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It was nearly Valentine’s Day, Alice Spencer thought as she unlocked the front door of The Loveliest Garden early that morning on her way to work. It was their busiest time of year, so Alice had offered to come in early to deal with opening the store. It was only she and her bestest friend, Alfred Hallam, who owned the tiny flower shop in the center of London; and while theirs was on the smaller side in comparison to others in the city, that didn’t stop Valentine’s Day from being absolutely jam packed with boys buying last-minute gifts for their girls, and girls buying flowers for themselves when a boy didn’t respect them enough to even give them a kiss. In just two days, they’d be needing to break up fights between women who wanted the same type of flower in their bouquets at the end of the day when there were only a few left. In just two days, they needed all of the roses on the face of the planet. God, Valentine’s Day was an absolute fucking joke.
Alice entered and began on her usual daily tasks. She finished quite quickly, though, and as she washed the counter down for a third time, she sort of wished she had bothered Alfred to come open with her. It was a lot more fun with a friend. That had been why they had opened the shop together all those years ago, anyway. But he would come later, Alice reminded herself. Just before opening.
Alice let her eyes scan the shop to think about what she hadn’t done. Wiped the counter? Check. Mopped the floor? Check. Cash register unlocked? Check.
After a few minutes of searching for something to do, Alice’s eyes came across a broom in the corner of the shop. She could sweep the porch and make sure it was nice and pretty for when the customers arrived, she thought. There weren’t many leaves on the ground, but the rubbish and such strewn about by annoying teens would still need throwing out. And so, that’s what Alice did. She swept and swept the front porch.
As she swept, a pickup truck pulled into the parking lot. Alice knew this pickup truck well. Big and red, but not one of an overcompensating man. Instead, a shorter woman with short, dark hair hopped out of the car. She waved at Alice as soon as she saw her. This woman, Alice recognized, was Tabatha Dedwin. She owned the tattoo parlor which resided just beside The Loveliest Garden .
Tabatha looked as if she was about to go to her shop, but she turned at the last minute and approached Alice with a friendly smile.
“Hey, neighbor,” Tabatha greeted.
Alice, not knowing what to say, responded with, “Howdy!”
Tabatha’s eyebrows raised in surprise, but she continued the bit, putting on her best cowboy accent, “Howdy, partner. How’s that there flower shop goin’?”
Alice almost instinctively replied with more Old Western talk—she constantly played games like this with Alfred—, but she didn’t, deciding that was fucking stupid. Instead, she cleared her throat and shook her head with a small giggle. “Good! It’s- uh- well, Valentine’s Day is this Friday. I’m...kind of a little stressed about it, but- good.”
“Oh, don’t I know! I’m emotionally preparing myself to give an obscene amount of couples’ tattoos, and then in a week have to cover my work because it turns out Julie and Michael weren’t soulmates after all.”
Alice didn’t know what to say to that, simply staring at Tabatha with somewhat concern.
“God, I know. It’s really quite heartbreaking for me,” Tabatha teased. Then, she changed the subject. “Hey, where’s your curly friend?”
“Sleeping in,” Alice replied. “I offered to open today. He had such a late night last night- doing his online classes and stuff.”
“Sleep is important!” Tabatha explained. “Which is why I did the exact same thing and bullied Harold into opening shop for me today!”
Harold was Tabatha’s co-owner, Alice knew. She didn’t know much about him besides that he was a veteran who had dropped out almost as soon as he had enlisted, and then opened the tattoo shop with Tabbie. He was quite the soft spoken man, but he was kind-hearted. Alice thought his art was incredible as well.
Alice nodded. “Smart, smart. How is he, anyhow?” Harold was always so sweet whenever Alice spoke to him, though those moments were brief. She quite wished there were more of them.
“Harry? He’s brilliant. Never been better! Let’s just say he’s leaving me as the only one on the front lines during the Valentine's Day Blitz, if you know what I mean.” She punctuated this statement with a wink.
Alice shook her head with a small, nervous chuckle. “I have no idea what that means, actually, but- I wish you luck. Valentine’s Day truly is Hell.”
“I mean,” Tabbie drawled. “It doesn’t have to be.”
“What?” Alice asked.
“Hell. Not if you’ve got someone to buy you flowers and pay for couples’ tattoos, anyway.” Tabatha grinned her usual, beaming grin. It filled up a good half of her face and made Alice smile, too.
“I suppose you’re right.” Alice was about to say something else, when Alfred interrupted, running up the path with his usual vigor and rabbitlike energy.
