Josh Dylan (less_traveled) wrote in mcdermott_game, @ 2009-07-21 13:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | josh, lee, lee/josh |
Who: Josh and Lee
Where: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
When: Morning-ish
What: Lee takes Josh to her father's tattoo studio to meet her dad and take photos where he promptly puts his foot in his mouth.
Rating: PG for mild language
Status: Complete
Much to Lee's dismay, by the time they got to North Carolina she was forced to admit that all that driving in Josh's BMW was a lot more comfortable than it would have been in her truck. Her dad was out when they got to her house, which was a little disappointing, but after a day in the car all she wanted was a shower and her own bed anyway. She showed Josh the pull-out couch, then showered and fell into bed.
The next morning was as perfect a Southern morning as Lee could ever ask for. Once again she'd missed her dad - she'd slept late enough that he'd already left to open the shop - but it didn't bother her too much. She'd see him soon. Moving through the house, she opened curtains and windows and breathed in the sweet summer air. There was a note from her dad in the kitchen: "Your rich kid's got a nice BMW. Hope he's got an alarm on it. Love, Dad;" and she laughed as she poured coffee for her and Josh, and checked out the window to make sure his car was still there.
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty! Time to get up!" Lee carried the cups of coffee into the living room, setting one down on the end table for Josh. She sipped hers, relishing the bitter taste of her dad's strong brew. So much better than the weak shit Yankees drank, she thought.
Josh had spent an uncomfortable night on the sofa bed, tossing and turning as a loose spring dug into his ribs. There had been an awkward moment when he'd been wakened by Lee's dad coming in, but he shut his eyes and pretended to be sleeping. Lee's father must have been taking extra care to be silent going out in the morning because that time Josh slept through it. In fact, he wished he still was sleeping. Grudgingly, he sat up and stretched. "I could kill you right now, but you've got coffee. You're too cheery though; I don't like it."
"Ain't gotta like it," Lee said cheerfully, putting on extra enthusiasm just for him. "Now let's go, drink up. You're wastin' away a gorgeous day. Can't get any pictures if you're layin' in bed."
"I want to go back to sleep," Josh grumbled, reaching for his coffee. His eyebrows shot up at how strong it was, but he actually liked it - he'd take caffeine in an IV drip if he cold get it. "I can't get any pictures if I haven't been fed, either. I'm hungry."
Come to think of it, Lee was hungry, too. Never one to miss the opportunity to show a stranger around the city she loved so much, she decided that scrounging for food in the house just wouldn't do it. Hell, there probably wasn't anything to eat in the house anyway. "We'll go by Biscuitville on our way to the studio." Lee was pretty sure he'd never been anywhere like where she wanted to take him. She took a long swallow of her coffee. "But only if you quit whinin' and get outta bed. You wanna shower first or second?"
Josh wondered if it was worth pointing out the ridiculousness of a name like 'Biscuitville' but decided against it. "Second. You shower and I'll just lay here."
"Don't you fall asleep again," Lee warned, turning and heading towards the bathroom. "Coffee's in the kitchen if you want more."
**
Biscuitville might have had a stupid name, but the food was good. - especially the namesake biscuits. Josh wanted to wrap some in a napkin to take with for later. So far, the food was the only thing he was liking about North Carolina; mostly, Josh just thought the city was kind of dirty. The sooner he got the photos he needed, the sooner they could get out of here. Following Lee's direction, he pulled into the parking lot next to her dad's parlor - studio. Lee's dad's studio. He climbed out and grabbed his camera bag. "I guess this is it."
Lee beamed at him as she climbed out of the car. "This is it," she said proudly. The studio wasn't much to look at from the outside, just a small storefront sandwiched between a head shop and a laundromat in an old brick building. The most interesting thing about it was the sign above the window, designed by Lee herself - "Tiger Lily Tattoos" in tattoo-style block lettering on a parchment-looking banner held up by a bluebird on each end. A few men, their tattoos peeking out from the sleeves of heavy metal band t-shirts, milled outside smoking cigarettes. They waved to Lee as she led Josh inside, and she grinned and waved back.
To Lee, being inside the shop was like being in a whole different world. The wood-paneled walls were lined with pages and pages of flash drawn by all the different artists in the shop, including Lee. The buzz of the tattoo guns was muted, providing an almost calming backdrop to the bustle of the reception area. People sat in the chairs and couches, some visibly tattooed or pierced, some looking unmistakably like they were there for their first tattoos. The shop was narrow; tattooing and piercing booths were visible beyond the glass counter and portfolios of the artists' work sat on the few coffee tables. A woman with a piercing under her lower lip, one in each cheek, and another in the bridge of her nose stood up behind the counter as the two college kids walked in.
"Kay!" she shouted, coming around to embrace the redhead. "Hey, y'all, look who's here! Your daddy didn't tell me you were comin'! What're you doin' down here?"
