Present Day
“It’s okay to talk while I draft,” I say to her.
When we first got to the shop, I talked to the walk-in customers waiting for Darma, to see what kind of tats they wanted. There were only three people waiting. Darma had one in a booth. Before I began drafting, I asked Darma if she wanted me to call Virgil to help. She declined the offer. Said she could handle it as long as I worked the counter and did the transfers. I grabbed some transfer paper, and after grabbing a toothpick from the black skull shot glass on the countertop and popping it into my mouth, I began working.
Normally, artists don’t like doing ink from other artists’ transfers, but Darma is fine with it. Plus, it’s my shop. I can do what I want.
I’m joking, of course. Sort of.
I asked Kerry to sit beside me while I work the transfers. She hasn’t said a word since I started.
“Oh. Okay. I didn’t know if it would distract you.”
I smile while I concentrate on my sketch. “I’m okay. I promise.”
I hear her exhale. I look over at her. She looks a little anxious. “Are you okay?”
“Stella still hasn’t texted me. I’m worried.”
“Did you text her?”
“I did. No response.”
“Give her time,” I say, flipping the toothpick around in my mouth.
Kerry doesn’t say anything else, but her leg is bouncing slightly as she sits on the stool beside me. I glance over at her again. She’s looking down at her thumbs, which are fidgeting. I move my gaze up to her face. She’s sporting a small half smile. Her cheeks are blushed.
“Is there something else you’re thinking about?” I tease, giving her a devilish side glance. Her blush deepens.
“Maybe,” she says.
“What might that be?”
“Well,” she begins, picking at a button on her jacket. “About thirty minutes ago, we were in a pretty serious lip-lock.”
I laugh and clear my throat. “That we were.”
“Is it okay to say out loud that I kind of can’t wait to do it again?”
My heart begins to race. I inhale a deep breath to keep my hands from shaking and messing up the transfer.
“It is very okay for you to say that out loud. I’m happy to hear it.”
She breathes out a laugh. “Good to know.”
We sit in silence as I finish the sketches. I look over at her every now and then as she flips through a portfolio. She has a constant grin and blush on her face. She’s giddy. I did that. I made her giddy. Something in my gut flutters, which causes me to grin as well.
I guess I’m a little giddy too.
As giddy as a man can fucking get.
I show the transfers to the customers. They approve. I set them aside just as Darma finishes up the person in the booth. I give a care sheet to that customer and ring up the next customer before sending him over to Darma. I ring up the other two customers as well. Walk-ins have to pay before they get tatted.
Now I can focus completely on Kerry.
I sit on my stool and scoot her stool closer to me while she sits on it.
“Hi,” I say when she’s as close as I can get her.
“Hi back.”
I reach down between us, underneath the counter and pull out the portfolio on top. I know it’s the right one because I looked through them all the other day and made sure it was on top. I plop it on the counter.
I look at Kerry. “Are you ready to feast your eyes on the flower-vagina tattoo?” I shift my eyebrows up and down a few times.
Kerry clasps her hands together just under her chin. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long.” She bats her eyelashes. She’s so damn adorable.
“Prepare for epicness,” I say slowly in my best low, reality TV announcer voice.
I look for my bookmark before I open the binder. I dramatically slide my finger into the book and pause. “Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.”
“What? But you said it was a great tattoo.”
“It is. It’s gorgeous. But because you know what it’s supposed to be, it’s twisted.”
Kerry’s shoulders shake as she silently laughs. “Just show it to me already.”
“Can I get a drumroll, please?”
She taps out a drumroll with her hands on the top of the counter.
Quickly I flip the book open. There is only one picture to be seen on both pages of the open book. I isolated the tat to fine-tune the shock value.
Kerry leans down and makes a hard observation of the tattoo. She stays that way for a solid minute. Finally, I can’t take it any longer. “Well, what do you think?”
“I’m trying to come up with words, but I can’t find any.”
“That’s pretty much everyone’s response.”
