Ink

3.

The next time Ophelia visited, it was expected. I was waiting for her to appear; I had already set up the neccessary tools and had a latte waiting for the women, who would no likely manage to surprise me even more this time around.

As usual,the bell on the door chimed as she entered. Again she surveyed the sketches that decorated the walls, before her emerald eyes came to rest on me. Green pools of mystery. She was still wearing her leather jacket and a smile adorned her face, hidden slightly by her loose hair. I exhaled slowly, only just having realised that I was holding my breath.

"I'm hoping the drink is for me?"

She skipped the pleasantries.

"If you're OK with a latte, it is."

"OK with a latte? You'd have to be crazy not to enjoy a latte on a day like this. It's bloody freezing out there!"

She took a long sip and I was happy to notice that even a seemingly perfect girl like her, could still get a foamy mastouche above her lips. She caught me watching and headed for the empty seat to break my gaze. To break the connection.

Once in the seat, I immediately set to work on the template in silence, hoping to ease the newfound awkwardness in the air, but this time she sat up watching my hand flick across her exposed skin.

"I'm not putting you off am I?" She asked.

"No."

"Good...I like seeing you work. Your face changes when you concentrate."

I paused and lifted my eyes so that they met hers. Close up, it was like looking at the ocean. A wild, choppy wave of colours and emotions.

"You have beautiful eyes," I found myself confessing.

She said nothing. Then she glanced down at her arm and broke our eye contact.

Again.

I continued with the template and found myself wanting to ask once again what they were for, or why she wanted her own private sessions. But my thoughts were interrupted when a second figure entered the shop. The bell chimed.

"We're closed," I called instinctively without looking up,"You'll have to come back tomorrow."

Ophelia had tensed up and was staring at the spot directly behind my head towards the stranger. They hadn't left. I didn't need the bell to tell me that. I could feel their eyes on me.

"Did you not hear me? I said we're closed."

"I know you are."

The familiarity of the words stunned me for a moment. They were just what O had said to me the first time she'd came.

I stood up to inspect my new visitor. They too were female, but this stranger was the opposite of the one in my chair. Where Ophelia was skinny, this women was thicker; she had dark round eyes that sat close together on her face and greasy blonde hair that had been hacked into a bob of sorts. She stared me down with her dark eyes and folded her arms. Scary.

"What's your name?" She asked in a voice that seemed more at home coming from a boombox.

"Xavier."

"What the f*ck kind of name is that?"

Ophelia remained quiet.

"Well what'd they call you?"

"Bertha."

I snorted because, like O, the name suited this intimidating women before me.

"Something funny?"

"No, no of course not...it's just...the name suits you that's all."

She pulled her lips into a sneer and pushed past me to Ophelia,who was now standing too, and muttered something I didn't quite catch. From her general demeanour I guessed it wasn't anything pleasant. This woman reeked hostility.

Feeling somewhat obligated to ease the hostility in the room, and fearful for my shops wellbeing, I decided to try and work out what this 'Bertha' wanted.

"So Bertha what exactly is it you want?"

A grunt came from the bigger woman, but she didn't avert her attention from Ophelia. Whatever was being discussed was clearly more important than answering me. 

"I have some great designs that I feel would suit you if you're interested. Perhaps a menacing shark on your upper arm?"

"Are you hard of hearing?"Her attention was now fully on me and she locked me with her big bulgy eyes,"I said this doesn't concern you."

I paused for a moment, forcing her to watch me flick my eyes this way and that in thought.

"Actually,you didn't say that dumbass. If my mind serves me correctly, you merely asked my name. And if I'm also not mistaken...this is my shop and consequently my property."

I'd definitely pissed her off.

"Are you having a laugh,"she snarled; spittle sprayed forth from her lips,"Who do you think you are?"

Behind her, Ophelia stood still watching the scene unfold. Whereas before Bertha's appearance she'd been confident and bold, she now looked afraid and had turned extremely white. Her lips moved open and shut as she took in gulps of air and fiddled with her hands. I didn't like seeing her afraid. It looked wrong- like seeing a lion scared of a lamb.

"What I think, is that you should leave before I call the police and get them to drag you out that door in handcuffs."

"And on what grounds would that be huh?"

"Trespassing,"I said simply not bothering to hide my grin.

"Bullshit."

I shrugged; picked up the phone on the nearest desk and held it to my ear grinning all the while.

Suddenly, Bertha looked scared too and within seconds she was out the door hurrying off past the window and away from sight. I'd half expected her to fight.

To ensure her return did not arise, I locked the door as a precaution before turning back for Ophelia. But she was gone. The shop was empty.

I was alone.

~ Castellanos_Jesse ~