Chapter Text
If someone had asked Violet in high school where she wanted to be when she was 20, she would have answered, “Stabbing ink into people with a needle while rock music played in a tattoo shop.”
Sometimes things just work out for people.
It's not like being a tattoo artist was Violet's life long dream or anything. More like she realized she was really good at stick n’ pokes after giving Louis one during PE their Junior year of high school, so she decided to make a career out of it.
It started out with her selling stick n’ pokes in Louis’s car after school and one day she found herself sat on a stool ‘stabbing ink’ into some guys skin in the form of his moms face while his friends laugh around them.
“Okay- and she’s done,” Violet huffs as she leans back, setting the tattoo gun aside before taking off her gloves.
“Your mom is going to kill you!” One friend laughs as the guy sits up, using the mirror Violet hands him to look at his back in the larger mirror.
“I can't believe you actually did it,”
“I’m so going to record her reaction,”
The group of friends continues to laugh at the guy, and Violet almost feels a bit guilty for being a part of the joke, but before she can dwell on that, a tall ginger girl is walking through the door.
“Hey Vi, hows it going?” The ginger asks, leaning against the counter as Violet walks over to put away the money she had been paid. Violet shrugs in response, waiting until the group of friends was out of the store before responding.
“Well I just gave a guy a tattoo of his mom on some dare, so I think you can call that a pretty productive day. What about you?” Violet crouches over the counter as she stares out the window at the flower shop, briefly watching the girl who works there set a pot of something outside.
Sophie laughs at that, brushing some long hair out of her face. “Sounds like fun. I’ve just been running around all day. Just need to get Tenn before I can get home.” Sophie explains, dramatically stretching before walking around the counter heading towards the backroom. “Is he back here? Hopefully, he’s doing his homework.” Sophie words cause Violet to frown and press her brows together in confusion.
“Wait, I thought he was with you?” Violet asks, causing Sophie to freeze and turn around to face Violet.
“No… he told me he was heading here after school to do some doodles for you,” Sophie speaks slowly as if it would jog Violet's memory. But Violet just shakes her head.
“He never showed up? Maybe he went to hang out with Louis instead? Or Omar at the bakery?” Violets standing up straight now as fear for the young boy starts to fill her.
At the mention of where the boy could be, both girls wasted no time leaving the tattoo parlor. Sophie heads next door to the music shop where Louis spends her time while Violet jogs across the shop to Omars’ bakery.
Her friend unsurprisingly hadn't seen the boy today. Sending her off with an apology and a fresh cupcake.
Her next thought is Brody. The auburn haired girl worked at the thrift shop as well as the hair salon which is a bit further up the road. Even though Violet knew that Tenn and Brody weren't close, she couldn't seem to think of anywhere else the boy might be.
Violet practically starts running down the sidewalk in order to get to the thrift shop as fast as possible-- that is until the door to the florist chimes and swings open in front of her face.
Violets barely able to stop herself from slamming into the glass as the girl she was watching earlier looks at her in shock.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I didnt even see you,” The girl claims, brows turned into a face of worry, but Violet could tell she was trying not to laugh.
Not having time for this, Violet just gives her a tight smile. “Its fine, don't worry about it,” She sidesteps around the door and the girl, nodding her head silently as a goodbye before shes starting to fast walking down the street again.
“Hey, I think my little brother might’ve kidnapped the kid you’re looking for to play Minecraft behind my counter,” The girl calls after her, and for the second time, Violet freezes.
“I mean, I hope its the kid you’re looking for. Cause if he’s not yours I think I need to call the police to report a found missing kid,” The girl frowns, looking back into the shop as childish giggles spill out and hit Violet's ears.
Violet doesn't speak as she turns around to head inside the strongly scented store and towards the counter. Like the girl said, there sat two little boys playing on their ipads. Papers full of colorful drawings spread around them.
