. Sara’s jaw dropped as her eyes rolled back, she bit her lip and moaned loud enough to echo off the ceiling and immediately back into his ears. She held back a shout as her body tightened down on his thrusting erection, clear warm fluid dripping from between her thighs and onto the bed sheets. Her body quivering below him as he went faster and faster, running the race to finish before she was done completely. With a few more deep strokes he buried himself inside of her. His body erupting with several spurts of his own warm liquids as he spilled himself into the condom before pulling out. As he did Sara shivered in pleasure as a cool breeze passed between them due to Alistair moving off of her. She smiled as she panted deep in her chest. Her breasts heaving up and down over her expanding and compressing ribs, her thighs shaking ever so slightly as her cloudy eyes tried to focus on him.\n\n“Always a gentleman~” she cooed, carefully moving off the bed, balancing herself with one hand on the mattress as she made her way to the bathroom to wash up. Alistair disposed of the condom and toweled off with his damp towel from the hamper before dabbing the bed sheets mostly dry then crawling in under the blankets as Sara returned to the scene of the crime. She moved onto the bed beside him, pulling the blankets up over her naked form before cuddling up to him and resting her head on his chest. “I love you.” She kissed his chest then resumed her comfortable position as Alistair wrapped his arm around her shoulders.\n\n“And I you, lass.” He relaxed back, sinking into his large overstuffed pillow. His eyes slowly closed as the two drifted into a deep comfortable sleep.\n\nThe next morning came and went as usual. Shower, coffee, and toast with yogurt instead of a coffee shop pastry. Sara finished putting on her favorite alizarin lipstick when her phone made a plink sound, alerting her to a new text message. She picked up her phone to discover a text alert from Craig. She swiped her lock screen and opened the text.\n\n‘Hey, Sara. Your appointments for the day were re-scheduled. Don’t worry about coming in today. –Craig’ Sara pursed her lips and squeezed her phone with all her might, unable to made a dent in the steel body. \n\n“He’s fucking with me.” She smacked her phone down on the table. “He rescheduled my appointments today again, gave them to Emilio, or took them himself. No matter what, he’s telling me not to come to work today. Not even to sit at the fucking desk!” She slapped the kitchen table with the flat of her hand. “Two days straight with no work because of this ‘rescheduling’. All because I told him I wasn’t interested in a date with him. That’s a few hundred dollars at least. He’s costing me money! Well I’ll tell you this…” Alistair, sitting across the table, watched her without blinking as he was being forced to bear witness to his girlfriend go temporarily bonkers. “If I don’t work tomorrow, I’m taking my portfolio to other shops. I know I can get a damn fine job somewhere else.”\n\n“Well,” Alistair finally spoke up. “That is the suggestion I made the other day.”\n\n“I know.” She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I just didn’t want to have to do the interview-foot-work rigmarole. I hate that. I just want to be in a shop, work on my customers, and come home to a hot meal. Is that such a crazy thing to want?” She questioned out loud causing Alistair to scoff into his coffee.\n\n“In this day and age, not having to eat ramen for every meal can be a pipe dream. We have enough in savings to get by for a while if he have to.” He reassured. “I just want you to be happy with the work you’re doing. At the very least, we aren’t making tuition payments.” Alistair referred her back to his full ride. “For our ages we are in an amazing position financially.” He stretched his arm across the small table and took her white knuckled hand in his. “Don’t let this septic arse hole get you down, lass. You’re a strong woman, and you will pull though with grace and your integrity intact.” Sara couldn’t stop the small smile that tugged at her cheeks.\n\n“You’ve been reading those cheesy romance books again, haven’t you?” She giggled softly into her other hand. “Nerd.”\n\n“I love you too, dork.” Alistair kissed her hand then happily went back to his coffee and newspaper. “So what are your plans for today then?”\n\n“Well,” Sara sighed as she tried a bit harder to relax back into her seat, gaze landing dully on the table as she searched her mind for a decent enough answer. “I suppose I’ll get online and start a list of all the shops within a couple miles of the house, call around, start there. Then, if I don’t end up working tomorrow, I’ll start hitting the pavement and start officially looking for another job.” She nodded once, sealing her agenda for the day. \n\n“Sounds like a perfect plan to me. Honestly, try to take most of the day for yourself. Make a sandwich, drink a beer, take a hot bath and send me nudes. Make today nice for yourself.” Sara erupted into laughter at the notion of sending her boyfriend nudes to make herself feel better, but she appreciated his courage for even suggesting it in the first place, given her mood.\n\n“Jesus Christ on a cracker.” Sara rubbed her brows. “What on earth am I going to do with you?”\nOnce Alistair left for class, Sara began to gather her goodies for her one day stay-cation. She poured snacks into bowls and covered the surface of the table in all sorts of goodies ranging from salty to sweet, then placed a little foam cooler filled with ice an beer on the right side of the couch. After making a lovely pillow nest on the couch she snuggled down with her lap top and started making her list with some old D-rated horror film playing on the television simply for background noise. \n\nShe made sure to only check for shops that seemed to have more ratings online than others, meaning quantity not quality necessarily, which to her meant that they could have more walk-ins and regular clients than the others perhaps due to reputation or location. Sara also made note of shop layouts from pictures on their websites, privacy walls or screens between stations, and a private piercing room. She knew those would be things that she wouldn’t bend on, as well as their sanitizing methods, and you cannot judge sanitizing methods online through still photographs. As the hunt continued her brows slowly moved into a creased position. The tip of her tongue stuck out the corner of her mouth ever so slightly as her finger tips traced and danced across her track pad. Site after site popping up then quickly being replaced by another page. Sara spent nearly two hours balled up with her lap top before she finished a short list. Finally closing her computer and setting it aside so she could stretch and pop her bones back into their proper positions. After a hard POP came from her back, she relaxed again. Picking up the remote and choosing a more popular movie, she went about her snacking and binge watching on her forced day off. Trying to make the best out of the little time she might have to not face the world or the troubles of adult hood.\n\nA whole television season came and went before Alistair returned home. Walking through the garage door into the kitchen, he smiled at his beloved who stood dutifully over the stove, doing her damnedest to make a quick decent dinner for the two of them.\n\n“I hope you’re down for spaghetti.” Sara smiled proudly into her pot of half store bought sauce. “I made dinner for once.” Her voice was high and proud, but also a little slurred. Alistair looked around the kitchen for clues then noticed the small pile of beer cans in the recycle bin beside the trash.\n\n“Amazing. Drunk off your ass, and still managing to cook dinner like a functional person.” He threw a teasing grin at her before removing his jacket and book bag, then wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek. “Smells absolutely delicious.” Alistair sniffed the air. “Do I smell garlic bread?” His tone now more excited at the prospect of his favorite side dish.\n\n“You bet your cute face.” Her favorite expression while inebriated. “I knew you would want some, so I made some, ‘cause I love you.” Sara swayed in his arms a bit nearly falling if it was not for his secure grip.”