Chapter 10: Ink Me Baby
My I-pod blares loudly at me as I sit at the kitchen table books open, papers scattered. I write slowly, over analyzing everything that I am writing. Writing has always been one of my favorite things to do, a close second to music. However having to write for a class has always made me more self-conscious. I groan loudly crumbling the paper in my hand tossing it to the floor. The pile has grown into a mini mountain over the last hour. I sigh dropping my head to rest on my open book. I start banging my head against it gently.
" Come on, this shouldn't be so hard," I say to myself out loud. Someone pulls my head phones from my ears, and I turn to see a beaming Emmett.
" Trying to learn through osmosis there, half-pint?" he asks, sitting next to me at the table.
" Ha, Ha, I wish it was that easy," I say, slipping a paper to mark my spot in the book before I close it.
" You know what you need? To do something completely out of character and spontaneous," he says, smiling deviously.
" Emmett, as much as I would love to blow off this work load, I cant. I have stuff do tomorrow, and I haven't even started making a dent in any of it," I say sadly, feeling rather sad that I cant join him in whatever crazy idea he was cooking up. I start opening my book again when he slams it shut.
" Nope. See, as your honorary big brother it is my job, no my obligation to assure that you are experiencing all the crazy fun times that life has to offer, therefore you are going to get up right now, go upstairs change and meet me down here in twenty minutes," he says, looking at me with the biggest goofiest grin I have ever seen. Its hard to not get caught up in his happiness, its infectious really. I start smiling but immediately my voice of reason speaks to me, telling me that I cant blow off my studies.
" I'm sorry Em, I would love to, but I really need to get this done," I say, sliding my book from under his hand. He frowns. Dramatically. And he gives me the puppy dog eyes making me want to laugh.
" You have made me sad. Now I am a sad panda," he says, hanging his head gloomily. '
" Aww Emmett," I say, standing up to get a bottle of water from the fridge. Next thing I know I am being flung over Emmett's shoulder. I squeal loudly trying to wiggle out of his grasp. He carries me out of the kitchen and up the stairs leaving my mountain of school work sitting in the kitchen. He boots open my bedroom door and drops me unceremoniously onto my bed.
" I tried the nice way Jade, and she just wouldn't listen to me, therefore I man handled her. This is your mission if you choose to accept it. Talk her into getting ready so she can go out and have some fun, this tape, or erm, I guess me, will self destruct in ten seconds," he says, walking backwards from the room and down the hall. Jade and I look at each other and start counting loudly.
" One, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, nine, TEN!" we yell the numbers together, and sure enough a loud crashing and booming sound comes from down the hall. We drop to the floor laughing hysterically. Jade stands up suddenly throwing a pair of jeans and my baby pink sweater at me.
" Chop, chop woman get dressed, so much to do, so little time," she says, pulling a a sweater over her head.
I have learned something about Emmett. He is a crazy driver, and that is saying something considering I have maneuvered the freeways of California. However I don't mind it so much seeing as how I am sitting cross legged in the back seat of his insanely huge jeep with a bag of sour starbursts in my lap. The spoils of war. We just left an arcade, where I bet Emmett a bag of candy that I could beat him at air hockey. Surprisingly I won. Now he was being a sore loser, pouting behind the wheel. He even banished me to the back seat allowing Jade to steal shot gun. wasn't too bad though, because I was sitting next to Edward who was laughing right along with me.
" Emmett, what can I do to make you happy again?" I ask, leaning forward in my seat to wrap my arms around his neck from behind.
" Admit that you used your pretty face to distract me, and that is the only reason you won," he says, smirking at me.
" Fine, Emmett, I used my incredibly pretty face to distract you in order to win the game," I say, sitting back in my seat. He perks up immediately. Now I don't know if it was the starbursts or the Pepsi I was guzzling, but I was on a sugar high. We stop at a light and I start bouncing up and down.
" So what do we want to do next?" Edward asks, popping a yellow starburst into his mouth. I look out of the window and catch the sign for a Tattoo shop.
" Lets get a tattoo," I blurt out. Jade and Edward both choke on their starbursts while Emmett smiles wildly.
" All right, see I knew I liked her for a reason," Emmett says, getting over to turn at the light.