Sensing her presence, the taller and older boy looks up and smiles. “Hi Violet! Have you met AJ? He's super cool. So is Clementine, she gave me apple juice and crackers,” Tenn says proudly as Violet relaxes.
“Tenn, what are you doing here? You had me and Sophie completely freaked out,” As she speaks, the girl-- Clementine-- walks up behind her, arms crossed across her stomach as she watches the scene unfold in her store.
“I-- uh-- I'm sorry. I wasn't going to be here long, I guess I lost track of time.” Tenn admits, ashamed of himself. As he casts his eyes downward Violet sighs.
“It's fine, just go back to the tattoo parlor before Sophie has a breakdown.” Violet nods towards the aforementioned store. As Tenn starts to pack up his stuff, Violet turns back towards Clementine, “Hey, uh sorry about that. He was supposed to come back to my work after school and didnt tell anyone he was coming here. Hope he wasn't a hassle.”
At the mention of Tenn being a hassle, clementine laughs. “Don't worry, if anything, Tenn made things better around here. He’s a good influence on AJ,” The brunette giggles. Tenn stands up and mutters a goodbye to AJ before heading out the door, getting a small wave from Clementine.
“Well, thanks for watching after him,” Violet says awkwardly. She was never good around pretty girls, and Clementine was really pretty. And smelled like flowers. Or maybe that was just the store?
“Yeah of course,” There’s a pause as Violet starts to exit. “Hey— so you work at the tattoo place, right?” Clementines voice is hesitant and fast as if she forced herself to speak.
When Violet turns around, she nods, taking note of the tense and somewhat awkward stance of the just barely shorter girl. Violets sure Clementine would be taller is Violet hadn’t fixed her back problems in middle school. “Yeah, I work there. Why?” She doesn’t mean to come off so abrasive and feels bad when she watches Clementine's eyes look anywhere but her own.
“I’ve been meaning- well I’ve been wanting to get a tattoo for a while now. I’ve just been too big of a coward to actually walk over and ask for one.” Clementine admits, standing with her shoulders curled in with her right hand clutching her left arm close to her stomach. She’s nervous and it’s not hard for Violet to figure out why.
“Oh- well do you know what you want?” Violet lets the glass door swing closed behind her as she walks back into the store.
Clementine hesitates again, “Not really. I know I want something to cover up this scar,” she lifts up the sleeve of her orange sweater on her left arm to show a nasty scar that makes Violet cringe before walking over to inspect it closer.
“Holy shit- what happened?” Violet asks her voice light and showing shock.
“A dog. A couple years ago I went camping with an old friend. We got into a fight and I pulled a stupid move by running away into the dark woods. There was this stray dog that I thought was pretty nice until he tried to take my food. I did something else stupid and tried to take the food back and the dog attacked me. I had to- well I was alone and it was like really bad, like bleeding out bad, so I did what I had to. There was a mini first aid kit and some sewing stuff, I found a log and stitched myself up. Not too long after this group of coworkers on some retreat found me and took me back to the closest town to get it looked at but you know- the damage was already done,” Clementine finishes her little story with a shy laugh and Violet thinks she’s blushing.
“Holy shit,” Violet scoffs out, her brain and vocabulary momentarily failing her. But it makes Clementine laugh.
“That’s what everyone says.” Violet looks up at Clementine who’s smiling gently at her now. Yeah, Violet is definitely blushing. Maybe she could blame it on allergies?
Realizing she’s still holding onto Clementine's arm, Violet releases her grip and takes a few steps backward. “I bet. Why would you want to cover it up? It’s super badass,” Violet wonders, crossing her arms and slouching in on herself.
While she may have gotten her back fixed it didn’t exactly fix her posture most of the time.
Again, Clementine is quiet for a second as she rubs her fingers over the jagged scar. “Just brings up bad memories. It was cool when I was eleven but now… just not pleasant to look at.” She shrugs and Violet nods.
It’s silent for a few moments as Violet thinks and Clementine waits awkwardly for a response, unsure if she should speak next or what.