“Good morning!” He greeted.
“Look who’s up early,” Alice said in a jokingly accusatory tone. “Even though you were totally instructed to stay in bed.”
“Perhaps, but the coffee instructed me to get up and go to work,” Alfred rebutted, sticking out his tongue at Alice. This received a little shove from Alice.
“Good morning, Alfred,” Tabatha replied with a tiny wave of her hand. “I suppose that means I should be checking on my coworker, then. I’ll see you around, Alice.” And with that, Tabatha exited.
Alice pulled Alfred into the shop right away.
“I want to get a tattoo,” she decided aloud.
“You want to- what?” Alfred spat.
“Get a tattoo. Do you want to get matching ones?”
“What? No! Alice, you’re out of your mind,” Alfred told her. Tattoos were scary! They hurt, and his mum always told him they’d turn him away from Heaven if he had one. Not to mention getting a tattoo with an immune disorder was definitely not recommended, either.
“I’m thinking under my breast,” she decided after some careful deliberation. She hummed, then walked up to the counter. she pulled a sticky note off of the stack and a pen out of their jar and set them down for Alfred. “Please write the word ‘Wonderland’ for me, Alfred?” She asked him.
“Alice- why?” Alfred was very much concerned for his friend. He didn’t want her to make any dumb decisions!
“I want to get it tattooed under my breast,” she repeated, as if it was obvious.
The pair stared at each other in silence for a long time, probably having some sort of mental conversation. They were very good at that. Alfred was trying to fight against the idea of a tattoo, and yet Alice was stubborn. She persisted.
“Why do you want this so suddenly?” Alfred asked with a sigh, approaching the counter.
“I’ve wanted one for a long time.” Alice didn’t sound too sure of herself. She was backing down, Alfred noted, though he knew she’d never admit it.
“You’ve never wanted a tattoo in your life, Alice.” Alfred set his hands atop of the counter by the pen and sticky note. He looked at her with knowing eyes. “I’ll write this for you if you really want me to. In any style you want me to. Cursive, all uppercase, serif, whatever. Just… Please let this be something you actually want. Not something you’re doing just to impress someone.”
Alice looked to her feet. Suddenly her shoes were absolutely fascinating. “I don’t have anyone to impress.”
“Not even Tabatha Dedwin?” Alfred didn’t sound judgmental, just curious. His voice was kind, still. Alice needed his help, not to be criticized, he realized.
“Not even Tabatha,” Alice responded, a light pink filling her cheeks.
Instead of responding, Alfred picked up the pen and wrote her word on the sticky note in his natural, messy handwriting. He tapped her head to catch her attention, and then handed the note to her once she peeked up from her shell to look at him. Alice gave him a small smile.
“I love you,” she told him.
“I love you too, Allie.”
…
Alice worked and worked for the rest of the day up until her lunch break, when she had free time to get her tattoo. Or her tattoo appointment. She really didn’t know how any of this worked. She picked a random flower out of the back and made sure she had plenty of money on her, as well as the sticky note with Alfred’s writing on it. She gave Alfred a hug and then she was off, beginning her walk down the little path that connected the two buildings on her way to Cheshireworks.
Alice hadn’t been inside the shop before, but she appreciated the Wonderland reference in its name. Upon entering, she noted a small waiting room with chairs throughout and a few cats lounging around the place. The front desk was occupied by none other than Tabatha Dedwin, leaned back in the chair with feet kicked up on the desk. Upon seeing Alice, she smiled and let her boots fall to the ground as she sat up.
“Hey, neighbor,” she greeted. “What can I do for you?”
As Alice approached the desk, she chuckled despite the nerves in her chest. “I was interested in maybe possibly getting a tattoo.” She sounded a lot more confident than she felt, but a lot less confident than she acted to Alfred.
“A tattoo?” Tabatha asked as if she didn’t believe Alice.
Alice nodded, swallowing her fear and stepping closer to the front desk. She slapped a fifty pound note onto the counter, mostly for dramatic effect. Then she gave a teensy shy smile, because she couldn’t ever be too demanding of Tabatha Dedwin.
Tabbie laughed. “Alright, well, I can do that for you. Hopefully for less money than you’ve just flexed. Come on back and we’ll have a bit of a consultation.”
Tabbie led Alice to a small back room and Alice awkwardly picked back up her cash before following. Alice sat down on the big chair in the center of the room. She looked like a total fish out of water: it was clear she had never done this before.
