"Choose your words 'cause there's no antidote

For this curse

Oh, what's it waiting for?

Must this hurt you just before you go?

There's no water inside this swimming pool

Almost over, had enough from you

And I've been praying, I never did before

Understand I'm talking to the walls

I've been praying ever since New York"

✰

"Why do you have the statue of fucking liberty tattooed on your ass?"

Beckham, who lays on his stomach on a tattoo chair sits up, looking over his shoulder where his shorts are rolled up. "Why don't you have the statue of liberty tattooed on your ass, Calum?" The green-eyed boy retaliates.

Calum scoffs, running a hand through his dark curls. He'd already paced around the small shop twenty times, but that comment did the trick in distracting him. "Do you want me to get the statue of liberty tattooed on my ass? You wanna match Becky-boy?" Calum narrows his eyes in challenge. "What is that, your left cheek? Does that mean I get the right one?"

Beck merely shrugs, a lazy smirk on his face. "Whatever you want, babe."

Arlo sends Ashton a look, her nose scrunching in disgust as she watches the interaction, causing Ashton to have to stifle a laugh. Even if there was a faux look of disgust on her face, Ashton knew deep down that his best friend was happy.

Everyone could tell Arlo was the happiest she'd been since they were teenagers and Ashton had a sneaking suspicion it was due to whatever she and Luke did after sneaking out of Calum's party and driving off in Luke's car.

Ashton, Calum, Arlo, and Beck don't know how they managed to find themselves at a tattoo shop at nine in the morning, but nobody had really stopped to question what they were doing. All the group knew was that Luke and Michael were busy writing a song and they had nothing better to do in the small town.

Ashton leans back in the rolling office chair he'd stolen from across the tattoo shop, a lollipop hanging from his lips. "I'm actually curious about the story behind that one." He says.

Beck doesn't even flinch as the tattoo artist holds the tattoo gun to his skin, a loud buzzing noise echoing through the shop, but Arlo certainly does. Even though she'd been with Beck to get at least twenty of his tattoos over the past three years, it never got easier to watch.

They'd developed a sort of routine and this time was no exception.

Arlo sits with her knees tucked to her chest, her hand resting comfortingly on Beck's despite how many times he told the girl it didn't hurt. She simply didn't believe him- how could something sound that terrible and not hurt?

Beck shoots Arlo a knowing look, completely ignoring the slight pain in the back of his thigh. "Funny story actually. You wanna tell him, Lo?"

Arlo rolls her eyes, removing her hand from Beck's in protest in favor of crossing her arms over her chest. Of course, if he told her the pain was too much she would take his hand again, but as of now, she was mad at him.

She rolls her lips into her mouth, shaking her head in denial. "Nope. Don't remember why you got that one, actually."

Beck scoffs, though he's careful not to move. The tattoo artist was almost too quiet, the man's head is down as he focuses intently on his job and that kind of made the green-eyed boy nervous- Hell, Beck had been tattooed on a subway car at three in the morning and the drunk guy who did it for five bucks made him feel better than this guy did.

"So Arlo and I met in New York, as you all know." Beck begins.

Calum collapses onto the empty tattoo chair beside where Arlo sits, propping his feet up on her lap. "Trust us, we know."

Ashton nods in agreement, furrowing his brows in thought. "Yeah, not the best memory. That night was..."

"The night I met my dear best friend?" Beck smirks, though his cocky smile quickly turns into a wince as the tattoo artist runs the gun over an unusually sensitive area of his skin. "Anyway. So, I was walking down the street that night and I saw this girl sitting on a curb..."

Arlo didn't know if there was enough air in the world to ever fill her lungs again.

That was how bad it hurt. It was as if all of the air had been knocked out of her lungs from the moment she finally went through with that terribly awful thing and now, she was left gasping for breath.

She walked away almost an hour ago.

Arlo was still close enough to see the club. She was only right across the street, sitting on the curb without a care in the world if her dress got dirty or if it was raining. Not even the sketchy people trying to talk to her could her through to her clouded mind.

Luke was still inside.

