tattoo case file no. 23

A tween girl in a short sleeved top comes to the counter with a man of late middle age. She has a large heart drawn on her upper arm in blue ink filled with the words EDWARD SUCKS. He’s checking out some things I presume are for him (books about fishing) and some things I presume are for her (YA stuff). She makes sure he asks about renewing items and is particularly concerned about a Stephenie Meyer book called The Host. Everything renews. She makes sure that I know she’s already read it. I wonder if he’s her grandfather, her uncle, her father - maybe she’s the third youngest of 12 children, maybe he had children later in life, maybe he had children very early in life. Maybe she’s been sent from home to stay with family for an extended period of time. Maybe they’re neighbors and there’s some intricate deal in place where she agrees to hang out with his socially awkward daughter at school if he agrees to check out the vampire books her mom won’t let her read. But that’s not the part of the mystery that’s plaguing me: What does she mean by EDWARD SUCKS? She loves him (the heart) but acknowledges Edward sucks because he’s a vampire and that’s not just his nature but his PHYSIOLOGY? Edward sucks because he’s super lame and she’s an ironic bic pen tattoo artist?