\n\n“Alright there princess, let’s have a seat and I will finish making dinner. Yes?” HE sat her down as carefully as he could at the kitchen table before checking the time on everything. “Just a few more minutes it seems.” Alistair leaned back against the counter and smiled at his little lush. “It seems like you had a nice day. Get your list done for tomorrow?”\nSara nodded affirmatively while rubbing her right eye. Half a smile formed from the left corner of her mouth. “Craig is gonna be so mad that he decided to be such a huge ass hat to me.” She swayed again and laughed.\n\nAfter dinner Alistair helped her up the stairs to their bedroom, handing her a night gown to change into before helping her slide in under the blankets for a good night’s sleep. He also left a full glass of water with two acetaminophen tablets beside it for when she woke up. “I’m going to study downstairs a bit.” He leaned down and kissed her lips. “Sleep tight, Lass.” Sara was out like a broken lightbulb in moments, curled up tight in her blanket, a smile stuck on her face as her dreams set in for the night. \n\nThe next morning, Sara awoke at her usual time, happy to choke down the pills with a room temperature water chaser. She sighed, setting her glass down before crawling out of bed and into the bathroom to do her morning routines. With hair and most of her makeup in place (minus her lipstick), she changed into a clean graphic t-shirt and her fitted jeans, stained with a little ink on her thighs from work. She went downstairs to find Alistair already up and alert, frying some hash browns and eggs for breakfast.\n\n“Smells awesome down here.” Sara worked her way over to the coffee maker and poured a tall steaming mug full, sipping at it even before adding cream and sugar. She sat down at the table, stirring her creamy concoction as she monitored her phone like a hawk hunting a rabbit. After her breakfast, it was half an hour before she was supposed to get to work to clock in, still no message. Her hands started to shake, waiting and wishing not to see Craig’s name pop up in her alerts.\n\nPlink! The dreaded sound coupled with the dreaded name. Already she was about to explode with anger. She swooped up her phone and swiped her screen lock to read the message.\n\n‘Hey Sara. You have a Client waiting for you. Get here ASAP. –Craig’\n\n“He messaged me to tell me to come to work this time.” She felt oddly confused. She knew that she was scheduled to come in that day, but she was unaware of any scheduled client for that time frame. “I think he’s trying to ruin me, for sure. Making a client wait for me, making me look like an irresponsible shit.” She groaned, grabbing her things for the day, sliding on her sunglasses. “C’mon Alistair, give me a lift to work?”\n\nAlistair nodded in agreement and grabbed the keys before they both went out to the car.",
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      "body": "Thanks so much! That comment meant a lot to me, and I am happy that you found it to be enjoyable. Thank you again :)",
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      "body": "“Who the hell does he think he is?” Sara exclaimed as she paced the bedroom floor, still as frustrated as she was leaving the shop the day before. Her still damp hair clinging gently to her cheeks in soft red curls. Her long white tank stop stuck to her skin, making it lightly transparent against her otherwise bare chest and black underwear. “He literally can’t take a blunt answer let alone a whole fucking hint!” she punched her tight fists in the air then kept pacing. Slightly hunched over and chewing angrily at her left thumb nail, thinking of anything she could do to take care of this and keep her job.\n“It’s shitty that we don’t have an independent HR department that I could make a formal complaint to. He is the HR department.” Her upper lip curled in frustration as Alistair watched from the edge of the bed. A damp towel still wrapped around his shoulders, his red flannel print boxers barely clinging to his hipbones.\n\n“I could kick his ass?” He offered as a sort of consolation prize. “Or at least kick him where the sun don’t smile.” Sara shook her head no.\n\n“He has at least one-hundred pounds over you, Pumpkin. I’m more scared he would just sit on your chest and suffocate you. No offense.” She looked at him with one of her more pathetic of pouts.\n\n“None taken?” his brow went up. “Doesn’t mean I can’t try.” Alistair’s arms shrugged, lifting then lowering his towel with the movements before going back to drying his hair with it. “Start looking somewhere else. Find a better job and rub it in his steroid inflated face.”\n\n“Should I? I mean… I love Azzi, and Emilio is okay.” Sara took her seat beside Alistair, looking at the floor, more depressed about the idea of leaving the shop she loves rather than dealing with one human sized hemorrhoid. “Maybe I could hire a lawyer, sue his ass, and then open my own shop with the money he would have to pay me to settle the case out of court!” She grinned maniacally, rubbing her hands together in an overly cartoon fashion.\n\n“True, and make sure to add that he would have to pay your law fees as well. We don’t want that hanging over us like a sword of Damocles.” Alistair couldn’t help but grin as he tossed the towel into the hamper on the other side of the room near the turtle tank. “I know he’s a bastard, but you have a good thing right now, and all he’s done was ask you out. Annoying, but at the very least, he has yet to lay a fowl hand on you. If he ever does…” Alistair paused then slid his arm around Sara’s waist, pulling her closer to himself. “He will have to deal with yours truly.” He smirked then planted a soft warm kiss at the corner of her jaw.\n\n“I will pay real money to watch you knock the shit out of him if I wasn’t so worried about him either murdering you, or you getting deported for assaulting someone.” She could not help but smile at him trying to comfort her. He always tried hard, taking hints from American day time dramas that he absorbed like a dry sponge dropped in a lake. She giggled as he began to plant more kisses along her jaw neck and shoulder. “You are such a dork.”\n\n“Don’t think that I don’t know that.” He nipped gently at her ear lobe. “I am your dork, and you love me, and you don’t want to see me get my ass kicked apparently. You’re a strange one yourself, missy.”\n\n“I don’t think that constitutes as me being ‘strange’, but if you think so then it must be true.” Sara cuddled up against his side, placing her hand on his chest, catching his lips with her own as he passed his face by hers. Their lips lingered together for a moment before she smiled again, pulling her head back to look up at his face. “I love how you try to make me feel better. You always seem to manage at least a grin from me. I can’t be mad around you even when I try.”\n\n“Oh stop, lass. You’re starting to sound like my programs.” Alistair reached up and pushed her hair away from her cheek, tucking the drying lock behind her ear. “Though, some of the ladies on there are rather attractive.”\n\n“I didn’t know you were into comatose girls?” she inquired, poking her fingertip into his side a couple times.\n\n“Oh yes, I love them so much.” He answered in a flat robotic tone that left each word dripping in sticky sarcasm. \n\n“I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m in a coma. I’ll make sure someone comes in and does my makeup every day so I can look good when you come for a conjugal.” With a laugh Sara pushed him back onto the bed. Straddling his hips with her hands on his chest for balance. “Don’t want to be caught looking terrible as I fight for my life.” Her grin grew ear to ear as she tried to hold in a belly laugh. \n\n“You’re the dork now.” Alistair answered, resting his hands on her thighs, his thumbs gently caressing her pale skin. “But it’s good to know that you would go to such lengths to keep me happy.” He sat up on his elbows and pecked her lips once more before laying back and relaxing.\n\n“You’re a lucky man, Alistair Evans.” Sara leaned down and began to slowly kiss at his neck. “A damn lucky man.” She winked at him then kept trailing kisses down to his collar bone. \nAlistair sighed softly as he felt her lips run down his body. Reaching down with one hand, he stroked her fiery curls as she crawled back, kissing lower and lower until she reached his boxers. With a grin she stood back up and removed her tank top in a clean movement. Alistair smiled wider, taking in the sight of her nearly naked form as if it were the first time he’d seen it, his erection growing bigger with each little movement that caused her breasts to move and jiggle. He admired the shadows that flowed down her body, over her chest and across her waist. Her skin nearly glowing in the mildly yellow light of the bedside lamp.