Black Ink || Harlena a.u.

38.

H a r r y ' s    P.O.V

I stretched at the soreness of my back and arms after finishing up a client. They had wanted something on their back, which meant I had to be bent over to make sure I got every detail down to precision. The smile on their face let me know I did a decent job, which I guess paid off for the tiredness.

I was about to get up and take a quick break when a short girl entered the shop with another short girl whom I assumed was her friend.

They were both giggling at something, but stopped immediately when their eyes landed on me. The first one turned bright red and the other one smirked at her.

"What can I do for you tonight?" I was supposed to close an hour ago, but we needed to make up for a few more customers in order to get a somewhat average week.

"Hi," the first one mumbled. "I'd like a quick tattoo."

I gave her a reassuring smile and gestured at the seat across from me, but she seemed hesitant as soon as she glanced over.

"Don't worry," I mused. "It's clean, promise."

The second girl laughed after the first turned to her, "I can't do this."

With an eyeroll, the second girl pushed the other aside and stopped in front of me.

"I need a tattoo, but I don't think the proper place to sit would be in that chair," she crossed her arms and gave me a mischievous smile.

"Oh," I remarked. "Where do you want this tattoo? On your back, leg... or?"

Her tongue swiped her lips before his eyes casted down to her front.

My mouth opened in acknowledgement. For a second I hesitated, but nodded nonetheless. "Right this way."

I led her to the far back where we had a seat that extended all the way for tattoos such as this one and a black curtain that gave the client privacy.

I told her to lie down on the paper I had placed down earlier- we changed it everyday, regardless if it was used or not, while I got my tools ready.

When I came back, she was lying on her back, the smug expression still placed on her face and I understood why after I stepped closer and noticed her bottom half was completely exposed. Mentally, I thanked her for shaving herself, it was always awkward when clients came in with a full bush and expected me to tattoo them with it in the way.

"So you want it directly on your pelvis?"

She nodded.

"What tattoo did you want?"

Her eyes squinted, "What's your name?"

I gave her a pointed look.

"Relax," she laughed. "I'm only joking... I want it to say 'yes' in a simple font."

Believe me when I say it was incredibly hard not to cringe at these requests, but it was even harder when we had to keep a straight face.

I began the process of sanitizing and whatnot, and she was already squirming, biting her lip whenever my glove covered hand made any type of contact with her. This was normal, but it usually began when I had the needle.

After she agreed that she wanted it to look like how I had sketched it out on her with the marker, I started up the needle and began to slowly carve in the letters.

She made uncomfortable noises here and there, but as I pressed down on her skin with my other hand to make sure I wasn't making any askew lines, her mouth let out a soft moan.

My hand retracted immediately and instead found another position to finish up her tattoo, from.

I heard the back door open and I frowned because no customer was supposed to come in from there.

It couldn't have been Lance because he left to go take my mom out for their anniversary a few hours ago.

"Lance?" Someone called out, confirming my suspicion.

"I'll be just a sec," I replied. I didn't recognize the voice.

I finished up the girl and applied all that was necessary to make sure it healed properly as I explained to her what I was doing and what she should do.

Taking her hand, I helped her climb off the seat as she slipped on her skirt. My back turned to her as I careful exited and made my way over to the sink to wash my hands.

A guy around my age waited next to a pile of boxes.

"Hey," I nodded.

He stood up after greeting me, but didn't say anything else because I had to ring up the girl. She was limping a bit, but otherwise showed no other emotion besides small grimaces.

After the two girls left, I returned my attention to the guy.

"So what's up with all these boxes?"

"Oh um, sorry. My dad couldn't deliver these to you, personally. He said he would have mailed them to you like he usually does, but after what he mentioned as 'that incident' he didn't want to risk it," he shrugged.

My head nodded in understanding, "Didn't know Larry had a son."

The guy sucked his teeth as his hands lifted in the air, "I'm not around much. Spend most of my time with work and school."

I smiled at him as I stretched my hand out, "Sorry, I'm Harry."

He returned the smile and reached out to take it, "Louis."