They've been lounging on the campus quad. The sun was so warm that he quickly lost his shirt before leaning up against the tree. Mac was nestled comfortably against his side before she popped up and climbed onto his lap.
Her hands run over the bulldog tattoo that covers the right side of his upper chest. "What about this one? Why'd you get this one?"
Eli let out a low chuckle, enjoying the feel off her small, soft hands running over his skin, "You know why. I've told you a thousand times why I got each one."
"I know," she smiles, her hands tracing the lines of the tattoo, over, down and around, following every curve, "But I like when you tell me."
Eli let his hands settle on her hips, pulling her closer to him.
"When I was younger, there was this stray bulldog. It moved all over the neighborhood, trying to get scraps of food from everyone. Then for some reason it just plopped down in our yard and never wanted to leave."
"What was he like? Was he tough like his owner?"
Eli laughed again, "He was really gentle with people, used to curl up next to my grandmother on the couch, but he could be tough, too. You pissed him off, he came after you."
Her fingers move to his neck, over the crown, "King of the PCH, baby."
Then her moves her hands down, brushing over the tattoo on his stomach, "What does this mean?" she can't help but let out a little laugh as she asks because she already knows the answer.
"That's my first tattoo. My cousin dared me to get one, prove I could take the pain. I wasn't thinking much about the design, just told the guy to pick one. Last time I did that."
Both are silent as her hands trace the design, then down and around the lines of his abs before moving back up his body to the Fallen Angel tattoo.
"For my sister," he says and stops here. She nods slightly and moves on, fingers moving down his arms to the tattoos on the inside of his forearms. Her fingers traced one, "Hope," he said, "Got it when my grandmother lived through her first heart attack." She moves over the other one, "Loyalty," his mouth tightens like he's trying to keep in the pain, "For Felix."
The way his eyes look down at the ground, as if trying to get himself together makes her lean in and brush her lips over his. He responds slowly, but then loses himself in the kiss. Allows her to comfort him the way only she can.
When she pulls back his eyes are clear again. "What else do you want to know, blue eyes?"
"This one," she says, moving slightly off of his lap and pressing a kiss to the cross on his left shoulder.
"You know me, a good Catholic boy."
She's the one that laughs this time as she moves off his lap and shoves him forward. He grunts, but moves and she sits with her legs around him from behind. Her fingers move up his back to the tattoo that she knows is there. It doesn't bother her because she knows why he got it, but still it is another girl's name on the man she loves, so she usually passes by it quickly, but this time something makes her look and then she gasps.
The heart is there---but the Lilly is gone.
"You know why I got that one, but I haven't told you why I got rid of it."
"When?"
"Two weeks ago when you went away with your family. I wanted it to heal before you saw it."
"Eliyou didn't have to"
"I did, not for you, I knew you wouldn't ask me to do that, but.when I got that tattoo," he stops for a moment. "I got it because I loved Lilly and I thought she loved me. I needed her to love me, but.she didn't and nothing good really came from loving her. And nowwell I guess I know love shouldn't be something that eats at you until you feel the need to mark your skin with it, just so you can prove it."
He reaches one hand back and grabs hers. He reaches his other hand to his right shoulder and she follows until she sees it. A new tattoo. A blue eye.
"I don't need to prove it.but I want to anyway."