She didn't know why her legs refused to walk any further until she saw him leave the club. All she knew was that for the last hour, Arlo had been replaying a million different scenarios in her mind.

What was he doing? Did the boys know yet? Was he going to come looking for her? Why had her phone stopped ringing ten minutes ago?

"Shit, are you alright?"

Arlo barely registers the voice, in fact, she doesn't even think the voice belongs to a real person until a gentle hand places itself on her shoulder. Her head snaps to where the hand lays, her neck stiff from staring intently at the same place for so long.

It was Beck, the guy she'd met inside the club. The guy who Luke thought she cheated on him with.

Arlo's throat feels tight, her stomach flipping at the sight of him. Seeing the boy in front of her felt like reliving her worst nightmare all over again and it didn't help that the metaphorical wound was still raw and bleeding. Guilt floods her system, making her feel impossibly worse as she sees the way his shirt is wrinkled from where Luke had grabbed him.

Beckham Hale was beginning to panic.

This girl, who he'd only met hours before was sitting outside on a dirty New York street corner and she looked absolutely distraught. Her eyes are swollen from crying and the way she's tightly gripping onto the fabric of her dress makes him think she needs to be grounded before she floats away in her own mind for good.

Additionally, she hadn't answered him when he spoke to her and that was a red flag in itself.

Beck sits down on the street corner next to the girl, his steps slightly wobbly from the alcohol running through his veins. He wasn't drunk per se, but he definetly wasn't going to sit through an album release party he didn't even want to be at without being at least a little tipsy.

"Can you hear me, Arlo?" He asks, recalling the girl's name from when she introduced herself earlier. "I'm starting to get freaked out over here."

Arlo snaps out of her haze, feeling guilty. She didn't think she deserved to have anyone worry about her. In fact, all she really wanted to do was be ignored- to sit on this street corner alone until the rain washed her away and she dissipated until nothing.

"I'm okay." The girl croaks, her voice thick with the emotion that had been draining down her throat. She was never a pretty crier, but that was probably because Arlo didn't cry just to cry. She waited until everything built up and eventually boiled over.

Beck releases a breath of relief even though he knew she was lying- at least she was talking. "Let's get out of the rain. Wheres' your hotel? I can walk you back."

Arlo shakes her head immediately, sniffling in a way that made her seem a lot younger than she was. Truthfully, for the first time in months, Arlo did feel younger.

She'd spent months catching flight after flight, going from coast to coast with her rockstar boyfriend. She sat through meetings about the industry and learned how to help the band market themselves. She put her entire life on pause for the band without a second thought because she loved them and she loved helping them.

But, no eighteen-year-old girl should have to do that.

Arlo had been filling bigger shoes for quite a while, it was only a matter of time before she broke. It was only fate that her relationship with Luke had to break as a result.

"Okay." She mumbles, allowing Beck to help her up from the curb.

The last thing Arlo wanted to do was go back to the hotel room she shared with Luke, but she needed to get her things and be gone before the album release party was over. If she saw him again, Arlo was sure she would break and spill everything.

She didn't know where she was going to go after she got her things- hell, Arlo didn't even think she had anywhere to go, but her heartbreak was too strong to think about anything else but how bad she missed him already.

They walk to the hotel in a daze, their rain-soaked party clothes clinging to their skin. Beck tried to get her to change once they were in the hotel room, but Arlo was far too concerned with looking around the room.

Her things were still intermingled with his own- a couple of her rings on the nightstand beside his sunglasses, his computer hooked up to her charger on the bed, his toothbrush next to hers in the bathroom.

Beck noticed the way her eyes lingered on their things, especially the open computer with her as the home screen. The realization hits him all at once and suddenly he's overcome with deja vu, for, Beck had experienced the very same heartbreak she had.

His face softens and he takes the girl's wrist in his hand, gently urging her eyes away from the computer screen in order to face him. "He wasn't your ex, was he?"

Arlo shrugs, tears falling steadily from her eyes as she glances at the picture of them sitting by the fire from San Francisco that he'd set as the background of his computer. They were curled up in front of the small bonfire, his hoodie resting on her body as she sat between his legs in the sand, his chin resting on her head. Luke had that wide smile on his face- the kind where his tongue poked through his teeth and made his dimples appear.