\n\n“Come here, Lass.” He beckoned her closer with his finger, his eyes twinkling with excitement. Sara crawled back onto the bed, straddling him again, she pressed her hips down slightly to cause gentle friction between them. Alistair grunted slightly as he throbbed against her. He ran his hands up her thighs to her hips, then her sides before wrapping around her back and pulling her down into a deeply sensual kiss. \n\nSara held herself up a bit with one flat hand buried deep into the mattress as their lips moved together in an elegant dance, her other hand feeling the peaks and valleys of his chest and shoulders, occasionally running into the brown chest hair located between his pectorals. She wiggled and pressed her hips back against his hard-on, moaning quietly into the kiss. Alistair slid his hands slowly down the arch of her back before resting them on her buttocks, squeezing them softly then carefully thumbing for the waistband of her underwear, rolling them down and over her ass before clumsily trying to work them off of her, causing her to have to move and maneuver with him in an equally clumsy fashion. She tittered as she moved and worked her legs out of the tiny black undergarment, both entertained and a little embarrassed at the less-than-glamourous moment in love making. \n\nQuickly, Alistair slid out from under her and flipped Sara back onto the bed. Without a moment’s hesitation he slipped out of his boxers and into a condom before moving himself back on top of her. He rested his hips between her milky white thighs before kissing her again. His hands cupping her breasts and massaging them leisurely. Sara wrapped her arms up and around his shoulders, breathing deliberately and deep, her eyes closed as she savored his gentle loving touches. Alistair pushes his pelvis against hers, grinding his erection into the soft wet folds of her vulva. Sara moaned, her own hips bucking up slightly as he passed over her clitoris once, twice, three times and more, stoking the flames of her passion and yearning for him. Long moments passed as he did this, enjoying each little squeak, moan, and sigh that slipped past her lips before he finally reached down and lifted her left thigh high up to his own waist. Using his muscle memory he lined himself up to her and pushed himself inside.\n\nSara moaned, arching her back as she felt each inch of him work its way inside of her. Her body pulsed around his cock, happy to welcome him past her gates of paradise. Alistair let out a happy sigh as his whole length sank deep inside. Holding there a moment, he kissed her again, whispering a soft “I love you” into her neck, kissing and sucking at her shoulder as he began to move in a slow comfortable pace. More eager to hear her sounds of pleasure than to get himself off. He took her left hand in his right, lacing their fingers together then pinning their hands against the bed. Sara clung to his hand as though it was her only connection to the surface of a vast ocean and fresh air to breath. Her free hand rested on his back, each fingernail finding its way to his skin, pushing down but not quite digging in enough to do any damage. Alistair moaned against her skin as his body picked up a little pace, his hand squeezing hers more as his body moved into a more comfortable position while also trying to keep her thigh up with his hip. His thrusts weren’t speedy, but they were deep and purposeful. He listened to her carefully, making sure to stay where he was according to the volume of her obscenities. He grunted as he picked up more speed, her fingernails pressing deeper into the skin of his back, pulling down a bit leaving behind freshly pinked skin that welted ever so slightly.\n\nSara’s back arched high as she shouted his name. The hand on his back pulled down quickly, taking a little bit of surface skin with it. Alistair let out a deep grunt as the enjoyable prickling pain washed over his body, he thrust faster, determined to maximize her climax. He smiled through his panting, pushing as deep as he could before her hand took another fist full of his skin. Sara’s jaw dropped as her eyes rolled back, she bit her lip and moaned loud enough to echo off the ceiling and immediately back into his ears. She held back a shout as her body tightened down on his thrusting erection, clear warm fluid dripping from between her thighs and onto the bed sheets. Her body quivering below him as he went faster and faster, running the race to finish before she was done completely. With a few more deep strokes he buried himself inside of her. His body erupting with several spurts of his own warm liquids as he spilled himself into the condom before pulling out. As he did Sara shivered in pleasure as a cool breeze passed between them due to Alistair moving off of her. She smiled as she panted deep in her chest. Her breasts heaving up and down over her expanding and compressing ribs, her thighs shaking ever so slightly as her cloudy eyes tried to focus on him.\n\n“Always a gentleman~” she cooed, carefully moving off the bed, balancing herself with one hand on the mattress as she made her way to the bathroom to wash up. Alistair disposed of the condom and toweled off with his damp towel from the hamper before dabbing the bed sheets mostly dry then crawling in under the blankets as Sara returned to the scene of the crime. She moved onto the bed beside him, pulling the blankets up over her naked form before cuddling up to him and resting her head on his chest. “I love you.” She kissed his chest then resumed her comfortable position as Alistair wrapped his arm around her shoulders.\n\n“And I you, lass.” He relaxed back, sinking into his large overstuffed pillow. His eyes slowly closed as the two drifted into a deep comfortable sleep.\n\nThe next morning came and went as usual. Shower, coffee, and toast with yogurt instead of a coffee shop pastry. Sara finished putting on her favorite alizarin lipstick when her phone made a plink sound, alerting her to a new text message. She picked up her phone to discover a text alert from Craig. She swiped her lock screen and opened the text.\n\n‘Hey, Sara. Your appointments for the day were re-scheduled. Don’t worry about coming in today. –Craig’ Sara pursed her lips and squeezed her phone with all her might, unable to made a dent in the steel body. \n\n“He’s fucking with me.” She smacked her phone down on the table. “He rescheduled my appointments today again, gave them to Emilio, or took them himself. No matter what, he’s telling me not to come to work today. Not even to sit at the fucking desk!” She slapped the kitchen table with the flat of her hand. “Two days straight with no work because of this ‘rescheduling’. All because I told him I wasn’t interested in a date with him. That’s a few hundred dollars at least. He’s costing me money! Well I’ll tell you this…” Alistair, sitting across the table, watched her without blinking as he was being forced to bear witness to his girlfriend go temporarily bonkers. “If I don’t work tomorrow, I’m taking my portfolio to other shops. I know I can get a damn fine job somewhere else.”\n\n“Well,” Alistair finally spoke up. “That is the suggestion I made the other day.”\n\n“I know.” She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I just didn’t want to have to do the interview-foot-work rigmarole. I hate that. I just want to be in a shop, work on my customers, and come home to a hot meal. Is that such a crazy thing to want?” She questioned out loud causing Alistair to scoff into his coffee.\n\n“In this day and age, not having to eat ramen for every meal can be a pipe dream. We have enough in savings to get by for a while if he have to.” He reassured. “I just want you to be happy with the work you’re doing. At the very least, we aren’t making tuition payments.” Alistair referred her back to his full ride. “For our ages we are in an amazing position financially.” He stretched his arm across the small table and took her white knuckled hand in his. “Don’t let this septic arse hole get you down, lass. You’re a strong woman, and you will pull though with grace and your integrity intact.” Sara couldn’t stop the small smile that tugged at her cheeks.