" Ana you can't be serious," Jade says, as we pile out of the jeep.
" Oh but I am, come on, when was the last time we did something really crazy?" I ask, walking into the tattoo shop. The guy behind the counter was cute. Probably in his early thirties tattoos and piercings.
" Hey guys what can I do for you?" I smile at him, a beaming smile.
" I want a tattoo," I say, leaning against the counter. He chuckles and says someone will be able to help us in a few minutes.
" So do you know what you are going to get?" Jade asks, looking at me as I look through the books.
" Remember what we talked about getting senior year?" I ask, and her eyes lighten at the memory. We wanted to get a tattoo symbolizing each other. At this time we were still talking about going to separate colleges. We came up with the idea of getting each other's favorite flowers on our hips. Jade's on my left, mine on her right so that when we stood by each other it would look like they were supposed to be connected. Because we are connected, and we have always stuck by each others side through the good and the bad. We wait patiently for someone to help us, laughing at the girly tattoos Emmett contemplates.
" I so want this pretty little butterfly right on my butt cheek," Emmett says, in a high pitched voice. I laugh uncontrollably when the man returns and asks what we wan. Jade and I start explaining it to him, and his eyes light up at the idea.
" Okay, so let me just find a picture of the flowers and I will get them drawn out, it will be like an hour, is that okay?" he asks, looking at us.
" sure. We will be back in an hour," I say, linking my arms with Jades, walking out of the tattoo shop.
Forty five minutes into our hour wait I start coming down from my sugar high, having second thoughts of getting this tattoo done.
" I don't know about this anymore you guys," I say, staring at Jade from across the table we are sitting at.
" What do you mean you don't know about this?" she asks, looking at me, confusion lighting her eyes. " This was your idea."
" I know, but I was under the influence of sugar, and it's a needle," I say, shuddering at the idea.
" Well its too late now, he is already doing the work, and we gave him the deposit," she says, and I sigh.
" I know, I know," I say, checking my watch. " Well we might as well start heading back." We walk out of the small diner, and I walk as slowly as I can. I start falling behind purposely. I see Jade and Edward look back at me and roll their eyes, and Emmett walks back to me, grabbing my arm and dragging me with him.
" Come on half-pint. No turning back now," he says, pushing me through the door of the tattoo parlor. We walk in and take a seat waiting for the tattoo guy to come back out. He walks out five minutes later holding paper in his hands.
" Okay ladies, I just need you to fill this out and then we can get started," he says, " Who wants to go first." Jade and I exchange a look.
" I better go first, or I will chicken out," I say, filling the paper out and handing it to him.
" Okay, well here it is, take a look and let me know what you think," he says, showing me the drawing of the star gazer lily. Its beautiful, wonderfully detailed.
" I like it," I say, and he smiles.
" Okay, follow me," he says, and I start walking behind him, shooting a look over my shoulder.
" Wait cant someone come with me?" I ask, and he laughs loudly. " Yeah," he says, and I wave for Jade to come with. I walk into the room and look around.
" Okay so go ahead and lay down, un-button your pants, we will place it first and then you can take a look, then we will get started," he says, and I follow his instructions. My heart starts racing as he gets started on just placing the tattoo.
" Scared?" Jade asks, squeezing my hand lightly.
" Like you wouldn't believe," I say, trying to take a deep breathe.
" Okay, so go ahead and take a look in the mirror and let me know what you think," tattoo guy says, as I stand and look at it in the mirror. I like its placement, it's petals flirt with my pelvic bone and the petal on the furthest left stretched out further to my back so that Jade's tattoo could pick up right there. I lay back down after I tell him its good, and he is just about to start. I stop him just as he is about to place the needle to my skin.
" Wait, what's your name?" I ask, realizing that I was about to let someone whose name I didn't know tattoo me.
" Its Curtis," he says, nudging me to lay back down.
