A/N: So, I've not updated this story for a while and feel it should get some attention. I thought this idea when I started getting cravings for a new tattoo. And so this chapter was born.
ALSOOO! AnnaMarie03 if your talking about the experience I think you're talking about in your review, head on over to Full Time Occupation. That's where that will be happening. ;)
Diclaimer: Everything belongs to Steph Meyer. Except Melissa and Nick, they're mine.
Branded
BPOV
"Let's do something!" Melissa huffed, throwing herself onto the couch next to me. I took a deep breath, lowered the book I was reading and turned to her slowly.
She was looking at me expectantly, though she didn't have her usual mischievous glint in her eyes. You know, the glint that got me drunk, high, arrested... I eyed her for a moment before sighing, making her grin at me.
"What did you have in mind?" I asked.
"Well I was thinking-"
"I think that's a wonderful idea, Melissa." Alice interrupted what she was going to say as she breezed into the with Emmett hot on her heels.
"What's a wonderful idea?" He said, his eyes shining with anticipation.
"Well," Melissa started. "I was thinking Bella and I could get tattoo's" Melissa said, looking at me hopefully.
"I don't know..." I said hesitantly. "I mean, what would I even get?"
I looked over Melissa's visible tattoo's and knew most of hers had been inspired by celebrities and other things though some were also her own unique ideas.
"Well, I'm getting Nick's name somewhere, plus my wrecked ones redone. So, I guess you could get Edward's name. Which is why it sounds like... A wonderful idea?" Melissa said hesitantly to Alice, her statement trailing off into a question.
"Exactly!" Alice exclaimed, clapping her hands.
"Awesome!" Emmett said. "I think I'll get a big tribal one, you know? Right down my arm..." He said, trailing off when he saw our expressions.
"You can't get an tattoo!" Melissa exclaimed before laughing hysterically.
"Yeah, your skin would snap the needle, Emmett." I said, cracking up with Mel.
Emmett pouted and folded his arms over his chest causing Alice, Melissa and I to laugh even more. He narrowed his eyes at us before stomping off.
Alice was the first to recover. She gently pulled us both to our feet and put her hands on her hips. I didn't like the expression she was wearing. It was the one she wore when she was planning something complete absurd.
"Okay, come on, we don't have much time. I think I could get us to Hollywood and back by tomorrow, I just need to think of something that won't make the boys worry and follow us. After all, we do want this to be a surprise for them..." Alice mused, almost to herself.
"Hold on, Alice." Melissa said, stepping up to Alice. "What do you mean, Hollywood?" She incrediously.
"Well, we have to go to High Voltage Tattoo, you have to have the best!" Alice exclaimed, as if she couldn't believe we didn't want it.
"Listen, as much as I would love to have Kat Von D tattoo me, I don't think going to Hollywood is the best idea." Melissa said, saying this Kat persons name with reference, though I had no idea who the hell she was.
"But Melissa..." Alice began to whine.
"No buts, we're going to my usual guy. He's absolutely brilliant!" She said, turning to grin at me. I smiled back nervously as Alice pouted and mumbled to herself about us ruining her fun.
"Okay, so where is your usual guy?" I asked grabbing my things.
"Seattle." Melissa said, heading to the garage. "Which is why I am driving,"
"No, that's why I'm driving." Alice said flitting into the garage.
"Fine. But, only because you haven't given us a hard time over this." Melissa relented.
"Wait for me!" Emmett called, blurring into the garage. "I'm not missing this." He finished grinning at me. I scowled at him as Melissa and I got into Alice's car.
In no time we were entering Seattle and Alice was heading to the shop. No directions needed, of course.
We pulled up outside the shop and I was glad to see it wasn't some back street, dingy looking shop. The outside was painted a cheery yellow and there was huge sign surround by fire that said 'TATTOOS'.
"We're here!" Melissa squealed, climbing over Emmett and throwing herself out of the car. I saw her run in the shop and shook my head at her. I laughed quietly and waited patiently for Alice and Emmett to exit the car before getting out.
When we entered the shop I saw Melissa talking animatedly with a guy with black hair down to his shoulders and tattoo's all over his arms. As we got closer to them I realised the tattoo's were also across his chest and neck, only his face seemed untouched.
"So, I was in this accident and it disfigured my wrist tattoo's! Is there anything you can do?" Melissa was saying, holding her arms out to show the guy.
He took her thin wrists and turned them different ways getting a look at the damage.