Arlo loved that smile and it killed her to think that she was the cause of its disappearance. She hoped he would smile like that again somebody, even if it wasn't with her.

She exhales shakily. "He is now."

Beck's heart breaks for the girl in front of him and he knows for a fact that he would hate himself if he left her to fend for herself after this. She'd already wormed her way into the soft spot of his heart and a protectiveness bloomed in his chest for the girl.

Flashbacks from his own past relationship flash through his mind- his hand in hers as they picked up her little sister from school. The way Beck would bring both of them flowers, just so the younger girl wouldn't feel left out, how she had the same big brown eyes as Arlo.

Beck was admittedly a fucking asshole growing up and he may have broken the heart of the girl he loved, but he was learning to be better.

Arlo felt like his redemption, in a way.

Beck sighs, running a hand through his soaked hair. "You love him, don't you?"

Arlo physically winces at his words, another jagged crack running through her already broken heart. "How could I not?"

"I'm not letting you do this to yourself."

Arlo groans, running her hands down her face in frustration. Tears were brimming her eyes out of pure anger and although Beck's comments didn't usually get to her, this one did. "Don't you think if I could stop feeling this way I would?" She says exasperatedly.

Beck crosses his arms over his chest, sitting on the bed beside where Arlo lays twisted in the sheets. She'd only left the spot in order to shower and eat occasionally and he recognized that she was going downhill fast.

"You've had your time to be upset." Beck says, annoying her the way an older brother would. "So either you get the fuck up and go find him or you get the fuck over it. What's it going to be?"

Arlo sits up from the bed, a fire in her eyes only Beckham Hale could cause. "You don't get to give me an ultimatum." She argues, pushing past him to climb off the bed.

Her shoulder knocks against his purposefully and Beck rolls his eyes at her attempt at being spiteful. "Why the fuck not?"

Arlo scowls from across the room, sending him one last incredulous look before disappearing into the closer and slamming the door behind her. "We've already been over this, Beck! Taking the bad-guy route isn't going to make me heal any faster. If I want to be sad, let me be sad."

"No thanks." The green-eyed boy says simply.

Arlo throws open the door of the closet, walking out fully dressed into something other than her pajamas for the first time in days, maybe even weeks. She crosses her arms over her chest and walks right out of the bedroom, not sparing him a glance.

"Where are you going?" Beck grins as he follows her, already knowing that he'd won.

Arlo purses her lips as she slips on her shoes and grabs her bag from the hook next to the door. "The only place you ever shut up." The girl says matter of factly. "The tattoo shop."

An hour later Beckham found himself in a tattoo chair with Arlo next to him, her eyes wide as she shakes her head. "Are you crazy?"

The buzzing of the tattoo machine does nothing but comfort the older boy as Arlo stares at him incredulously. He didn't regret the tattoo in the slightest, for it had more meaning to him than Arlo really even knew. "Nope." He pops his lips.

"Beck, I really don't think-"

"I've never gotten a tattoo for anyone but I figured you wouldn't argue this much." Beck rolls his eyes, a playful smirk on his face as he watches Arlo's face go pale when she glances at the tattoo being done.

The statue of liberty to commemorate where they met. Cheesy, but in Beck fashion, for all of his tattoos were kind of cheugy in a way. He managed to pull them off, though.

Arlo was in disbelief, her lips parted as she struggled to form the proper words.

"You're next." Beck grins.

Calum gapes up at Arlo in shock, his brown eyes wide. "You have a secret tattoo we don't know about? Is yours on your ass too?"

"No fuckin' way." Ashton answers, shaking his head intently. "Arlo's scared to death of needles, you'd have to sedate her if you wanted her to get a tattoo."

Arlo nods proudly, resting her chin on her knees that are still pulled to her chest. "It's true. I chickened out." Her eyes sneak over to her phone, a small frown on her face as she finds a text from Luke saying he'd be writing with Michael for a little while longer.

