"Alright already!" I shouted at the person honking at me. I shifted the car into drive and crept forward taking the empty space a car just left in line.
"Are you happy now?" I asked glaring at the person in the car behind me in my rearview mirror.
Parents can be so annoying, especially rich snobby ones. I could hear the school bell ring over the pop radio I had playing and I kept an eye out for my favorite little kid, Caterina.
She skipped her way over to the car with her pink sparkling backpack bouncing up and down. It was practically the same size as she was. I made sure the doors were unlocked before she opened the door, letting the noise of the waiting kids and parents fill the car.
"Hey, stellina," I said smiling as she climbed into her booster seat and buckled her seatbelt.
"Hey, Bea," she said sticking her tongue out as she struggled to click the buckle.
"Need some help?"
"No," she huffed.
She always tries to be so independent. I heard the click and she smiled with triumph.
"Okay, let's go," I said putting my graduation present, a Prius, into drive and pulling out of the line of cars.
"What was your favorite part of today?"
"Hmm," she sat in thought as we drove down the residential roads towards downtown.
"Oh, I know! We got to do crafts and I drew a picture of mamma, babbo, you, and me. I made sure the girls all had glitter dresses. But not babbo, that would be silly," she giggled to herself.
"You're right, babbo wearing a glitter dress would be silly."
Hearing her use the Italian words for mom and dad always made me smile because she draws out the "m" and "b" extra long. I always appreciated the fact that my parents taught us how to speak Italian so that we could communicate with our grandparents and family back in Italy.
"Are you excited that it's the last week of kindergarten? You're going to first grade next year!"
"No," she pouted crossing her arms, "Mrs. Dee told us that next year we don't get nap time."
"Well, you're going to be a big girl, which means that big girls don't take naps at school."
"I don't care, I don't want to leave kindergarten."
I tried to hide the smile from stretching across my face at her pouting, but it was just too cute. I wish my biggest problems were not being able to take a nap at school.
I just moved back home two days ago from university, and I had so much to sort out. My dad wanted me to take over the family business, so I majored in business management with a minor in fine arts. My dad was so proud when I graduated. He still thinks I'm going to take over the tattoo shop from him when he wants to retire, but I'm not sure that's really what I want to do.
"We're here!" I announced, turning the car off and unbuckling my seatbelt.
Cat unbuckled her seatbelt and hopped out, slamming the door behind her.
"Gentle, Cat. This is my brand new baby," I said eyeing my white Prius.
So maybe it wasn't a brand new car, but it was new to me.
She rolled her eyes at me and led the way into the back of the shop. I shut the door behind me and followed Cat into the little kitchen. As per her usual routine, she pulled the step stool from beside the fridge and dropped it in front of the sink. Her shoes lit up as she stomped onto the stool barely reaching the sink to wash her hands.
I opened the fridge and scanned the shelves.
"String cheese or yogurt?"
"String cheese!"
I opened the drawer and pulled two out.
"Here you go," I said handing her one.
We sat at the table and peeled open the wrappers. I took a bite off the top and Cat looked at me in disgust.
"Oh my god! Bea! You don't eat string cheese like that. Look I'll show you," she said holding the cheese in one hand and delicately peeling off a piece from top to bottom.
"See," she said popping the string of cheese into her mouth with a smile.
"Bea!"
I turned my head to holler back at my uncle Daniele who called my name but stopped with my mouth agape as he walked into the room. His broad shoulders loomed in the doorway as he entered.
"Walk-in. Go help him."
"Kay," I said putting the rest of the cheese in my mouth with a smirk towards Cat.
I hopped up from my chair and walked out towards the front of the shop. Dan went back to work tattooing his client and I peeked at the work he was doing. It looked like the start of a portrait of a dog. Probably a pet.
I continued to the front desk drumming my fingers on my thigh to the beat of the music playing in the room.
I stepped behind the counter taking in the customer in front of me.
"Hey, how's it going?" I said flashing a smile.
His green eyes perked up and a smile spread across his face.
"Good," he said leaning against the glass counter.
"So, whatcha looking for?"
He pulled out his phone and placed it on the counter between us.
"Skyline outline wrapped around my bicep."
I took a look at it and nodded. I checked out his arms, as I would do to anyone who was looking for a tattoo on their arms (not because I was trying to check out his muscles which were prominent), to see about size and space. He didn't have much room left with almost two complete sleeves, but there was a small space of blank canvas above his right elbow. He flexed his biceps when he noticed my gaze and I rolled my eyes to myself.
"Size?" I asked looking up at him.
