Hermione waited in anticipation all week. There was something alluring about Bella and she couldn't get that woman out of her head all week. No matter how immersed she was in her studies, that dark curly headed enigma kept a front seat in her mind. Ginny had been hounding her all week for the details of the interview but Hermione remained tight lipped. The last thing she needed was for Ginny to turn this into something it wasn't.
To Hermione, this was a job. She wasn't looking for anything more than that. Ginny points it out to her every chance she gets that Hermione hadn't dated anyone in over two years. Hermione wasn't interested. After she found her last girlfriend in bed with someone else, she swore off dating and relationships. At least she did until she met Bella. For some reason, anytime Hermione's mind wandered to that woman all logical thought flew from her brain.
A simple infatuation from their first meeting... that's what Hermione had convinced herself that it was. She would go see Bella working tonight and find out more about what this job entails and she will push this silly obsession out of her mind. She had school to focus on. She couldn't get caught up in her feelings right now.
Hermione's phone buzzed. She looked down and saw a new text from Ginny.
Ginny: say hello to Bella's hot sister for me.
Hermione: don't you have a girlfriend?
Ginny: yes but saying hello is just a simple hi. Besides Luna would say something along the lines of 'it's okay to appreciate another woman's beauty' and I can't argue with that logic.
Hermione rolled her eyes and responded: if she's still there I'll tell her my red headed interpreter says hello.
Hermione put her phone in her pocket and walked over to her mirror. She gave herself a once over not having any idea what to wear to a mystery job in a tattoo shop, she settled on a pair of black denim with rips up the thighs, a white tank top and a crimson zip up hoodie. She put her white Chuck Taylors on, put her wallet and keys in her pockets and headed out the door.
Thankfully, the shop was only a ten minute walk from her flat. She arrived fifteen minutes early and noticed Tonks sitting at the front desk. She had a sucker hanging out of her mouth and was playing on her phone. Hermione push the door open and walked in.
"Oi! She's back!" Tonks said looking up from her phone smiling at the Hermione. "Auntie said you'd be back today but I must admit, I owe Narcissa ten quid. I didn't think you'd show."
"And why wouldn't I show?" Hermione crossed her arms trying to look upset but failed miserably.
"You just seem too..." Tonks looked Hermione up and down, "nice."
"A nice girl can work at a tattoo shop." Hermione said in a tone of defense which had Tonks laughing at her. "Well I can. I'm here aren't I?"
"Yes, you are. Has Bella told you what you are going to be doing?"
"No. She just said meet her at four and I can work shifts with her. I'm not sure what that means but as we already discussed, I am here." Hermione smirked at the pink haired woman.
"Well you aren't technically on the clock, but come over and look at this. I drew it up for my good friend. She's coming in tomorrow." Hermione walked over behind Tonks and peered over her shoulder. "She wanted something dark and creepy but wasn't too particular." Hermione was looking at a graveyard screen. It had a tree and a few crumbled gravestone but the focal point of the piece was a cracked and draining hourglass. If she was being honest, Hermione was surprised by the artistic ability of the goofy woman she just met. "Well, what do you think?"
"I think it's lovely." Hermione responded and Tonks gave her a weird look. "Okay creepy not lovely. I meant your art was lovely. The design definitely will give her the creepy and dark vibes she wanted."
"I think it's missing something. I'm not sure what though." Tonks said looking sideways at her picture.
"Hmm... maybe a bat. Something in the upper part of the design might help fill it out." Hermione added absentmindedly.
Tonks look up and over her shoulder at the younger women, mouth agape. "I've been staring at this design for thirty minutes and within ten seconds, you've finished it for me." Tonks chuckled and shook her head. "You might have an eye for art, Hermione. I'll have to keep my eye on you so you don't steal my job right out from under me."
"Oh no. I'm no artist. Just an admirer." Hermione said looking back at the art. The door chimed noting someone else entering the shop. The hair on the back of Hermione's neck stood up as felt the presence of the curly haired woman.
"Dora, you better not be scaring off the help. We need her around here." Bella said coming to stand behind the desk as well.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Auntie. Hermione here has already proven herself useful. She helped me finish up this piece."
"Oh is that so?" Bella inquired peering over to look at the piece where Tonks was pointing to the bats and back to Hermione. "Not bad." Bella turned to take in Hermione and the brunette felt her breath catch. Bella was looking her up and down as if appreciating her outfit choice. "Nice to see you again, Hermione. Come with me. We have some things to go over. Those semantics I mentioned the other night." She winked and turned to walk in the direction of the office.
"Good luck." Tonks whispered to her and she made her way following Bella to the office. She couldn't help but give the tattooed woman a once over. She was wearing short army green shorts with a black muscle shirt that had rips across the back showing an excess of the pale tattooed skin. Hermione couldn't make out the tattoo in full but it appeared to be some sort of family tree.