“What about like a bouquet of flowers, or vines, running up your arm?” Violet runs two fingers up her forearm to give some sort of visual to the other girl despite it being useless.
Glancing down to her own arm, Clementine nods. A smile breaking out again, making butterflies erupt in Violet's stomach. “Yeah, that sounds good,” as she speaks, Clementine moves around to stand behind the counter as a customer walks in the front door.
The two girls smile at the older woman who disappears behind some daffodils and hyacinths before turning back to each other. “If you need some inspiration, you can hang around the shop. We have this really comfy beanbag in the back that I can drag out here for you,” Clementine nods toward a door labeled “Staff Only” which Violet had seen the little boy, AJ, disappear behind not too much earlier.
“Oh, uh yeah. That’d be nice. Definitely an upgrade from the shit they give us back at the other place,” Violet agrees, shifting her weight to one foot as she looks around, trying to find a good place for some inspiration. “I’ll come back later tonight or sometime tomorrow?”
“Tomorrows good. It’ll give me some time to explain to Lee why some girl is sitting in our shop drawing. Also thanks for actually drawing it for me. I don’t trust myself to draw something or find something on the internet,” Laughter laces Clementine's words, tone light and kind. It’s no wonder a girl like her works at a place like this.
“First tattoos are always the scariest. So it’s no problem,” as the customer comes back to the front with a few flower pots and seed packs. “See you tomorrow,” Violet walks backward, struggling for a second to find the door before pushing it open.
“It’s a date,” Clementine says with a wink before turning to the customer, leaving Violets cheeks burning and her heart pumping as she walks back to the tattoo parlor.
Pushing open her own store door, Violet avoids making eye contact with the three people who have not so subtly been staring her down that whole conversation.
“Did you get her number?”
“When’s the first date?”
“She’s nice, I like her.”
Mitch, Sophie and Tenn waste no time to tease Violet about the situation, and Violet didn’t expect anything less. As long as Louis doesn’t hear about it, she’ll be fine.
“Ah- sweet little Clementine Everett of Everett’s Petals. I’ve been trying to woo her ever since I watched her stare at a mushroom for a whole minute before deciding to try and eat it,” A dramatic voice comes from behind her making Violet tense up before groaning.
“She’s never seemed interested in me sadly, but good for you Vi,” Louis walks forward, clapping a hand on Violets shoulder which she promptly shoved away.
“Can you all calm down? I’m just designing a tattoo for her, okay?” Violet recrossed her arms and slouched in on herself again.
“Uh since when do we design tattoos for our customers? I’ve never done that,” Mitch sits forward, resting his arms on his knees as he raised a brow at Violet while a smirk tugs at the corner of his lips.
“I guess there are exceptions for charming girls with the name of a fruit,” Louis walks around Violet to lean back on the counter, smirking at her as well which only grows as Violet glares at him.
“Don’t you have some limo to catch to some charity ball?” Violet pushes past him, making a b-line to the break room to get away from Louis, but he just follows her.
“Violet you know that’s not until next week,” is Louis’s sarcastic reply which pulls a loud groan from Violets throat. “Plus I’m your ride home. Rosie needs us, she called me earlier and was just crying and crying,” Louis continues to speak as Violet picks up her bag and jacket.
Louis keeps the door propped open for her as Violet then walks out of the break room. “She probably thinks we abandoned her.”
Violet gives Mitch a clipboard of information for an appointment in an hour. “God she probably hates us. Marlon is never going to let us dog sit ever again.”
“Bye Soph, bye Tenn,” Violet waves to the siblings before exiting the tattoo shop, not in the mood to entertain Louis by responding to his comments. Hopefully, he gives up on the ride home, Violet doesn’t feel like dealing with this the whole time.
Though as Louis comes out and unlocks his car, Violet gets a glimpse of Clementine looking at her through the window. She briefly smiles at Violet before getting distracted and looking away.
“It’s a date.”