Page 10 of Scribbled Excellence

My cheeks lifted. “That is so cool.” My attention left the mural and was given all to him. “I’m so happy that you had a cancellation. My brother told me that you are usually booked.”

He stood there with his hands in his sweatpants pockets. His T-shirt clung to his body. He wasn’t a big guy, but he was toned.Would it be ignorant to ask if he knew martial arts?

When he took a step closer to me, I didn’t move. I wanted him in my space. Plus, he smelled heavenly. “I didn’t have a cancellation. I canceled an appointment to get you in.”

“Oh my God! You didn’t have to do that. We could have waited,” I told him.

His eyes were so damn seductive. I could see myself lost in them. “I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to. The sooner we get to know each other, the sooner we can decide whether we like each other more than a physical attraction.”

Oh, he’s cocky.My arms crossed over my chest. “Sir, what makes you think that I’m physically attracted to you?”

With a small step forward on his behalf, we were now face-to-face. If I bucked my neck forward just a little, my lips would be on his. In a sultry tone, he spoke. “Tomorrow, are you physically attracted to me?”

Before I could respond, a blocker came from the east. “Aye, we here for tattoos, not a love connection. What kind of professionalism is this?”

Let’s Feel This Out. . .

When Kara came into my office the other day to tell me that someone called for an appointment, and she took their name just in case I had a cancellation, I knew she was on some bullshit. That was not our process at all. If I was booked, then I was just fucking booked. If I had a cancellation, I normally didn’t fill it with another person. I took that time as a break. My appointment calendar stayed booked sometimes two to three months out. Add to the fact that I didn’t take walk-ins . . . I was a hot commodity.

I asked her who it was that wanted an appointment. After she told me, that was when I realized the bullshit she was on was the good kind. Yeah, I needed that appointment with her as soon aspossible. Since the unveiling, I did some research on Tomorrow Bennett. The great thing about her being a large part of the artistic community was that it wasn’t hard to find content about her. She had a fairly large social media footprint. Her artwork was astounding.

The work that she did with her non-profit organization was something worth talking about and admiring. I also admired her story that I read in a news article years ago. I didn’t know any eighteen-year-old who would petition for custody of their younger siblings. That showed me that she valued family, which was very important to me.

Kara didn’t tell Tomorrow a lie. I was booked up like fuck, but that was nothing that I couldn’t change. I looked through my books and canceled an appointment. They were tripping, at first, until I gave them a 30 percent discount and they could resubmit a new design with no extra fee if they wanted to change it. They were completely cool after that shit. My prices weren’t for the weak.

The design that Tomorrow submitted for her and her brother’s matching tats was fire. From the scan of it, I could tell that she had someone sketch it which was even better. So many times, people put their ideas into some AI engine to get their design. I low-key hated that shit. I was an artist, so I loved it when true artists picked up a pencil, pen, brush, or whatever, and put in the pure work. Now graphic designers, that was their lane.

I saw Tomorrow and her brother August when they pulled up to my shop on my camera monitor. She was fine as fuck. I loved that she wasn’t that tall, because I wasn’t a tall nigga myself.

I always shook my head when females dismissed me because I wasn’t six feet or taller. I came in at a comfortable five feet, ten inches. It was always,oh you’re fine, but I need a man that’s taller.When I was younger, that shit annoyed and bothered thehell out of me. When I got older, I realized those weren’t the women for me. It didn’t matter how tall I was physically. What mattered was how tall my integrity, morals, respect, and love were. Oh, and how tall this dick was.

When she and August came in, he went straight to our receptionist desk to check in. Tomorrow roamed around the waiting area. She stopped cold when she saw the mural that I sketched and my Auntie Danielle brought to life on the back wall. That mural was my pride and joy.

She was nervous around me, which was a good thing in my opinion. It meant she cared about what I thought about her or this interaction.Yeah, she is feeling ya boy.“The sooner we get to know each other, the sooner we can decide whether we like each other more than a physical attraction.”

Her reaction to my words was priceless. I called her out, and she wasn’t used to that. “Sir, what makes you think that I’m physically attracted to you?”

The space between us had already been closed, but I opted to close it even more. For as long as I could remember, I was the type that tested boundaries. In a toxically non-toxic way, of course. The freshness of her breath was appreciative. “Tomorrow, are you physically attracted to me?”

The hitch of her breath was all the answer that I needed. Almost every time, a person’s nonverbal cues would tell on them long before they said anything. It was the same concept of when you paid more attention to what a person did instead of what they said.

“Aye, we here for tattoos, not a love connection. What kind of professionalism is this?” August interrupted our moment.

There were no worries, because there would be plenty more moments for us to share. I banked my tattoo shop on that. My head turned in his direction, but my feet didn’t move. “You’reright. We can make our love connection in our alone time. Which one of you wants to get tatted first?”

Oh, he didn’t like that. August and Tomorrow didn’t resemble each other as much as her and Tuesday did. I wouldn’t have immediately pegged them as siblings.

“Um, Auggie, you can get tatted first, then me. If you want, you can leave, and I’ll call you when I’m ready,” Tomorrow suggested.Let me put more stock in my fucking shop.

August’s head bucked back.Take it in, brother-in-law.“Oh, it’s like that, Sis? Bet that. Yeah, I’ll get tatted first.”

“Cool! Let’s head back to my private room.” I escorted them back.

Kara’s smug expression didn’t escape me. It was guaranteed that I would hear about this later from her and whoever she ran her mouth to in my family. In my family, if you wanted something to be a secret, it better have been kept between you and the Lord.

When we got back to the private room, I showed my future where she could sit. I already had their designs ready.

“These designs are nice. Who sketched them?” I asked after August got comfortable in my seat.