Mornings were my favorite part of the day. Especially on the rare occasion I indulged myself in sleeping in for a few hours. Yawning slightly, I turned over in my bed, happy for a completely free, lazy Saturday. I completed all of my homework that was due (and homework that wasn't due as well) and had no tutoring sessions today.
Sleeping in until noon was the first thing on my epic to-do-list for a lazy day.
Shifting once more, my arm swung, and hit something solid, and blearily, I peeked my eyes open at the textbook I left on my bed.
Light streamed through the exposed window, a soft breeze cooling my hot skin and settling upon myself and my bed spread, and Eros. He laid rather comfortably on top of my covers, body twisted so he faced me, soft blue eyes shining mischievously. "Well good morning to you too gorgeous," he grinned.
I squeaked, jumping five feet in the air, tumbling off my bed in a mess of sheets and hair and twisted limbs. "Whatâtheâheck! Eros!" I yelled, stumbling to my feet and extracting myself from the mess of my sheets, my eyes softening at the sight of one of my favorite boys.
It had been four days since we had our talk on the cliff, and though we had made up completely, there was a definite drift from where we were on my birthday.
He smirked and rolled over on my bed, closer to me, propping himself up on his elbows. His blonde hair was slightly tousled for being in a bed, messy, and downright sexy. "We have plans today dip-shit and you weren't answering your phone!" He grabbed my phone and began to read aloud my text messages.
Grumbling, I shooed him off my bed in attempts to make up my bed. He began to read, "From: Eros Zane at 7:56 AM, you little punk, we're going out today. Be ready by 10:30." He shot me an annoyed look. "It's 11:46 Alice." I stuck my tongue at him and he started up again, "From: Eros Zane at 10:32 AM, where are you? I'm outside. From Eros Zane at 10:40 AM, I'm coming inside, From: Henry Davidâ what?"
My head shot up and I lunged for my phone that Eros' eyes were glued to. "Eros!" I yelled, snatching at my phone that he held out of reach, lightly shoving me down on my bed.
"You're still talking to Davidson?" He asked, venom lacing his entire tone. He glared down at me, arms crossed and tossed my phone on my bed next to me. "I'll be in the car."
I frowned at his disappearing figure, his tensed shoulders and ducked head. He was actually upset at me, because I was talking to a boy that he didn't like. Twisting my head to my bed, I picked up the phone to read the message Henry left me.
From: Henry Davidson
good morning alice black, i hope your lazy day is spent in sweats :)
I quickly let out a sigh of relief. The text wasn't too flirtatious, although it did give off the feeling that there was something between us, which I guess, there was. Henry and I were casually flirting, and I wasn't sure if there was anything to it. It was nice having a boy shower me in compliments and text me constantly. I don't really think either of us were expecting anything from it.
Pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I finished making up my bed and started to get ready, overcome with a slight sadness I knew came from seeing the hurt on Eros' face. He wasn't just mad that I was talking to Henryâhe was hurt.
And I wasn't sure why.
Eros might've built a wall to hid his heart and to keep everyone out, but I had learned his gestures and personal expressions that only Ryder and I could understand, allowing for us to see his emotions even when he didn't want us to.
He ended all my thoughts when he honked. Twice, and for an extended period of time. Grumbling, I swiped some lip gloss on and slid on some sneakers, running down the stairs in slight annoyance and mild curiosity as to the plans Eros had planned for us.
I stepped outside, awash with bright sunlight and Eros' gray car in my driveway. He sat not so patiently, an arm sticking out of the window and a cigarette between his fingers, its smoke drifting upwards toward the bright blue sky, dotted with white clouds.
His eyes snapped to mine, and he raised an expectant eyebrow. "You coming or what?"
I rolled my eyes at his attitude, sighing. He was my best friend, after all. Heading to his car, I pulled the passenger door open, nose automatically wrinkling at the rancid scent of cigarettes and yet, my stomach still fluttered.
The scent, the taste of cigarettes still reminded me of the first time I had one between my lips, and what had happened right after that.
The night of sweet kisses and my first orgasm from a boy.
I buckled in my seat, watching from the corner of my eyes as Eros stuck the cigarette back between his lips and shifted the car into reverse, leaving my house. "Here," he mumbled, sticking a hand in his pants pocket and retrieved a card, tossing it into my lap.
Picking up the card, I realized it was an ID, and flipping it over, I realized it was my ID, only, it wasn't mine. "What's this?" I asked incredulously, peering at the ID, looking for any difference in the one in my wallet, and the one in my hand.
"It's obviously a fake ID Alice, use your fucking brain!"