“And it’s on his bicep? He just walks around with an obvious vagina on his bare arm? Certainly, he doesn’t wear sleeves all year long in this weather.”
“I don’t know if he was from here or if he was a tourist. But, yeah. Bicep vagina.”
Kerry covers her mouth as she laughs. Then she lets out another one of those wide-mouthed, loud laughs. God, I love that laugh.
I point out to her some of the details that make the tat particularly disturbing. She laughs more.
The door chimes as we carry on about the tat. I look up to see Padraig.
“Did you finally show her the vagina tat?” he asks, walking behind the counter. He grabs the edge of the binder and slides it his way. He looks at the picture, shakes his head, and makes a clicking sound with the side of his tongue.
“I still can’t decide if that bloke has massive balls or no sense at all. Would this flatter you, Kerry? A guy’s vision of your lady bits all exposed on his arm like that?”
“Padraig!” I snap.
“It’s an honest question,” he proclaims.
“You want me to ask the same question to Stella?” I challenge.
His face flashes anger in an instant. Then he looks at Kerry, and back to me. His face softens, and he raises a single eyebrow as his lips turn up into a mischievous grin. He opens his mouth to speak, but Kerry speaks first.
“This would not flatter me at all. I think I would be a little embarrassed to face people who knew this was supposed to represent my va-jay-jay. I don’t care how disturbingly beautiful it is.” Instead of cowering to Padraig’s stupid, potentially intimidating question, she answers with confidence. In my head, I give her a big high five.
Padraig smirks and looks at me. “See. Simple question.”
I refuse to bring up my point about Stella again. I don’t want him getting any ideas that Kerry and I maybe, possibly, have some sort of relationship in the works. I don’t want his thoughts or opinions. Even though the inappropriateness of him asking Kerry that question isn’t really a point about relationships, it’s just manners in general. But, by the look on his face, I saw where his brain was trying to take it before Kerry chimed in.
Padraig narrows his eyes at me for a moment, hoping for a response, I guess. Then he looks back down at the picture. “It’s settled, then.” He taps his finger twice on the page of the book. “This guy is a fucking idiot.”
Kerry turns her head to me, tucks it into her shoulder, and sputters out a laugh as if she’s trying to hold it in. I roll my eyes at Padraig even though he isn’t paying attention.
“Kerry?” Padraig starts.
“Paddy, I think we’re good on questions for the evening,” I say.
Kerry elbows me playfully.
“Cool it, Luca. I just wanted to know if she’d heard from Stella this afternoon. I tried giving her a call. I normally wouldn’t worry, but there was an . . . incident today.”
Kerry faces him and nods. “She told me about it briefly before she made me go home for the day. Was it that bad?”
“It involved the gold-digging whore bitch with no brains. Of course it was that bad. Stella ran out of the ballroom. She said she had to go. That’s the last time I saw or heard from her.”
“If she isn’t still at work trying to smooth things over and make things right, she’s probably at Forsyth Park. If she’s at the park, Padraig, it’s not a good sign. She only goes there when she’s in a bad place,” Kerry says.
“I know,” Padraig says, clearing his throat. “I might have been the cause of one of her recent visits.”
“I might have heard something about that.” Kerry winks at Padraig, and he rolls his eyes.
“Anyway, that was going to be my next stop. I wanted to come by here first in case she stopped by.”
“We haven’t seen her,” I reply. “I stepped out for a minute, but Darma would have told me if she saw her while I was gone.”
Kerry hops off her stool. “I should go find her. It’s been too long without hearing from her.”
Padraig places a hand on her shoulder. “If ya don’t mind, I’d like to go.” His expression is fervent, relaying to Kerry that he means he’d like to go alone.
She nods. “Okay. But make sure she’s home by dinnertime. I’m bringing takeout, board games, and the biggest bottle of tequila I can find.” She circles her finger in the air between her, me, and Padraig. “For all of us.” Her invitation is clearly not a request.
“Aye,” Padraig says, pulling out his wallet and placing a fifty-dollar bill on the counter. “This should cover dinner.” He rifles through his wallet again, pulling out another fifty dollars and placing it on top of the first one. “And the tequila.”