\n\n“You’ve been reading those cheesy romance books again, haven’t you?” She giggled softly into her other hand. “Nerd.”\n\n“I love you too, dork.” Alistair kissed her hand then happily went back to his coffee and newspaper. “So what are your plans for today then?”\n\n“Well,” Sara sighed as she tried a bit harder to relax back into her seat, gaze landing dully on the table as she searched her mind for a decent enough answer. “I suppose I’ll get online and start a list of all the shops within a couple miles of the house, call around, start there. Then, if I don’t end up working tomorrow, I’ll start hitting the pavement and start officially looking for another job.” She nodded once, sealing her agenda for the day. \n\n“Sounds like a perfect plan to me. Honestly, try to take most of the day for yourself. Make a sandwich, drink a beer, take a hot bath and send me nudes. Make today nice for yourself.” Sara erupted into laughter at the notion of sending her boyfriend nudes to make herself feel better, but she appreciated his courage for even suggesting it in the first place, given her mood.\n\n“Jesus Christ on a cracker.” Sara rubbed her brows. “What on earth am I going to do with you?”\nOnce Alistair left for class, Sara began to gather her goodies for her one day stay-cation. She poured snacks into bowls and covered the surface of the table in all sorts of goodies ranging from salty to sweet, then placed a little foam cooler filled with ice an beer on the right side of the couch. After making a lovely pillow nest on the couch she snuggled down with her lap top and started making her list with some old D-rated horror film playing on the television simply for background noise. \n\nShe made sure to only check for shops that seemed to have more ratings online than others, meaning quantity not quality necessarily, which to her meant that they could have more walk-ins and regular clients than the others perhaps due to reputation or location. Sara also made note of shop layouts from pictures on their websites, privacy walls or screens between stations, and a private piercing room. She knew those would be things that she wouldn’t bend on, as well as their sanitizing methods, and you cannot judge sanitizing methods online through still photographs. As the hunt continued her brows slowly moved into a creased position. The tip of her tongue stuck out the corner of her mouth ever so slightly as her finger tips traced and danced across her track pad. Site after site popping up then quickly being replaced by another page. Sara spent nearly two hours balled up with her lap top before she finished a short list. Finally closing her computer and setting it aside so she could stretch and pop her bones back into their proper positions. After a hard POP came from her back, she relaxed again. Picking up the remote and choosing a more popular movie, she went about her snacking and binge watching on her forced day off. Trying to make the best out of the little time she might have to not face the world or the troubles of adult hood.\n\nA whole television season came and went before Alistair returned home. Walking through the garage door into the kitchen, he smiled at his beloved who stood dutifully over the stove, doing her damnedest to make a quick decent dinner for the two of them.\n\n“I hope you’re down for spaghetti.” Sara smiled proudly into her pot of half store bought sauce. “I made dinner for once.” Her voice was high and proud, but also a little slurred. Alistair looked around the kitchen for clues then noticed the small pile of beer cans in the recycle bin beside the trash.\n\n“Amazing. Drunk off your ass, and still managing to cook dinner like a functional person.” He threw a teasing grin at her before removing his jacket and book bag, then wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek. “Smells absolutely delicious.” Alistair sniffed the air. “Do I smell garlic bread?” His tone now more excited at the prospect of his favorite side dish.\n\n“You bet your cute face.” Her favorite expression while inebriated. “I knew you would want some, so I made some, ‘cause I love you.” Sara swayed in his arms a bit nearly falling if it was not for his secure grip.”\n\n“Alright there princess, let’s have a seat and I will finish making dinner. Yes?” HE sat her down as carefully as he could at the kitchen table before checking the time on everything. “Just a few more minutes it seems.” Alistair leaned back against the counter and smiled at his little lush. “It seems like you had a nice day. Get your list done for tomorrow?”\nSara nodded affirmatively while rubbing her right eye. Half a smile formed from the left corner of her mouth. “Craig is gonna be so mad that he decided to be such a huge ass hat to me.” She swayed again and laughed.\n\nAfter dinner Alistair helped her up the stairs to their bedroom, handing her a night gown to change into before helping her slide in under the blankets for a good night’s sleep. He also left a full glass of water with two acetaminophen tablets beside it for when she woke up. “I’m going to study downstairs a bit.” He leaned down and kissed her lips. “Sleep tight, Lass.” Sara was out like a broken lightbulb in moments, curled up tight in her blanket, a smile stuck on her face as her dreams set in for the night. \n\nThe next morning, Sara awoke at her usual time, happy to choke down the pills with a room temperature water chaser. She sighed, setting her glass down before crawling out of bed and into the bathroom to do her morning routines. With hair and most of her makeup in place (minus her lipstick), she changed into a clean graphic t-shirt and her fitted jeans, stained with a little ink on her thighs from work. She went downstairs to find Alistair already up and alert, frying some hash browns and eggs for breakfast.\n\n“Smells awesome down here.” Sara worked her way over to the coffee maker and poured a tall steaming mug full, sipping at it even before adding cream and sugar. She sat down at the table, stirring her creamy concoction as she monitored her phone like a hawk hunting a rabbit. After her breakfast, it was half an hour before she was supposed to get to work to clock in, still no message. Her hands started to shake, waiting and wishing not to see Craig’s name pop up in her alerts.\n\nPlink! The dreaded sound coupled with the dreaded name. Already she was about to explode with anger. She swooped up her phone and swiped her screen lock to read the message.\n\n‘Hey Sara. You have a Client waiting for you. Get here ASAP. –Craig’\n\n“He messaged me to tell me to come to work this time.” She felt oddly confused. She knew that she was scheduled to come in that day, but she was unaware of any scheduled client for that time frame. “I think he’s trying to ruin me, for sure. Making a client wait for me, making me look like an irresponsible shit.” She groaned, grabbing her things for the day, sliding on her sunglasses. “C’mon Alistair, give me a lift to work?”\n\nAlistair nodded in agreement and grabbed the keys before they both went out to the car.",
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      "body": "Sara woke at the crack of noon as she did most every morning. The early afternoon sun filtered down through her lace curtains and glittered into the water of her aquarium where she kept her per turtle, Henry. The sun gently arming his dry rock as well as exaggerating every little hint of algae that clung to the glass. She watched her little turtle for a long moment. Swimming back and forth in hot pursuit of the feeder fish that were added just the night before. \n\n”Ye might want to clean that soon.” A smooth Scottish voice crooned behind her as a muscular tattooed arm slid around her waist. Alistair rested his head against hers, joining her in watching Henry hunt for his brunch. “He might be happier if he can see this messy room as well as I can.” He chuckled and kissed her cheek, making light of the clothes on the floor, and scattered sketches all over Sara’s vanity on the opposite side of the room from the bed. \n\n“Don’t be an ass-hole so early.” Sara grinned, lightly elbowing Alistair in the arm. “Keep up the jokes and I will get you deported.” A light hearted joke they threw back and forth on occasion.\n\n“Deportation is not’in’ to fuck around wit, love.” He took her hand, lacing their fingers together. “You’d miss me terribly.”