The Artist - 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐅𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐧

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

"It's seems like he can't get a minute of fresh air now that he plays the famous role of Hardin Scott-" I change the radio station annoyed by the voice of the woman which cut off a good song at the best part. I leave the station when I'm satisfied and hear the first vocals of the weekend hitting my ears. "God no! Not another one who falls for these basic songs written for an on-off relationship." Joaquin exclaims making me chuckle in the process. "Stop complaining and concentrate on your task!" I tell him and look at the girl who lays in front of him waiting that the needle hits her skin. "How can I even concentrate if this guy is screeching for Bella Hadid." I furrow my brows at the name bella-who? I shake my head and ignore him. The comforting buzzing sound hits my ears and I look up from my drawings to see that Joaquin started working on the woman's skin. Joaquin and I know each other from college we were in the same boring law lecture. He caught my attention pretty quick with both his arms being covered in sleeves of tattoos and his nails painted in pitch black. Joaquin is a tall boy with a lean body, black hair highlighting his hazel eyes. Unfortunately he's gay I mean hey that's a pretty big enrichment for the boys on this earth. But apart from his looks J is the most trustworthy person I know. I can always rely on him and even though most of the time he pretends to hate me, I know better. So back to the story how  we met. We obviously didn't finish college because now I'm sitting with my 20 years in a tattoo studio living the dream I never thought I'd reach. We decided to leave college together and we worked our asses off to get enough money together to finally purchase our own little studio in LA. We are the perfect team when it comes to working together and I have to say we're not bad at tattooing either.

"Wait who's Bianca Halid?" I ask him curious that he knows more about the singer of the music I listen to sometimes. The girl who get's her tattoo done giggles at my question."You mean Bella Hadid." She tells me and I roll my eyes. That's what I said. "She's currently the Ex of the weekend but it looks like they're getting back together after this song." She sighs dreamily but flinches quickly after Joaquin starts to shade her tattoo. "I heard some speculate that he wrote the song for Selena Gomez because of the transplant she needed." J pipes up and the buzzing sound stops for a second. "Ookey." I say not knowing who or what they're talking about. I take a quick look on the motive of a sentence on the shoulder blade of the girl. I nod to myself because it really looks great so far it's a bit weird to have "What are you dreaming about?" as a tattoo but people get all kinda weird tattoos these days. I make my way back to my desk and sort out some drawings for the costumers for tomorrow. "Don't tell me she doesn't know who Selena Gomez is?" I hear the girl asking. "Oh sweetie don't get your hopes up, April over there doesn't have a clue about the world of the celebrities." He tells her making fun of me. I pout my lips at him and he winks back. "I just don't think it's worth it to live in this whole social media bubble where nothing is real." I say shrugging my shoulders. I already had this conversation with Joaquin a few times but he stillt doesn't understand it. I finish up a sketch for tomorrow's session while I hear Joaquin blaspheme about me to the girl. She giggles lightly and I see the way she looks at him. Poor girl. That's how we all feel when we first meet Joaquin Phoenix, it's as if God made us woman the perfect man just for him to turn us all down. I sigh and put the papers away I'm nearly done with today. The phone rings and I quickly put the handset between my ear and shoulder to still sort out the many papers on my desk. "Lifelovers Tattoo Studio, April here how can I help you." I have my business mode on but when I recognize the voice on the other end of the line a smile stretches onto my lips. "Heyoo December, I'm  fortuitously in town and I wanted to ask if I could come by tomorrow and get some fresh ink on this luscious body." I laugh at her statement and roll my eyes at the nickname. Joaquin looks up while he cleans up the tattoo. He wiggles his eyebrows and gives me a smirk but I flip him off. He's so desperate on spicing up my nonexistent love life that he ships me with literally every person I get friendly with. "Of course you can come by Khadijha I think Joaquin would be delighted to see you." I tell her and J's smirk turns into a smile when he hears her name. Khadijha is a consistent customer of us and every time she's in LA for business she stops by checking on us. I hear a dreamy sigh through the phone "please tell me he got struck by lightning and a) decided to finally give the female gender a chance or b) suddenly got ugly and the opposite of charismatic." She says and I laugh at the image of a sudden straight Joaquin. "No I'm so sorry he's still our wonderful,  old Joaquin." I say and when he hears my words he gives me a weird glance."Hmm it was worth a try-" I hear some ruffling behind her voice and someone calling her name. "Sorry June I'm kind of in a rush right now we can talk tomorrow alright?" "Yeah sounds cool." I answer her and just before I want to end the call her voice stops me "Wait April!" A triumphantly smile stretches onto my lips, when she's in a rush she always gets my name right and I know she hates it. "Stop smiling you idiot!" My smile turns into a laugh I hear her grumble something distinctly. "What I wanted to ask is if I can come by with some friends I wanted to show them LA and probably will convince one of them to get their first tattoo I know they'll want to if they see your work." My cheeks heat up at her compliment I don't know why I never could receive them peacefully without getting shy all of a sudden. "Yeah sounds fine I can always do some consultation first with them." "Okay great thank you, I love you!" She yells and ends the call. I chuckle and put the phone down. I put the last papers into my book and lock it up in a drawer. Joaquin tells me to get to the register while he cleans up his working space. "Do you like it?" I ask her while I tap in the price she nods her head vigorously. "It was inspired by a movie the main character is so hot!" My eyes widen at her sudden obsession and I try to give her an agreeing smile. "Your co-worker is really cute do you happen to know if he has a girlfriend?" She whisper suddenly taking a step closer so he won't hear us. "He doesn't have a boyfriend at the moment no." I tell her and her eyes widen in understanding. A red color spreads onto her cheeks and down her neck as she looks down at the counter. For the rest of the payment she stays silent to my surprise it's not a big deal I mean she couldn't know that he's gay. "Okay all done. Make sure that you apply a Creme 3-4 times a day for 4 weeks. No sunlight, no sun studio, bathing or swimming got it?" I tell her seriously. She nods well behaved and I grab under the counter for a sample of a tattoo cream. "It's not going to last for 4 weeks but I'm sure you can get another one the next days." "Thank you." She tells me and grabs the sample. "You should really watch the movie it's called 'After'" she tells me more excited now my professionalism probably helped her out of her embarrassment. I cringe slightly at her demand "I don't like movies that much." I dodge her. "It was a book first! Actually it was a fanfiction but I'd read the book!" Her eyes shimmer dangerously and I don't think she's going to leave the studio if I don't tell her that I'm going to read it. "I'm gonna give it a try." I tell her and a beaming smile stretches onto her lips. "Great! Thank you bye!" She yells and gives Joaquin a shy smile when she steps out of the studio. "Are you really going to read that book she was talking about?" He asks me as he steps beside me. "Not in a lifetime." I tell him and make him laugh instantly. I chuckle slightly because I feel guilty  the girl was a bit exhausting but I think she's really nice. "She has a weird obsession with that movie it scares me." He tells me and I give him an agreeing nod. "Let's pack up and leave I'm done." I tell him tiredly and we make our way to close up the studio and step out into the fresh night air to leave for our apartments.