Sixteen Hours of Ink.
a piece of Twilight fanfiction by Metch
Disclaimer.
I do not own anything twilight.
I simply use the characters to create my own fictional world :-)
Chapter Two: Behind the Bar
It was only six pm, but already there were a lot of people.
As soon as Bella had entered she was greeted by a lot of patrons.
She spotted Charlotte, one of Kate's friends all alone by the darts wall. She smiled at Bella who simply returned the favor.
Tonight was Friday night, and happy hour had just started.
On Fridays it was easy to spot the clients who only bothered to come in on happy hour, when they paid one and got one for free.
Of course, there were also the loyal customers. People like Serge and David, father and son who dropped in together on a very regular basis.
Bella spotted Rosalie. She was behind the bar, flying from one side to another with feverish motions and on high speed.
Poor girl, she thought and walked over to her friend right away.
"Hey Rosie, help has arrived," Bella announced and went to dump her bag and jacket in the small room behind the bar.
"I'm going to strangle that bitch of a Kate," Rosalie growled, handing a guy with a long, grey ponytail his two beers.
"I know, right. She's been acting so strange lately. We should talk after closing-time," Bella proposed, putting on a little apron.
She gazed at her friend Rosalie. Her head of thick blonde waves was a bit tangled and hung loosely around her right shoulder.
Rosalie wore the same as Bella, only she had a pair of cut-off shorts on paired with cobweb tights.
Bella thought Rose looked stunning, even with her eyeliner a bit smudgy and her dark lipstick in need of some retouching.
"Thanks for coming, Bells," Rosalie said smiling warmly and drying of her hands. "You're an absolute angel," she went over to Bella and kissed her on the cheek as a thank-you.
"Putting some girl-on-girl-action on the program now, ladies?" The voice was familiar. Bella recognized it immediately and turned around so she could face the tall man.
"That'll only happen when Easter's on a Monday, sweet-cheeks." Rose winked at Garrett.
"Hey there, Little Miss Stranger. I thought to myself, why not go for a drink tonight and check if Bell's didn't die," Garrett mocked.
Bella felt her cheeks grow red as Rose's attention peeked and she leaned her elbows casually onto the bar to look at the scene.
"I'm so sorry Garr. I meant to text you to come over tonight," Bella explained.
Garrett shrugged off his vintage leather biker jacket and draped it over the bar stool he went to sit on.
"It's okay Cupcake, I get it. I knew you'd come around," he said and ordered a Desperados Tequila. "If I were to see you like that, I'd run to Kansas and back. Trust me, sorry."
Bella smiled at him, knowing she had nothing to worry about.
"Sorry to interrupt, but what is that all about?" Rosalie asked, looking from Garrett at Bella with suspicious blue eyes.
Bella was going to explain, until Garrett interrupted her.
"Bells caught me fucking Victoria on the stairs to my apartment," he said lightly.
Rosalie erupted in laughter, I joined in eventually.
"Oh gee, now I get it. Poor Bella, you must've been mortified!" Rosalie said, wiping at her eyes with two heavy-ringed fingers.
"It's not like I'm a saint, Rose. I just didn't really expect something like that. I thought he'd fallen off of the stairs or something like that," Bella tried to rescue the situation.
"A saint? No, but you are a little prude when it comes to my sex life," Garrett said, sipping his Desperados.
"Yeah. Well. You're like my big brother. That doesn't exactly make it like watching porn. It just makes it gross for me to watch," Bella joked.
"I walked in on my parents banging it away on a Sunday afternoon once. I am afraid of Sunday brunches at theirs since then," Rosalie mused with a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Oh please. Do not even go there. No sex talk about relatives, that's all I'm asking," Bella said as she held up her hands to the both of them as a signal to quit the shit.
"Sorry Bells, I totally get it. I wouldn't want to see you humping a guy either," Rose laughed at that and tended to a client.
"That's okay, no need to worry about that though," Bella sighed.
"What's the matter, Cupcake?" Garrett asked.
"I just haven't been laid in forever, it's wearing on me," she answered him with a sly smile.
Rose re-joined the conversation after playing a request song at the sound-system.
"Forever meaning what exactly?" Rosalie asked, frowning.
"Four months?" Bella said softly.
"Seriously? What about that date you went on last week?" Rosalie asked her, sipping from a bottle of sparkling water.
"Yeah… Let's just say it was kind of a disaster. Jake's a horrible guy. He was after me like some dog running after a bone," Bella huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
The place got more crowded by now and more and more patrons came to the bar for request songs. The Red Dragonfly was a famous place for hard-rock and metal fans.
