Five.
Exactly five long, forever, excruciating hours of boredom until I can go home. I let my head dip back and hang off of the side of the swivel arm chair that I had thrown myself over; my leg hanging off of the other arm. I use my free leg to push off the worktable, allowing my chair to lazily spin and my vision to blur. It's Monday evening and the rain has been coming down all damn day. Not exactly the most prime time for someone to get inked. We've had maybe five people come into the shop since I got here around noon, and four of the five were appointments with other artists. The one walk-in that we had was some fresh eighteen-something year old girl looking for what I like to call a "freedom tattoo". You know, those kids that finally moved away from mommy and daddy and decided to go and get a tattoo with their new found independence. She had googly eyes for another one of the male artists the minute she walked in though, no one else stood a chance. It was okay though, I make most of my money on the college frat boys that come in on the weekends anyway. They usually come in to get ''Greeked'' with their fraternity letters. Then afterwards they get all hyped about being ''Brothers'' and start one of their stupid frat chants from their house on their way out to go celebrate and get trashed.
I chomp and chew on the bubble gum in my mouth before blowing a few bubbles out of boredom. It lost its flavor a good hour or so ago, but I have had zero motivation to lean over and spit it out. Besides, it's been about the only form of entertainment around here for a bit.
"Don't hurt yourself Pierce" I hear my co-worker Sean say over the buzz of his ink gun as he continues to work on one of his appointments. I think they're going on their third hour of the current session. It's for some massive back piece with a bunch of intricate designs. The guy was super excited about it when he first walked in. He kept going on about it being something from one of his favorite video games. His tone changed a little after about an hour into it when Sean was working on the outline that went right over his spine.
"Hey Sean, I think you missed a spot" I deadpan back to him, kicking my foot out again to continue the momentum of the spinning chair. I hear rustling of the sanitary paper that Sean's customer is laying on and smirk to myself, noting how the buzzing of the ink gun stops.
"She's just kidding, I swear" I hear him reassure the customer. He clears his throat before resuming his work.
I continue to spin as I let my mind wonder through my mental list of all the shit that I need to get done before my weekend appointments. I've got about three different designs that I need to work on and get ready before Saturday. Fridays and Saturdays are my busy days. Everyone comes in wanting to spend their most recent paycheck on ink instead of something else more important. I could care less though; it might not pay their bills, but it certainly pays mine.
Setting my foot down, it catches friction on the linoleum floor and slows my chair to a stop. I release a sigh as I fight my procrastination and force myself to sit up right in the chair. It takes me a minute to make the room stop spinning and my equilibrium to level out to normal again.
"Oh, did we decided to not be a lazy fuck today Pierce?" Abby chuckles as she walks behind me and flicks my long ponytail on her way to her chair.
"Ugh, yeah I guess" I exaggerate with a mock whine. I don't really get along with most girls, honestly because they just tend to be shady bitches most of the time, but I like Abby. She is the only other female tattoo artist that works in our shop, and I will forever say that she trumps everyone here. Abby's designs are super old school, but with a fresh modern twist to them. I don't think that I have ever heard or read a negative review about her or her work. I think the best thing about her is that she's so chill. She knows that she's good, but doesn't let it affect her personality. Abby will just take the compliment and carry on.
"You know how I feel about Mondays Abbs" I remind her as I slump back in my chair and let my feet slide out on the floor. My comment makes her laugh.
"Is it just Mondays? Seems like it's been every day that isn't Friday or Saturday lately" she responds while sorting through her art pencils in her supply box on her workbench.
"I don't know what you're talking about"
"Please. If you're not inking something, then your dragging ass" she snorts.
"Well I can't help it if I get everything else done quickly and get super bored" I reason.
"Oh so how did those other designs come out that you were talking about this morning?" Sean cockily chimed in from my right as the buzzing of his gun stopped so he could clean and reload the ink.
"Mind your business" I playfully snipped, throwing a wadded ball of paper at him. It was one of my failed attempts at a design from earlier. I could hear Abby laughing from her desk on my left.
"Since both of you are being rude assholes, I'm just going to drag ass outside for a cigarette" I huff, pushing myself out of my chair. I turn around and open one of the doors of my mounted cabinets that hover over my workbench along the back wall where I keep all my spare supplies. Grabbing the pack of cigarettes and my zippo lighter, I shut the cabinet doors and shove both objects into my back pocket as I walk around the front counter to the door of the shop.
