I squeeze the still-buzzing pen a little harder in my fingers. “I…”
For some reason, I look at Tink.
He gives me the tiniest nod.
“Yeah,” I say. “Sure. I’m Kit.”
“Kit?” The kid gives me a skeptical look. “Is that your real name?”
“Kit,” I confirm. “Pleasure to meet you. But I’ve got to…” I look at Pearl. And seeing Pearl—with her Barbie doll clothes and beautiful princess hair—the kid gets even more astonished.
“Who are you?” she asks. “Do you live here too?”
Pearl shakes her head and laughs. “Nope. This is boys only.” She plants a hand on her chest. “I’ma paying customer.”
Oh, sonowyou’re paying?I think. Honestly, if money’s a problem for her, I probably would have just done it on the house,if she hadn’t fucking jumped me.It’s not like the shop is where we actually earn our cash, after all.
“What about you?” Pearl cocks her head at the kid—Wendy. “You getting your ears pierced, or something?”
“No.” Tink takes the kid by the shoulders and steers her more definitively toward the lounge area. “I just said. Wendy here’s just going to hang out for a bit until we—” He glances back at Pan.
“Take her home,” Pan finishes.
Yeah, I’m definitely missing something here.
The kid looks at Tink a little suspiciously, and so do I. I straighten in my chair.
“Do you guys mind maybe…taking this upstairs?” I nod, indicating. Neverland Tattoo & Piercing—the actual shop—is all downstairs. That part’s actually kept clean and hygienic so Blue and I don’t lose our licenses. The loft, upstairs…anything goes. Cleanliness-wise and otherwise.
“Great idea.” Tink all but shoves Pan toward the loft. “Let’s go find her a drink, huh?”
I lift my head briefly as Tink and Pan stride past, the kid trailing.
Weird fucking day.
“Soisit real?” Pearl asks, jolting me back to reality.
“Huh?”
“Your name,” Pearl asks.
“Oh.” I shake my head. “Nah.”
“Huh.” She considers.
“You can lie back,” I say, absurdly, as if nothing at all had happened between her line test and now. “I can finish the outline if you, uh?—”
“Sure.” Pearl slides back into the chair, dropping a folded stack of twenties onto my cart as she does.Was that so hard?I think, picking the pen back up and tapping the pedal before going back in. Again, Pearl doesn’t flinch. “Whydoyou guys use fake names, anyway?” she wonders aloud.
“Why doyou?” I ask, not taking my eyes off my work.
Pearl laughs, and I wish she wouldn’t, because it jostles her hip a little. “Um, obvious? For safety. So no one can track us down if they get all obsessed. Fake names make us harder to find.”
“Yeah,” I say. “Exactly.”
Pearl frowns. “But you guys are…guys.”
Now I laugh. “You think that means no one’s looking for us?” I nod at the stairs to the loft. “Look at who I live with, Pearl.”
