something between us

chapter one

✩♬ ₊˚.🎧⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩

MAY 2023 - Santa Barbara, California, USA

"Hmm, let's see - you wanted a nostril piercing done today, right?"

The anxious, pale girl in front of Viv nodded. 

To make her feel more comfortable, Viv smiled warmly, then did finger guns. (One thing that California had taught her was when it doubt, do finger guns.) "Those are no trouble at all! Just a little pinch and you're done, you'll barely feel a thing. Come on in!"

With that, she opened the door a lot wider to let the girl into her cramped apartment. She'd tried to make her piercing room as least intimidating as possible, but the drywall was constantly a work in progress, and half the stuff she'd ordered on Amazon had never come in, so it was blatantly obvious that she lived in a shithole.

Well, a hygienic shithole. She didn't own the flashiest piercing studio around, but she'd had basically enough training, and her needles were always sterile, so that was what mattered, right?

"You can just take a seat there," Viv said cheerfully, pointing to the once luxurious, now magnificently ripped and slightly broken black leather armchair she definitely didn't find on the side of the road. "You nervous, Edith?"

Edith smiled nervously as she laid back on the sticky black leather. "A little bit, yeah."

"Well, don't worry," she responded. "You're in very good hands, and I can answer all of your questions before we start."

She understood that her appearance was a bit intimidating, which was why she wanted to be as friendly as possible. She was still a bit new to the vivid purple hair and the wardrobe herself, really.

The first few weeks of growing into yourself are the hardest, Angela had told her, but for Viv, the first few growing weeks had turned into the first few growing months.

"Will there be a lot of redness?" Edith asked nervously.

Already over at the sink, Viv pumped some of her favourite pumpkin spice soap into her palm, preparing to wash her hands. This was undoubtedly the best part of her new life: finally getting to have as much pumpkin spice soap as she wanted.

"I find it goes away in an hour or so," she answered honestly, rubbing the heavenly stuff between her palms. "Your nose might be tender for the first little bit, depending on your cartilage. But don't worry, you're not going to be Rudolph."

Edith finally cracked a genuine smile, and her laugh was as delicate as she looked. "Good."

"So, you have two jewellery options to pick from," Viv said over the sound of rushing water in the sink. "One's normal silvery, and the other's kinda multicolour glittery...one sec..."

Bouncing all over the place, she dried her hands, pulled on her black plastic gloves, and hurried over to Edith.

She scooped up the two options, held them out to her, then asked, "Which do you like the most?"

Edith inspected the two options in Viv's gloved hands, her eyes shifting between the normal silvery and the multicolour glittery jewelry. After a thoughtful moment, she pointed to the multicolour one with a shy smile.

Viv grinned, delighted with her choice. "Excellent taste! That one's going to look amazing on you. Now, let's get started."

She motioned for Edith to relax as she prepared the piercing equipment. As Viv carefully set everything up, the atmosphere in the room shifted from casual conversation to a focused, professional demeanour. The sound of the sterilized tools being arranged on a tray echoed through the room.