Different

Alexandria skipped down the sidewalk of Baltimore, ignoring the stares that usually came her way. Maybe it was her outfit-a shirt that said "kiss me" with short shorts, bright purple converse, and knee-high rainbow socks- or the way she just skipped-full of confidence, and sunshine. Nonetheless, she liked the attention and would get anything for it. Even if it meant pulling a prank.

"Hello, my dear Marty," She said, walking by Marty the homeless person she always skipped by on her way to work.

"How do you do, miss Alexandria," He said after, smiling brightly.

"She's, an extrodinary girl!" She sung under her breath more happier than ever. Today she was going to get her first tattoo. It was going to be a dove on her upper arm that would say 'things are shaping up to be pretty odd'. She was having a new obbession with Panic at the disco that wouldn't just go away.

When she arrived at the tattoo store, she stood under the entrance of the store, looking up at the glowing letters that read "Tatoos" in a swirly handwriting. Alex stayed like that until another person walked up and looked with her.

"Hello," She said in her cool voice, eyes staying up on the sign.

"Why, hello there munchkin. Are you here to get a tattoo, too?" He said in the same voice, staring at the neon letters.

The girl nodded.

After three minutes of just standing and looking at the neon letters, both simultaniously looked at eachother taking in their appearances.

The man was tall and covered in tatoos. His hair was messy and the color of black. He had bright blue eyes that stared back at her, taking in her looks.

Alexandria was a short girl. She was a midget compared the the man. He saw no visible tattoos and thought this was the girl's first ever tattoo. Her hair was a light auburn brown color that was naturally wavy. She had large brown eyes that seemed like a child's; confused, and happy about the world.

"Well, munchin, I am the reverend tholomue plague. But you may call me Jimmy. May I ask your name?" He announced, opening the door for both of them.

"In due time," Munchkin said in a brittish accent, "I rather like the name munchkin, Jimmy m'dear." She walked up to the counter and 'dinged' the silver bell provided by the sign in log.

A worker covered head to toe in tattoos and peircings walked up, "Do you have an appointment?" He sat down on the swirly chair and spun around to grab a pen.

Alex nodded and wrote down her name, not wanting Jimmy to see it just yet. "My, my, my dear gentleman. I think that you are having waay too much fun on that swirly chair! Don't be a selfish shellfish! Sharing is caring!" She scootched over on the worker's lap indian style, "Onward my noble steed!" She raised her finger in the air. Jimmy, along with two of the other workers laughed. Jimmy carefully picked up Aly bridalstyle from the petrified worker's lap and sat on the leather chair near the entrance.

"Jimmy?" She asked in a high voice.

"Yes, munchkin?" He replied.

"Can you please put me down? I feel dizzy."

"In due time," He mocked.

"If I tell you my name, will you let me up?"

"You bet."

"Well...Lean closer.", He leaned in, "Closer." He leaned in a little more, "Clooossserrrrrr!" He was a millimeter from her face. She put her lips near his ear and whispered...

"My name is...Munchkin!" With the distraction, she quickly lept up, sticking out her tongue.

He pouted and fake-glared, "You stick that tongue out one more time, and I bite it off!"

She quickly put it back in her mouth, covering it with both her hands, and stared at him with wide eyes. "You wouldn't!" She said muffled.

"Oh," He smirked, "I would!!!!"

Just then, the same worker came over, "Okay, it's your turn, A-"

Alex quikly covered his mouth with her hand, "Shhhhhh...Come. I already made the picture for you to put on both of my upper arms."

The worker looked at her like she was crazy before walking her to the back.

||Alex's POV||

“Okay,” I said, holding out my tattoo drawing, “Here’s what I want my tattoo to be. I want it here“-I pointed to my upper arm- “on both arms.”

The tattoo artist looked over my design, “You act like you’ve gotten one before. Didn’t you say this was your first one?”

I shook my head, “No. But I did come with other people before, watching them get theirs. It’d be cool to be a tattoo artist…Drawing on other people for money…Easy peasy job.”

“With your skill of drawing, I bet you could with a few practices. Hey, um, do you need a job, or something? Cause we’re hiring.”

“Dude! That’d be so cool if I could work here.”

“Sweet, I’ll talk to my boss and have him call you. Just write down your information and name down on here.” He set a piece of paper and pen in front of me. I quickly wrote it down, and gave it back to him.

The worker set down the drawing and started the pen, making a loud, obnoxious drilling sound fill the air. I watched as he pulled up both of my sleeves and de-germ both my upper arms, noticing that he was…sort of…No…Totally sexy.

He had brown emo-type flipped hair with large hazel eyes. He was covered in tattoos, like jimmy, and had lip and nose ring. He wasn’t exactly tall and lanky, but he wasn’t like the hulk. He was in between.
He was sexy.

“So…You have my name…but I don’t have yours, Mr. ink,” I said, trying to stimulate conversation.

Mr. Ink raised an eyebrow, “Mr.…Ink…?”

“Well, you work at a tattoo parlor, and you better damn, be good at it, or I will chop off your limbs and feed them to my pet piranhas.”

He laughed, “Well, that’s not sinister at all! I’m scared now! And Mr. Ink sounds like I am just covered in tats. Which I am not!”

“Oh, puh-lease! You have two sleeves! And piercings! That’s a sin. Anyway, stop trying to go off topic. What is your name?”

He groaned, “Fine, Ms. Stubborn pants! My name is Oliver Ryan Morales. Can I know your name?”

I snorted, “You already know it from my appointment name.”

Oliver smirked, “Yeah but it’d sound better if you said it.”

I rolled my eyes, “Fine, if you must know. My name is Alexandria Lynnzee Zachary. I moved here from Britain when I was seven and kept my accent, just ‘cause. I have a four month old pet dog named Jake, and he’s a pug. I am currently single, and I have one best friend named Drusilla, or Dru. I prefer being called Aly, Alex, or Lynnzee, and if you call me my real name, I will kick your ass.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Alex.”

“Likewise.”

“Okay, we’re just about done! I just have to ask one question.”

“Ask away.”

Oliver turned off the buzzing machine, letting me stand up, “Well…I was wondering…Would you like to go out with me sometime? There’s this cool restaurant just outside of Huntington. Maybe Saturday…?”

I smiled widely, “Sure. I’d like that.”

-Pause! See, that was my first mistake that changed my life forever. I stayed best friends with Jimmy, met his band, and became fast friends with them, but one fatal thing happened.

Over the months…Oliver changed. He became-

The front door of our crappy apartment slammed shut, making me jump out of my thoughts. “Honey I’m home!” Oliver shouted, the stench of alcohol slowly making its way to the room.

“Where the hell is my dinner, bitch?” He yelled at me. As if in slow motion, his fist made its way to my eye, making me fall back.

I had an abusive boyfriend.