"Have a seat," Bella said, turning and snapping Hermione out of her staring. Hermione sat down as Bell reached into her desk and pulled out a stack of papers for Hermione. "You're here. You came back."
" I did." Hermione huffed, sounding a little frustrated. "Why does everyone seem so surprised? I told you I'd be back."
"Ahh well. Don't mind Dora. She's always betting Cissy over something or other." Bella waved her hand dismissing the comment. "I'm glad you are here. These are for you to fill out." She handed Hermione the small stack of papers. "They are just a formality. So you can get paid and all that." She handed Hermione a pen. "There's an emergency contact form in there in case you get sick at work or murder Dora and get arrested. There is also basic info like where you live, phone number, how you wish to get paid."
"Sounds easy enough."
"Yeah. Like I said. Formality." Bella smiled at the younger woman who started filling out her papers. "How was your week?"
"Oh. It was all right. Spent a lot of time in the library so nothing new." Hermione looked up from filling out her address and smiled.
When she returned to the paperwork, Bella noticed the address. "Not too far from the shop. That's convenient. Do you live alone there?"
"Oh no. I live with my flatmate and her girlfriend. We've all been friends since highschool. They were a year behind me and followed me to University. Couldn't shake them if I wanted to." Hermione laughed which caused the other woman to smile broadly at her.
"So you are the third wheel huh?" Bella laughed.
"Oh no it's not like that. They are lovely people. I'm sure they'll come round sometime."
Hermione went back to filling out her paperwork and Bella excused herself to go check on her niece. Hermione took a break from the papers to look around the office. There were paintings hanging that Hermione had assumed Bella had created, they were a mix of beautiful landscapes, flower designs and darker images like skulls and ravens. On the desk, there were a few portraits of Bella and two women. One whom she knew to be her sister that she met last week and the other one had to be Tonk's mother. She looked just like Bella only taller with straight black hair. She had Tonk's eyes. The sisters were smiling at the camera and in the adjacent photo they were making goofy faces.
Hermione had just finished with her papers when Bella walked back into the room.
"All finished?" She asked as she returned to her seat.
"Yep." Hermione said as she slid the papers across the desk. "Oh and here..." She said placing the pen down in Bella's hand. She felt a jolt of electricity run through her when their fingers touched. Bella looked intently at their hands. Hermione cleared her throat and added "your pen. I'm a pen thief so it's best to give this back right away or else it would be coming home with me tonight. It's probably not appropriate to steal from the boss on the first day." Hermione said with a slight pink tinge on her cheeks.
"Thievery is best saved for at least the third shift." Bella said, winking at the girl. She had opened the desk drawer and retrieved a pair of thick black rimmed glasses that she put on and picked up the stack of papers. She started flipped through them to make sure they were signed and dated. "So..." she said, licking her finger before shuffling to the next paper, "you want your pay to come via the direct deposit?"
"Yes, that's correct." Hermione couldn't take her eyes off of Bella's finger. She was mesmerized at the simple action of the woman wetting her finger with her tongue before turning the page.
"Ginny Weasley is your emergency contact. Who is that?" She asked, looking up at the girl over the top of her glasses.
Hermione suddenly felt it was too hot in the room. The way Bella was peering over the top of her glasses was enough to make Hermione feel a coiling low in her stomach. "Umm," Hermione took her hoodie off trying to cool herself down, "she's my roommate. She's the closest thing to family that I have living nearby."
"Mum and dad aren't around?" Bella asked, suddenly curious.
"Not at the moment. They are dentists and decided that they wanted to take a few years to travel the world. They are off on an adventure. Haven't seen them in a few years now but thank goodness for cell phones." Hermione said smiling. She noticed the woman was still looking at her intently so she continued. "They didn't leave me with nothing. They are paying for my schooling. I wanted to get this job because Ginny, Luna and I moved out of university housing this year and I want to be able to pay for at least some of my share without having to depend on my parents for everything."
"Admirable. How old are you, Hermione?"
"I'll be 25 on September 19th."
At that moment Tonks stuck her head in the office. "All right? Auntie I'm off. I'm going to meet up with some friends for drinks. I'll see you tomorrow. Oh and mums been hounding me to find out when you are coming to the next family dinner."
"Tell you mother I'll be there when I can."
"Always so cryptic. Mum won't be happy."
"I'll text her. Now go and have fun with your friends."
Tonks laughed and Bella added "but not too much fun. I'm not picking you up from the hospital again."
"It's not my fault. That curb just grew when we were in the pub." Tonks laughed again at the memory. She was turning to leave when she looked back in and added "Oi, Hermione. I left my number for you on the desk out there. Feel free to text me anytime. Maybe you can come out with us sometime. We will steer clear of all curbs. Promise." She said holding up three fingers and vanished from the room.
