one | tattoo
I pulled the thin sweater I was wearing tighter against my body, the spring winds being colder than I had expected them to be. My dirty, black boots made their way down the street, coming closer to their destination.
After thirty minutes of walking, I finally made it to where I had been wanting to go for the past three years of my life, the tattoo parlour.
I pulled on the door, opening it. I shivered as a cool breeze from inside hit my tan skin. I walked up to the front desk, and waited for someone to tend to me. While I was waiting, I looked around the small parlour. The walls were covered in drawings of all shapes and sizes. I noticed a man farther back in the room, someone working on his muscular arm with a needle that was loaded with ink.
Looking at the tattoo machine made me shiver. Although I was excited about getting a tattoo for the first time, I was afraid about how much it would hurt.
"May I help you?" A voice cut my thoughts off, and my head snapped back to look at the front desk. A man who must be in his early twenties was standing there, his arms completely draped with colorful artwork.
"Yeah, I'm not sure how this works, but, I'm here to get a tattoo?" I said nervously, and the man smiled, he had a warm smile.
"You seem nervous, don't be nervous! It's nothing scary, I promise." He laughed, and I joined him.
"Well, I'm going to be having a needle on my skin soon, so I think I'm allowed to be nervous!" I said good-naturedly.
"If you don't like needles, I suggest you don't do this." The man warned, and I shook my head.
"I'm not afraid of needles, just afraid of how much this is gonna hurt."
"It won't hurt much, take my word on it." He said, and I nodded. No matter what he said though, I would still be slightly terrified about doing this, but the thrill of getting a tattoo was overpowering the fear, therefore the reason why I was doing this.
"Okay." I said simply.
"So, what are you thinking about getting? I need to know whether you'll pay now, or after the tattoo is done."
"I'm just getting something small, I'm kinda experimenting. And by small, I mean, really small, like, I'm getting it on the side of my finger." I motioned to the side of my index finger, where I planned to put the permanent ink.
"Oh, okay, that'll be easy. You can just pay now." The man said, looking at the front desk. He grabbed a paper, then gave it to me with a pen, "This is just something that tells us about any medical conditions you might have, you know, the basics."
I nodded, filled out the paper, then payed for my tattoo.
"Okay, come sit in this chair." The man lead me to a red leather chair, patting his hand on it, "We only have three tattoo artists here, Zayla is out sick, and Dean is working on one of our regulars over there," He motioned towards the guy next to us working on the burly man's arm, "So you'll have to wait a couple minutes for our third tattoo artist, Luke."
"Okay." I said, sitting down in the chair. I hoped this Luke guy was nice, I didn't want a dick to give me my first tattoo.
My fingers played with each other in my lap, I had nothing else to do. I heard someone cough from above me, and my head snapped up, and I saw a boy who I assumed was Luke.
"Hi babe," He said. I was surprised that he had called me babe, but brushed it off, he probably called every girl "babe."
His arms were completely covered in tattoos, and from what I could see from his black, low v-neck t-shirt, his chest was covered in tattoos too. He had an eyebrow piercing above his left eye, and a black ring sat upon his bottom lip. The jeans Luke had on were by far the skinniest jeans I had ever seen on a boy.
"Hi." I squeaked, my voice coming out quieter than I had planned it to.
"What's your name?" He asked, sitting on the swivel-stool chair next to me. He scooted closer.
"Nora." I said, my voice still quiet. I felt intimidated by him, almost as if his tattoos would bite me.
"Well, Nora, what are you interested in getting tattooed on you?" Luke asked, grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil.
"Just something small, a sun and moon on the side of my index finger." I said, taking the pencil and paper from him. I laid the paper on my lap, then drew a simple moon and sun.
Luke's face went from polite and happy, to annoyed and bored. I furrowed my eyebrows, had I done something wrong?
"Of course..." Luke muttered, rolling his eyes.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"You would get a tattoo like that, it's a basic thing that white girls get. It's not even like a legitimate tattoo, it's a stupid one, if you ask me," Luke commented as he got his supplies ready. I felt slightly offended by what he had just said. Who was he to judge what tattoo I was getting? I didn't have to take his bullshit, I could tell the man who had helped me earlier, and get Luke in trouble!