\n\n“I know.” Sara snuggled her body back against his. “You know that I would never do such a thing. “Besides,” she pushed her fiery curls away from her face as she craned her neck back to look at him. “Who else around here would put up with me so well?” Her smile always made Alistair’s heart beat with a loud Thump-Ba-Dum, fluttering under his pecks as he asked himself in his own mind, hoe he ended up with such a catch. He admired her grin that could make you feel like you were the only person in a crowded room.\n\n“Damn.” Alistair sighed in annoyance.\n\n“What is it?”\n\n“I have to get to class, and ye have work soon.”\n\n“Same as every day.” She replied with a giggle, reaching up to run her fingers through his auburn hair. “What makes today so “damn” worthy?”\n\n“I could go for another round.” Alistair smirked and waggled his brow, suggesting a repeat of the previous night’s activities.\n\n“Oh, of course.” Sara’s voice sang back to him. “Too bad I have four clients today. Otherwise you’d already be screwed.” She rolled her naked body on top of him and kissed his lips sweetly. “Also,” She kissed him again. “We are fresh out of condoms.” \n\nAlistair groaned as he sat up, wrapping his arms around her waist. “I’ll pick some up on the way home from work. Fair?”\n\n“Fair.” Sara smiled and kissed him once more. “Love you, Al.”\n\n“I love you too, Lass.”\n\nSara wiggled out of his arms then off the bed, picking out a clean set of underwear, not caring enough to make sure they matched, just that they were clean. After dressing in a medium grey tank top, tight black jeans, and lacing up her tall black boots, she worked her way down to the kitchen, where the times coffee pot was waiting with a fresh brew. \n\n“Alistair!” She called up to him, loud enough that he could hear her past the running sink. “Coffee is hot!” She pulled her favorite blue mug from the cabinet that displayed the captain America shield glazed on one side. Pouring into it hot coffee, sugar, and half and half, she stirred it with a teaspoon as she moved towards the table. \n\nSitting down at their little dining table that was nestled comfortably into their small kitchen, she pulled a sketchbook out of her bag and flipped it open to a nearly finished drawing. She looked it over carefully, taking in every line and curve. She fetched a pencil from her bag and leaned over the page. Working carefully to add a bit more detail. Sara knew to get a good tattoo design, and vicariously a happy client, a proposal sketch should always be looked over a second time with fresh eyes. \n\t\n“It’s gorgeous, babe.” Alistair paused to admire her work over her shoulder. “But lemme guess.” He spoke as me moved about the kitchen to prepare his own cup of coffee. “A twenty somethin’ college girl wants a pair of wings, but only on one shoulder blade?” He laughed, clearly amusing himself as he sat down beside her at the round dining table. \n\n“You’re close.” She grinned at the drawing. “This is a memorial piece.\n\n“Wow, I am an ass-hole.” He took a sip of coffee to stretch the moment between his realization and her next words.\n\n“Well yes you are, but she does want it on just one shoulder blade. So one point to you.”\n\n“So she is a twenty-somethin’?”\n\n“Mid-thirties. So you lose there.\n\n“Oh darn. What ever will I do?” \n\n“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a darn.”\n        \n“The line is ‘I don’t give a damn’.” He watched her with a grin pulling at his cheeks. \n\n“Don’t care.” She grinned right back at him before turning her attention back to her drawing. “Don’t you have to be getting to class soon?” Sara asked after glancing at her phone.\n\n“Shit, you’re right.” He jumped up, snatching his jacket from the coat rack then scooping his keys out of a wooden bowl kept on a side table next to the door. “Would you like a ride to work?” Alistair threw his jacket on with ease, not breaking his gaze from her to do it.\n\n“Nah.” Sara replied in a relaxed tone as she sank back in her seat slightly, admiring her work. It’s a nice day out, I think I’ll just ride my bike. \n\n“As you wish, lass.” He kissed her cheek once more before rushing out the door, coffee in hand.\nSara remained at the table a while longer. Looking over her designs, adding detail here and there and fixing the occasional line. Her focus finally broken by the illumination of her phone. She checked her lock screen to find a text from her boss, Craig, who also owned the tattoo shop they worked at. \n   \n‘Good afternoon, Sara. We have a walk in that is requesting you. Would you mind coming in a bit early? –Craig’ Sara sighed as she read over the message. Though she adored being requested, she (like most people) hated going into work early. She smirked and wrote a text back to him.\n        \n‘Throw in a cream cheese Danish and a coffee then you have a deal.’ She had made mental plans to stop for a quick breakfast before work, but said plans were now out the window if she had to go straight into work. After receiving a response to the affirmative, she requested an Uber then packed her sketchbook and pencils in a hasty fashion. Within a few minutes there was a honk at her front door and she was off. \n\n\n\nSara pulled the shop door open then stepped into the brick façade building as the bells attached to the door chimed her arrival.\n\n“I’m here, Craig!” She announced herself as she kept the door from slamming shut, as it was so fond of doing from time to time, signaling it’s desperate need for servicing. She pulled off her sunglasses as she made her way to her private station.\n\nThe shop itself was a decent size. There was a round half-moon welcome desk in the center of the main room where a secretary waited to greet both scheduled clients and walk-ins. She was a young brunette with mocha skin, a short curvy build who they all called Azzi. No real rhyme or reason to why they called her that. Her real name was Karen, but Azzi seemed to suit her more than just Karen. \n\n“Hey, Sara!” Azzi smiled at her over her new copy of Cosmo. Her white teeth a stark contrast to her deep ruby lips. “The walk-in who requested you stepped out for a quick coffee.\n\n“Perfect.” Sara groaned softly as she moved towards her station.\n\nThe rest of the shop looked more like a standard tattoo shop than the welcome desk would suggest. Personalized art and flash work hung on every wall. Signed work from guest artists and photos of the occasional celeb-to-be hung around the back of the shop. There was a total of four stations that made up the rest of the room, two on each side. Sara’s station was the one located in the front left corner with her own window to the sidewalk. Her name written in fine script hung over her chair, surrounded by her sketches and photos of her favorite tattoos she had the privilege of putting on her clients. She was proud of her work, and definitely was willing to show it off, as were the other artists. Sara laid her sunglasses on her own desk, and laid her bag in the chair.\n\n“Goodness, we are so busy today.” She mocked the empty shop as she pulled her sweater off to hang up.\n\n“Completely swamped.” Azzi added as she loudly flipped the page in her magazine to emphasize the silence.\n\n“Did this mystery walk-in tell you what they were looking for?”\n\n“Not really.” Azzi shrugged. “He looked through your portfolio and asked when you were scheduled to come in next.” \n\n“Then leaves before I show up.” She laughed quietly to herself as she opened her bag to fetch her belongings, then joined Azzi at the welcome desk to continue her work. “Where’s the boss man?” She asked, remembering that she hadn’t heard a response when she announced herself. \n\n“He’s in the back.” Her companion of boredom responded. Someone wanted their septum pierced. You know he loves the quick work. Money and time, blah blah blah.” The shop also contained a back room that had its own locking door specifically made so that people can get piercings and tattoos in more sensitive parts of the human anatomy in private, as opposed to being on full display to anyone who would happen to walk by and peek into the windows, let alone walk in to request their own work.\n\n“That’s fair.” Sara opened her sketch book to a fresh clean page, wiping her hand over the smooth surface as to get a feel for the drawing hiding under the surface. “He’s been asking me to touch up some of his work again.\n\n“You know, you’re the only one that I know of that he’s asked to have work on him?” Azzi mentioned quizzically. \n\n“Oh, I know, believe me.” Sara continued to study the blank page as her pencil hovered just above the surface. He’s always been super adamant about only having women work on him. Something about how women have a softer touch, bury the needle less often,” She shrugged a little as she looked over to her station for a little inspiration. “And he always asks me about working on his ink like he’s asking to sleep with me. ‘Hey, Sara babe- when you wanna tattoo my bod?’” She mocked his gruff voice, smiling as she started on her sketch, pulling light lines roughly across the paper. \n\n“Oh, god.” Azzi sighed heavily. “He’s been touching my neck a lot lately asking when he can ‘lay something fresh on my flesh’. Just like that too. ‘Lay something fresh on my flesh.’ He makes it sound ten times creepier than it would if he asked like a normal person.” \n\n“Because that can’t possibly be considered harassment.” Sara looked over her left shoulder to the back station where one of her co-workers, Emilio, was working on a drawing of his own. He was always rather quiet and out of the way to the point she hardly noticed when he would come in or out of the shop. Luckily for her at the moment, he was wearing noise cancelling earphones and seemed to be totally lost in his work. Sara relaxed again. “That’s just creepy.”\n\n“Fucking creepy.” Azzi echoed in agreement. \n\n“Besides, Azzi, you know that I am the best in the shop.” Sara put her hands on her hips to take a sitting Superman style pose. Azzi giggled and lightly elbowed her. “Hey, you ask for me, he asks for me, even strangers ask for me.” She stretched her arms up and leaned her head back in her hands. “I. Am. The best.” She sighed with a smile.\n\n“You. Are. So full of yourself, Miss Sara.” Emilio jumped into the conversation, having finally taken off his earphone to search for a certain colored pencil around his station. “According to the schedule, you’re having one busy day, but remember. It’s feast or famine here.”\n\n“I know, Milo, but can’t I have one day to feel like the best artist in the shop?” Sara slumped completely in her chair, limbs dangling line a marionette with all of its strings cut, her lower lip pulled into a full baby-doll pout to round out her utterly pathetic pose. “That guy needs to come back soon if he wants consultation. They can take over an hour, and my first client is in…” She checked the time on her phone. “An hour and ten minutes. The sooner the better, I’d like to clock in.”\n\n“Pay you ten bucks for a sketch of a rose.” Azzi offered without looking up from her article, but with a grin spread across her lips.”\n“Deal.” She moved to the bottom outer corner of her sketchbook and began to outline a wild rose. “Where is my Danish anyway?” \n\n“Your walk in left to get it, didn’t I tell you?”\n\n“Awe, well at least he’s sweet about calling someone in early. I guess I can forgive him if he gets here soon. Sara kept working on the sketch for Azzi until the shop door was slung open, and a panting young man stepped in with a cardboard drink holder full of coffees, and a pastry bag. Sara looked up and gave the young man a smile.\n\n“You must be the walk-in that requested me, yes?” \n\n“Yes.” He gave her a smile worn down by his rush to get back to the shop. He set the coffees and pastry bag on the desk. \n\n“That must make you Sara?”\n\n“If that is my Danish in that bag, then I will be the Queen of England if that is who you are looking for. I haven’t had breakfast.” In that moment Craig had come out of the back room with a client who had no visible piercings.\n\n“Welcome back, Gavin!” Craig exclaimed as his client left the shop, wincing but otherwise happy with the service. “I take it that you’ve met our Sara?” He walked as he spoke, resting his hands on Sara’s shoulders as her name slipped past his lips. “Thank you so much for caffeinating my staff. I deeply appreciate it.” Craig always had a way with the clientele. He could manage to calm anyone nervous about getting worked on, even if it was to be their very first body modification, or as Craig commonly called it, “having virgin skin”. He always got the biggest tips, and of course drove the nicest car in the lot. He was tall, broad shouldered and muscular. He was more than happy to show off his bod with tight shirts, and pants that seemed like they came right out of the women’s section with the way they hugged his ass. His smile was nearly blinding, each tooth a sparkling pearly white. His hair was always done perfectly with no fly-aways, and not a single lock out of place. He looked like he belonged on a Hollywood poster rather than a tattoo shop in Colorado. \n\n“It isn’t a problem at all.” Gavin smiled. “Especially since she agreed to come in early just to see me. Thank you, miss.” He doled out the coffees to Sara, Azzi, and Emilio, saving the last for himself. “Where should I sit?” Sara took a long satisfying drink from her iced mocha before speaking.\n\n“We can sit over there in the stuffed chairs by my station.’ She pointed to the three chairs around a small table near the window. Sara stood and gathered her things before leading her new client over to “the Circle” as they called it. After sitting down and organizing her things, she gave Gavin a more formal hello, checked his identification for age, and then reminded him of the health risks that could come with getting a body modification. “Tattoo or piercing?”\n\n“A tattoo, please.” Gavin replied nervously, pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket. “I have been wanting to get a tattoo for a few years now, and I finally settled on a concept. I’m also friends with Craig, and he told me to come in and ask for you.”\n\n“He did? How kind of him.” Sara sounded as though it was a major compliment, and though it was in its own right, working on a friend of the boss was always nerve wracking for her. Her stomach churned a bit but she kept going as though nothing had changed. \n\n“Then I saw your work and I knew you were perfect.” He handed her the paper then clasped his hands together to try to calm himself. Sara opened the paper to lay eyes on a very rough sketch of a pin-up model in a very classic pose. Sitting, legs together, facing the left, three quarters face with her hands on her hips, and roses surrounding her body. \n\n“This is going to be lovely” She remarked with a smile. Pin-ups were some of her favorite things to do for her clients. Several pictures of her past pin-ups decorated her space right behind them. “Is she anyone important?” Sara looked up at him with a curious smile. \n\n“Just a girl, I suppose.” He shrugged lightly. “I love new takes on old tattoos like Americana. It’s all so beautiful, honestly. Do people get tattoos of their partners?”\n“You would not believe how many people come in here to get names or portraits covered with something else. Usually an ex-girlfriend’s name.” She shrugged a bit. “They are adults and can do as they wish if you ask me.” Her smile was fixed as she looked over the sketch, imagining the beauty she would design for him.\n\n“Oh, Jeez. Not me, thank you. I just would like a very sexy pin-up right here.” Gavin pulled up his sleeve a bit to show Sara his pale clean forearm. A fresh canvas of sorts. After talking for a while and doodling a couple of ideas out for him, Gavin settled on a design and scheduled his tattoo to be done a little more than a week later.\nThe rest of Sara’s day went by without too much excitement. Three finished pieces and one no show who would have been black listed if they hadn’t have called just as their appointment was about to begin. She always spent the last couple hours of her shift sitting at the welcome desk in Azzi’s place, waiting for anyone to come in for a last minute consult or piercing, or just working on designs for upcoming appointments for the week. Emilio left after his last client, and Azzi skipped out an hour early to get ready for a party she was going to that night. Leaving Sara and Craig alone in the shop together for the rest of the night. \n\nSara sat at the desk with her sketchbook, pencils, and drink with her phone connected to the Bluetooth sound system. The surrounding speakers vibrated softly with the beat of her music. The shop filled with the sounds of old eighties gothic rock. She hummed along and tapped her foot to the beat as the chair beside her was pulled away from the desk, followed by Craig dropping his bodybuilder frame into it with a nearly menacing thud.