Tattoo Artist | o. diaz

dos

"If you would stop talking, I could finish your tattoo faster." Venus mumbled to Oscar. He was the one who wanted to fix his Santos cross on his neck, byt ever since he sat down, he's been trying to get at Venus.

"Maybe I wanna stay longer."

"Maybe, but I'm leaving when I leave. Even if you're not done."

"Come on, mami. I've been here for an hour, háblame." Venus stayed quiet as she continued working on his neck. "Tienes un novio? De dónde eres?"

"Nah, I'm too busy to have one. And Cuba. Raised in the Bronx and I moved here 4 years ago." She answered. She turned to dip the needle back into the ink while still holding his head to the side and asked, "Is it that obvious that I'm not from here?" Oscar chuckled stopping when she slapped the back of his head. "Stop moving."

"Don't put your damn hands on me. And hell yeah. A fine ass hyna like you, I wouldn't forget."

Venus hummed as continued to fill in his cross. "Why were you in prison?"

"Long story."

"We got time, cholito."

And so Oscar started his story. Starting from the day he got jumped into the gang at 11 to the war between the Santos and the Prophets. Venus froze for a second at the mention of the Prophets and thought it went unnoticed by him. He notices everything.

"I already got arrested for fights and drug dealing, so cops were always on my back. They were arresting Santos left and right for killing Prophets and apparently they found my prints there. They took me to prison and left my little brother, Cesar, with my mom, but she's not all there."

"Wait, Cesar's your brother? The one with the big eyebrows?"

"Yeah, you know him?"

Venus nodded and pulled the needle away from his neck. "He's friends with my cousin, Jamal."

"Your cousin's weird. He's always scared of some shit." Oscar laughed. He moved his head again when he saw Venus lifting the needle again. "Anyway, I had connections with some if the cops and got rid of the evidence. Took 4 years for them to finally clear me and let me out. Now, I'm back in my hood."

"Gang life since you born? How do you handle that?"

"It's just what I'm used to. It's all I know. I don't know what a life without gangs is." Oscar stated. He made it seem like it was the most normal thing ever, because to him, it was. "Done?"

"Yeah, you can go look at it in the mirror before I wrap it." Venus pointed to the full body mirror on the wall. For the first time in almost three hours, Oscar stood up and his legs felt weak. Venus watched him move his head around to see the improved tattoo and nodded before sitting back down.

"I told you my whole life story and all I know about you is that you're single, where you came from, and that you're Jamal's second cousin." Oscar complained. "You a therapist too?"

Venus scoffed and shook her head. "I'm just a great listener."

"How about you let me be the listener and get some food with me? I know you're hungry."

"I'm working."

Oscar scoffed and gestured to her shop. "You're also the owner and there's extra artists if someone comes in."

"If I say yes, will you leave me alone? I have bills to pay."

For some reason, Venus told Oscar she has a son, but she refused to go into detail about it. He knew basically everything about her and he was surprised she wasn't running after telling her all the gang stuff he was involved with.

After a quick trip to the local taco shop, Oscar drove the two back to the tattoo shop where his friends were impatiently waiting. Venus got out of the shiny impala with her bag of food and let the Santos members get in.

"Damn, fool. You moved in real quick." They laughed. "Told she was a fine ass hyna."

"She's different than the rest of the hynas out here."

"You got comfortable real fast, you never do that." Sad Eyes commented as they drove down the street.

Oscar shrugged as he shrugged his blunt. "I felt like I could trust her."

× × ×

"Costco run!" Jamal sang, causing Luis to squeal in his car seat in the back of Venus' truck. "Dude, Cesar's brother got out of prison. He's scary."

"I know and no he's not. He came for a tattoo today."

Jamal gasped loudly, turning down the music that was currently being played. "You touched Spooky?"

"J, cálmate. Spooky ain't as bad as you keep saying he is. Now get out of my car, my baby needs more food." It was then that Jamal noticed they were parked in front of Costco, and he jumped out while Venus unstrapped Luis and brought his blanket for when they were in the freezer section.

"Honestly, I only came for free samples because my mom is still cooking." Jamal told her as they walked pass the guy in the entrance of the store who checked for their membership card.

"I know. That's the only reason you ever come. Go get your samples, then come help me with the food." Jamal nodded and ventured off into the store. "What food should we get you, papito?" Venus asked Luis. The baby stared up at his mom with a smile as he babbled in his own language. "Ropa Vieja sounds good."

It took 2 hours, but once Jamal got what he wanted and Venus had enough food for the next few weeks, they finally left Costco and heading back to their less suburban neighborhood.

"When you say Spooky isn't scary, do you mean he's terrifying and gives you nightmares?"

Venus rolled her eyes and took one hand off the wheel so she could use it to hold her head. "No, I mean that he seems like a decent person."

"Are we talking about the same person? The Spooky I know went to prison for 4 years and makes me cry when he stares too long."

"That's because you're a big baby, J." Venus stated, poking his side and causing him to jump and hit his head on the roof. "My point exactly."

"I'm feeling attacked right now. You have exchanged one too many words with Spooky, woman." Jamal declared as the truck pulled up to his house. "Thanks for the food."

This was boring as hell, wtf