The rain is still coming down at a steady pace outside. I huddle under the small overhang that pops out only a few feet from the door and window in front of the tattoo shop. The shop in general isn't really all that big of a space, but it has a pretty sweet location in downtown. It sits in the ''artsy'' side of downtown with the scattered Bohemian coffee and pizza shops where all the hipster kids like to hang out.
A few cars pass by, splashing water up onto the sidewalk from where it had puddled in the street. Taking a cigarette out of the box and shoving the rest into my back pocket, I flick open my zippo lighter and torch the end of my cigarette as I take a deep drag. I hold the lighter up closer to my face, staring at the flame that flickers back and forth on the wound cloth wick. The flame's warmth licks at my face before I exhale smoke out forcefully, extinguishing the flame. Leaning my back against the front window of the shop, I continue to lazily take drags from my cigarette as I watch people walk in and out of coffee and pizza shops huddled under their umbrellas. I'm getting to the end of my cigarette when a small SUV pulls up and parks at the curb right in front of the shop. A petite blonde girl gets out of the driver's side, holding her jacket up to cover her head as she rushes to the parking meter and drops a few coins in. Seeming satisfied when the meter switches from red to green she then turns towards the passenger seat of the car and make a strict gesture to whoever is in there to get out. I can't help but laugh to myself as I watch her do this a couple of more times until she gets so frustrated that she opens the door herself. Inside the car sits another girl. She has long, wavy dark hair and is anything less than compliant to her friend's wishes. The rain drowns out their conversation, but it's pretty obvious that whatever it is that these two are planning on doing, the dark haired girls wants nothing of it. Finally the blonde reaches in and grabs the other girl by the arm, pulling her out of the SUV. She quickly shuts and locks the door after extracting her friend from the vehicle. The brunette crosses her arms and sets her shoulders with a huff before following her friend. The blonde moves towards the front door of the tattoo shop, giving me a cute smile as she opened the door to enter. I return her smile, doing my best to stifle my laugh. The brunette catches my actions and glares at me before walking in the shop.
"Oh this should be entertaining" I laugh to myself, pulling another cigarette out of the box and lighting it. "She must be the appointment that Abby was preparing for", I think to myself.
I take another drag of my cigarette and exhale the smoke as I resume my people watching. Without warning, Abby knocks on the other side of the glass window from where I was leaning. Not anticipating the action, I accidentally drop my cigarette into a small puddle of water at the edge of the overhang.
"Dammit!"
Turning around to face her, I mouth a few words of profanity in annoyance. Looking less than amused and unfazed, she only motions for me to come inside.
I trudge inside and wipe my feet on the mat, an annoyed look still planted on my face.
"Yes your majesty" I say sarcastically to her as I walk around the front counter and back to her work space.
"Hey can you take this walk in? I have an appointment that's supposed to be here in like twenty minutes."
"Oh, I thought this was your appointment?" I say in confusion while motioning my head towards the two girls that just walked in.
"No, I've got that one girl that was in here last week. The one with the intricate design…you know…down there" she quietly reminds me over her shoulder as she preps her ink wells.
"Oh yeaaaaaaah" I smirk, remembering the girl. "Wanky"
"Gross Pierce! Don't say that around me…it creeps me out" she revolts playfully.
"Can't Gregg take her? I don't feel like dealing with preppy teenie-boppers today" I whine.
"Gregg just left to get us all food, and with this weather, it's going to be a little bit before he gets back."
I sigh in partial defeat as I feel my lazy mood of procrastination creeping up on me again.
"Quit being a lazy ass and go earn some money for that trip that you won't shut up about" she says a little more sternly as she pushes me out of her work space. I roll my eyes and groan in response, shuffling my feet over to my chair and workbench. I hate it when she's right.
One of the best parts about being a tattoo artist is that I make my own hours. This pretty much means that as long as I pay rent on my space in the tattoo shop, I can take a vacation almost whenever I want. I have been planning on visiting Asia this year, but that's not going to happen if I don't have the money to pay for it. People wanting tattoos means money in my pocket. I clean off my workspace and rid it of all the crumpled pieces of paper before pulling my jars of ink from the cabinets above my worktable and my gun case from my drawer. I peer over my shoulder to see the two girls looking over sample books. Well, the blonde is looking at the books, her friend is just standing behind her looking like she's about the throw up. I let my stare linger to study her face while she's not paying attention to me. Her skin is a warm olive tone. She has deep brown, almond shaped eyes. They seem warm, but yet uneasy; nothing like when she glared at me a few minutes ago. She has a small button like nose and plump, supple lips. I let my eyes roam back up to her eyes where she immediately catches my gaze, that annoyed glare is back. I can do nothing more but plant a smirk on my face for getting caught and return my attention to prepping my work station. I take my time getting everything sorted and laid out where I like it. The sound of Sean's gun continues to resonate around the shop as we all go about our business.
