Dylan’s P.O.V
I talk to Vic almost every day. We’ve gotten to be very close. It’s been six months since I first met him and the rest of Pierce the Veil. I talk to Jaime and Mike, too, just not as often. I can’t seem to get to Tony, though…
It’s not that I even tried, though. I was never one to chase people. I thought he thought I was cute the first time we met at the concert, when I saw him with his shirt off. But I don’t know, maybe he was just a little embarrassed that I saw him, seeing as how he’s quite a bit shy.
Anyways, it was November, and the boys were finally getting a bit of time off of touring, and they were coming home to San Diego, maybe to write some new material or something. I was just happy that I would finally be able to hang out with them in person, and not just over texting or via FaceTime. They were coming back on the 15th, and it was the 13th, so I had two days to clean up my apartment, because I figured they’d stop by at some point.
The next day I was finishing cleaning my kitchen when my phone started ringing. I saw that it was Jaime and answered it, “Hey! What’s up?”
“We’re coming home tomorrow!” He was so enthusiastic.
I chuckled and responded, “I know, Jaime, where do you wanna meet up? I haven’t seen you guys in forever!”
“How about we come by your tattoo shop? What time do you guys close?”
I smiled widely at his idea. I was so proud of my shop, and I was super excited for the boys to come and see it, especially Tony. “Yeah, that sounds perfect!” I responded. “We close at 10, or whenever our last costumer is served. What time would you guys be back here?”
“About 7-ish, but we always go to the house and get settled a bit before we go anywhere. Is it okay if we come around closing time?”
“Yeah! It’s cool…I’ll text you the address. See you tomorrow?”
“Yep. Bye!” And he hung up. I danced around the kitchen with the excitement of finally reuniting with Pierce the Veil.
The next day, I woke up at my normal time, 10, and walked into the bathroom. I put my Sleeping With Sirens playlist on my phone and hooked it up to my speakers so that I could listen to music while I showered. I stepped into the shower and let the water fall over my body and smiled. The warm water felt great, and after about fifteen minutes of just standing there I finally decided to wash. Ten minutes later, I was out.

I wrapped my towel around my body and walked down the hall to my room. Opening my closet, I grabbed my favorite pair of red skinny jeans, a black tank top, and black and white low-top converse. I straightened my hair quickly, and watched it stretch to my mid back. I put on simple eyeliner and mascara, and my favorite red tinted lip gloss. Looking at my phone, I saw that it was 11:30, and that it was time to go. The shop opened at 12, and I liked to be on time.
I grabbed my purse and walked out of my house to my car. I wanted an iced coffee from Starbucks, but I could get that later.
10 minutes later, I pulled into the small parking lot in front of my shop. I smiled as I put my key in the lock and walked into the lobby.
The waiting room was my favorite room of the entire shop. The walls were brick, and a few of my friends spent a few days covering the walls with graffiti and band logos. We had big red comfy chairs and pictures of the piercings and tattoos people some old customers got from us.
No one else was here yet, so I sat behind the front desk and logged on to the computer to see what appointments we had. We always took walk-ins, but if your tattoo was a bit more tedious, we appreciated people who called and made appointments so that we could definitely have someone available to service them. I only had one for today, and that was a full back piece scheduled for 1:30.
As I finished looking over bills and schedules and such, Darren walked in.
Darren did all the outlines for our tattoos, then I came in and shaded for him. He was an amazing artist, an amazing friend, and an overall amazing person.
“Hey boo!” he called to me walking in. We hugged and kissed on the cheek.
“How are you?” I asked, smiling.
“I hope I’m stable enough to do this back tat!” We both laughed and settled down. As we were talking about everything and nothing, Jessica walked in. She was an intern, and really wanted to get into the tattoo scene here in San Diego, so she comes to our shop every day and helps us keep things running. We had 8 tattoo artists and piercers already, but we got really busy sometimes, and we could use all the help we could get.