"No way Dora. Don't even think about it."
"What's that Auntie? I can't hear you all the way out here in the lobby." Tonk's yelled back as she exited the building.
"What was that all about?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Oh Tonks has a way with the ladies. She has a thing for quiet shop girls." Bella said casually.
"Interesting and here I heard you were the one chasing all the shop girls away." Hermione challenged with a raised eyebrow.
"Is that so?" Bella said, removing her glasses staring deep into Hermione's eyes.
Just then the door chimed and the women were taken away from the moment. "Must be our client. She's come to get some black and grey roses on her thigh. Come. Let's go greet her, shall we?" Bella stood and waited for Hermione to exit the office.
Bella took the lead and walked them back to the front of the shop. A young blonde woman stood at the front desk. When she saw Bella approaching, Hermione could've sworn the girl moved to push her boobs together. "Hi! You must be Bella." She said walking over to shake her hand. Bella grasped the girl's hand and made the appropriate pleasantries. She introduced Hermione as the new shop girl while the blonde girl held her hand out and responded "charmed, I'm sure." If this hadn't been her first day, Hermione would've said something equally rude to the girl but she was trying to make a good first impression on Bella so she held her tongue.
Bella guided the girl back to her work station and Hermione stayed by the front desk for a few extra seconds to try to control her temper. She picked up Tonk's phone number and slid it into her pocket.
"Here is the sketch I drew up. If it's to your liking, we can go ahead and get it sized and I'll print out the stencil. It's going on your thigh, correct?"
"Yes. This is amazing. Yes my thigh. Black and gray as we discussed on the phone."
"Brilliant. Okay then show me where you want it so I can get a gauge for the size." Had someone walked past Hermione swiftly she would've fallen over at that moment. The blonde girl had taken her pants off and stood there in a lacy red thong. Bella squatted down and traced her thigh area on a piece of paper. "Okay love, just relax. I'll be back in a moment with the stencil." Bella brought the tracing paper as well as her sketch over to Hermione at the front desk. "Hey." Bella said, getting Hermione's attention. "Want to walk to the back with me and I'll show you how to turn this into a stencil?"
"Umm yeah. Okay sure." Hermione said, shaking her head clear of the unwanted jealousy that was sprouting prematurely.
They made their way to a small room in the back that had various tattoo supplies and a printer which Hermione assumed was the stencil maker. "It's easy and something you'll be able to handle from here on out. You'll just have to try a few different sizes to make sure it fits where they want the tattoo on their body. This is the size we are working with so we will send the sketch through the machine and here..." Bella grabbed Hermione and pulled her to stand in front. She wrapped her arms to reach around Hermione. "You just take this sketch and feed it through the top. Then you'll input the size you want. For this one..." Bella took Hermione's hand in hers and guided her to push some buttons, "this should do. Then you just push start." Hermione pushed the start button and the sketch started feeding through.
Bella stayed pressed against her back for a beat too long to be considered professional.
Hermione cleared her throat, "I think the sketch is done." She said reach down to grab the sketch. She turned in the loose embrace and faced her boss. She now noticed that she was a good few inches taller than Bella. She was close enough to smell a woody perfume, spearmint gum and black cherry tobacco. "Here," she said, handing the sketch to Bella.
Bella scratched behind her ear. "Thanks," she grabbed the sketch and took a step back. "Let's not keep the young lady waiting."
"She'll freeze her ass off out there in those knickers." Hermione said in a tone that had Bella quirk an eyebrow.
"People are oddly comfortable getting near naked around their tattoo artist. I hardly even notice it anymore." She smiled and led the way back out of the room. Bella went to set the stencil on the girl's thigh. While the stencil was drying, Bella pulled a chair close so Hermione could observe. She got out various liners, shaders and her line up of ink cups that she would need to properly tattoo. The girl was already laying down and ready to go. "All right, let's get this show on the road". Bella said, grabbing her machine and turning it on. Hermione noted the gentle way Bella's long fingers skimmed across the girl's skin and the precise way the needle danced along the skin. She also noticed the concentration on Bella's face while she worked on the girl. Hermione had never seen art come to life before her eyes. She couldn't decide between looking at the needle's dance or Bella's face. Both were too good to miss.
Two hours had passed and Bella was putting the finishing touches on the tattoo. Hermione had sat and watched with interest for the first hour and a half, then she got up to start cleaning up the shop in prep for closing. Bella hadn't asked her to, however she thought it would be helpful and wanted to prove that she'd be useful in the position.