Once I double check to make sure that I have all my tools and gadgets where I need them, I reach back and tug my hairband out of my ponytail, releasing my long golden locks. Tilting my head back, I run my fingers through my hair a few times before gathering and twisting the unruly locks back into a fresh lazy bun with a snap of the hairband. Smoothing back a few smaller fly away hairs, I turn and make my way over to the counter.
"Hello ladies, what can we do for you to day" I smile, leaning both arms on the counter. The petite blond girl is the first to answer. Her friend stands behind her with an annoyed look and arms still crossed.
"My best friend and I are wanting to get inked" she says attempting to sound cool and casual even though she is emitting pure excitement. Nothing entertains me more than hearing these Valley looking girls try and use street lingo.
"Uh huh, well your friend there doesn't look as excited as you do" I chuckle with a nod towards the brunette before continuing. "Do you have any idea what you're wanting to get? Don't forget this is like a permanent kind of thing". My tone came out a little condescending, but she didn't seem to notice.
"Pft, don't worry about her, she's just scared" the blonde scoffs with a dismissive wave towards the brunette girl.
"I'm not scared Quinn. You heard her, this is like a permanent kind of thing" her friend snipped.
"Oh please Santana, you've been freaking out about this all day" she argued back while flipping through the sample book in front of me.
"Whatever" the brunette dismissed, walking away from her friend to look at the drawings on the opposite wall. I take the moment of opportunity to resume my ocular investigation of the brunette.
She's wearing an NYU t-shirt and dark blue skinny jeans, most likely designer from the design on the back pockets and the stitching of the seams.
"You're setting yourself up for disappointment" the blonde mumbles quietly while flipping the page of the sample book. What was her name? Quinn?
"I'm not quite sure I know what you're talking about" I respond casually.
"You're staring at her ass"
"Actually I was trying to figure out what brand of jeans she was wearing, but nice try." I recover smoothly. My response causes the blonde to blush in slight embarrassment.
"Rock and Republic" the brunette calls over her shoulder, catching me off guard.
"H-Huh?" I stutter.
"My jeans?" she turns giving me an annoyed glance. "You're not exactly whispering over there"
Her friend must have sensed my loss for words.
"I think we're going to need a few more minutes to look through these" Quinn smiled sweetly while sparing me a quick glance from her browsing.
"Right" I let both of my hands fall on the edge of the counter top with a thud before pushing off and departing with a smile.
The bell above the front door to the shop dinged as Gregg walked in with sacks of food that smelled somewhere along the lines of Mexican food.
All I can think to myself is, ''Thank god''. Walking over to meet him on the side of the counter I relieve one of the plastic bags of food from his grip and open the swing gate to let him behind the counter.
"Thanks homie" He comments over his shoulder as I follow him to the back room.
"No, thank YOU" I mutter under my breath.
He walks into the back room, and holds the door open for me to follow. It's really more of a break room than it is a backroom; there's a small TV, a couch, a mini fridge and a card table accompanied by a couple of mismatched folding chairs.
"Who're the hotties out there?" he questions after setting the plastic bags down and rummaging through one of them.
"Nobody important" I shrug, "I only talked to them for a minute, but I'm guessing they're fresh meat, sorority girls"
"Mmm, my favorite" he remarks suggestively while opening a white Styrofoam box filled with what looks like enchiladas, rice and beans.
"You're a pig" I laugh, slapping him on the back of the head before searching through another bag.
"THE ENCHILADAS! I was talking about the enchiladas Britt" he exclaimed, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head.
"Uh huh, sure" I retort halfheartedly.
Gregg is the only one around here that calls me Britt, everyone else just calls me Pierce. I don't mind either one, but I kind of like that he's the only that uses my first name. He's the youngest artist in the shop, but was the first person here that I became friends with when I first rented out my space. People in our job field relocate spaces a lot, so sometimes people don't always make the effort to get to know someone until they're sure that they will be staying for a while. Everyone else came around pretty quickly though, and now we're like a small unconventional family.
