Page 19 of Arris, Jayme & Dyani
“Come on. Let me take y’all to the back.” He nudged his head to the side and we just nodded like two dumb, groupie bitches before trailing him.
He led us to a nice-sized room toward the back of the shop and gestured for us to enter first.
“Dyani, Illiana.” He said our names as he gestured toward where he wanted us to sit.
Then he collapsed on a third chair and grabbed a sketchpad from the actual tattoo chair. He asked Illiana a series of questions, like what size she was thinking about and if she had a certain butterfly in mind.
I looked around the room while they discussed it. There were a lot of beautiful drawings on the wall. A television was mounted on the wall right across from the tattooing chair and had soft music playing from it.
I let my eyes travel back to Arris. He was sketching away on his pad. He licked his lips and adjusted the way he was sitting. Illian moved closer to him to look at the drawing and I slid closer to her so I could see it too.
“That’s really pretty,” Illiana muttered.
“Thank you, sweetheart.” He grinned without looking up at us.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
We’d come here because Illiana had been trying to get me fucked and now I was getting screwed. I didn’t comment though. Illiana and I just sat quietly while he drew, and when he finished, he showed the sketch to both of us.
“What are you thinking?” he asked. “And be brutally honest. This shit is going to be on you for the foreseeable future. Whatever you don’t love, we need to fix.”
“I think it looks amazing.” Illiana looked over at me. “What do you think, Dyani?”
“It looks good.” I nodded.
“You sure this is it?” Arris asked. “I don’t want you to just like it. I want you to love it, and if my art style isn’t for you, that’s cool. I’m not going to be offended, baby. I can recommend someone else to you easily. I don’t want no bullshit branded on your body.”
“No. It’s beautiful,” she assured him.
“Alright.” He exhaled and sat up. “So, I have good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?”
“The good news.” Illiana didn’t hesitate.
“We have something you like that we can tattoo at any time.”
“And the bad news?”
“Tonight ain’t the night.” He tossed the pad on the tattooing chair. “You’re slurring a lil bit, sweetheart, and I don’t tattoo drunk people. It’s not a good look for multiple reasons.”
“I’m not that drunk,” Illiana argued.
“Even buzzed is too much for me. So I’m going to opt out, but I’ll do this shit for you any time later.”
He rolled his chair back and popped open a little black box. He grabbed a business card and offered it to her.
She pouted. He gave her a lil smile.
“Don’t look at me like that.” He hit her lightly on the outside of her leg with the back of his hand. “I’ve got you next time. I promise. Let me know when you want to get in the chair, and if I have to move shit around, I will.”
“You promise?” Illiana blinked at him.
“Cross my heart.” He put a hand to his chest.
“Fine. Alright.” She sighed but climbed up. “Thanks for drawing something up for me.”
“No problem.”
Arris stood and I followed suit.
