|The Tattoo Artist| A Choni Story

Chapter 2

Toni POV:

Yet another shift at Blood Snake's. More teenagers from both the North and Southside had been pouring in and out of here ever since we started trending online after some kids posted pictures of their tattoos. While it was good for business, that meant my boss made me work overtime, and I couldn't complain because I needed the money.

I had thought about applying somewhere else for a more normal job- well, as normal a job an eighteen year old Southside Serpent with limited skills can get, but one of the only things I'm experienced at are drawing tattoos, since I started at the age of fourteen after F.P saw my sketchbook and thought I would be the perfect person for giving the members of the Serpents our traditional snake tattoos.

It was honestly a miracle this place opened up, because ever since I moved out of the trailer I shared with Sweet Pea and Fangs and the Serpents practically stopped going to school, I had time to have a job, and I needed to afford a new place by myself.

Business was booming, my boss wasn't the worst, and I only had four shift-alternating co-workers. Speaking of which...

"Hey Toni," Carrie attempted to smile seductively. Ever since she figured out I was bisexual, she has repetitively tried to hit on me, clearly not getting the message that I DON'T LIKE HER.

I breathed a sigh of relief when John and Marie , two of my colleagues, walked through the glass doors of the Blood Snake. If there were already three of us for this shift that meant Carrie would have to go and wouldn't be here for the next two hours bugging me.

She left, and me and Marie walked into the main parlor room to set up while John stayed behind the front desk in the lobby.

I was scrolling through Instagram aimlessly when John walked in with three girls about my age.  My eyes caught one of the girls in particular. A tall, curvy, gorgeous redhead dressed in a black plaid skirt that stopped above the knee and a flowing red t-shirt. She was holding a small carmine-colored handbag in one hand and a phone in her other.

I almost stopped breathing when her eyes flicked over to me and we made eye contact. I averted my eyes to the wood ground, and didn't realize she had walked over to me in the span of about fifteen seconds while I was still processing her beauty.

"Hey," she said warmly as she sat down at the chair at my station while the other girls took Marie and John's. "I was wondering if I could get a tattoo-well obviously I can get a tattoo because this is a tattoo parlor," the taller girl laughed nervously.

"What I meant to say is, my friends dragged me here so I chose a picture of a tattoo I want. Should I just like, show it to you?"

"Uh, um yeah," I stuttered. God, why was I so star struck by this random girl I've only seen for like two minutes.

I leaned forward slightly as she unlocked her phone and started  looking through her camera roll in search of the tattoo photo. I did NOT expect to see that many bikini pictures. My face flushed, and I stumbled back a bit.

"Here it is!" She turned the screen so I could get a full view of the image. I reached out to take the phone from her so I could zoom in and stuff while I worked, and our fingers brushed. Electricity sparked through my limbs and sent a shiver down my spine.

Cheryl POV:

We arrived at the parlor , parked, and walked into the lobby. The inside was so luxurious-looking compared to the exterior, and reminded me of a magazine issue I had recently seen.

"Yes, for all three of us," Veronica was telling the guy behind the counter, who looked maybe a few years older than us.

"Licenses?" We all took out our driver's licenses and showed them.