Sitting in the bar I met her, I tried to figure her out. Her fiery hair and green eyes that drew me in had been burned into my brain since the moment I met her, but if I had wanted to I could have forgotten her, had I not heard the soft flow of her guarded voice and blocked emotions. No women had ever told me to leave, I made them leave, but I wanted to stay with her, I wanted to hold her, but I did something I should not have.
" hey, you want anything else?" the lone bartender asked me while he typically dried off a glass, like in the movies. He was lean and tall with black hair and a scruffy chin, I knew him from the many times I came into the Bar to pick up a women. It was strange of him to talk to me, he tried to avoid me most times I came in here, but it was clear why he asked when I looked around the room, the place was empty except for the two of us.
"another beer?" I asked.
" you know its going to be ages before anyone else comes in, you know the girls don't normally come till late anyway, why are you sticking around?" he mumbled as he reached under the Bar and handed me another "alpine". He leaned back against the counter behind him, crossing his Arms with a board look on his face.
" just thinking" I took a big gulp of beer, looking over the bottle to see him raising an eye brow at me. " if you have something to say, your welcome to say it, I promise not to go mad and attack you" I smirked at him.
"What could possibly drive you to stop thinking about whoring yourself, how could A rich ladies man like you be so troubled he will sit in silence and not even hit on the one woman who came in here for a bottle of water? It's as if you didn't even care when she obviously wanted your attention" he didn't ask rudely, but curiously.
" seems to me like you know me quite well" I took another sip of my beer, " exactly how much attention do you pay to me while I'm here?" are eyes leveled with each others.
" probably too much, but in my defense, your in here almost every night picking up any girl you want, except last time you were here I happen to notice you lift alone, sex didn't appear to be on your mind."
" dear god, tell me your not going to give me advise about my troubles like every bartender stereo type, says you will?" he rolled his eyes at my sheltered comment.
" what can i say, you interest me." I found myself lost in his blue eyes that studied every part of me, digging into my skin trying to uncover the mystery beyond it like i was simply a sandwich he wished to know the contents of. " so what was her name?"
" who are you talking about?" I asked as though I was somewhat annoyed, but I wasn't.
" the red head you were talking to that night, she was quite pretty?" my heart skipped a beat, an image of her passed through my mind as I tried to shake it away with another swig of beer
" what makes you think I got her name, why would I have even bothered?" saying such cruel things suddenly hurt, and as I looked down at the counter, I listened to the soft sound of the mans snicker.
"well normally when I man is trying to get a woman to his bed, he doesn't sit and laughs with her, he plays sad tricks like whispering sweet things into her ear and buying her drinks, you however just sat with her staring at her, laughing and talking as you smiled sincerely." he reached beneath the bar and grabbed himself a beer, which he surely was not supposed to do since he was working. I sat stunned and silent for a moment, taking this mans words into question. Why had I acted so differently?
"why does it matter?" I mumbled
"do you recognize me Jace?" he said sipping his beer. I looked at him unsure, I had thought when I first saw him he was oddly familiar but thought nothing of it. " my names Alec. We went to high school together, you would make fun of me for being gay!" he shifted his eyes at me, slight resentment visible in then.
"so my past still chases me? What do you want, an apology? I can't tell you how awful I feel for the things I have done, I'm not a good person but do not take it personally I'm an asshole to many people, for stupid reasons, I don even care that your gay." amusement appeared in his eyes, clearly he was enjoying this. " what?" my irritation was clear in my tone.
"That girl the other night? Her name was Clary Fray, right?" my mouth dropped.
"how do you know that?"
" we went to school with her; she was in my homeroom, always had he sketch book out. She comes in here and draws every once in a while, the most beautiful artist I have ever seen." he stopped for a moment and his eyes grew sad then, "I remember bumping into her at school one day, I bent to help her get her books and I noticed something, she had this bruise on her arm, you could just see the tip of it, but it wasn't hard to tell that it was made by someone grabbing he arm. I never did anything, I should have said something, but I was scared, now I can never forget that moment, the moment I realized why she was so sheltered." I felt suddenly angry at both myself and him.
"you were scared? Could you not have imagined how she may of felt, how scared she was?" I pressed my hands into the table.
"I was a child, scared of his god damn shadow, scared of people like you. However seeking you here all these times, I realized you were just frightened of me, you were the one who was afraid, you just needed to act like you were in control, because all these years your emotions have been rotting away." I stayed silent, it was strange that he knew me so well, that it took him all this time to say anything, or even the fact that I was actually sorry for the cruelty I had towards him.
"why are you just telling me who you are now?" I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.
"I never got a chance to help Clary in high school, but I have a feeling that I have a chance now. When you came in here you sat there and stared at the table you two sat at, three hours later and here we are and you only on your second beer. Something happened to make you come here to think about her, what was it?" I stared at the man who had walked towards me suddenly standing over me , the counter separating us.
"yesterday, I went to my uncles house I was going to check and see if it was alright to move into. I was standing outside staring at the place when I heard a woman scream next door, I ran to help her and it was Clary. She was fine, shocked to see me, then she figured out who I was, she knew my uncle, he talked about me. She showed me a painting she did for my uncle, it was of my parents. Then her mother came." my hands became fists on the desk, as I fought to stay calm, Alec looked at me knowingly. "she treated her like shit, putting her down. Clary asked me to leave, walking into her home to talk with her mother, I didn't leave I just waited, then they came outside yelling at each other, she slapped Clary and Clary forced her to leave, and when she left Clary looked at me and broke down. I held her all night in the middle of her hallway. Then I kissed her and something changed and she distanced from me, she pleaded for me to leave." I chugged the last of my beer putting it on the counter with a load bang. He stood there his head bowed and his hands gripping the gold colored poll attached to he bar.
" you have to go back." he said calmly.
"she didn't want me there" the disappointment was clear my tone.
"Jace" he looked up at me, his eyes filled with sadness. "go back" I stared at him, "now, don't worry about the drinks, there free"
" you can't do that, can you?"
"I own the place"
I grabbed my jacket and my helmet, and let the building that had a new meaning to me. I would come back here, to ask Alec if he would consider forgiving me for what I have done, and become the first friend I have had in years.
Ten minuets later I was standing on Clary's porch waiting in the rain, I was soaked and cold from the ride over here on my Harley, but it didn't matter right now.
She answered the door in plaid pajama pants and a green tank that matched her eyes. Still beautiful. "Jace? What are you doing?" I listened to the concern flow easy in her voice.
" I can't even begin to tell you. I came here because I don't understand, but I want to. I want to know you, I want you to trust me, to feel comfortable with me. I'm not a good guy, in fact I'm a terrible human being who makes the wrong decisions all the time, but I want to make the right one with you, because if I don't I may just regret it for the rest of my life. It's wrong of me to ask you this, I can't even imagine what this is like for you, but I want you to show me. I will do anything, just let me be a friend to you Clary." i could make out the plea in my voice, all my feeling were just pouring out.
And that moment felt like the longest second of my life, I had to stand there, in the rain, waiting for something anything. Her eyes her cloudy an her hair was curvy and wild, some of it had been covering her face. She looked at the ground nibbling in her bottom lip, the only notice was the patter of rain drops.
"Jace"

So an apology is in order you the wait, My computer has been Broken for the last month and half, so i ended up writing this chapter on my ipod. I will be publishing again as soon as i can and i will try to make up for the wait. so i hope you like this chapter, Review and let me know

-The Black Tattoo