"I fink yor buri-oh if im da wun" Gregg says through a mouthful of beans and enchiladas, pointing with his plastic fork to the last bag on the table. I move my exploration to the other plastic bag, shifting around until my hand touches a warm, solid, yet squishy object wrapped in what feels like tin foil.
"Score" I mutter, pulling the burrito out of the bag and tugging at the edges of foil that are tucked in neatly at the top. My mouth is watering the minute that the smell of guacamole and fajita hit my nose. Without second thought, I take a huge bite of my food. It's amazing how good food can taste when you skip lunch involuntarily. I had barely finished chewing when Abby opened the door to the back room.
"Hey fat asses, those two girls are ready to get started. You're going have to hit pause on the comida" she laughs before turning back to head out front. I chew and swallow my big bite of food the best that I can, reaching for Gregg's Coke to wash it down.
"Come on double G. Let's get these girls "Greeked" and on their way" I sigh, picking a napkin off of the table and wiping my mouth. I tend to get a little grumpy when something or in this case, someone comes in between me and my food. Gregg shoves in another spoonful of rice, grabbing my discarded napkin to wipe his mouth quickly before following me out the door.
"I got the food, I get first pick" he leans up on his tippy toes to tell me quietly from behind when we enter back into the shop floor.
"If you're talking about the brunette, you can have her" mutter quietly back to him.
"No way, she looks bitchy. I call blondie!" he says with a waggle of his eyebrows. As much as I would like to argue against him, he was the one to go get food this time.
"Okayyyy" I sigh in response.
"Oh come on Britt, she's cute" he tries reasoning with me while getting his equipment out of the workbench that sits immediately to my left.
"What? You just said she looked bitchy like less than two seconds ago!"
"Tsk, you know what I mean." waving me off.
I can only grunt in response while spraying down my chair with disinfectant and wiping it down.
"Alright so what're we getting done today?" I hear Gregg asking the blonde as he leans up against the front counter.
Once we had finished sanitizing and prepping our station, Gregg and I walked out to the waiting area to fetch our clients. Quinn didn't seem to mind going with Gregg, but her friend's face said something completely different when I walked up to her. In that one moment I knew that this was not going to be fun, but then again, I've never minded a challenge. After escorting her to my work station I let her sit and have some time to get comfortable in the chair while I put my gun together and making sure that it functioned.
"So did you win the bet then?" she asked randomly.
"Excuse me?" I questioned back, not quite sure what she was talking about.
"You and your friend" she motioned over to Gregg, "you had to have decided who got who right?"
"Well, he got the food so it was his pick" I responded honestly with a casual shrug.
"If you say so" she says in a snarky manner while inspecting her nails. I take a deep breath to keep from saying something that could keep me from getting paid.
"So what would you like and where would you like it?" I suggestively smirk to lighten the mood and change the subject. She only rolls her eyes before responding, but I catch a hint of a smile.
"I –uhm, -I was thinking about getting it on my left shoulder" her demeanor faltering to something more shy.
"Okay" I roll my chair closer to her until we are face to face.
"And I don't know if you could do like –uh, like a sugar skull, but in a Dr. Who theme?"
"Wow" I say while continuing to hold her gaze, my face emitting no emotion.
"What?" she questions, insecurity wafting off of her as she looks away.
"Nothing. It's just that that is actually a pretty cool idea, and all this time I had you pegged for a boring sorority girl" I answer with honest disbelief.
"You're kind of an ass" she said unamused.
"Hmm, you know that's not really something you want to say to someone who is about to repeatedly stab you with a needle" following my retort with a few zips of my tattoo gun as I step on the electric pedal down by my feet. She jumps, not expecting the release of noise from the gun.
"I'm sorry I couldn't help it" I laugh losing my façade, but quickly stop when her face pales over. "Shit, you look like you're about to pass out. Do you want like a soda or something?"
"No I'm okay, thanks" she says quietly looking away with a deep breath.
"Give me a few minutes to draw it up. You can chill here and watch me or you're welcome to go do anything else for like thirty to forty-five minutes."
"I'll just stay here and watch you draw."
"Alright then, let's get started" I smile, twisting my chair towards my workbench and flipping on my overhead desk light.
Forty-five minutes have gone by and I haven't heard a peep from the brunette. I had finished the complete outline of the skull and was about three fourths of the way through the intricate detail.
"Where did you learn to draw?" she asks over my left shoulder.
