Chapter 192

Shana wasn't sure if to be proud or mortified of her best friends, they were immune to flirting, well Virgil was but Dale didn't even notice and that was the start of a disaster.

It made her happy to put his mom's nose out of joint but she didn't like what it was doing to Dale, the situation made worse when they got sleek haircuts that made the workers at the hair salon nearly break out into sobs because nothing short of stripping looked like it would grab their attention.

Shana just hurries them out after they paid before they got kidnapped or worse by adoring fans.

Dale just settles in the back seat, eyes trained on the city through the windows, a lock of black hair falling over his bright green eyes.

The journey to the tattoo parlor is quiet and uncomfortably so, Shana is so used to them taking jabs at each other.

Dale's quietness is upsetting because he's the cheery one but now, his lips are turned down at the sides and his eyes have lost their light.

Shana knows suggesting a tattoo is similar to placing a band-aid over a bullet wound but it's all she can do.

"So what would you like to get?" A tattooist asks, eyeing up Dale appreciatively.

He just slouches, pushing a hand through his newly cut hair. "A jasmine." He says blankly eliciting a gasp from Shana and a wide eyed expression from Virgil who's leaning against the wall.

The girl that asks the question just frowns, surprised at his choice. "A-Are you sure?" She asks hesitantly.

"Yeah, a Pink Jasmine, right over my sternum." He explains shortly, he could still feel the small hand of the guy he had bumped into, pressed right against the spot he wanted the tattoo.

Maybe karma had finally gotten him for breaking way too many hearts.

Shana was immune to them going shirtless but not the poor workers if them going pale and immediately getting flustered is any indication.

She just levels the dude piercing her ear a dark look. "Please don't drill a hole through my head." She tells him unhappily when she finds him staring at Dale for the umpteenth time.

"Sorry." He mumbles getting back to work.

Dale wanted something that he could get in one sitting, although he could probably get an entire sleeve tattoo at once with his quick healing abilities but that would only creep out the tattooist.

He made up in detail for the relatively small size of the beautiful flowers, insisting on inking them immediately although the tattooist suggested otherwise.

They don't make their way back home till late and no one says anything about the pretty obvious tattoo, hoping it'll help him get over the strange man he had bumped into.

Dale immediately beelines to his room, no doubt to take a shower and fall asleep.

Shana pours herself some wine and settles down in the living room beside him, he has exams the next day so she doesn't offer him any, taking in his grave expression.

"Think he'll be okay?" She asks in worry, taking a sip of her drink, a new silver stud at the tip of her left ear.

"I can only hope he'll be." Virgil rubs his face in frustration.

"You still feel guilty, don't you?" She asks after a short spell of silence, staring down into the pale yellow contents of her wine glass.

"Can't help it." He shrugs. "Dale's the kind of person who's so open that you can never tell how he's really feeling half the time, I mean it took me so long to realize how serious he was with Hayden until he went head to head against his mom…" he trails off.

"Who, as expected used Jade to emotionally blackmail him, I can't wait for her to step down from power." Shana growls.

"Then again when we got to college and he slept around, I don't know which is worse, all that or the fact that it just made him feel worse."

"Now, there's Jasmine who has wrecked the entire situation." Shana completes again.

"You should get to bed." Shana says after another short pause filled with a heavy silence. "You've got exams tomorrow."

"Yeah, I do." He agrees, getting up. "Try to not get drunk okay, you don't have a speech filter when you do."

"Sure, whatever." Shana waves him away with the bottle, pouring herself another cup.

Virgil just makes his way to his room, lost in thought, while Werewolves couldn't get any venereal disease and Dale was extra careful, he didn't approve of it but it could have been worse, it could have been drugs and a drinking problem plus there's also the fact that he had been cured by Jasmine.

On an average day, Dale would have collected the numbers from the tattooist and then some at the hair salon but he didn't.

It made him troubled so he couldn't even fall asleep after taking a shower and rolling around on the bed for a while, it was too late to call but Hayden usually texted him, he had been so lost in thought he almost forgot.

The soft smile that paints his face while reading it is quite expected, he knew about their new neighbors and how well they were all getting along.

He quickly types up a lengthy text, editing out the part of Dale's mood swings and Shana's presence, and the fact that they would be coming back in a couple of days.

He's not even surprised when he doesn't get a text back, his boyfriend was most likely fast asleep or he had forgotten that he had a phone.

He switches off the flat device and tosses it on the side table, breathing deep.

Shana goes to bed not long after Virgil leaves, putting away the wine that tastes sour in her mouth.

She makes sure to check on both of them before turning in, Virgil is tapping his phone, most likely texting Hayden if the peaceful smile on his face is anything to go by.

She checks on Dale next and is somehow not surprised to find him wide awake and staring out the window, a longing expression on his face.

She remembers the smile on Virgil's face and hopes that Dale would get that too, soon...