Beck's tattoo artist finishes wrapping his new tattoo, allowing the boy to stand up and stretch. He glances down at the newly tattooed butterfly on the back of his thigh and smiles, loving the feeling of having a new addition to his collection. "I tried for hours, trust me. Arlo wouldn't budge."

Suddenly, Calum's eyes light up with an idea and he looks down at his arm at the small tattoo he'd gotten years before. "You know what, Arlo... you have to get the tally tattoo."

Arlo's eyes go wide, her face going pale as Ashton gasps, obviously impressed with the idea. "You're so fuckin' right, Cal." Ashton says excitably. "Everyone in the band has one except for Luke, but you technically joined the band before Luke so it only makes sense that you get yours next."

Beck scoffs out a laugh, rolling his eyes as he looks at the pale-faced girl in the chair. "Good luck with that."

Fifteen minutes later, Arlo Abbott found herself in a tattoo chair.

The poor girl is practically shaking as she stares intently at the wall, refusing to look at the skin of her hipbone where the tattoo gun is about to make contact. Beck sits in a chair right next to her head, an encouraging smile on his face while Calum videos the entire thing, and Ashton lays a comforting hand on her ankle from where he stands at the end of the tattoo chair.

She didn't know how exactly they convinced her to do this, but it was probably due to the mass amounts of guilt-tripping and the promise of ice cream afterward. Either way, Arlo's chest was beginning to heave with nerves and she really wished Luke was there.

She winces as the gun hits her skin and she would have flinched if she wasn't scared of messing up the tattoo. The spot she was getting it on was sensitive, but she was intent on having it somewhere that wasn't too visible.

"How bad is it?" Beck asks, a guilty smile on his face. He didn't even really understand the tally tattoo considering the 5SOS logo he'd seen didn't even have one, but he was still a part of the guilt-tripping.

Arlo blows out a breath, her shaky hands clasped together. "It hurts... a lot." She winces, the stinging sensation of the needle piercing her skin causing her eyes to water.

"At least yours is in a cool place." Calum says comfortingly, looking up from his phone screen after stopping his recording. "Ours is just on our arms. Boring."

"This is true." Ashton nods supportively, giving her an encouraging smile. "You're so badass now, Arlo."

The gun lifts from her skin one last time and Arlo looks down in shock, finding the completed tattoo. Her skin is irritated and bleeding in some places, but the whole process was over fairly quickly. "Oh my god." She mumbles, looking down at the ink on her skin.

As Beck helps Arlo off of the tattoo chair, Calum laughs excitably. "This is fuckin' sick." He grins. "The gangs' really back, just like the old days."

"Glad to see we're still as irresponsible." Ashton says, giving both Arlo and Calum a high-five.

Calum laughs in disbelief, his hands on his hips as he watches Arlo walk over to the mirror and examine the portion of her hipbone where the new tattoo is placed. She'd had to unbutton her denim shorts and pull the fabric down just a little bit.

"Who would have thought?" Calum muses, his arms going around both Beck and Ashton's shoulders as Ashton takes out his wallet and pays for the tattoo- another one of their persuasion strategies.

Arlo can't take her eyes off of the new ink, disbelief coursing through her veins. "I can't believe I just did that."

"I can't believe you didn't throw up." Beck agrees.

Suddenly, the bell above the tattoo shop door rings, and in walks Luke and Michael, leftovers from their late breakfast in their hands. Both of them are dressed in comfy clothes from writing and Luke's hair is messy as it often was after writing, Arlo noticed. He had a habit of tugging on the blonde strands when he was thinking hard enough.

Michael raises his brows in surprise as his eyes find the group. "What are you guys doing here? Luke and I were sure you sent us the wrong location. Who the fuck gets a tattoo this early in the morning?"

As Luke makes his way over to Arlo, he sees the ghost of a nervous smile on her face, but he's far too preoccupied with pressing a kiss to her lips to really think anything of it. "Hi, baby." He grins down at her.

Although, before Arlo can respond, he notices the way her shorts are unbuttoned and rolled down slightly, casings his brows to furrow in confusion. "Why are-"