Lee hugged the woman warmly, and embraced several others who came up to say hello. "Brought a friend who's doin' a project on tattoos," she said, gesturing at Josh. "Figured he oughta see what a real studio looked like."
The others nodded, casting glances behind them at Josh and looking between each other. Then a voice came out of nowhere, warm and deep. "So you finally dragged your ass outta bed to come see your old man, huh?"
"Daddy!" Lee turned and ran to throw her arms around the man who was walking out of one of the back booths. Tom Conway, the shop owner, was an intimidating looking man: tall and stocky, with tattoos extending down his arms and up his neck. His head was shaved and he sported a goatee, thick and red and showing signs of greying. Large plugs filled the holes in his ears and he had a ring through his septum. He was the kind of man people would run screaming from, but his eyes were warm and friendly.
Tom hugged his daughter hard. "There's my baby girl. You bring the rich kid with you?"
Lee pulled away, stepping back so her dad could see Josh. "Yep. Daddy, this is Josh Dylan. Josh, this is my daddy, Tom Conway."
Extending a hand, Tom looked Josh over once, then smiled. "Pleased to meet you, Josh."
Josh didn't even have time to think about how referring to him as the rich kid seemed to be a genetic trait in Lee's family. Instead he was too busy being thoroughly and utterly intimidated. He had never realized this before now, but Josh always pictured everyone's dad looking kind of like his own father. Clothes might change but the basic idea was the same. Lee's dad looked like he was going to knock over a liquor store. He'd never spoken to anyone who looked like that before. "You too," he answered, shaking the man's hand. "Um, thanks for letting me come down here."
"No problem, son," Tom said, shaking Josh's hand vigorously. "Now my Lee here says you're lookin' to take pictures of tattoos. Why don't you tell me what you're tryin' to do, and I'll see if we can help you out."
Trying to talk Lee into helping him out had been hard, but trying to explain his project to her father seemed impossible - he hadn't actually thought about the kind of people he was going to meet when he decided to do this. "I'm trying to - trying capture what the person who gets the tattoo is trying to express by getting it. I want the um, the contrast. Take this kind of outsider thing and do art shots."
"It's really kinda neat, Daddy," Lee piped up. "And Josh takes real good pictures."
Tom rubbed his goatee, thinking. "And you can get all that in a picture?"
"You can get art in a tattoo, can't you?" Josh wasn't sure if Tom was asking if taking that kind of picture was possible or if he was questioning whether Josh had the ability to do it. He figured it was the former and a hint of arrogance crept into his voice, the confidence he'd had when arguing with Lee about self-expression.
Hearing the change in Josh's voice, Lee stepped over and laid a hand on his arm. "Daddy, why don't I take Josh to meet everyone," she suggested, casting a warning glance at her classmate. "See if I can get somebody to let him watch for a while." It was the best way she could think of to defuse what was sure to be an argument if either of the two men kept talking. That was the last thing she wanted, both because she loved her dad and because in a few days she was going to have to spend another twelve hours in a confined space with Josh.
"Sure thing, sweetheart." Tom gave Josh a narrow-eyed look, then leaned over and kissed Lee's hair. "I'll be here if you need anything."
Lee smiled and pulled on Josh's arm. "Thanks, Daddy."
It was all Josh could do to not take a step back when Tom glared at him. That man really was scaring looking. "What'd I say?" he hissed at Lee as she dragged him away.
Lee pulled him into an empty booth. "You were startin' to sound like a jackass," she told Josh. "I thought you had more home trainin' than that, but I guess they don't teach common courtesy where you come from, do they?"
"What?" Josh was honestly unaware he had come off as impolite. "I didn't mean it in a bad way. I just meant that if you can make a tattoo art, I can get it in a picture. I wasn't trying to be rude."
"I know what you meant." Lee sighed. "But Daddy doesn't know art like you and I do. He didn't go to art school or nothin', he just does tattoos and that's the kind of art he's good at. He doesn't think about emotions and expression and whatever. Tattoo art is different. It's an expression of the client, not necessarily of the artist. Tattoo artists focus on the look of the piece, the lines and color and shading and stuff. The meanin' comes from the client. Daddy wasn't questionin' you. He was just curious about what you're tryin' to do."
Embarrassed at being wrong, Josh covered by being indignant. "Well, I didn't know that." He sighed. "Can we just get to work? I'm supposed to watch somebody, right? And I need to take some test shots."
Lee shot him a look that was an awful lot like the one her father had given him not that long ago. "You're bein' a jerk again. You gotta promise to be nicer or we're leavin'. These people here are doin' you a favor and you best not forget it."
"I'll be on my best behavior, I promise." He sighed, wondering how he'd managed to get in trouble already. "If it helps, I'm less likely to say something stupid if I'm busy taking pictures."
"Good." Lee motioned for him to follow her. "I'm gonna let you sit with Mike for awhile while I go talk to my dad. Think you can handle that?"
Josh nodded and help up three fingers. "I'll be good, scout's honor."