I spoke too soon.
"Uhm, I don't know actually. It's just something that I have always been able to do I guess" I shrugged.
"Oh, well you're really good" she admits quietly as if it were the world's best kept secret. I stop and look over my shoulder at her and mutter a quick thanks before turning my attention back to the design.
"So, may I ask where the thought of a Dr. Who Sugar Skull came from?"
She hesitates before answering my question; I feel her contemplating on if she's going to give me the real reason or a sarcastic answer.
"I don't know" she shrugs before continuing "I guess I have nerdy tendencies, it's not like a crime to like sci-fi stuff you know", the defensiveness returns to her tone.
"It was just a question" I answer quietly in a distracted tone, most of my attention remaining on the details of the design.
"No need to get all feisty" She only huffs in response.
"I actually happen to like the idea" I continue, finishing the last of the design.
"Oh really?" she asks in disbelief.
"Yep!" I answer as I pick up the paper and spin my chair around to show her the final product. I hold the drawing up in front of my face letting my eyeballs peek over the top just enough to read her facial expressions. Her eyes are wide with quiet excitement; completely forgetting I am here as she gets lost in the design.
"Plus, bowties are cool" I quote the sci-fi show with a waggle of my eyebrows. I'm not quite sure if it was the quote or my eyebrows that elicited a smile and a laugh from her, but I can see her relax a little bit from it.
"Okay maybe you're not a total ass" she smiles, rolling her eyes.
"Oh no, she's definitely is, don't let her charm her way out of it" Abby chimes in, looking over from whatever she's working on at her workbench. I can hear Gregg and Sean laugh from their work stations.
"Hey!" I exclaim with a snap and point of my fingers, "Mind your business". Abby chuckles with a smile as she shakes her head.
"Don't listen to these losers" I can't help but laugh at this girl laughing at me. "You ready to get this thing started?"
"Uhm, yeah" she answers before taking a deep breath.
"Right on" I smile, trying not to lose myself in her warm brown eyes.
It wasn't long before I was ready to finally put the ink to skin. I had gotten the design prepped on the thermal paper that would transfer the tattoo design from the paper to her skin. Santana had pulled off her shirt, and let it rest across her lap as she sat in the tattoo chair; clad with only a neon yellow sport bra covering her upper body. She didn't seem one bit bothered when I told her she would have to remove her t-shirt. In fact, I could have sworn that I saw her smirk before turning around in the chair.
Once I had gotten the tattoo out line stenciled onto her left shoulder and my ink wells were ready, it was go time. I snap on black latex gloves while rolling my chair back over to her side. Grabbing the gun off of my side table and a wad of paper towel to wipe the excess ink and blood that would release once we got started. I had been too busy bustling around to notice that she hadn't said a word since I had asked her to take her shirt off. I look up at her to see her staring straight at the ground, her face has lost some color.
"Hey, you feeling okay?" I ask her in concern
"I'm fine" she snaps, her bitchy demeanor is back in full swing.
"Okayyyy, here we go then"
I place my left hand on the top part of her shoulder to steady her as I start the black outline of the tattoo. She flinches a little at first contact and releases a small hiss.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I stop the gun to ask her again.
"She hates needles" her blonde friend snorts as she comments over to me while Gregg works on her lower back.
"Quinn. Shut. Up." The brunette snips in embarrassment before turning her attention back on me. "Come on, are we gonna do this or what?"
"Yes ma'am" I comply, resuming my work on her shoulder.
I'm almost done with the outlining when I realized that I'm about to go over a specifically sensitive area of the shoulder blade. I look up while wiping excess ink off of her shoulder from my most recent track. Her eyes are sealed shut as she takes a deep breath from having a small break. She might be kind of bitchy, but I'm not sadistic enough to enjoy when people hurt. I rack my brain thinking of something to say to distract her from the pain. Not really having much to go off of, I settle for making a fool out of myself. I figure I'll probably never see her again anyways.
"How're you doing?" I ask quietly, returning my attention to her shoulder blade.
"Fine" she releases through a struggled breath.
"Soooo … you work out or something?" I ask casually not looking up from her shoulder
"Are you fucking serious?" she laughs disbelievingly.
"What?!" I mock surprise.
"Are you really hitting on me right now?"
"Okay, you're sitting in my chair, half naked might I add, and yet you act shocked that I would notice that you look extremely fit" I explain.