Hermione returned to the tattoo area with a broom in her hands when she noticed Bella wrapping the girl's leg in Saran Wrap. "There you are love. I hope you enjoy it." She said winking at the girl. The jealousy Hermione had pushed aside came back in full force hearing Bella call someone else love. Hermione heard the girl say "oh I love it." She put the emphasis on the word love and it made Hermione roll her eyes which of course Bella looked at her at that moment so she saw Hermione's gesture.
"Come. Let's get the payment squared away." Bella said, leading the girl to the front desk. Hermione walked over to Bella's work area and started to throw away the ink caps and sterile papers. She began to wipe down the area when she heard Bella thank her for the cash. "I hope you post a picture of this on social media when it's all healed. Don't forget to tag the shop."
"Oh. I can send you the picture directly. Would you like to exchange numbers?" The girl said, pulling out her phone. Hermione's head snapped up at that.
Bella looked at Hermione and raised her eyebrow before turning back to the blonde. "I'm sorry. I don't give my number out to clients. You can just tag us on social media or come back when it's healed and I'll take a picture then." Bella said as politely as possible, smiling at the girl.
"Oh okay then. I'll be back when it's healed then. Thanks again." The girl leaned it and placed a kiss on the side of Bella's lips. Bella neither kissed her back nor pulled away.
"Of course." Bella said, walking her to the door. "Goodnight" she said as the girl left and Bella locked the door behind her. Bella walked back to join Hermione in breaking down the work station. The younger girl quickly exited the area and went to bring out the mop. It was awkwardly quiet for a few minutes while Hermione mopped and Bella stared at her.
"So is it customary to kiss all of your clients after tattooing them?" Hermione asked, trying to sound like she didn't care.
"Would it matter if I did?" Bella challenged the girl to look at her.
"No it wouldn't matter at all." Hermione said, trying to lower the octave of her voice. "I was just curious is all."
"Oh I see." Bella said coming over and taking the mop to put it aside. "It looks like the floor is clean."
"I suppose it is."
"From where I was standing, it looked like that little kiss made you jealous, pet." Bella said, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind Hermione's ear.
"Then you weren't standing in the right place. I was not jealous. I was just taking notes of how I should behave towards the clients. I wouldn't want to have to kiss everyone that comes into the shop." Hermione tried to joke the situation away.
"Oh okay." Bella said, moving her body closer and leaning up on her tiptoes to whisper into Hermione's ear. "Don't worry, love. There was only one person here tonight that I would ever have any interest in kissing and I wasn't lacy knickers." Hermione swore she would have melted when Bella chuckled into her ear. Bella moved back away from Hermione's personal space. "Can I see you phone?" Bella asked, holding out her hand. Without thinking, Hermione took her phone out of her pocket and placed it in Bella's hand. Bella texted herself from the girl's phone and handed the phone back to her. "There. Now you'll have my number. I'll send you a text later with a time to come in if you still want the job."
Hermione shook her head slowly. "Yes. I want this job."
"Good." Bella said, smiling at the younger woman. "I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow." Bella put her hand on the small of Hermione's back and lead her towards the door. "The shift is over love. We are done. Go home. I'll text you later. It was an illuminating evening with you." Bella leaned in and placed a whisper of a kiss on Hermione's cheek. "See you tomorrow."
"Bye," was all Hermione said before she blushed and exited the shop in a hurry. Bella shook her head after the girl left.
Hermione had made it back to her flat and noticed that Ginny and Luna's light was out and their door was shut so she quietly made her way to her room to unwind from the eventful evening. She removed Tonk's number from her pocket and pinned it to the board on her desk. Taking her phone out of her pocket, she noticed one new message waiting for her.
>11:30pm
Unknown: I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable in any way today. It's fun to tease you. You turn the cutest shade of pink.
>11:33pm
Bella. No, I wasn't uncomfortable. I'm just not used to that kind of attention.
>11:37pm
A lovely young girl like you? I'm surprised you don't have suitors knocking down your door.
>11:38pm
ahh well when you walk in on your girlfriend having sex with some random guy on your one year anniversary...
It had been a few minutes since Hermione had sent that text and she was afraid that Bella had been scared off so she sent another text.
>11:45pm
but that was two years ago. She's fully moved on and it's time for me to do the same.
>11:46pm
there's still so much to learn about you but I can say that she was an idiot to leave you.
Hermione was blushing at her phone when it dinged with another message.
€11:48pm
and I bet you are blushing now.
Hermione rolled her eyes. How can this woman that she just met know her so intimately already.
11:49pm
and now you are probably rolling your eyes. Well I'll leave you to it. Have a goodnight Hermione. Does 1pm sound good tomorrow?
>11:52pm
yep. See you then. Goodnight Bella. :)
>11:54pm
;) sleep tight.
Hermione turned off her phone and thought aloud, "I'm in so much trouble."