"Well, Mel, I think I can save them. The vines are quite messy anyway so redoing them will be easy. As for the peace sign, that looks salvageable, too. Though it maybe quite painful... Oh, wait, I forgot who I was dealing with." He said, looking up at her and winking. She smirked at him and turned to me.
"Have you decided what you want yet, Bella?" She asked.
"I have actually." I said smiling. On the drive over here I had put some serious thought into what I wanted and came to a final choice. I saw Alice smile widely from the corner of my eye.
"Good!" Melissa squeaked, clapping her hands together. "Well, you tell Jay here what it is you want while I have a look at some designs for mine." And with that she danced away to look at the pictures and drawings on the walls.
MPOV
"Okay, so are we ready?" Jay asked.
I nodded eagerly and held my wrist out as he pressed the paper with my drawn pattern on onto my wrist. I sighed as the familiar sound of the tattoo gun rang in my ears. I felt the first prick of the needle and looked to Alice and Emmett who were watching with fasination and clenched jaws. On the car ride over here they said they would be absoloutely fine with the blood. They said something about knowing that the skin was going to be broke beforehand gave them time to prepare for the assault of it. I trusted them completely and agreed that they could watch. I looked to Bella who was breathing through her mouth, refusing to look at my wrist and began to worry that she wouldn't be able to do this.
"You okay, B?" I asked, holding my free hand out to her.
She took it and I gave it a light squeeze which she returned. "What does it feel like?" She whispered, glancing at the gun.
"To me? Vibrations. But to others, it's supposed to be like a slight burning sensation that numbs as each part of the design is done." I said, shrugging and trying to appear nonchalant. "You still want to do it?" I asked quietly.
"Yes." She said, nodding once and squaring her shoulders. I grinned at her and turned to Jay.
"You think you could hurry along, Jay? Before this one changes her mind." I said, nodding to Bella. He looked up and mock glared at me before going back to the task at hand. I looked down and saw that it was almost finished. Jay was the best. I leaned forward my head almost touching his as I watched the ink imbed itself in my skin.
Five minutes later and it was done. I held my swelled wrist up and turned it in different directions and grinned. It was pretty much the same as before and any evidence of the accident were pretty much gone.
"Where are you getting yours, Bella?" I asked turning to her as she played nervously with a loose string on her top.
"Well it's not that big so I was thinking on my wrist?" She said making her statement a question.
"Sounds great." I agreed, grinning. "What are you getting anyway?" I asked trying to look over Jay's shoulder at Bella's design. Bella grabbed my arm and pulled me away. "Wait and see." She said with a wink. I poked my tongue out and took the empty seat next to her.
"Okay, that should do it. Pass me your wrist... Bella?" Jay said, holding his hand out for her wrist.
"Yeah." Bella nodded while slowly pulling her sleeve up and revealing her non-scarred wrist.
Jay placed the design on her wrist and imprinted it there, though from angle I was sat I couldn't see what it was and Bella's death grip on my hand kept me in my seat. The gun started then and Bella tensed and increased the strength of her grip on my hand.
"What ever you do Bella, do not, under any circumstances, pull your arm away. Got it?" I whispered to her. She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded her head. I watched as Jay touched the needle to her arm and started the process.
Bella's eyes flew open and the breath she was holding whooshed out of her. She looked to me with wide eyes and I smiled encouragingly at her. She leaned over to me and whispered, "If I had never had venom in my system, this would be impossible for me."
I laughed quietly and looked at Alice and Emmett who were grinning at us.
Bella's tattoo took about fifteen minutes to do and she handled it pretty well, only hissing out a couple of times when Jay hit particularly sensitive spots. Once it was done, he covered it up and Bella released my hand. I pouted when I Bella wouldn't let me see it.
"You can see it soon, I promise." She vowed, rising from the chair and smiling at Jay.
"Okay, me again!" I exclaimed taking Bella's place. Jay grinned at me and I explained that I wanted the peace sign redoing. I decided to have Nick's name above it as he always brought me peace, no matter if he was right beside me or away from me.
"I also want the name Nick tattooed above it." I said, making his head snap up.
"Who's Nick?" He demanded. How rude.
"My boyfriend." I said, making his face fall. What the fuck?
"Oh." He said quietly. "Are you sure thats what you want? Most people regret putting boyfriends names on their bodies. How do you know it will last?" He asked, his eyes hopeful.
