The Long Journey Ahead

After Frank got home from school (he had a half day), I would walk to work with him. Today's my first day! I'm happy, scared, anxious, nervous, and excited all rolled into one. On the outside, I wasn't doing much besides being a jittery mess. On the inside though, my stomach was doing back flips and I felt like I was going to throw up.

I've never worked before and what if I mess up and get fired? That means I would never be able to pay Mrs. Iero back for taking me into her home. No, I'm going to have to get over these jitters and make the best first impression I possibly can.

To get my mind off of being so nervous, I did some gym exercises I hadn't done in a while. I stretched my limbs, did some jumping jacks, sit-ups, and push-ups. After I was done, that feeling in my stomach remained.

Getting annoyed, I decided to throw out the trash. It was the very least I could do to pay Mrs. Iero back. Once I rounded the back of the house and got to the front door, Frank was in the kitchen fixing himself a sandwich. When he saw me, he smiled and went back to his peanut butter and jelly.

It was agonizing to wait for Frank to eat his sandwich and finish his homework. He wanted to torture me. I just knew it! I kept checking the clock on the wall every few seconds and glared at the back of his head. If looks could kill, I would've twisted his arm right now and demand for him to hurry the hell up!

We finally got to the tattoo parlor; I was back to being a scared puppy. Darren waved hello to me, instructing me to follow him. He showed me around the work place, pointing out little things that I had to remember. He really was only showing me the front where the customers had access.

He then led me to the back room where all the boxes were and three rolling carts. Each one was black and had little plastic drawers with the tattoo stuff in them. Darren opened drawers from each cart and explained to me in full detail what they were.

I was trying hard to get what he was telling me stuck into my brain but all I got was one drawer had different colored inks, those scary needles, the scary needle holders, bacteria safety equipment, and the piercing equipment.

After the long introduction around the place, I was told to sit in the back of the counter with Frank. He was the cashier. Darren is the piercing person. Oh and the new addition to the team is Darren's older brother who is 23 years old.

Damien owns the shop. He was the complete opposite of Darren too. Although Damien is 6'0" just like Darren, that's the only thing they had in common. Damien has an athletic build somewhat like a football player, long jet-black hair that was tied in a ponytail, wore a white muscle shirt with ripped jeans, and did not have any tattoos on his body that I could see. I don't get it. If you're the owner of a tattoo shop, shouldn't you wear the designs you create?

I shrugged and spent a few hours trying to get a feel from everyone here. Damien looked at me weirdly a few times whenever he had a break. I was so close to falling asleep when he called my name.

I stood up and walked over to the exact booth I got my piercing. Subconsciously, I touched the two rings on my bottom lip. "Jes, go get the cart for me."

I nodded and walked to the back room. I looked at the carts before I realized I had no idea which one he was talking about! My heart beating faster, I started panicking, afraid to go back out and ask him which cart he was talking about.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned my head to the left to see Casey's cheerful face. "He's talking about that cart right there." She pointed to the black cart that was against the wall. "Remember this, Damien will only tell you to "get the cart" when he's going to tattoo someone. The second cart is for piercings and Darren always does those. The third one, they barely use. It's where the extras are that they have out in case they need to get something really quick and don't have time to find it in the boxes in storage."

I nodded quickly, thanking her, and pushing the cart next to Damien. He thanked me before turning back to his customer. He was going to tattoo a guy who looked scared out of his life. I peeked over Damien to see the guy was only getting a tattoo on the spot behind his ear.

I couldn't help but to laugh a little. He was only getting a small music note inked onto his skin. Why is he so scared? Then again, I can't say anything since I almost passed out when I got my piercing.

Sighing, I went back to the seat behind the counter. I only had three hours left before we would close down. Frank was at the front, talking to someone on the phone and flipping through pages in a big black binder.

I was drifting off to sleep when I felt a tap on my shoulder...yet again. I lazily opened my eyes to see Casey sitting next to me. She gave me a smile, one that I returned. I thought she was going to go talk to Frank but she decided to stay and talk to me.

At first, I only answered in short responses, still sleepy. Gradually, I liked talking again and got into deep conversation with her. She's a really nice girl! There was no hint of bitch in her. The way we were talking, it was quite possible we would end up being good friends. That's when the thought popped up into my head.

'I swear Jessica if you try to pull a move on Frank, I will make it so that you'll never have babies.' A few things popped into my head. How would I make myself not have babies? I didn’t even know I was thinking about Frank. Lastly, that thought scared the hell out of me, but it was also an extremely good warning.