"You're friend over there was right in correcting me"
"Oh yeah?" I challenge, trying to keep her attention elsewhere as I finish the outline.
"Yeah. First you stand there watching me like a creeper and don't even have the decency of being embarrassed when I catch you"
"Who said I was watching you?" I respond arrogantly.
"Please, you smiled when I caught you" she scoffs looking over her should at me with a challenged arch of her eyebrow.
"Maybe I was just being polite" I whisper back feigning sweetness, and earning an eye roll from her.
"Pff, hardly. You were practically drooling"
She moves to face the floor again. Our entertaining banter has kept her from focusing on the most painful part of the process. I know I officially look like a total creeper, but at least she's more relaxed. I move to thicken up some small areas on her outlining.
"Then you just stare at my ass right in the middle of helping my friend" she adds, turning her head to side-eye me again. "And please don't say that you were trying to decipher if my jeans were designer. Even though I am actually impressed with your attempt at originality that is the lamest excuse"
"Touché, I will give you that one. I was staring at your ass" I laugh, turning my gun off and wiping her should again.
"Don't say you- wait, what?" she stammers, I guess she expected me to deny it. I'm already in this deep, what the hell right?
"You're right, I was staring at your nicely shaped ass." I confirm with a smile before spinning my chair to grab the color mixes and change out the chisel tip. I can feel her staring at the back of my head. Her sudden silence give me the impression that no one has ever just said something like that out right to her. Feeling up on my game, I look over my shoulder to her and continue on from my prior statement feigning my best British accent and adding an eye roll, "Or Gluteus Maximus, if you prefer to go college on me".
"Well, at least you're honest" she responds in irritation. Sounds like someone isn't used to not having the upper hand. I'm not sure that I could wipe off the smug look that I know I have on my face even if I tried. This is turning out to be more entertaining than what I gave it credit for.
I moved back over to her and began the color and shading process of the tattoo. Some movement in my peripheral sight caught my attention. Gregg had finished up with the blonde girl named Quinn and he was walking her to the front. He caught my glance and gave me a wink, motioning that he was going to hang out with her in the front. I just smile and shake my head at him in response before returning my attention to the bare shoulder in front of me. I love that kid, but he's such a guy when it comes to pretty girls.
"Yes I do by the way"
"Yes you do, what?" the brunettes sudden admission caught me out of the blue.
"I work out"
"Oh" I chuckled in understanding. She was referring to my previous question when I was attempting to distract her from the pain.
"I have to if I don't want to be a whale"
"Oh? Why is that?" I stop the gun to look at her in disbelief.
"Because I like pizza way to much" she says with a serious pout.
We hold each others gaze for a moment before we both break in laughter. This girl is probably the most annoying, emotionally complex human being in the world, and ironically I am enjoying every shade of her that I've seen within the last two and a half hours. Our laughing ceases and I can't help but return her smile. Funny how a simple smile can make her eyes change from a muddy brown to something resembling warm hot chocolate.
"Well if it's any consolation, I think you would make a cute whale" this time trying to sound more sincere than creepy.
Instead of responding she just turns back to her resting position on the chair, but the smile doesn't falter. I take the hint and resume the shading on her shoulder blade. It's funny because I don't know why it took me until I was almost done to realize how soft her skin is under my touch. I can't actually feel the literal skin considering the black latex gloves that are creating a barrier between us, but the way it responds to the chisel of the tattoo gun tells me the truth of my musings. I lean down closer to her shoulder in attempt to fill a particularly intricate part of the design. My breath against her bare skin raises bumps along her flesh. I look over and see that she is gripping the back of the chair tightly.
"You okay? You need a minute?" I ask with some concern. She shakes her head immediately.
"No, no…I'm good"
"Okay, almost done. You're doing great"
I finish the last of the color fill on her shoulder and sit back to take a look at the whole finished product. Her shoulder is raw and puffs out around the outlines of the tattoo from where it has been scored by my tattoo gun for the last two and a half hours. Grabbing a fresh paper towel, I wet it and wipe over the skin again to remove any residual ink or freshly seeped blood.
"Okay! I think we are done. You are now the owner of a bad ass tattoo" I smile, slouching back in my chair.
"Really? Already?" she asks in surprise making me laugh.
"Already? You've been letting me abuse you for two hours"
"I wouldn't say abuse, you were actually really gentle" quiet appreciation emitting from her tone. I look away from her, smiling before clearing my throat and changing the subject.
