No Strings Attached

CHAPTER 1

I smile when I walk down the stairs and into the pretty shop, filled with plants and flowers like Mom always liked, always making me promise to not let them die with her.

I go into the foyer waiting area and go to the front desk, clicking to see who my clients are. I chuckle when it's a couple, wanting to get matching tattoos like all naive couples do.

I go to our biggest room for appointments and sanitise my hands, putting on gloves as I prepare everything for the tattoos, smiling at the photo of Mom, Dad and I on the wall. Sitting in a park with a melting ice cream in my hand, the biggest smile on my face as I sit on Mom's lap, Dad's arms around both of us.

My smile turns sad when I see the pretty necklace around my Mom's neck, a golden daisy which Dad gave her when they first started dating. A necklace which now never leaves my neck, one of the few items Grandfather didn't throw out after their deaths.

I lay everything out on a pink tray beside the bed and peel my gloves off when I hear the bell ring as the parlour door is opened.

I put on a smile and walk out, my smile turning genuine when I see two women holding hands as they excitedly talk to each other.

They see me and one waves as I laugh and walk over to them.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Anastasia and I'll be taking your appointment today," I introduce myself as I shake their hands.

The one who waved beams at me, her eyes crinkling as dimples appear on her cheeks, "I'm Luna, and this is my girlfriend Stacy," she smiles, looking at the girl in a way which makes my heart heavy.

They're so in love it's disgusting.

"Now do you guys know what tattoo you're after today?" I ask, looking over at Stacy who's smiling at Luna, letting her do all the talking.

I know who wears the pants in this relationship.

I guide the two over to the table in the waiting room, filled with books of designs created by myself and my parents, mostly fine line tattoos.

We sit down on the couches as they flick through a book, "There was one on your website which we both liked," Stacy ponders, "I think it was a bouquet of flowers together,"

I nod and flick through the book to the section on our flower tattoos.

"But we were wondering if the flowers in the bouquet could be our birth flowers?" Luna asks, looking at me curiously.

"Absolutely, we have a page on all the birth flowers. Just show me which ones and I can definitely do that," I smile, trying not to throw up at this beautiful couple's disgustingly cute idea.

Stacy flips over to the page of birth flowers and smiles, "Can we both get a bouquet of violets and marigolds?" she asks. I nod and remove the drawings from the book, looking at the design which Dad made years ago.

"Where do you want the placement?" I ask, they look at each and Stacy nods as Luna looks at me, "On the back of our right arms," she says.

I smile, "Of course, if you come into the room we can start right away,"

They both nod and we stand up as I lead them over to the room I prepared earlier, closing the door behind us.

"Who's going first?" I ask, sitting down on my chair as I sanitise my hands again and put on a fresh pair of gloves.

"I will, I want to get it over and done with," Luna says, her voice cautious. I smile at her nervousness, first time clients are always funny.

Stacy kisses her and sits down on the chairs against the wall, a smile on her face as Luna gets into the chair.