\n\n“You did fine work today, Sara. Too bad you had a no-show.” Craig stretched his arms before putting his feet up on the desk. Sara cringed at that. The amount of germs on the bottom of his feet contaminating clean space. She made a mental note to remind Azzi to wipe the desk down three times before letting anyone touch it. \n\n“Thanks.” Sara looked back at her sketch. “She called and re-scheduled for Monday, so it isn’t a total loss on me.” \n\n“It kind of is.” He spoke with a very matter-of-fact tone. “You could have had one or two clients in that time span. Sara shrugged.\n\n“My rent is paid, and I have money to spare. So I don’t mind a re-schedule here and there. It’s no skin off my back.”\n\n“If you insist.” He chuckled to himself. “Say, after closing, would you like to get a drink with me at The Dragon?” Sara held back a groan as she gave the question a moment to settle in the air.\n\n“No.” She replied in a flat tone. “My boyfriend and I have dinner plans tonight.” She knew she didn’t have to justify anything to him, but it would be nice to skip over the “why not” part of rejecting a man’s offer.\n\n“Tch, ‘boyfriend’. You don’t need a boy, you need a man.” He scoffed at the very idea that she would want to go out with someone that wasn’t himself. Again, Sara resisted groaning.\n\n“Alistair is a fine man, and a real gentleman. He treats me very well, thank you.” In her annoyance, her pencil lines became darker and more emotional rather than being tactfully placed to ensure the closest thing to perfection. \n\n“Who are you trying to convince? Me, or yourself?”\n\n“Craig. Let it go.” She finally stopped sketching and turned in her seat to face him. “You’re a nice enough guy, but I have a boyfriend that I love. I’m not about to go out with another guy just because he has a few more muscles. I respect my man far more than you seem to think I do. And for you to insinuate otherwise is an insult to all women. So please, for the sake of our professional relationship, stop trying to ask me out.”\n\n“Shit, Sara. You could have just said no.” Craig seemed slightly taken aback from her response. \n\n“Dude, I did say no and you came back with an insult.”\n\n“I didn’t mean it that way, and it isn’t my fault that you took it that way… What are you doing?” He watched as Sara stood and started packing her things into her bag. \n\n“I’m going home early. I don’t need to sit here and be berated by my boss for turning down his constant requests for a date.” She slung her black leather bag over her shoulder as she began to ping an Uber that was luckily barely a block away. “Good night, Craig.” \n\n“Wait, don’t go. What if we get a walk-in?” He pleaded pathetically, not wanting to risk having to actually work after 10pm. \n\n“Then you get a walk in.” She stepped out of the shop as her modern taxi pulled up, the door-bells now signaling her exit.",
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      "body": "Moving to a small Colorado mountain town was never something that I thought I would do. I was born and raised in the city, but now, I live in the farthest thing from it. There is one grocery store in town, fishing is allowed in the local river (Which is barely three blocks away from my apartment, and all of six policemen who more than likely work twelve hour shifts. It’s calm and silent here at night. A stark reminder that I don’t live “Downtown” any longer. Heck, there isn’t even a Wal-Mart within fifty miles from here. This is not the scene I was used to, but after the shit I went through at the hands of my ex, I wouldn’t have it any other way. The mood here is different, giving the town an odd vibe. There is no hustle and bustle, rushing and speeding to get to a meeting. Pensioners walking the main street, going from knitting circles to the druggist for their medications and what would be the modern equivalent of an egg-cream.\n\nI can’t help but feel like I stand out around here. I’m a liberal city girl. Relaxed in things that most old-fashioned folks would consider strange and out of the ordinary. I dress mostly in black, my hair changes colors like the tides, and I wear more makeup than I care to admit when most of the local women barely even wear anything more than mascara. Still, I don’t mind being the odd one out. I am comfortable being me, and whenever I get a sideways glance, I simply smile and give them the sweetest “Good Afternoon” that I can muster. \n\nAt night the stars shine brighter than I have ever seen. They twinkle and dance across the sky clear as bells, giving way to the swirls and magic of the Milky Way which is easily visible when you block out one of the seven street lights on this side of town. This town is wonderful. The people are questionable. Each one already bored with the majesty they have at their very finger tips, but as an outsider, I see this magic everywhere. So why do I feel so strange here?\n\nI feel as though something is always watching me over my shoulder. Like, no matter what I am doing, or where I am, I sense eyes on me. Even though I am alone. Do you know the feeling some people get after watching a scary movie? As though you aren’t alone, even if you are the only person in your home? I feel that way constantly. It’s like that feeling you get in a coffee shop when the side of your head starts to burn, and you catch someone quickly looking away from you once you lift your gaze. Yet no matter when I look up, where I look, or what I’m doing, there is no one, or nothing looking at me. It’s unnerving to say the very least, and I can only seem to ignore it when I’m on my computer or playing a game online with my boyfriend. I can only ignore it by concentrating fully on something else. Other than that, it’s a constant nagging sensation in the back of my mind. \n\nSometimes when I am alone, I can almost feel a hand reaching out for me. Poised to grab my shoulder or my arm. As though it wants my attention, nearly demanding it. I try to block it out. There is no such thing as the boogie man. I tell myself over and over, but the feeling doesn’t go away. It gets worse in my room. No matter how I lay on my mattress, no matter how comfortable I make myself, surrounding my body in spare blankets and pillows, I can’t shake the feeling that it’s there, whatever it is, standing in the corner of my bedroom staring at me. This thing makes me feel like a child again, and not in the good way like most people would think. I feel like the child afraid of their own shadow. Running then jumping onto their bed the second they flick the lights off. Unable to sleep with even one limb exposed to the dark night air, or hanging over the edge of the bed. My blanket is the only shield I have from this thing. The only thing it cannot penetrate. The ultimate defense against scary thoughts and things that go bump in the night. \n\nMy doctors have always asked me if I can hear or see things that others around me cannot. How can I tell them that I feel something that no one else can notice at all? I’m worried they would just toss me into the looney bin to be alone with whatever this is only being able to give in to whatever it wants.\n\nTo make myself feel better, I try meditation. Sitting quietly in a comfortable position with my eyes closed, breathing slowly, and repeating to myself that this feeling isn’t real. Whatever this is, isn’t real. This is only my imagination getting the better of me, or at worst, I’m finally completely insane. \n\nOne day, I decided to give in to my own morbid curiosity. During my meditation I was thinking over and over “what are you? What do you look like?” Minutes ticked by slowly, and the feeling of being watched turned into the feeling of being studied. My ears burned, I could nearly feel hot air being breathed onto the back of my neck. I began to tremble. Almost terrified to keep going as a massive image began to conjure itself in my subconscious. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in my right shoulder, claws digging into my flesh. I yelped in horror, almost jumping out of my seat before realizing it was nothing more than my cat trying to jump onto my shoulder from behind my chair. \n\nI watched the little black fuzz ball crawl down my chest and onto my lap. Picky-pawing as she purred, her fluffy tail swishing softly before she looked up at me with what only could be described as a smile. I sighed, still shaken from my moment of terror. I reached to pet her, but with one look at my hand she jumped down and trotted off in the way that a spoiled six-teen year old would after having an argument with a school chum. Such arrogance in her walk. \n\n“Animals can sense things, right?” I questioned myself while watching her sit down to groom her tummy. “She’s calm enough.” As if on queue, a glass toppled off the table, slamming onto the floor, sending ceramic pieces and coffee everywhere, and sending my fuzz ball scurrying for safety. I shouted and instinctively lifted my feet off the floor and rested them on the support bars of the chair. Shaken yet again, I took a moment to collect myself before moving to get paper towels and a broom.