Inked

Disclaimer: All publicly recognized characters, quotes, references, or anything else associated to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga© are not of my own creation.

~~Inked~~

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers from the last chapter! I love hearing from you guys and you always have some of the best things to say. If you've favorited, or alerted this story but haven't reviewed..why not? I just want a couple words on how you liked/disliked the chapters I put up so I know what to do/not do in oncoming chapters. Even if it's a 'this chapter was horrible' or 'update soon', I'd appreciate it. Thanks. There's my ramble, now you can read this chapter, where things will start to pick up a bit….

~~Inked~~

Don't cry because it is over, smile because it has happened-Dr. Seuss

~~Inked~~

It's been three days since I went to work, and I'm more than ready to go back already. Most people would give me a wtf? look right about now, but I really love my job. I'm mostly just telling this to myself, since I'm basically as 'forever alone' as a 24 year old can get. Nevertheless, the whole point of my mini-ramble is, I'm excited for work.

I tried to get Emmett to put me in for more hours to make up for my missed time, but he absolutely wouldn't allow it. This makes me almost positive he's got something buried deeper up his sleeve, but I'm choosing to ignore that for now. For now.

~~Inked~~

"Now, Masen, do you remember how to do this or do you need a tutorial. I just don't understand what's so hard about the concept? All you've got to do is open the tiny book, read the tiny words and then draw the pretty tattoos on the nice customer. With this in mind, why the hell is your planner on the floor of the bathroom?" Emmett yelled. It was times like this where I remembered he was my boss, and my entire life practically depended on him. Well, the life where I have money, at least.

"I'm sorry, Emmett, I was reading it in there, and I forgot it." It was the whole truth, actually. I was reading it, looking at myself in the mirror giving a mini-pep talk, when the customer bell rang. Mind you, this happened before store hours, so I thought it had to be someone special here for either me or Emmett. Running for the door, I was hoping it would be Bella, wanting to confess her undying love for me, but it wasn't. In fact, it was almost the exact opposite of that. It was a short, raggedy man asking for directions. Directions. I let him down easily, since I had no idea where the hell I was in this town either, and went to my tattoo station.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry! Always the excuses with you. Don't let it happen again."

"Someone's PMS-ing today." I mumbled before I thought about what was coming out of my mouth. I looked to Emmett in shock, hoping he hadn't heard me.

"What?" he asked, clearly taunting me.

"Nothing, nothing."

To my surprise, Emmett laughed. I'm about ready to pee my pants, and he laughs in my face? Boss or not, that's aggravating.

"It's just that, you looked so mad! If you must know, I'm getting over a bad date. My friend tried to set me up with his other friend. She was a really nice girl, not my type, but nice nevertheless, and he convinced me to just give her a try and flirt a little bit. I did and she was totally into it. We went on a date, but then she started talking to this other guy, they knew each other I guess. Moral of story-my date went home with someone else! How wrong is that? The guy was a total tool bag, too." He scoffed. Emmett was most definitely right though, that is wrong no matter who you are.

"Who was it?" Eh, I want to put a couple names to the story. Sue me.

"The girl was named Alice Brandon, and the guy, I remember he had a J in his name, but other than that-

"Jasper?"

"Oh yeah! Jasper was his name. You're a good guesser." Emmett smiles and gives me an approving look, but I ignore it. I'm just too confused. Too…astonished?

"I'm not guessing. Jasper's my brother. Jasper Masen. Alice was one of his old girlfriends, I remember because he brought her home for vacation once. He's here?" I question myself more than Emmett.

"Oh, little man, sorry. Didn't mean to bag on your brother. He seemed…like a date-stealing-ass, but other than that, I'm sure he's a great guy if he's related to you." Now it's Emmett squirming, but to be honest, I could care less what he thinks. Not to quote Dr. Seuss, but I meant what I said, and I said what I meant about it not mattering who stole Emmett's date. Still, it's wrong.

What's even more wrong is that Jasper, my brother, who is apparently in New York, didn't even call me to mention that he was coming up here! I mean, sure we didn't leave each other on what you would call good terms, but we're brothers. If I was moving an hour away from where I was now, I'd tell him! And yet, he's here without a word spoken to me. Did Mom and Dad even know?