“Alright, Alice, what can I get for you today?” Tabbie asked as she snapped on a pair of latex-free rubber gloves like a doctor would.
Alice held out the little piece of paper for her. “This,” she said.
Tabbie nodded. “Alright, and where do you suppose it’ll go? I’d say it’d go great on the rib, but that’s a mad bit of pain for your first time.”
“Wherever you think is best,” Alice said. “Um...maybe just beneath my breast? By my heart?” It was a sweet concept, but if Tabatha, who was tattooed up from head to toe, found it painful, Alice was a bit worried.
“You’re sure?” Tabbie asked. She seemed skeptical, and rightfully so. Alice had never done this in her life. And yet, Alice nodded.
“Alright, then,” Tabbie said. She couldn’t really talk her customers out of anything, unless if they were intoxicated or having a clear breakdown. Dumb placement decisions didn’t count under that umbrella, unfortunately.
They discussed sizing and payment and all of that for a little while, and then came time for the tattoo to actually happen. Alice didn’t expect to be so nervous when she heard the buzzing noise of the tattoo needle pierce the air. She remained calm, though, removing her bra and lifting her shirt so that Tabbie could work.
As soon as the needle hit her skin, Alice felt dizzy. Tabbie was trying to talk to her to keep her calm, but Alice could barely hear her. She was going in and out, hearing almost every other word. And then there was nothing.
Alice awoke a good fifteen minutes later—though she didn’t know exactly how long it had been—with a cold water bottle pressed to her cheek while a worried Tabatha gazed down at her. This wasn’t Tabatha’s first rodeo- she had had lots of clients in the past who had fainted, so the delirious Alice suspected the obvious worry was because it was her , not because she was just a genuinely kind and caring person to everyone.
“Let’s go on a date,” was the first thing Alice mumbled when the ringing in her ears had finally stopped.
Tabbie seemed amused by this, but not in a cruel way. Her concern shifted into a small smile, and she said, “Alice, I’m a professional right now. You can ask me on a date over my break. And when you’re not faint anymore. Are you alright?”
She removed the bottle from Alice’s cheek and handed it to her, and Alice immediately opened it and brought it to her lips. After chugging half of the bottle, Alice said, “Maybe I should have told you I’m anemic first.”
Tabbie let out a pained chortle at that. “Yes, that’s something you’d typically want your tattoo artist to know before you make the appointment.”
Alice took about a half-hour break and then went back to tattooing. This time, Alice said stop whenever she felt dizzy and then took a sip of water. The tattoo wouldn’t normally take too long because it was small and was just linework, but due to the breaks it took a little over two hours. By the end, Alice slipped her phone number on a piece of paper between the bills before running off back to her shop.
“Alfred!” Alice exclaimed, bursting through the door and making the little bell above it clatter rather than ring.
“Alice?” He asked, surprised as he looked up from reorganizing the flower display across the back wall.
“I have a tattoo! Also I fainted! But I have a tattoo!”
“You fainted?” Alfred nearly stumbled around the counter with concern.
“Yes, but that’s not the point. I have a tattoo now, and I have Tabatha my number, so I hope she texts me on my break or something!”
Alfred still looked just as baffled as he did when she had come in. “Please start from the beginning,” he requested.
And so, Alice told him the whole story. About how she got in and got the tattoo and fainted, and then how Tabatha had paused the tattoo and gave her a cold water bottle, and then how Tabatha gave her small breaks between each letter, and about how generally kind and respectful she was the whole time. How she didn’t care about how long it took, but the end product and that Alice felt safe and comfortable throughout the whole process.
“And did you know they have cats in their waiting room?” Alice asked.
“Cats? In a tattoo parlor”
“Cats!” Alice exclaimed. “And—” She was cut off by her phone buzzing in her pocket.
Alice opened her phone and saw her latest message: “Hey, it’s me. I’m on my lunch break. Let me know if you’d like to grab a cuppa sometime soon x”
Sure, Valentine’s season sucked ass. Sure, in a few days Alice and Alfred would be flooded with customers and stressed beyond belief. And sure, Alice probably shouldn’t have abandoned her coworker to get a tattoo from a pretty girl. But Alice’s heart felt so full for this pretty girl and for her new tattoo and for her bestest friend who totally understood how she absolutely needed to talk to this pretty girl and would literally do anything to help her out. So maybe this year wouldn’t be so terrible after all.
“i’d love to!!!!!!!!!”