=::= Danni's PoV =::=

An alarm beeping in the staff room pulled me out of the web novel I'd been reading on my phone. I got up out of my chair and headed into the back just long enough to grab my lunch from the microwave. I picked up a plastic fork and some napkins then made my way back to the front desk.

It was left-over pasta from last night's dinner, with just enough tomato sauce to give it some flavour. No meatballs though, I already ate them all. The food was too hot so I stirred it a bit then returned to the back room again and pulled a can of cola out of the fridge. A minute or two later my spaghetti cooled enough and I started eating.

Technically dad didn't want us eating at the front counter, that's what the break-room was for. But he also didn't like me to close the shop for lunch. And he wasn't here to cover for me, so the options were limited. Plus it was Friday, I was hopeful business might start to pick up again. I already had two customers at lunch, I did a body piercing then a basic tattoo.

Now it was just after three in the afternoon, I figured we might get some business as people got off work or out of classes for the weekend. Friday evening was the longest possible time before going back to their jobs or to school on Monday, it gave them some time to heal up. Or to figure out how to hide their new bling before they had to face the boss or teachers. Either way I was trying to be positive.

Unfortunately I couldn't even manage to hang on to that until the end of lunch.

I was halfway through my pasta when my phone buzzed with a text. I picked it up and checked, then let out a deep sigh.

Dad: Hey Danni, sorry I'm not going to get into the studio today. I need you to take my shift tonight ok? Thank you!

The worst part was he didn't even ask if I was available or if I had anything planned. It was Friday after all, people did stuff, they went out or socialized. Or at least, other people did. Dad knew I didn't have any plans because I never did. He knew I didn't have a girlfriend, or even casual friends.

It was like a brutal self-perpetuating cycle, and I felt trapped in it. No social life meant I was free to spend all my time working. And spending all my time at work meant I had no social life.

By that point I'd lost my appetite, so the rest of my pasta went in the bin. I couldn't get back into the novel either, so I turned to discord instead. I was going to post another little rant on Skye's private server, but when I got there I found some new messages Emily left an hour or two earlier.

Her posts didn't improve my mood any, but they got my mind off my own problems for a while.

Emily's first few messages had big chunks hidden under spoiler tags. She had nightmares again last night and she'd written some of the details out. I braced myself as I read them, then afterwards I wished I hadn't. They were like she described the other day, being a helpless teen girl caught in situations where she used to be a middle-aged armed cop. They were all awful, and they left me wishing I could do something to help the kid. Unfortunately all I could do was hope Skye figured it out somehow.

After the nightmares, Emily wrote about another run-in with her former friend at lunch today. According to Em, the popular clique set this girl up to try and gather dirt or gossip on her. And being overtired and stressed out from the lack of sleep, this time Emily didn't keep quiet.

Apparently she snapped at the former friend, then said something to the group who set her up. Em couldn't even remember exactly what she said, but she was convinced she let something slip about her past life. And she was positive after that encounter she had no friends left at all anymore.

I sighed as I stared at my phone. I really wanted to help her, but the magic stuff was way out of my league. And I was pretty hopeless about the friendship stuff too.

In the end I did my best to post a positive-sounding reply. It was vaguely hopeful and supportive, but I knew it really wasn't that helpful.

And a few minutes later I went on to share my own complaints, the stuff about my dad leaving me to do a double shift on Friday afternoon. And I mentioned the part that hurt most, about how he knew I didn't have any plans because I never had plans. And how I didn't have a social life because I worked so much, which meant I had even more time available to work even more.

I knew there wasn't anything she could do to help me, just like I couldn't really help her. But it felt a little better getting that stuff out of my system. After that I had a gulp of my cola then got back to reading my web novel while I waited for the next customer.

Reading kept my mind off things for the next thirty or forty minutes, when the shop door opened as someone came in. I looked up to greet the new arrival, but it wasn't a customer.

"Hi Danni," Emily said as she walked up to the counter.

In one hand she held a little paper tray with two cups from the coffee chain down the street, and in the other hand she was carrying a little cardboard box. The aroma of fresh coffee and sugary baked goods filled the air, and my stomach took notice.

She set everything down on the counter in front of me then took one of the cups out of the tray and offered it to me, "I got you a latte. And I brought donut holes."

"Thanks," I smiled as I accepted the cup. "Why though? What brings you here?"

Emily shrugged, "I saw what you posted to the server, about your dad leaving you to do another shift by yourself. I figured I'd come keep you company?"

She pulled the second cup out of the tray and took the lid off and had a sip, then added "You're lonely, I'm lonely, so keeping you company solves both our problems."

I smiled, "Ok Emily. Come on around back here and have a seat."

She smiled as well as she came around the counter where dad's chair was next to the computer. Emily took off her jacket and folded it over the back of the chair then looped her purse strap over the chair as well, before sitting down beside me.

"Thanks for the drink," I said as I pulled the lid off. "And the treats."

"You're welcome," she replied with another smile. That faded as she added, "I'm sorry your dad takes you for granted. I'm curious though why you don't have any other staff? For a business that's open seven days a week, it feels unrealistic to expect just two people to be able to do all the work."

I opened my mouth to reply, but closed it again when I realized I didn't actually have a good answer for her. She was right, and I never really questioned it before since that's just how we always did it.

In the past I knew dad had one or two people working for him. When I was still in high school he had some staff, and when I was off at college for two years there were other people working with him. Once I finished my education and started working full time, the other people moved on and we never bothered to replace them.

For the next couple minutes me and Emily quietly sipped our drinks as I thought about what she said. The biggest problem we had right now was we couldn't really afford more staff. There just wasn't enough business. There was barely enough to keep dad and I employed.

