Page 109 of Arris, Jayme & Dyani
“I love you too.”
They kissed quickly then Arris smacked her on the ass and looked at me while his hand rested there.
“Y’all want to make the rounds with me?” he asked.
“No, thank you. Get out there and network, baby,” I said.
“You sure?”
“Yep.”
“Yani?”
“I’m good. I promise.”
“Alright. I’ll be back.” He leaned down and kissed Dyani quickly then me then headed back into the fray.
Dyani and I just hung out with some of the DP women, occasionally catching Arris’s eye when he checked on us and we checked on him from around the room.
He held the opening at night since he planned on the tattoo shop not even opening until around five or six p.m. and staying open all night. That meant the get together felt a little more like a party, minus the drinking. He refused to invest in alcohol, saying the last thing he needed was drunk niggas staggering around all the glass cases and stuff he had set up, especially after knowing firsthand how much money and time it took to fix the place once it was messed up.
The little party feel was also why around midnight Arris stood near the front door and whistled to get everyone’s attention.
“Ay, yo!” he called. “Everybody shut up!” He waited a moment and people turned to look at him. “I just want to thank y’all for coming out tonight and celebrating this with me. I, uh, I’ve thought about opening my own shop for a while; so this is a big deal to me and I wouldn’t be here without most of y’all. So just real quick, let me fire this off because I’d feel fucked up if I didn’t take a moment to publicly appreciate y’all. Thank you to DP first of all for letting me practice on you niggas and being my first clients, paying and unpaying, broke asses,” he joked.
One of them yelled, “fuck you” and several other members laughed.
“Thank you Alex for giving me my first internship and selling me this spot. Thank you to my family: my parents, Jayme’s parents, and all of our annoying ass siblings for all y’all did helping out with shit when I was struggling to find my style and clients, and last but not least, thank you to Jayme and Dyani.” He held his hands out toward us. “Bring y’all fine asses up here, please.” He waited patiently while I grabbed Dyani’s hand and led her up to our man.
“I just want to publicly thank y’all for everything that you do—loving me, supporting me, and helping me be the man I feel like I was meant to be. Everything I do is for y’all and Blake and I want to make that clear to everybody here, all of our friends and family and potential clients. I’m in love with these women and I’m not going to fuck it up. So uh, all single women in attendance, please don’t flirt with me or try to fuck me, because Jayme gon’ knock yo’ head back. Thank y’all for coming, but uh, get the fuck out.” Arris laughed but he wasn’t joking. “Not you, Alex!” he called. “See me after this.”
People gravitated toward the door and Arris thanked some of them personally as they headed out. It took a good thirty minutes to get everyone out. Then he led us over to Alex.
“What’s up, A?” Alex asked.
“I want you to tattoo me in honor of my grand opening.”
“For real?” Alex grinned.
“I’m down with that. What do you want?”
“I want you to add a frame around the bird on my neck and I picked out the art I want you to add to it.”
“Alright.” Alex nodded. “I can do that.”
“And then,” Arris reached back and grabbed each of our hands, “I want you to tattoo their signatures on me too.”
“What?” Dyani asked immediately.
“You heard me,” Arris deadpanned. “I want y’all to sign me.”
“And put it where?” I asked.
“Other side of my neck?”
“You said that like a question and not a statement, Arris,” I accused. “Did you actually think about this?”
“As much as I needed to. I love y’all and know we’re not breaking up, so this ain’t even that big of a deal. Just sign the paper and come on, Jay.”