Probably. Jasper turned into the golden child when I decided to become a tattoo artist, and he loved that title.

"I could care less. I just can't believe he wouldn't call me or email me or send me a letter or anything! Oh god, he's going to be hearing from me as soon as I get out of work. You'd better believe he'll hear from me! You should have punched him last night for the both of us."

"Well, if I had that encouragement, I probably would have."

~~Inked~~

"I'm Rosalie..Hale, and I'm here for my tattoo. I have a scheduled appointment with Edward Masen," I hear a girl say at the counter. Another one of Emmett's employees (I personally think Emmett and I could run this place alone, but whatever) is working the counter, and since he's newer, he hasn't a clue about what to do. I think he's still on a I just got my first tattoo high, so I, being the manly man that I am, step in.

"Hello, Rosalie, follow me to my shop, and then we can get down to business," I say with a smile. Rosalie is a beautiful woman, really, but not my type. She's got natural blonde hair with a slight wave that goes to about mid-chest, illuminating her bombshell figure. Today she wears a lime green Victoria Secret sweatshirt with a pair of dark jeans and some furry boot things, and she looks…nice. If I hadn't laid eyes on Bella, she'd seem a lot more attractive, but now I can say with confidence that she's just pretty.

"What kind of tattoo are you looking to get today?" I say with a smile, sitting her down in the chair and leaning casually on my desk. Like Emmett pointed out during his rant, I never read my plan book, so it was an honest question.

"I want a date in the middle of my lower back. The date is…uhh…" I know she's not forgetting, but instead it's almost like she's dreading the date instead. "The date's 8-13-11." She sighs a breath of release that I take in.

Isn't that…? "Wait, wait…what? Did you say 8-13-11?" Please let it be my mishearing and Bella delusions, please!

"Yeah, that's it." The blonde keeps her blue eyes towards the floor as I have a mini-heart attack.

Something important to both Bella and Rosalie's life happened on 8-13-11. Bella and Rosalie probably know each other. Rosalie probably knows why Bella's so upset, seeing as Rosalie's upset as well. I can get answers out of Rosalie. Hmm…

"Okay. First, we need to work out the specifics," it feels all too familiar to what I did with Bella only…wow, could it have been only 2 weeks ago?

"Actually," Rosalie began, searching for something in her purse, "I want my tattoo to look exactly like this."

My breath hitched as Rosalie brought out a certain picture from her purse. The certain picture was of something I was very familiar with. In fact, it was of something that I'd worked on for 30 minutes.

It was a picture of Bella's tattoo. It wasn't just that though, because that would be easy. It was a full body picture of Bella with her shirt pulled up, and her ribcage twisted awkwardly as she tried to face the camera. Bella had a bright, open-mouthed smile and giving a thumbs up to the camera, making her look much younger than she did when I last saw her.

"Can you see the tattoo clearly enough? If not I have a close up right here—"

Actually, I would have loved to have seen that picture first, Rose. Now I'm not going to be able to get Bella's face out of my head, not that I was doing too good before.

"No, no, I can see it. I remember doing this tattoo, so it won't be too long. I'll just get the correct calligraphy pens." I offered with a smile.

I feel like a spy, of some sort. I'm snooping on Bella through her friend. Mmm, I'm good.

Wait…oh, god here comes stalkerward. Why can't I be normal when it comes to Bella?

Concentrate on the tattoo. Concentrate on the tattoo.

"Okay, I'm going to need you to pull your shirt up a bit just so I can get to your back." Rosalie nodded and (unlike Bella) lifted up her sweatshirt just over her belly button and took a hair tie from her wrist to secure it there.

I gave her the this-is-going-to-feel-like-this and that-is-going-to-feel-like-that speech before finally getting down to it. This is my chance!

"So, do you know the girl in the picture?" I asked, just to get my facts straight. I was almost positive that she did know Bella, but there was that slim chance that she didn't.

To my surprise, Rosalie starts to chuckle. What?