It wasn't just us either, I knew a lot of other small businesses in the area had similar problems. The pandemic and lockdowns hit everyone hard, but it felt like tourist towns like ours had it particularly rough since the whole economy depended on that influx of people every summer. Two years in a row without that left everyone in a tight spot.

After another few minutes I finally responded, "You're right Emily. The problem we have now is there's not enough money to hire anyone else? We're just barely hanging on since the pandemic, same as everyone else."

"I get it," she sighed. "I noticed that when I first came back into town last month. I was driving up Main Street and I saw how many shops in town had closed? I remember it was a lot more lively when I was growing up here. And that was peak leaf season too, right? The place should have been crawling with tourists through the last two weeks of September, with all the city folk here to gawk at the trees. Instead the streets seemed almost empty. It was depressing."

Before I could respond she suddenly grimaced then slumped back in the chair, and the look on her face made me think she was nauseous or something.

"Emily?" I asked. "Are you ok? What's wrong?"

She sighed, "I'm fine. It's that stuff I just said? That... I didn't come back into town last month, I wasn't driving up Main Street comparing it to when I was young. All that's from the wrong life, the wrong timeline."

"I'm sorry," I told her. "I really wish I could do something to help. I'm sure Skye's working on it though, she'll figure it out. And if not, we can still talk with Selene right?"

Em nodded, "You're right. Thanks Danni. I -"

She stopped talking as the door opened and a couple actual customers came in. It was a pair of young men, they looked about nineteen or twenty. They were smiling and a bit boisterous with the nervous excitement a lot of folks had leading up to getting a new piercing or tattoo.

Emily stayed quiet as I put on my professional act and greeted them both, then talked with them to find out what they were interested in. They both wanted tattoos, but only one of them had an idea of what he wanted. The other guy started looking at some of the pictures we had up, then he browsed through one of the books we had full of stock tattoo art.

While he was doing that the other guy described what he was interested in. I could tell it wasn't going to be a quick or easy job, and it wouldn't be cheap either. The guy seemed serious though, even after I spelled it all out for him he was still interested. I took a down payment from him and booked an appointment for him to meet with my dad tomorrow.

By that point the other guy had picked a stock design, and he was ready to go for it right away. That wasn't so complicated, and being a stock image meant there wasn't any consulting or design work. It would be about an hour in the chair though.

The two friends talked it over, then the first guy left while the second one filled out the waiver and handed over the cash. I took him to the first little room on the left, then while he was hanging up his coat I went back to the counter to check with Emily.

"This is going to take an hour Em. Maybe you should head home?"

She shook her head, "I'll stay. If other customers come in I can let them know you're busy."

That surprised me, but I didn't want to argue. It would be a lot easier with someone watching the front counter and cash register, so I didn't have to leave my client every time I heard the door open.

"Thanks Emily," I smiled. "I owe you one."

She smiled back, then I got to work.

From then till about nine in the evening the shop was busy, but not hectic or frantic. By the time I finished the tattoo job there were two customers waiting for piercings. A teenage girl somehow talked her middle-aged mom into letting her get a nose-ring, while the mom decided to try a navel ring.

I had them both fill out waivers and got the mom to sign off for the daughter, then took them both into the first piercing booth and took care of them.

After that was another simple tattoo job, and by the time that was done there was a twenty-something year old woman waiting to get her nipples pierced. What surprised me was Emily already had her fill out a waiver and handled the payment, so all I had to do was wash up and take care of the client.

When I was finished that job I took twenty minutes to clean all four booths, everything was wiped down and sterilized, before I was ready to look after the next customer.

We weren't swamped, and it wasn't a great Friday night in terms of business, but it was enough. And I would have been a lot more stressed if not for Emily acting as receptionist and handling the cash. There was a lot she didn't know, questions she couldn't answer, but at least she could ask customers to have a seat and wait till I was available.

She was still there behind the counter at the end of the evening when I locked the door and turned out the signage. And even though the past few hours I hadn't really had much time to just hang out and talk with her, it was really nice having her around. I couldn't remember the last time I spent that much time with someone who wasn't my dad. Probably not since the last time I had a girlfriend, which was years ago.

"Sorry we didn't get much time to hang out and talk," I said as I started prepping tools and trays for a run through the autoclave. "And I'm going to be another half hour or so cleaning things up, so if you want to head out that's fine. Or I can give you a lift home if you don't mind waiting?"

She shrugged, "I don't mind. I texted my mom that I was hanging out with a friend tonight."

Emily followed me back into the employees only areas and watched me get the autoclave running. She also watched as I wiped down and sterilized all the work areas. Finally I grabbed a broom and started sweeping the whole shop.

As I did that Em commented, "I know you haven't had time to check your phone, but Skye posted to the discord about an hour ago? She wants us all to meet up here tomorrow, so we can go for a picnic lunch together."

I froze and looked at her. "She's taking us to Io? For real?"

"Yeah," Emily grinned. "I already offered to make the sandwiches. Maybe you can bring some drinks?"

It took me a couple seconds to get my head around that, but I finally nodded. "Yeah, I can do that."

I set the broom aside and went back to the front counter and grabbed my phone. I checked the discord then posted a message to Skye that I was in.

And finally I opened my text app and let my dad know that he'd be on his own tomorrow, since I had plans.

PurpleCatGirl

Can't wait to find out what happens next? Join our Patreon and get immediate access to the next chapter and more! Patrons have already finished this story and are onto the next one, and you could be too!
https://www.patreon.com/purplecatgirl