“Ready?” You asked him with a grin planted on your lips, as you playfully wriggled your brows at him. You motioned him to take a seat, as your eyes checked whether everything you needed was in place.
Following your instructions he made himself comfortable in the black leather chair. He closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath before nodding his head. “Yeah I’m ready,” he said rather to himself than to you.
“For someone who’s scared of needles, you sure do have a lot of tattoos,” a light chuckle left your red lips as you scanned his body. It was a work of art. You couldn’t help but admire it every time he came here and you were proud to be able to continue this piece of art.
“Did you take any medicine for the last twenty-four hours?“ You asked him as it was part of the routine. He chuckled at you with a light shake of his head. This obviously wasn’t his first tattoo, he knew what to do and what not to do before a tattoo session.
“Does a shot of vodka count?“ He asked in such a serious tone that you were fooled by it. There was a grin planted across his face which you failed to see as you were filling up the tiny ink caps. You immediately stopped your motions and turned to him, giving him a glare.
“Jay, you know you’re not supposed to drink alcohol before getting a tattoo,“ you reminded him with a stern voice, a frown covering your face. Alcohol consumption lead to blood thinning which made you bleed more during the inking process. It could be scary for health reasons, but mostly annoying for aesthetic reasons. The excess blood pooling on the skin would make it much more difficult for you to accurately puncture where you needed to and it could also thin the ink which would both mess with the final result. For these reasons, you refused to tattoo someone who had consumed alcohol before a session.
Jay was a regular. He knew you were against alcohol consumption before getting a tattoo. He should have known better. You weren’t exactly angry with him, but you were annoyed that you had to reschedule the appointment because of his rookie mistake. It was difficult enough to find a date and time that worked for the both of you. Jay was a busy person and you were usually booked out, he already had to wait months for this appointment alone.
“I was just playing,“ he quickly retreated as he realized his joke wasn’t received well.
“I didn’t drink,” he assured you.
“Idiot,” you rolled your eyes at him, letting out a long sigh of relief.
“Did you just insult a customer?“ Jay grabbed his chest in an exaggerated movement, pretending to be shocked by what you had just said.