' ICE CREAM AND CIGARETTES ' - vinnie hacker

1; don't worry, peach

"alright." i mumbled and he smiled. "great. follow me." he said and led us into a room, throwing his ice cream cone away along the way, imani holding my hand the whole time. i sat on the black chair and looked around, observing all of the materials in the room. "what're you getting?" the guy, who's name i still don't know, asked as he put on some black gloves.

this is embarassing. so embarassing. i wonder how many girls a year come in here asking for a peach on their ass, it's probably the most cliché thing. "a peach. like the emoji." imani answered his question for me with a grin, probably because she knew i wouldn't answer it.

"oh, really? what's the story behind that?" he chuckled as he motioned for me to flip around. i didn't even have time to answer before he started to speak again. "why do you still have your pants on?"

i looked at him in shock. there's no way he just said that. "excuse me?"

he let out a short chuckle, "what, did you expect me to give you the tattoo over your jeans, or something?"

i could hear imani stiffle a laugh as i huffed, and i got up before pulling my pants down.

this is just the same as wearing a bikini, i tried to tell myself, which actually kind of helped, but my face was still heated in humiliation.

i could hear him chuckle as i laid back down on the chair, "oh, don't worry, sweetheart. i've seen more from you, this is nothing."

okay, he's attractive. but that's irrelevant.

i felt something being drawn on my right cheek, probably an outline or something, as imani started conversation. thank god for her. she's good at controlling awkward situations.

"so, how long have you been doing this?" i heard her ask and a bit of shuffling, from what i'm guessing is her sitting down. "uh, i've always been interested in tattoos, but i couldn't legally work here until i was eighteen, so since then. i became manager when i was nineteen."

his voice is relaxing. it's such a shame that most of the words that come out of his mouth are irritating.

"and how old are you now?" i asked out of curiosity, but also in attempts to calm my nerves. i feel like maybe getting to know him better would make me more comfortable.

"twenty." he responded, in more of a mumble from how concentrated he was. i felt a cool substance on the area he was previously tracing on, that felt alot like lotion. hopefully it's to clean the area or someting, and not anything weird. i'll have to google the process later.

i don't know why, but part of me felt kind of disappointed at the fact that i'm older than him. most guys date girls that are younger, or at least the same age. why did that suddenly matter to me though? i barely know him, i could care less about his validation.

"alright, this might hurt a little, peach." he spoke, a bit louder than last time, and i heard the sound of the tattoo gun turning on. "peach?" i questioned, and he was right, and certainly did hurt. imani grabbed my hand, probably for me to squeeze. she knows me way too well.

"well, i don't know your name, and i gotta call you by something." he now spoke the way he was before, slightly mumbling as he focused on doing his job.

"i don't- fuck- i don't know your name either." i squeezed imani's hand, and hear the sound of her unlocking her phone. she's probably taking a photo of this odd tattoo session, and i'll most likely randomly get it sent to me in a few days. i know her just as well as she knows me.

he mumbled again, "vinnie."

"vinnie? your name is vinnie?"

"mhm."

"like, that's the name on your birth certificate?"

"no, it's vincent."

"so, your name is vincent."

he laughed a bit, "you a real technical person, huh, peach?"

"oh, trust me, she is." imani huffed, making him laugh again. "gonna tell me your name now?"

"i'm imani, and she's reese." imani answered for me, probably trying to annoy me but i appreciated it because i was more focused on trying not to scream from the needle going into my skin.

"hm," vinnie hummed, "pretty name, but i like peach better. gonna tell me the background story of this tattoo, now?"

at this point, imani and him were holding a conversation instead of me. how has imani had this done, multiple times? maybe i'm just sensitive to pain, or maybe she's more tolerant of it.

once in fifth grade, we snuck onto imani's roof and fell all the way onto the trampoline. i swore my ankle was sprained, and i was so mad at her for convincing me to do it with her. imani, on the other hand, had the time of her life and begged me to do it again.

so, i guess our personalities have always contradicted each other.

"when we were twelve, i made reese promise me that we'd get matching peach tattoos, cause we're from atlanta, and y'know the whole georgia peach thing. took alot of convincing to make her go through with it, though." imani answered for me, still holding onto my shaking hand.

"damn, known each other that long?" i heard vinnie whistle, "that's dedication."

"yeah, fourteen years. we're plenty sick of each other, don't worry." i could hear the smile in her voice, and it made me smile too.

"alright. all done." vinnie let out a content sigh and got up after turning off the gun, "you can get up now, and you can look at it in the mirror, if you want."

i nodded and slowly got up, feeling slightly sore but surprisingly less uncomfortable with the idea of my ass being shown. i was surprised by how respectful he was, he didn't touch my ass when it wasn't nessicarily, and didn't make any inappropriate remarks. he's definitely a snarky person, but he takes his job seriously, i'll give him that.

"holy shit," i looked at myself in the mirror, having to turn my head to be able to see it. "woah, you did really good," imani said towards vinnie as she admired my new mark, and she was right. it was very detailed, way better than what i imagined.

"thanks." he chuckled and looked at it in the mirror as well, and normally i'd be apposed to a man looking at my ass without permission, but i'll let it slide this time.

"my parents will murder me if they find out." i mumbled, looking at it for one more second before grabbing my pants off the floor.

"you're literally twenty-two years old, i don't think you should be worried about that." imani laughed.

"damn, twenty-two?" vinnie asked as he lit a cigarette, laughing when he saw me roll my eyes. "aw, don't worry, peach. i like older women."

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authors note

im warning yall rn,, vinnie is very....explicit in this book😭

anyway how yall doing