Skins & Needles (COMPLETE)

Crumbling Walls Part 1

Arsen

I booked the appointment three days in advance. My wound needed time to heal more, and I needed to seriously think about how I was going to approach my encounter with Charlotte. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that it would be a good place to stake out our positions as... friends? Or something like that. I didn't know how soon, if ever, I would move past the things I felt toward her, but I could try and make it bearable to be around her in a platonic manner, and there was no better place to do that than in a professional setting.

When I got to the shop late that evening, I stopped before I walked in, as I had the last time I was at Skins and Needles. I asked for a late appointment. To minimize traffic, I told myself, but it was really so I could spend time with her alone, figuring her out and how to coexist with her. The last time I was with Charlotte, I'd been so close to cracking it scared me, and I had to be in the right headspace when I walked into the parlor.

I knew as soon as I saw her sweeping up the shop with Jeremy and using her broom handle as a microphone that it wouldn't be easy. She was something else, some magnificent phoenix that had gone through an unknown hell and come out shockingly vibrant and alive, and I was drawn to her flame like a helpless moth.

I pushed open the door anyway, determined to make this work, and watched her eyes widen as they landed on mine.

"Arsen?" she asked, leaning on her broom casually. "What are you doing here? I don't see your usual squad."

"Jeremy," I said instead of responding, "my eleven o'clock?"

"Phone number?" he asked in return, stifling a smirk as he entered it into the system. Once he was done, he nodded toward Charlotte, who dropped the broom when I turned to her.

"No fucking way!" she exclaimed, first looking at me in disbelief, and then shifting her expression to one of excitement when Jeremy confirmed. "Oh my God! This is just... okay. Jer! You didn't tell me who my late night was!"

"He booked under phone number, what can I say?" he protested, though I suspected he knew the entire time. "It's been slow the past few days, anyway."

"True..." She trailed off and glanced at me with fire dancing in her eyes. "Well then. Have a seat, Mr. Volkov." She walked over to her station and spun the chair around like a mad scientist to their unsuspecting specimen, and motioned for me to take a seat. I began second guessing my decision when I saw the array of equipment laying out on her station.

"Why thank you, Miss Andersen," I replied, trying not to visibly gulp at the number of needles. Why was I so nervous? I had watched a bullet get removed from my chest. I had seen my cousins get tattoos. Was it the fear of permanence? Was it the idea of Charlotte's work on my skin for life? The only thing I knew was that I wasn't backing out.

"Char," I heard Jeremy call, and turned to look at him in unison with her. "I'm going to do some work in the back. Let me know if any walk-ins happen by?"

"Of course!" she chimed. He gave a quick wave, and then disappeared behind their office door. Leaving Charlotte and I alone in the main section of the shop.

This was fine.

"So, finally caving, hm?" she asked, and took a seat in her work chair. She had a sketchbook in her lap, and a pen in her left hand.

How did I never notice she was left-handed?

"I am," I admitted, "though I'm still uncertain on what precisely to get."

"Any ideas?" She watched me with her hazel eyes over her glasses frame, and tapped her pen to her lip.

I could do this.

"I mean, I could always go with the family last name theme," I suggested. "Or maybe some woods. I've always loved the look of forest tattoos, and I was browsing this." I held up my phone to show her instagram page, and she blushed scarlett as a laugh bubbled up.

Scarlett Charlotte.

"I can't believe you remembered that," she grinned, swiping through some of her feed to see what I'd liked. Truthfully, I could have liked everything on her account— she truly was an incredible artist— but I wanted to narrow down ideas.

"How could I forget?" I didn't mean to ask aloud, but seeing the sweet smile on her face when I did made the slip worth it.

"I think I can work with this," she said, and handed my phone back. "Let's see..." She began flipping through her sketchbook for a blank page, and I saw that it was filled with colorful drawings and detailed sketches of a myriad of subjects. Animal skulls, flowering designs, cartoon characters, trees, mythical creatures... Something caught my eye toward the end, and I stopped her from flipping away from it.

"What's this?" I asked, though I had already seen. It was a black wolf in different poses with luminous golden eyes.

"Oh, ah, just something I sketched up the other night," she stammered, then paused to look up at me. "Do you like it?"

"It's incredible," I said. And uncanny.

"I can work it into a full tattoo," she suggested, and I got the sense that she was trying hard to be more casual than she felt. She had tensed up, whether in anticipation, or for some other reason.

"Sure," I shrugged. "Let's see what you can come up with, and go from there?"

Charlotte nodded slowly, and then smiled.

"I've got an idea."