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. We met…oh was it really — oh yes, it was. We met all the way back in freshmen year, mid-semester. We were both studying the same thing, and we were sorority sisters, for about a month until we decided screw this, and got an apartment together. I guess you could say we've been best friends ever since. I remember — the first college date I had, it was me, some guy, and Bella with her old boyfriend. We used to double date all the time." I can hear the smile in Rosalie's tone as she speaks of her time with Bella. To say it killed me inside when Rosalie said the word boyfriend would have been an understatement. The only thing keeping me from exploding was the fact that Rosalie said old boyfriend,

I'm happy for all of two seconds before I realize, that guy has gotten farther than I have. So far.

"That sounds nice. Everyone needs a good friend in their life, I think." I nod to her, about to begin the dash in the date.

"Yeah, she's really great. Sometimes, she's the weirdest chick you've ever met, though I think that's mostly why I love her. She's the cutest little thing, so sweet and innocent, so when she wanted to get a tattoo, I was shocked. I understood, of course, why she wanted to get it." Her voice fades out at the end of her sentence.

"But what about you? You've got to have some story don't ya? Almost every New Yorker does." Rosalie asks with a pure voice.

"Well, I guess you could say I have a story. Depends what version you want." I answered honestly.

"How about the version that tells how you got here." She snorts, and I've got to remind her to remain still. What is it with these jittery women?

"Easy. I flew here." So I decided to be a smart-alec. Sue me. I dare you.

"Ha-ha. I'm so very amused by your clever ways, Edward. I'll ask random questions, I guess. Who's your best friend?"

My best friend? Back home, I didn't have very many friends, so much as a I had followers.

"Emmett. My boss." That seems right. He's been there with me for only the past three weeks, but still I feel like we've grown close. Between him giving me this job and actually caring about me, I think I could consider him a friend.

"Hmm, if I only I could feel that way about my boss and then maybe I wouldn't be-" she cuts herself off. "Favorite…thing to do?"

"This."

"Talk to me?"

"Well, Rosalie, you are a very pleasant person to talk to, but I actually meant giving tattoos. It's fun."

"Hmm…"

~~Inked~~

About 20 minutes later, Rose and I had become what she calls a-person-I-don't-hate-but-don't-necessarily-like-either, and we were both perfectly happy for it to be that way.

But, I was still beating around the Bella-centered bush, and I knew soon I'd be finished with her tattoo, and I still needed more information. I couldn't let her get away without knowing all I needed to know!

"So, Rosal- Rose, tell me. What happened on this date that's made it so special for both you and Bella?" I ask when I finally finish the tattoo.

Rose turns around to face me and I see the tears start to build…and it's then when begin to feel bad. I'm using Rose to get information about Bella, treating her like she's some insider, when she's a person too.

"Never mind, you don't have to tell me, just, please don't cry." I just can't stand to see girls cry. Even when I was little, my mom used to say I'd hug the little girls who got hurt in the playground. So what if I started early, charming the ladies? A comforter is just who I am.

"Listen, don't cry because whatever happened is over, smile because it happened, Rose." I try to give my most comforting words to her.

"Did you just…quote…Dr. Seuss?" she laughs between strangled cries. I go ahead and laugh along with her because: yeah, I sure did quote Dr. Seuss.

"You're one strange man, Edward."

Eventually, Rose did leave, and I was left alone in my crazy world once again.

That is, until Emmett storms into the room not five minutes after Rose left.

"Did I just hear a girl crying?" he asked, his face so livid it almost makes me afraid for my life for the second time today.

"Yeah." I shrug.

"And why was she crying?" Emmett challenged.

"Because…I asked her about her tattoo?" I more questioned then asked, not sure where he was getting at.

The only words of response Emmett has is to throw his hands up in the air and yell "THE MANUAL!"

A/N: Remember when Edward skipped over some parts of the manual? They're coming back to get him now!

ALL REVIEWERS WILL GET EXCERPTS FROM CHAPTER 8 (UNLESS OF COURSE YOU ARE 4MEJASPER, BECAUSE THEN YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT HAPPENS) SO REVIEW FOR MORE!