Every day they had a good amount of customers, but Fridays always were the best. The place was completely full and the smoking room and terrace were two of the girls' best assets.
"Just you wait, Cupcake. Maybe I've got something for you," Garrett winked at Bella and smiled secretive.
"You're not implying she sleeps with you, now are you?" Rose asked, a look of disgust painting her face.
"Of course not!," Bella and Garrett yelled at the same time.
"Good then," she smiled sweetly and cleaned the mess she'd made during opening a fresh bottle of champagne.
"By the way, Garrett, isn't Victoria with James?" Rose asked.
He nodded.
"That's what I thought… But during our session she told me she broke up with him. And also that she was very horny. Then she just started seducing me and yeah… Bell's knows the rest of the story," Garrett said.
The trio talked a bit, until there was too much of a crowd to be able to have a normal conversation.
Between serving customers and running around the bar to go and fetch empty glasses and bottles, Bella noticed Garrett was texting someone with that same secretive smile on his lips.
She wondered what was going on with him and that smile. Frowning she turned to Rosalie, who looked more tired by the minute.
"Honey, you go and freshen up. I can handle it alone for a couple of minutes," Bella told her.
"Gosh thanks, I feel like a total slob. You just yell if you can't handle it anymore. I'll be ten minutes tops," she smiled thankfully at Bella and went in the back room.
Bella hurried around the bar and liquors. She was lucky to have turned twenty-one in September, so she wasn't guilty of some lawbreaking anymore.
The bar was kind of new, as it was only open since the week after Bella turned twenty-one. In the mean-time Rosalie turned twenty-three and was happy to spend the money she didn't want into making her dreams come true.
After her abusive uncle passed away, Rosalie got a fair share of the fortune he'd made in the South of France over the last thirty years.
She didn't really care for the money, but she spent it on something she did want: freedom, and a place where she could be herself.
Rosalie and Bella met at school concert two years ago. They were both bored and freaked out by the bubbly, girly, loaded in pink chiffon singers that were 'performing' on stage when they met under the safety of a broken area of the bleachers.
"Oh sorry," Bella said and started walking away from the blonde girl under the bleacher.
"Don't! You look like you're cool. Come and join me," The blonde motioned for Bella to go and sit down next to her.
"Thanks. Not a bit fan of the whole rainbow-dancing-cupcakes up stage?" Bella asked her.
"Puh-lease. Do I look lik I would enjoy such crap?" She said, laughing.
"I'm Rose, by the way. Nice to meet you, Bella," she winked and searched through her purse.
"How do you know my name?" Bella asked her, putting a loose strand of hair under her hood.
"I admire you. You're drawings are state of the art. Miss Dammings mentioned you in my last class about shading," Rose explained.
"Oh," was Bella's only answer.
"Want one?" Rose asked and handed me a cigarette.
"Sure, thanks, so what're you majoring in?" Bella asked as Rose lid her cigarette.
The rest is, as they say, history.
The two girls got along just fine. They found out they liked the same music, same clothes and even same guys. Bella learned Rosalie was doing Business and Art, and wanted her own business.
Bella was intrigued. Rosalie was a beautiful woman, but also with brains. They exchanges phone numbers and a day later were having drinks together in a dull bar.
They talked about their future, guys and sex. Typical conversations for a nineteen year old and a twenty-one year old girl.
The night ended in Rosalie's studio, instead of the dorm room Bella was in. They were as drunk as they'd ever been and were sharing emotional confessions that ended in ice-cream and a whole bunch of tissues.
Bella smiled as she remembered their first encounter and saw that Garrett was waving at her.
"Dreaming about that lay, Cupcake?" he laughed at her.
She gave him a coy smile.
"I wasn't, mister Stairfucker. Don't you have any texts to send?" She asked him, earning a fake yawn from Garrett.
"No, I don't have to send anyone a text. That's already been taking care of," he winked at her.
"Quit the rape-face, Garrett, or no more drinks," Bella warned him playfully.
"Yes, Ma'am!" he saluted and walked away from his spot at the bar, going direction entrance as he left his jacket hanging on his chair.
So, I hope you guys liked it?
Please leave me a review. You know you want it ;)
I have no beta, please keep that in mind. I hope to find one, does anyone want to do that for me?
I really enjoy writing this fic, and I hope I can please you ladies as well ;)
Reviews = preview sneak-peaks!
:)
Metch x