\n\n“Nothing but a coincidence. Things fall all the time.” My new mantra for cleaning anything spilled. Especially things that spill on their own. As I picked up the shattered pieces of mug, the sensation of being watched returned at full force. I could almost feel the weight of staring eyes drilling itself deep into my back. I turned to face this thing once and for all, when I saw this time, it was just my roommate who had come running at the sound of shrieks and breaking dishes. I assured her that everything was okay. My cat scared me, and I was just clumsy when I reached for the mug and knocked it over myself. With an eye roll and a small name call she went about her business without contest. I sighed and finished cleaning up the spill, feeling a little better that, had anything actually happened, she would have come running to help me, or at least scream her head off before leaving to find help. \n\nSitting once again in my chair, I thought back to the image that started to form in my head… Nothing but a rough silhouette. Barely even a form. All I could say about it at the time was that I was tall, and barely even in the shape of a human. It had arms and legs, yes… But I couldn’t begin to make out the rest, and after the mug incident, I didn’t really want to. \n\nDays went by and the feeling didn’t fade. No matter where I went or what I was doing, there was always something behind me. Watching me, studying everything I did. I felt as though I was just going crazy. Perhaps I should tell my doctor about this new hallucination after all. What’s another pill to swallow compared to days and nights feeling like a prisoner in my own home, under constant surveillance. \n\nFinally, one night after taking my sleeping pills and crawling deep into the pillow nest that was my bed at the time, I resolved myself to watching YouTube until the pills took me away to dreamland for another night. I bundled up tight in my blankets and curled my body into a comfortable fetus position. A wall of pillows at my back, no limb exposed, nothing hanging over the edge of the bed that could be grabbed. Safe. At least by boogie man standards. I could hear nothing but crickets and the soft hum of my computer as I searched for something interesting to watch. The feeling intensified. I clicked on the next mildly interesting video that I scrolled to and yanked my arm back into the security of my blanket. Double checking my pillow wall, I then tucked one arm behind my back, as extra protection against all things spooky. \n\nAs my eyelids began to get artificially heavy, I began to feel the intense gaze yet again. I tightened my arm behind my back and repeated another mantra. “This isn’t real. This is something that the drugs can make go away. This isn’t real. This is all in my mind.”\n\n“Oh, I am very real.” A voice growled behind me. “And I have been this whole time.”\n\nMy body froze. I didn’t know what to do. I closed my eyes tight and started saying out loud, “That was just in my head. My imagination is getting the better of me. I’m over thinking this way too much.” A laugh echoed from the same place the voice was coming from. A deep sinister baritone of a laugh. The kind of laugh they give evil villains in any super hero movie ever. \n\n“You can try to make me go away all you want. I am here to stay little girl.” Its rumbling voice certainly made me feel like a little girl, wishing I could run into my mother’s arms. I’d give anything in that moment to have her rush through my bedroom door, throw the lights on and rescue me from this living nightmare. “I’ve been watching you a long time now.” I could hear that whatever was talking was getting closer. “I know that you know I am here. I watched you writing about me in your journal for days now” It began to feel as though weight was being added to the opposite side of my bed, as though someone else was crawling in with me. I didn’t dare look.\n\n“Listen to me now. You’re the first to learn that I am no joke, or a flicker of the young imagination. I am here for all.” Another dark chuckle sounded from what I could only presume was its belly. “To feed off of you.” I felt a very large had rest on my arm over the blanket. Heavy and simultaneously too hot and too cold. “Those silly little pills aren’t going to make me go away.” I shuddered and started pulling the blanket further up towards my head. “This blanket won’t work either.”\n\nI could feel my eyes begin to fill with tears, terror freezing me where I lay. Defenseless. After a long moment I finally was able to turn my head, to face what was probably going to end my life. I wasn’t wrong before, it was massive. Had it been standing rather than resting on my bed, it would have had to hunch down. It had a massive triangular head, with its nose being the widest angle. The two other corners twisted into long horns that spiraled outwards. Two glowing orbs that seemed unnaturally jammed into its skull served as eyes. Looking decayed but illuminated as though to see not only me, but everything and anything beyond me. Its long neck stretched down to broad boney looking shoulders. Each one adorned with a cluster of horns that trailed down its chest and back, along its spine which jutted out from its dark sinewy flesh. Its chest was barely a rib cage, hollow and wrapped in more dark sinew. Inside its ribs was a dark, dried out but somehow still beating heart. Barely connected, with no other organs to speak of. Its legs however where powerful looking. Bones wrapped in tight nearly visible muscles that could easily kick down a wall if it wanted to. Or crush someone to death. The tops of its thighs and what would have been a buttocks stretched out into a long boney tail. Each vertebra there in also sporting a boney spine that pierced through whatever skin was there, ending it a long multi-pronged spine that looked as though it had already been soaked in the blood of something, or dare I even hazard to think, someone. Its feet hidden away off the edge of my bed offered an odd glow that would most commonly be associated with hot magma. Its hot breath washed over my face. Smelling distinctly of hot sulfur and rotted meat. My tears finally broke the surface, and I began to say my prayers before being massacred in my own bed. It laughed again.\n\n“Don’t over think this. I have something I need you to do. As fun as you are to torture, I’m getting restless. Your journaling suggests you’re a mildly decent author. I want you to write for me.”\n\n“W-write what?” I could barely get the words choked out before the thing continued.\n\n“Write about me, write about this, and describe me as best you can.” I nodded in understanding yet confusion. “The more people who know, the more people I can reach, and the more I will leave you alone. The more victims I have, the better for you, little girl.” I was shaking under the blanket, watching its face in abject horror. Wanting to scream, run, vomit, anything to break this terrible stare down between me and whatever it was and still is. After agreeing to its terms, it stood, giving me what I can only guess was a kind of twisted grin, showing off its long sharp teeth that set in a jaw similar to a deformed cow jaw. Stretched and mangled outward to a degree no other animal on earth can attain. “Sleep tight.” It scoffed and turned towards my closet, walking through the doors until the very end of its tail was no longer visible. \n\nWhen morning came, I awoke from my drug induced sleep to immediately sit at my computer and write all of this out. I’m sorry to tell you, reader, that you are just another person this thing is going to haunt. Whether you read it on some online creepypasta forum, or even had it read to you. This is your problem now. I have to keep it away from me as much as I can. I do feel bad for doing this to you. All I can hope is that you will forgive me.",
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