“Hey guys!” She greeted us sweetly. She was such a little ball of sunshine. She hadn’t had any tattoos yet, because she wanted Darren and I to do her first one, and I told her we would when her internship was over, but she had tons of piercings. She was tall and curvy, and her piercings looked great on her. “Do you guys want anything from Starbucks? I was about to go but I wanted to see if y’all wanted anything first.”
Darren said he was fine, and I requested my iced coffee, and Jessica left.
The day went by pretty well, and the guy with the back piercing was gonna come back next week to get his piece finished. It was 9:55, and we were closing, when someone walked in. I ran to the front of the lobby, assuming it was the boys, but instead, there was a girl who looked to be about my age standing there. I was disappointed, but smiled anyway.
“Hi! We’re about to close, do you think you can come back tomorrow?” I said. I saw her greenish-hazel eyes looking right at me.
“Oh sorry, I just wanted some, uh-“
The sound of my phone ringing cut her off. “I’m sorry, give me a second?” I said to her. It was Vic, and I answered it. “Hey Vic!” Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the girl look at me wide-eyed.
“I was just calling to let you know that we’re about 10 minutes away from your shop, okay?”
“Okay! How’s Jaime, Mike, and Tony? Are you guys really exhausted?” I once again saw the girl’s eyes light up.
“Yeah, we’re good. Okay, see you in a few!” Vic said happily.
“Ok, bye!” I hung up the phone then turned to face the girl.
“Was that…Vic Fuentes?” She said, wide-eyed.
“You’re a Pierce the Veil fan?” I chuckled at her amazement. I guess I was that starstruck 6 months ago, but to see someone else that way was really funny.
“Ohmygod I love them!” She said, raising her voice. I chuckled again.
“I’m pretty close with them. I went on stage during concert six months ago, and then hung out with them after the show backstage. We’ve all been like, best friends ever since, and I’m getting to see them any minute now for the first time since that night.” She looked at me intensely. “Well,” I continued. “I was going to ask you to leave, but what would you like? I’ll let you meet them. I’m Dylan, by the way,”
She screeched, and I laughed aloud. After she calmed down a bit, she said, “I know, I have a few friend that came here before, and the shop is called ‘Dylan’s Inks.’ I came here to get snake bites on either side of my bottom lip,” she said, pointing to her mouth. Okay, come back this way.”
I led her back to a room, and got the case of studs. After she picked some simple studs, I put on latex gloves and pierced her lips. We were done five minutes later. I quickly told her how to care for her piercings, but she pretty much knew what to do, seeing as how her ears were almost completely pierced, and because she was wearing a bare midriff shirt, I could see that she had her hips pierced.
My phone rang again. It was Mike this time. “Hello?”
“Hey! We’re walking up to your shop now.”
“Alright.” I hung up the phone. “Right this way,” I said to the girl, and we both walked back out to the lobby. She gave me cash for her piercings and as I took the money from her, Vic, Mike, Tony, and Jaime came walking through the front door. The girl’s jaw dropped.
I ran over to them, and we all hugged and kissed on the cheek. After about five minutes of greeting them, I looked over my shoulder and saw the girl standing there, completely starstruck.
“Oh, guys, this is, um…” I mentally smacked myself for not getting her name, like I did with all the other costumers. I guess I was just too excited to see the guys.
“Ashlana.” She cut me off and held out her hand to Vic. “My name’s Ashlana, but you can call me Ashley...and I love you guys,” She instantly closed her mouth, as if to regret saying that so quickly. I laughed in my head.
Vic looked at her outstretched hand and said, “Any fan deserves a little more than just a handshake,” he chuckled and took her in for a hug.

Vic’s P.O.V.
“That’s a sweet ass tattoo, Ashley,” I said after our hug. Ashley had Collide With The Sky written across her chest in a beautiful calligraphic font. I loved it when fans got tattoos relating to us.
“Thanks,” she said, blushing. I smiled.
She was pretty cute. Her green-hazel eyes had a constant sparkle to them, and her light brown hair was layered and wavy, and fell to her chest in wild curls. It was red at the tips, and that made her hair color ridiculously beautiful. I definitely wasn’t gonna let her leave without hanging out with her a bit first. Mike, Jaime, Tony, Dylan, and I started making plans, and as Ashley was about to walk out, I stopped her and said, “Why don’t you join us?” and winked. She smiled widely, and we all decided to go to Taco Bell, and then go to a club.