"This is the real thing, Jay. Stop being so fucking rude." I said flatly.
Jay just sighed and started my design. I looked over at Alice who was glaring at Jay and Emmett who was laughing at me and kissing the air.
"Fuck off, Emmett." I hissed quietly knowing he would hear me. Emmett just guffawed loudly causing Jay to look up at him questioningly.
"Ignore him, Jay. He's an idiot." I sighed.
BPOV
Twenty minutes later we had payed and were leaving the shop and a disgruntled Jay behind. I must admit I felt bad for the guy. He kinda reminded me of Mike, the way he would look at Melissa and do almost anything for her. And then before he can reveal his feelings a gorgeous vampire would swoop in and gain her heart before anyone else had a chance. Not that he would have stood a chance anyway. Melissa and Nick compliment each other perfectly. I think Melissa and Jay would just clash.
As we entered Forks, Melissa started unwrapping her tattoo's, admiring the one of Nick's name lovingly.
"Come on, B. Show us yours." She urged, turning to me.
I kind of wanted Edward to be the first to see it, but seeing as I had seen hers I thought it was only fair for her to see mine. I unwrapped the covering from my arm and gazed down at my wrist. Though my wrist was red and swollen, it was clear what it was. I smiled down at the lion lying down with a small lamb curled up next to it and gingerly stroked it. And underneath, in elegant script, was Edwards name.
"Wow." Melissa breathed. "That's beautiful, Bella."
"Thank you." I replied, not taking my eyes off it.
"I don't get it." Emmett grumbled from the front seat.
"You wouldn't." Melissa mumbled.
"Can you guess who the lion and the lamb are, Emmett?" I said, looking up at him. I saw realization cross his face and he grinned at me.
"You're so corny, Bella." He said, making Alice to smack him upside the head.
"I think it's sweet, Bella. Edward will love it." Alice said confidently, smiling at me through the mirror.
EPOV
When we got back to house, Nick and I found Bella and Melissa huddled on the couch, leaning over something. When they noticed us they jumped apart and pulled on their sleeves. I tried to see what was going on by searching through Melissa's mind but she was thinking about her and Nick... Ew. I ignored her mind then and turned to Bella.
"What's going on, love?" I asked, taking a seat next to her. Nick did the same, but picked Melissa up and placed her on his lap.
"Well, I've got a suprise for you." Bella admitted sheepishly.
"What is it?" I urged. She flushed a light pink before pulling the sleeve of her top up and revealed a tattoo on her wrist. I studied her swollen arm and nearly growled at the though of her being in pain. But, then I looked at the tattoo and the meaning it has for both of us and swallowed my anger. I let my happiness wash it away and looked up at her with her favourite smile. She blushed harder and looked down at the tattoo.
"I didn't know if you would like it. I mean, I could get it removed, I suppose. I think it's nice, not many people know the meaning behind it. And I just wanted to show you how much I love you and-" She was rambling, so I clamped my hand over her mouth as she flushed crimson.
"I love it. I love you. But, you didn't need to brand yourself with this to prove your love for me." I said gently, slowly removing my hand from her mouth.
"Don't say 'brand' please. It isn't that at all." Bella said, frowning at me.
"Sorry, love. But I now I wish there was something I could do to have your name permenantly on my body." I said, frowing at nothing in particular.
"That won't be necessary. I'll always be here, by your side, no matter what. I didn't do this to have a reminder of you. I did it for significance." Bella said, lightly kissing my lips. I pulled back and grinned at her.
"So, I'm guessing you got one too, Melissa?" I asked, looking around Bella.
"Yes!" She squealed, holding her wrist out. She had Nick's name tattooed above her peace sign tattoo and I smiled.
"Nice." I said, grinning at Nick who was beaming with pride and joy.
The rest of the family came in the and admired their tattoo's. Everyone agreed that they were both lovely though Rosalie was a little annoyed about the fact that she couldn't do anything like that for Emmett.
I was admiring Bella's wrist again when something came to me. "So, million dollar question..." I started as everyone looked at me and I looked at Bella. "How are you going to tell Charlie?"
A/N: TWO DAYS! TWO FREAKIN' DAYS IT TOOK ME TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER! I'm really not happy with it at all but I don't see how I can fix it. I would really appriciate reviews on this particular chapter as I'm so disappointed with it and would love to know what everyone else thinks.
Anyway, I'll see you all soon!
R&R!
Cherry x