"Uh—" he raised his eyebrows and smirked before continuing, "about this—" he said measuring about two inches with his thumb and forefinger and placing it just above his elbow.
My heart skipped realizing what he was insinuating when I asked about size and I tried not to let him see my embarrassment.
"Okay, let me see who's available next."
"Okay," he said straightening up.
I walked around the counter and took in his full appearance. He was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans with a grey band T-shirt and some high tops. His dirty blonde hair was long on the top but cropped and faded on the sides. He let a portion of it hang down, covering his face slightly.
As I walked past him, I caught a glimpse of the piercings that were covering his ear.
"Skyline, shaded about 2 inches thick wrapped around his bicep. Who should I call?" I asked as I approached my Uncle Dan.
"Uh—Ale can do it. He's done one before."
"Ok, I'll call him."
I walked back to the front to tell the client.
"So, it looks like we've got someone who can sort you out. If you wanna come back in about 15 or 20, Ale can draw up a stencil."
"Yeah, cool," he said picking his phone up.
"Yeah, so just email the photo to oscuroink@gmail," I said handing him a business card with the email address on it.
"Got it, thanks," he said walking out the door.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Ale's number.
"Hello?"
"Hey cuz, you've got a walk-in. Come down."
I hung up and he was downstairs a moment later. I moved the mouse on the computer next to me to wake it up and checked the email inbox.
I opened the email from 'michaelgcliff' and found the image that he had shown me. I printed it out and Ale picked it up off the printer.
"Cool, how big and where?"
"Around his bicep about two inches."
"Kay cool, thanks."
He walked to one of the desks and began stenciling. Alessandro, Ale [AH-LAY] for short, was like a brother to me. We are only two months apart since our moms got pregnant about the same time, and we always get mistaken for fraternal twins. We both have an olive complexion, big brown eyes, and button noses. We grew up pretty much attached to the hip until high school and I went off to college. He stayed here and started his apprenticeship at the shop under my dad--his uncle or zio as we say in Italian.
I passed the time scrolling through jobs on Indeed, until I heard the door ding as it opened.
"Hey," he said taking off a pair of sunglasses and hooking them onto the front of his shirt.
It made the front of his shirt sag, revealing more of the tattoos that were crawling up his neck.
"Hi, let me see if he's ready for you," I said walking back to Ale.
"You ready?"
"Yep," he said standing up with the stencil.
"Hey man, I'm Ale," he said confidently walking over to Michael.
"Michael," he said putting out his hand for Ale to shake it. He wore several rings on his tattooed hands, one of them with the letters MC on it.
The way he said his name made it sound like he was from a different country and my interest in who he was peaked. I couldn't quite place where the accent was from, but it wasn't purely American the way he pronounced specific words.
"Cool, so I've got your stencil if you just want to step over here I can put it on in the mirror and you can check for placement," Ale said shaking Michael's hand and holding up the stencil.
"How's that look for you?" Ale said holding the stencil against his skin.
"Uh—" Michael twisted to look in the mirror, "Yeah, yeah. It's perfect."
"Okay cool, if you head on over here I can get you all set up."
Ale led Michael to his station and I watched as he taped his shirt sleeve up. Michael threw his head back with laughter and I squinted my eyes to try and read Ale's lips, but I couldn't make sense of anything. I huffed and went back to my open Indeed page.
"Hey Bea, whatcha up to?"
"Huh? Oh, job hunting," I whispered to my cousin Siena or Si [SIGH] for short. I didn't want anyone to get wind of my job search before I even got started. My dad wouldn't be very happy about it if he knew.
"Oh," she said leaning onto the counter next to me, chewing a piece of gum and popping it in her mouth.
"Who's that?"
"Who?" I asked looking up to see who she was referring to.
"Cutie with Ale," she said checking him out.
"Michael. He's getting a skyline tattoo," I said watching as Ale chatted with him while he worked.
"Of what city?"
"I dunno," I shrugged.
"You're totally checking him out," Si said nudging my arm as I broke away from my gaze at his visibly sculpted body. The way he was laying with his arm raised above his head, I could just glimpse part of his lower abs, and from what I could tell he definitely went to the gym.
"I am not," I said defensively, changing my position to look at the computer screen.
She straightened up next to me and adjusted her boobs in her bra.
"You are not going over there," I said warningly.
"Why not? You just said you weren't into him, so he's fair game. Unless you are..."
She looked at me for an answer and I shook my head in denial. Si confidently strutted over to the table he was laying on.
I couldn't hear what she was saying but she kept looking back at me and I gave her a death glare. She laughed and flung her dark curls over her shoulder leaning in to touch his free arm.
"What a flirt," I said, rolling my eyes.