" Okay, Curtis, Ink me baby," I say, closing my eyes I grab Jade's hand and let him start his work. For a tattoo virgin I think I did pretty good. It didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would, and Curtis was good at making small talk to take my mind off of what little pain I actually felt. For the most part however he talked and my mind wandered. Thinking about what my mom would say when she found out. Or what Rosalie's reaction would be when she finds out that on our outing I had convinced Emmett I wanted a tattoo and not the other way around. What Jasper would think about it. Whoa, where did that come from? It seems that as much as I try to not think about him, he still finds his way into my thoughts, or my dreams. I tighten my closed eyes at this thought, letting only a small tear to escape. I'm not aware of the time that has passed, until Curtis' voice pulls me from my thoughts.
" All done, lets look at the finished product," he says, I slip off the table and look in the mirror. I love it. Emotions surges through me at the beauty of this stargazer lily. I look at Jade as she lays on the table for her turn. I hold her hand, making small talk with Curtis, counting down the minutes until he was done. We stand side by side in the mirror seeing how perfectly they fit together. My stargazer lily, her Water lily. A symbol of a friendship that would never die. That would never fade.
" Can I get a picture of this for my book?" Curtis asks, holding up a Polaroid camera.
" Sure," Jade and I answer together. We walk back to the waiting area where Edward and Emmett are staring at each other intensely.
" Hey ladies," Emmett says, unblinking.
" How did it go?" Edward asks, also unblinking. Jade and I caught on quickly knowing that they were in the middle of an intense staring contest.
" Oh it went fine, Ana cried a little so I had to kiss her to calm her down," Jade says, seriously. I knew she was biting her tongue so that she wouldn't laugh. Emmett turns his head first.
" Say what? And I wasn't back there to see this why?" he asks, while Edward pumps his hand in the air signaling his victory. I laugh hysterically, and walk out of the tattoo parlor with a feeling of accomplishment and happiness.
I'm standing in the kitchen stirring a simmering pot, laughing at the conversation going on around me. Me and my big mouth, I had to mention that I could cook on the drive home. Emmett begged and pleaded the whole way for me to cook spaghetti for dinner tonight. I gave in easily, Emmett is far too good at getting his way.
" Hey babe," Emmett says loudly, and I turn my attention just in time to see Rosalie breezing in a smile on her face.
" Hello love," she says, kissing him sweetly on the lips, before turning to say hello to the rest of us. " It smells incredible in here."
" Ana's cooking," Emmett announces happily.
" Mmm, I cant wait. So what did you guys do today? Hopefully you got out before the storm rolled in," she says, shaking the rain from her coat.
" Oh you know, we went to the arcade, had lunch, Ana and Jade got tattoo's," Edward says nonchalantly as he munches on a piece of carrot.
" Oh sounds like fun, wait what?" she asks, looking at me and Jade as she sits next to Emmett. I look over my shoulder and smile.
" Yeah, I am officially inked," I say, setting the spoon down to turn and look at her.
" Let me see," she says, walking towards me. I lift my shirt and pull my pants down partially to show her my new art work.
" Its beautiful, okay now I want to see yours Jade," she says, and Jade walks over to show her the way they connect.
" They are so beautiful," she says, staring at the detail.
" Thanks," I say laughing, blushing at the sudden attention. " Well dinner should be ready in ten minutes I am just going to run upstairs and change."
I walk up the stairs happily, not paying any attention to where I am going when I run into Jasper.
" Oh sorry," I say, moving to my right at the same that he moves to his left. We do this a few times trying to get past each other before I just stop moving all together. I stand there awkwardly for a minute.
" Uhm, I cooked dinner. You are more than welcome to join us," I say, finally breaking the silence.
" Thanks, I will. Listen Ana, can you meet me somewhere tonight?" he asks, running his fingers through his hair.
" Jasper, I don't know if I can do that. I don't want to talk this thing to death," I say, moving past him to go to my room. He grabs my wrist.
" Annalisa, please," he says, looking at me his eyes pleading. I debate with myself for a minute.
" Fine, where?" I ask, pulling my hand from his.
" Just meet me downstairs at say ten thirty, and be sure to dress warmly," he says, walking down the stairs before I can ask any questions. I stare after him bewildered.
" Ana, you might want to get down stairs, Emmett's attacking the spaghetti sauce," Jade yells from the kitchen. I roll my eyes to myself.
" Emmett, don't fight with the food," I yell back, running down the stairs to stop Emmett from starting World War Three with an inanimate object.