“Padraig, you don’t have to—” Kerry starts.
“See ya tonight,” he says, walking out the door.
“Does he do that to everyone?” she asks.
“Yes,” I answer.
Kerry grabs my hand and rubs her fingers over mine. “So, do you want to come with me tonight? To play board games and eat greasy, delicious fried food?”
“You mean, like, hanging out?” I ask.
“In its truest form,” she replies, her smile stretching wide.
“Sure. I kind of feel like I’m not allowed to say no, based on your ‘all of us’ comment,” I say, gripping her hand in mine.
“Stella and I need as much support as possible right now. I’d love nothing more than for you to be there. Plus, we need a fourth for the board games.”
She winks. I bring the back of her hand to my lips and kiss it. “I’d love nothing more than to be your fourth for the board games.”
“Good. I should get going, though. Do you want to come with me to Isle of Hope to raid my parents’ basement for the games?”
“Will your parents be there?”
“Probably. They’re super cool, though. The most nonjudgmental people you’ll ever meet. Totally lax,” she defends, but I still don’t think I’m ready for that. Not because they are parents. Just because they’re people. New people. People who are important to Kerry. I need time to mentally prepare for that.
“How long do you think that’ll take?”
“Probably about an hour.”
“Is it okay if I pass?”
“Of course.” Kerry looks down at her feet and shifts her weight from her left side to her right side. “I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s okay. Really. I can do the books and close up. Want to meet me back here when you get back? Or I can meet you at your house?”
Kerry smiles. “I’ll come back here so you don’t have to rush to close up. I’d better get on the road, though.” She moves away from me, and I squeeze her hand.
“Wait,” I say. I lean back and look over my shoulder, surveying the two customers still in the waiting area. I stand from my stool and pull Kerry to Padraig’s space behind the curtain. I’d be scared to go back here, except Stella has been back here and she wasn’t permanently scarred.
“What is this?” Kerry asks.
“Padraig’s room. I don’t know what’s back here. Don’t look at anything. Just kiss me, please.”
I grab her face with both hands and kiss her hard. She kisses me back, and our hands roam everywhere over each other. I breathe in the scent of her hair, and I rustle it by running both my hands up her neck and to the back of her head. I pull her to me as close as I can and press her against the wall to get even closer. I brace one hand against the wall to keep us upright, and I search for and grab her hand with the other. I twine our fingers together and raise them up, resting them on the wall above our heads. Her breathing quickens. I can feel her chest heave against mine. I press myself against her, and she groans.
“Hellooo, Luca,” she says, which causes me to laugh against her mouth.
“God, you’re so hot,” she says to me.
I have to stop before I have her naked in Padraig’s room. I kiss her twice more and press my forehead against hers.
“You have no idea what you do to me,” I say, nearly out of breath.
“I think I may have a clue,” she says, also breathless.
“Go do your thing. I’ll see you back here in a little while.”
She nods and looks up into my eyes. “Okay.”
We stand there, motionless, for a moment. Kerry closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She places her hand on my cheek. “I think I kind of like you, Luca.”
I smile into her hand. “I kind of like you too. I know.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
“I can’t wait.”
I use my hand on the wall to push myself away from her. Her hand slides from my face as she continues to look me in the eyes.
“See you when I get back,” she says. She slides out from underneath me, her hand gliding the length of my outstretched arm as she slips through the curtained opening. When our hands meet, I grab hers in mine and let her pull me with her until I’m out from behind the curtain too. I let go and watch her walk toward the door. She turns and looks back at me twice before exiting the shop. I continue to watch her, and she gives me one more glance through the window before she disappears from sight. I’m grinning as wide as my face will allow.
I hear a throat clearing to the left of me. I turn to see Darma looking at me with utter disgust.
“Dude,” she spits out, “what the fuck was that all about?”
I wipe my mouth, but my smile remains. I point to the waiting area. “You have customers.”
She rolls her eyes and calls back her next client.