"That's cool, but I didn't ask you." I said harshly, and Luke glanced up at me, his baby blue eyes meeting my gray ones.
"Sassy." Luke said under his breath, shaking his head and chuckling to himself.
I didn't like this boy very much.
"Can you just give me the tattoo? I came here for the tattoo, not your insults." I muttered, and Luke grabbed my arm, taking me by surprise.
He laid it on the arm rest of the leather chair, then trailed his fingers down to my hand, causing goosebumps to appear on my skin.
When Luke saw the goosebumps, he looked up at me, his lip ring inbetween his teeth, a smirk tugging on his lips. I felt myself blush, and once I did so, Luke went back to my hand. He took out a wipe, and started cleaning the area where I would be getting the tattoo.
Once he finished cleaning it, I noticed him grab the tattoo machine, and turn it on.
Luke brought it close to my skin, but then took it away, and glanced up at me, "You gonna stop shaking your feet?" He asked, and I then realized that my feet had been tapping on each other. It was a way to calm myself, I guess.
Luke once again took the machine closer to my skin, and the closer it got, the more I realized that this was actually happening. I was getting a tattoo, and it would be on me forever. Excitement and fear were pumping through my veins, hand in hand.
I suddenly felt a sharp pain, and yelped, slightly jumping in my chair.
Luke glanced up at me, "Stay still or else you'll have a squiggly line instead of a moon on your finger."
"You could've told me that you were starting!" I whined, and Luke rolled his eyes.
"I would think that if some stranger was holding a needle to my skin, that I would be watching them very closely."
"Well, sorry." I said, blushing. I didn't like this boy very much.
Luke went back to giving me my tattoo, and once the needle laid back on my skin, I bit my lip. It hurt so much, I wasn't sure if I wanted him to continue.
"So, how old are you?" Luke asked, his eyes still focused on my finger.
"Eighteen, that's why I'm here, actually. My birthday was yesterday, and I'm treating myself to a present, and the present was a tattoo."
"Happy day-late birthday," Luke said, "I'm nineteen."
"I didn't ask how old you were." I said, sounding snottier than I had meant to.
"I don't care, I thought I would just say it, no need to get mean about it."
There was about thirty seconds of silence after that, but Luke spoke again.
"What do you like to do?" He asked, and I wanted to groan out loud. Why was he being so nice to me, when five minutes ago he was being a dick?
"I guess I like music... I also like writing."
"What kind of music?" Luke asked, glancing up at me with interest.
"I dunno, bands? I also like a little bit of country."
Luke stuck out his tongue in disgust, "Country is terrible."
"Your opinion." I noted.
"Whatever," He mumbled, "What bands do you like?"
"I'd have to say either Pink Floyd or Coldplay."
Luke nodded, "Good music taste."
"Thanks, I think?"
There was silence that overcame the two of us, and minutes later, Luke turned off the tattoo machine.
"All done." He said, rubbing the palms of his hands on his black jeans. I was shocked at how I hadn't felt the pain of the needle for half the time it took to do the tattoo.
"Can I leave now?" I asked, not sure how this worked.
"No, I still need to cover it so that you don't ruin the tattoo or hurt yourself in any way." Luke mumbled, digging through some stuff on the small table next to him.
He applied some clear layer ontop of the side of my finger, then let go of my hand.
"You can look at it now, if you want." He said.
As I brought my hand up to my face to inspect the tattoo, I noticed Luke watching me very closely.
Even though Luke had been a dick, I still appreciated the good job he did on my tattoo, so I got out a tip for him from my purse.
"Thanks," Luke smirked, taking the money from my hand. As our hands touched, the goosebumps once again appeared on my arm, making me shiver.
"You're welcome." I said awkwardly, sure that Luke had seen me get the goosebumps. And I was sure he knew that I got them because of our hands touching.
I stood up from the leather chair, adjusting my shirt before I walked towards the exit. Right as I pushed the door open, I heard Luke's voice from behind me.
"Bye babe."
-
okay this first chapter really wasn't good or anything, but it was a beginning so hey
the chapters for this fanfic will be longer, therefore making the waits just a little bit longer also, but not too long.
comment if i should continue this because i really need the feedback (: