alice

04 // seventh

 

like strings in a fan / the shoelaces aren't done / the solitude relfection of his fate / gets him down / and as the shadow covers me / i thought he was only sleeping 

                     "do you have any idea you haven't lived at all?" ezra said, the tattoo gun in his hand. a lady with red hair and about sixteen tattoos on her right arm was sitting in the parlor. vincent was sitting at the further corner of the shop, his feet rested on a beanbag. "i have," vincent retorted. ezra shook his head, "no, you haven't" came the reply. vincent glared at him. just because he'd refused to get a skull tattoo did not mean he hadn't lived. 

                    "are you done?" the lady said angrily, her red hair shining luminiously under the strong, blinding light centered above the seat. "can't you wait?" ezra snapped, he hated it when the customers bugged him, he took his time. she glared at him, defeatedly. vincent observed the way ezra's tattoo gun went up every crease and winced at how painful it must have been, admittedly, he was a coward. a sweet one, alice might have said, to be kinder. the lady had a bland expression on her face, from what vincent could make out. she was brave. he was not in a position to determine if it was himself who was acting eerie or the thoughts his mind ruled out. solitude was a state of impaired judgement.

                  suddenly, the door flung open and in walked the ginger girl with a cheerful smile. alice, of course. vincent looked up from the lady to alice's face, the startling difference seem to give him the benefit of the doubt of his imagination. the corners of her eyes were crinkled like a blanket folded on a winter's messy day and she was wearing a short tank top with a polka dotted skirt, she might have looked like she belonged from the circus because on every arm indian bangels made little tunes as they clinked against each other.

                     she looked incredibly fascinating with the slight glimmer in her eyes like she knew the secrets of the world. and hot, too. "are you ready, al?" ezra asked her, looking up from the lady's arm and grinning at alice. she nodded, her cheeks flushed. three days ago, alice helped vincent carry ezra to the boot of the car and since then she told ezra he owed her a tattoo. 

               ezra removed the tattoo gun from lady's arm which had gone an impressive red in the last ten minutes, he put on some antiseptic on it and then a pink plaster and gestured her away, making room for alice. they lady's frog tattoo looked impressive, despite, vincent thought, being a shade of vomit green. the lady nodded approvingly and walked out of the parlor. "starry! hi. you're here to get a tattoo?" alice asked him, brightly, walking over to him. he gave her a no response and she frowned.

               she positioned herself on the seat, holding out her arm. ezra laughed, shaking his head, "you're supposed to put it here," he said, pointing to a cavity in the seat. she made a face. "so, look here, i want it to say bequeath, in that roman font thingy. i've got a print here. think you can do that?" she said, her face so serious it made vincent want to laugh. 

           ezra nodded as he observed the printed out word. it was pretty simple. she bit her lower lip, the freckles on her cheeks standing out. an odd, tiny dimple creased up when she did this on her left cheek. "will it hurt?" she asked. "it's on a joint, so it will hurt. a lot," ezra said, truthfully, the skin above the bone was always sensitive. she gulped. "hold my hand, vincent," she screamed and whispered at the same time, not looking over her shoulder.

                he walked over to her, his skinny self towering above her frame. ezra dampened her arm and turned on the autoclave for the equipment. the cotton cloth was damp with alcohol to clean up her arm. her ginger hair fell all the way to her arms and she looked up at vincent, grinning. "this is cool, right?" 

                   "very cool," he replied.

                  she grabbed his fair hand which was extremely cold. vincent's hands had the inability to stay warm whereas alice's hands were always warm and soft. her grip tighened when ezra began to black work on her arm. her teeth dug in deep to the soft flesh of her lower pink lip. she winced  when the needle started to inject the ink on the upper top of her elbow. "ow, fuck."

            "does it hurt?" vincent asked her. she jutted up her chin and locked her eyes with his, smiling. it didn't look like it hurt her, except for the way her teeth were violently digging into the flesh  of her bottom lip. but ezra always said tattooing in the joint hurted like hell.

                 "nope," she said, popping the 'p' loudly. but it did hurt. her palms were sweating as ezra drew the tattoo. the beq part of the word was done and even vincent had to admit ezra hadn't screwed up this time. 

                      he wondered why a word held so much meaning.

                    her grip on his hand loosened as she observed her tattoo. she smiled widely. ezra worked, his grip on the machine firm and his lines smooth. after a while, the skin above her elbow became horribly red. vincent gazed at her. this was wrong, the alice he'd seen for countless nights was sweet, the alice he'd seen loved tea, the alice he'd slowly fallen in love with was not this girl. 

                     then again, something about her drew him towards her personality. it had been only three days since he'd met this girl and already he was fascinated by every crinkle near her eyes and every  word she spoke. the tattoo was almost done and it looked pretty philsophical, speaking for itself on her red skin.

                     ezra looked at vincent and grinned. "this girl has lived," he said. alice laughed cheerfully. "yes, i have lived. are you telling me vincent hasn't lived enough?" she asked, as if reading both their minds. a hint of curiosity in her voice. "i have, it's just that ezra thinks i should get a tattoo," vincent snapped. alice laughed again, her eyes twinkling mischeviously, "by the end of this month, i swear, you'll have a tattoo," she said.

                      "i will not," vincent said, actually laughing at her determination. she's cute, he thought, she's really cute. ezra dabbed at her red arm and began to bandage it but she stopped him. " i want to look at it properly," she said. observing every milimetre. ezra shook his head before handing her the alcohol swab. 

                      "my seventh tattoo. is. amazing," she said, a little breathlessly. "this calls for a party!" her loud voice boomed. vincent and ezra looked at each other. "what are you waiting for, vincent?" she said, grinning and with her sore arm she grabbed vincent's, dragging him out of the parlor.

                       seventh.

bad bad bad chapter. anyways, the song on top is thinking out loud by emiliana torrini.