"The full mirror is over there if you wanna go check it out" I point over to the side of Abby's chair and offer a handheld mirror to her so she can see her reflection easier. She takes the handheld and walks over the side of Abby's station. Turning her back to the full length mirror she holds the smaller mirror inches in front of her face as she inspects the back of her shoulder, a huge grin plastered on her face.
I catch Abby's shit eating smirk as she watches me, watching the brunette. Rolling my eyes at her, I dramatically swivel my chair back to my side table to start breaking down my equipment for cleaning. It's probably for the best that my attention be on cleaning my equipment then on her partially exposed chest or extremely toned stomach.
"That's a pretty sick piece" I hear Abby comment to the girl.
"I know right?! She might be an ass and kind of creepy, but I guess she has talent" the girl teases.
I don't even bother looking up at them as I continue taking my stuff apart, "Ears ladies…I have ears". They snicker in response.
"It really does look great though Brittany. Thank you" she says, suddenly standing in front of me. The sound of my name rolling off of her tongue has caught me completely by surprise. I look up to see her standing right next to me, holding the handheld mirror in front of her to return it to me.
"Wha- How do you know my name?" Really, of all the smoother, more intelligent responses, this is was blurbs out of my mouth. Face palming myself in front of her would just make me look stupider so I settle for doing it in my head. I swear I don't remember giving her my name. I look back up to her and see her sporting an amused look while holding up one of my business cards. Snapping my head over to my business card stand on the complete opposite side of my workbench, I'm drowning in confusion.
"If they're all the way over there and she's been over here….how the hell did she get that?" I think to myself.
"Are you secretly a ninja?" my tone could not me more serious as I squint my eyes at her. She just chuckles, her response just frustrating me more.
"So do we need to wrap this up or what?" she asks me expectantly, but I can see a hint of a grin in the corner of her mouth.
"Oh yeah" I push myself up off of my chair and reach for my side drawer that has my saran wrap and masking tape.
She turns her back to me and holds her upper arm out awkwardly to the side, allowing me to cover the full tattoo. Her back muscles tense and dance under my touch when I lay the wrap flat against her skin.
"Sorry, its tender" she mutters over her shoulder.
"Oh, sorry" I respond quietly as we share a quick smile.
Once everything is taped into place, she reaches for her purse hanging off of the tattoo chair and pulls out a black tank top, slipping on the garment before stuffing her NYU shirt in her bag and pulling out her wallet.
"So how much do I owe you?" she questions. My response tumbles out of my mouth like word vomit before I even compute what I'm saying.
"Naw, don't worry about it"
Not only did it make the brunette give me a double take, but I could feel Abby and Sean's eyes on me too. It wasn't like me to give out freebies, like ever.
"I can't do that" she frowns, shaking her head. "You spent almost three hours on everything, please let me pay you for your time" extending a chunk of fifty dollar bills in her hand towards me. Standing up I walk closer to her and push her hand back.
"Nah, it's cool. Honestly, it's Monday, I would've just been spinning around in my chair all night" I say gesturing at my chair that I had most recently vacated "You kept me entertained"
"There's got to be something I can do to repay you" she pleads. My stomach chooses this exact moment to rumble, and loudly I might add. Feeling Abby and Sean's pressured stares, because god forbid they mind their own damn business, an idea pops into mind.
"Well you know actually, your nerdy tattoo session just so happened to rudely interrupt my feeding time" I tease in mock annoyance.
She leans forward with her forearms on the back of my tattoo chair, smiling as she takes notice of the playfulness in my voice.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yup" I nod, holding her gaze.
"Hmm, well I guess it sounds like I owe you dinner then" she playfully responds.
"Yeah, I would say that's pretty fair" I nod my head in agreement. She smiles, sucking her bottom lip in between her teeth and looks at the floor before pushing off of the tattoo chair and slinging her purse into the crook of her elbow.
"I'll see you out front" she whispers shyly, turning on her heal and walking towards the front door.
I'm pretty sure I look like an idiot right now, standing in the middle of my work area, watching her walk out of the shop.
"Did that just fucking happen?" I try to reason with myself.
The sudden shock of a shop towel hitting me in the side of my face pulls me from my thoughts. I blink my eyes a few times, adjusting back to reality while I hear Sean and Abby burst out laughing.
"Hey Pierce, you're drooling all over the floor" Sean laughs. I can't help but follow along with them, chucking the shop towel back at him.
"You know guys, I think I'm starting to like Mondays."