“Customer!” Clark hollered over the loud buzzing of needles at work.

Joey closed the latest issue of Inked to see a deeply tanned and dark haired boy wearing a white wife-beater and gray skinny jeans. Facial hair was sprinkled on his chin and jaws but not even the facial hair could compensate for how childish his brown eyes were. He was tall and slender, a bit too slender for the Average Joe. She could’ve sworn that she had seen his face before, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. It didn’t really matter anyway. Many famous or well-to-do people stopped at this parlor.

This was the go-to tattoo parlor, and the most expensive. Tainted Dragon had been featured not only in Inked a couple of years ago but also in two other renowned tattoo magazines. Joey was surprised and ecstatic when she learned that she was accepted to go work here. She was definitely making more money than other uni grads that were aimlessly searching for bottom-ranked jobs.

She walked up to him and stuck out her hand to shake. “Hey, I’m Joey. I’ll be your artist for today.”

The boy looked questionably at Joey’s arms and exposed sternum. “You have no tattoos.”

“I don’t like using myself as a canvas.”

“That’s interesting…being a tattoo artist and not having tattoos. Perhaps that tells me you’re not too good at your job?” She saw a condescending smirk play on his lips.

She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip to the side. “I’m the only artist available so it is either you deal with my bare arms or you go somewhere else.”

He held up his hands in surrender and chuckled. “Alright, alright. I’ll be nice. I just need this tattoo to be perfect, okay?”

“Rest assured, you were blessed to be graced with my tattooing skills.” Joey gloated. “But first, I’m gonna have to see some ID.”

The boy reached into his back pocket to take out his wallet. He pulled out an ID card that read MALIK, ZAIN. It was then that it hit her who he was.

“You’re that fellow from the One Direction group!” Joey stated.

He nodded his head. “Yep.”

“But I thought your name was spelled with a Y?”

“That’s for commercial purposed only. You know, it looks cooler.” He grinned.

“Right…” Joey said. She unfolded her arms and gestured for him to take out the loose piece of paper hanging out of his pocket. “Show me what you want me to do.”

Zayn pulled out the piece of paper and exposed a cartoon girl with large eyes wearing a bobble hat. “Can you tattoo this on my right arm?”

“Sure. Did you draw this yourself?”

Zayn nodded.

“Huh,” Joey said, impressed. “You’re pretty good.”

“Thanks.”

Joey led him to the only station available, the one farthest back. She sat him down and revved up the needle. “So, is this cartoon girl for aesthetic purposes or is there a meaning behind it?”

Zayn scratched the stubble on his face. “She’s my girl.”

Joey pressed the needle to his skin, letting the ink sink into it. “Girlfriend? Isn’t she that girl from that girl group? I can’t really remember its name.”

“Little Mix. The girl is Perrie.” He explained.

“Right, right, the one who dyes her hair all the time. Seems like a pretty cool chick.”

“No offense, but you don’t come off as a girl who listens to…One Direction and Little Mix.” Zayn stated, eyeing her The Smiths band tee.

Joey laughed loudly. “Oh, I’m not. I’m not anti-pop or anything it’s just that I’m too old for the boy band stage. My 15 year old sister, on the other hand, is not.”

Zayn’s lips curled. “I have little sisters, too.”

“Cool. How many?”

“Three.”

“Damn!” Joey exclaimed while trying to keep all her concentration on the ink and his arm. “Your parents must’ve been busy! I can’t imagine popping out four kids.”

He shrugged and Joey almost hissed at him. “Don’t do that.”

“Sorry.”

“So how long have you and this Perrie girl been together?”

“Over a year. We celebrated our anniversary a few weeks ago.”

“How cute.” She forced. She couldn’t be rude to the customers. She was just sick of these kids coming into parlors to express their undying love to their ephemeral lovers. She remembered when Frank suggested she get a tattoo of his name on her and she immediately refused it. She wasn’t going to taint her body for some guy she dates. Marry? Maybe. But tattooing Frank onto her body would’ve caused her more pain than what she is going through now. He probably would have felt more entitled and possessive towards her.

“What’s up?” Zayn asked. “You look pretty distressed.”

She briefly looked up and caught a glimpse of those large doe eyes of his. She chuckled underneath her breath and went back to drilling his arm. “Nothing of importance.”
It took a while for her to finish, but when she did she was very proud. The tattoo turned out exactly like the drawing and by the looks of Zayn’s happy face, she could tell she did a satisfactory job.

“Boy, I shouldn’t have judged you back there. You’re amazing.”

“Yeah, well,” she cockily looked at her knuckles. “I’ve got years of practice. That’ll be two hundred and fifty pounds.”

Zayn pulled out the money from his wallet and handed it to her. She stuffed it in her pocket.

“Well, come back again when you feel like getting another tattoo, Mr. Malik. Have fun showing your beau your symbol of love.”

Zayn smiled. “Thanks.”

She watched as the perfectly coiffed black hair disappeared into the London throngs. She sighed to herself and tried to push out the fact that he was incredibly attractive, like she does with every other celebrity that waltzed in.