Page 34 of Love Punch

The tattoo shop was like a second home to me. Sophia, a lovely middle-aged woman who had a different hair colour every time I saw her, had been responsible for almost all of my tattoos. She had run ink through my skin, across my chest and arms. When Sophia was working, magic happened.

So, it was even nicer to walk into her small Bristol studio with Arthur’s hand in mine.

“Something’s changed here,” she grinned as she pulled me into a hug, then held out an arm for Arthur.

“Something has,” I agreed. I could practically feel Arthur’s blush under the attention, but he kept a hand on the small of my back as the embrace ended. “The design is beautiful, your best yet,” I said.

“I’m glad you like it. Though I’m surprised Arthur didn’t run a mile.”

Arthur grinned at her. “I’ve already got ‘I love Bradley Tyler’tattooed on me in neon ink, but I’m not allowed to tell anyone where.”

Sophia laughed. “Come on through, both of you.”

We entered the back of the studio, where Sophia had all of her supplies in place. Every wall was covered in pictures of her signature monochrome tattoos. She pre-sanitised every surface before asking me to sit down in the pleather chair and positioned my arm just so. She sanitised that too, used a razor to shave off any excess hairs and finally applied the stencil to the single bare spot on my forearm. It was weird to know that this little section of my life had been tied up so neatly despite everything else.

“Still a wimp about pain?” Sophia asked.

“A bit.”

“You are aboxer. This is your twentieth tattoo session with me. When are you going to woman up?” Sophia teased.

“Punch me in the face, I’m fine. Jab me with a needle, yeah, it stings a bit.”

Arthur, sat in a chair in the corner of the room, snorted. “When he had a back tooth removed he had to be sedated because he didn’t want needles in his mouth,” he told her.

Sophia tutted as she smoothed out the transfer paper. “This one is going to sting a bit, getting so close to the wrist. But I promise I’ll be gentle.” She turned to Arthur. “Can I get you anything whilst you wait? I have some magazines out in the foyer, but I think they’re about five years old.”

“No, it’s fine…Does that iPad have ProCreate?”

Sophia looked over at the tablet on the counter, which was switched on and showing an in-progress sketch. “Knock yourself out.”

Arthur scrambled off the chair to grab the iPad and then sat down with it, as excited as a kid at Christmas.

“What’s ProCreate?” I asked Sophia.

“Digital art, darling. Now does that look okay to you?” She held up my arm. There was a purple imprint of the design on my skin, guidelines for her to follow as she drew.

“Perfect, thanks.” I only glanced at my arm, where normally I’d have examined every bit of it to make sure it was just right. I was more focused on where Arthur sat, digital stylus in hand as it swiped across the screen. I couldn’t see what he was drawing, but he looked up every now and then at one of the tattoo designs on the walls and looked back down.

“Hold still,” Sophia scolded. “Unless you want words misspelled.”

I hadn’t even noticed that she had started. I’d been so focused on Arthur. “I didn’t know you could draw,” I told him. The unasked question hung in the air.

“Little bit,” he muttered, looking back down at the iPad. It wasn’t like him to be cagey.

“How often do you draw?”

“Not so much anymore,” he said quietly. He really was keeping this close to his chest.

“Am I working you too hard? Do you need more time to yourself?”

“Nope.”

“Arthur.”My tone surprised even me. It was like when my mother had known I was keeping my school bullying from her.

“Bradley.” Arthur looked me in the eye, his expression stern.

“If you have a question, fucking ask him,” Sophia said. “This tension in your arm is making it very hard to do my job to my usual standard.”

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