"Rough night boss?"
Eva glanced over her shoulder at Chris, he had been standing there for a while now. This was a pretty regular thing for him, especially when it was a client's first tattoo. The buzz of the tattoo machine ceased as Eva turned and let him get a good look at her injuries "You should see the other guy…"
She had been quick to concoct a cover story for her cuts, bruises, and the fact that she was limping. Eva was starting to surprise herself with how easily she could lie about all this, especially with a smile on her face. Chris swallowed the story as readily as the rest, and the session continued. The piece was simple, a detailed Greek Tragedy and Comedy masks with a red ribbon curling about the edges. The client was an old souled 20 something year old woman. Honestly, it had surprised Eva that this chick didn't already have a tattoo, the Mohawk, bright red dye job, and grunge clothing, made her assume that this was a second or third. Eva liked the design and the client had been ecstatic when shown the final print. For a first timer. The kid was handling the pain pretty well and only whimpered when Eva hit the incredibly fleshy spots near the arm pit.
Smirking, the tattooist started into shading the eyebrow like folds of the Comedy mask. Joker would probably approve of this tattoo, Eva paused for a second, as if queued by the sudden thought of him, her thigh gave a brief twinge of pain. Nothing a little Advil couldn't cure "Do you wanna take a break?"
The client nodded and slowly sat up "I need to take a piss…"
Eva chuckled "Bathroom's down the hall."
Once the client was out of the room, Eva trashed her black latex gloves and dug into her desk for her pain killers. After popping two pills and taking several gulps of water, she took a seat in her chair. Why was she even thinking about him? At work of all places, she had managed to break a personal record of not having him on the mind for a little over an hour. He was burrowing into her mind, taking it over like some sort of parasitic worm. Glancing towards her Surface, Eva turned her back on it and logged into her computer, she needed some music to distract her. Just as she was clicking on her Tattooing playlist, her client walked back in "I hope you don't mind a bit of music while we work?"
The client stretched a little and winced when she felt the slight pull of freshly inked skin "I'm good with anything."
Getting back into position, the buzz of the machine dulled the piano riff that introduced one of the songs into dulcet background noise. Within seconds, Eva was lulled into a realm of tranquility. In that moment she realized that work was the only way for her to attain any form of sound mindedness in her given situation. The session continued for about an hour before Eva pulled back and gave a satisfied sigh "Alright, I think we're done."
Slowly, the client sat up, there was a brilliant smile on her face. There was much pride to be had in getting a first tattoo. Smirking, Eva handed her mirror so that she could look. The woman squealed with joy and thanked Eva profusely as she went about wrapping up the fresh ink. Within about 20 minutes, the client was sent on her way. Smiling, Eva pocketed the $50 tip along with the $100 fee for the tattoo.
As she went about cleaning up the chair in order to prep for her next client, Eva opened up her Surface. Despite her ill desire to think of him, Joker was due in next week for his session, she'd need a lot in order to avoid pissing him off. The more he had to choose from, the less likely he'd be upset if one of her designs was deemed trash. As she did this, more detail was added to the multiple gritting smiles, and a small J was etched into the corner as an afterthought.
The rest of her day continued like this, and it was bliss to her. It felt like months since Eva had felt at ease. Joker wouldn't come her during the day, not with so many to witness. Suddenly, a small bottle of red ink slipped from her fingertips at a thought…. What if he was going to be at her apartment? He had no qualms about showing up out of the blue, for all she knew she'd find him waiting for her. A shiver ran up her spine at the very thought of him being there waiting to ambush her. Shuddering, her right hand dipped towards her thigh where the freshly stitched J lay. It stung a little, and the very thought of him made it hurt more "Eva?"
She jumped at her name and looked up to find Deluca staring at her "You alright?"
Blinking a couple time, Eva laughed as she bent over to retrieve the bits of broken glass from the ink jar "I'm fine, fine, just dropped a bottle. Could you get the broom for me. I've got a client in 45 minutes, can't have broken glass."
Deluca just stood there, obviously worried. For a second, he could've sworn that Eva looked as if she had seen a ghost of was having some sort of Vietnam flashback. He'd never seen her so pale. She glanced up at him and shook her head "You want me to get the broom, cause you look busy."
He came back to himself, finding Eva smirking at him. She was back to her usual sarcastic, almost bitchy self "What with the staring at my womanly figure and all….."
Laughing and putting up his hands as if to defend himself, he stepped away "Yeah, yeah, I got the hint boss!"
(Author's Note: So I shamelessly pulled a Stan Lee type cameo in this chapter, I'm sure that you can guess where I was?)