Tattoo Artist | o. diaz

cuatro: stalker

For some unknown reason, the tattoo shop was busier than usual. People were coming and out and Venus couldn't catch a break. She had to come in before the shop opened and leave to close it up. Oscar hadn't seen her around was lowkey stressing about it.

"Okay, and you know this tattoo's gonna take 2 sessions, right? I can finish up the outline and part of the inside, but you have to come back tomorrow so I can finish it all."

The shirtless guy in the chair nodded. "And only three thousand?"

Venus nodded and the guy let her get started. "Do you want someone to bring you food because you're going to be here until we close." Venus asked as she looked at the drawing he brought. "You can call someone or I can send someone out to bring some?"

"You a nice ass tattoo artist. You trying to be someone's wife?" The guy said and Venus just laughed.

"If you didn't eat, I wouldn't get paid." Venus shrugged.

"I'll call someone to bring some later."

Venus nodded again and put a new needle on the gun. Venus turned it on and put the paper om her desk before she started to draw the outline of the tattoo. After years of drawing and practice, Venus eventually got tired of stencils and just started to free hand her tattoo outlines.

Maybe it's why people asked for her to do their tattoos so much; it saved some time from the tattoos taking really long.

Venus' hand moved the needle gun across the guy's back and painted the outline of the tattoo. Venus had a firm grip on it, but she was really hoping her hand wouldn't start cramping up.

As the hours passed, Venus greeted people without actually looking at them. At some point, after eating, the guy she was tattooing fell asleep, so she had no one to really talk to. The only sound was the speaker playing music and the buzzing of tattoo guns.

Close to the shop closing, the sensor told everyone that someone walked through the front door. Everyone not doing a tattoo looked over and saw Spooky at the front. Venus was too focused on filling the tattoo in to even pay attention to who walked in.

"Venus, where you been?" The person asked. A seat pulled up beside her and without looking, she knew it was Oscar by his voice.

"Working, Spooky. I got bills and a baby." Venus replied nonchalantly. "I get off at 8."

Oscar looked down at his phone and furrowed his brows. "It's 8:30."

Venus's head snapped to him then to the clock on the wall before she turned off the gun and started rushing around her workspace. She got the guy's back covered and woke him up to tell him about what he's not supposed to do until she finishes the rest tomorrow. "Why did no one tell me the time?" She shouted, running around the shop to get her stuff before running out the door.

Oscar saw her get in her truck and got into his impala to follow her to where she was rushing to. All she was doing was going to pick up Luis from her parents' house.

"Mija, qué pasó? I was getting worried." Her mom said as she walked into the house, accent and everything. Her mom hugged her tightly like it's been years since she saw her.

Ever since the incident, her mom was always on edge about her safety and whenever she didn't call, especially at night, she would freak. Her dad appeared calmer, but he was the one that went crazy the night it happened.

"Mira, tu mamá está aquí." Her dad told Luis. Luis looked over and pulled himself up and leaned against the back of the couch with his arms up. "What happened? You okay?"