And then I spotted it. Instead of being 17, I was 18. "Why would I need an ID that says I'm 18 Eros?" I twisted my neck to give him a withering stare, which he returned with a bright smile.
"You're getting your tattoo Alice."
I pursed my lips at him. "No I'm not."
The grin on his lips fell slightly, and he turned from me. "Alice. When we went to the cafe and you told me about it, I promised you one day I'd take you to get it done. And I think you should do it now. Do it when it's the most important to you, when it'll have the greatest effect."
A cold breeze rushed through the open windows of Eros' car, cooling the two of us, winding us just the same. What could I say back to him? "I'mâI'm not getting a tattoo right now because it's illegal."
He laughed and rolled his eyes, hand gripping the steering wheel loosely as he turned onto the freeway, away from home because surely we didn't have a fucking tattoo parlor in town.
That was a sign, wasn't it?
"Alice, you've done plenty more illegal things than want to get a tattoo, you've gotten butt ass drunk multiple times this past month, and I'm pretty sure that's worse than wanting to get a tattoo that has a real meaning to you."
"But Erosâ"
"Alice," he said firmly, giving me a sidelong glance. "What do you want as a tattoo?"
I gave him a withering stare. "Her handwriting," I said softly, looking down at my lap. Whenever I talked about the tattoo I wanted, I often dissolved into tears.
"And why?" He prodded.
"To always remember."
His smile widened slightly then, and he went on in a gentle voice, his right hand clinging to my mine, squeezing softly, causing my heart to flutter modestly, skin to skin contact would never be the same between us.
"And what do I want?" He asked.
Tracing the ink on his fingers, I answered in a quiet voice. "Three stars, not a constellation, because your mother believed that they were all beautiful and there was not a single constellation she loved more than the other," my other hand covered the dark ink that tainted his milky complexion, that made him for all intents and purposes, whole. "The three stars represent your family, and the love of the sky your mother passed unto you."
He raised one of my hands to his lips, planting a soft kiss on it, murmuring into my skin, "That's right Alice." And then, "It's going to be all right."
â¦
I was genuinely contemplating sprinting away from the parlor. It wasn't that I was scared or anything, it was just that I wasn't mentally prepared for this. Yesâ every since I found a lost love letter of my mother's I wanted her handwriting as a tattoo and yes I know exactly where I wanted it to go, but it was always a pipe dream for me, something out of reach to never be accomplished.
Eros planned to change that.
The tattoo artist's name was Joe, and he was fairly nice and didn't look twice at our IDs as we handed them over. He seemed to know Eros and seemed fond of him, and cautiously kind to me as well.
Joe snapped on a glove. "So Alice, what tattoo did you have in planned for today?"
My face deadpanned and a small smile lifted my features. "Actually, I don'tâ"
Eros stepped forward, retrieving a paper from the back of my planner and handed it to Joe's outstretched hand all while I stared at him with a gaping mouth. "She wants the 'I love you' in this letter."
"Whereâ where the fuck did you get that from?" I asked him angrily, pulling the planner from his hands as he turned to me, mildly concerned.
"I grabbed it from your room before I left," he said, folding his arms against his chest. "You really thought I was going to take you to a tattoo parlor without having her handwriting with us?"
"That was wrong of you," I chastised, holding the planner close to my chest, feeling genuinely violated. He invaded my privacy by taking something that certainly wasn't his and he knew how much my planner meant to me, how much of my life was contained in that leather bound book.
"I know, and I'm sorry." He apologized. He reached down hand, grasping my upper arm and kissed my forehead. "But I was not going to let you pass up this golden opportunity. I want to help you heal, I want you to do the things you set out to do, and besides. It's six months until we're seniors. You might as well get this done now!"
Joe stared at us as we exchanged our heated words, and interjected quickly. "Alice, if this isn't something you're 100% about, you probably shouldn't be doing it. Tattoos are forever after all." He looked solemnly at me and stretched out his hand, offering me my paper.
I stared at it, the delicacy of my mother's words stirring my emotions. "No," I shook my head. "I want to get this."
"Okay," Joe nodded, and gestured to a door near the back. "I'm just going to make a quick stencil of this but you can go ahead and go back. Where did you want your tattoo?" He asked, walking over to a desk where he took out some tracing paper and placed it on top of my mother's letter.
"On my collar bone," I said nervously, wiping my sweaty palms on my leggings, my feet taking slow steps toward the blue door, in which behind there I would forever stain my skin with my mother's words that were once met for my father, once upon a time.
I opened the door, slightly surprised to find Eros following behind me closely. When I gave him a confused stare after sitting in the tattoo chair, he laughed. "You thought I was going to make you go through this alone?"
Joe walked in with the stencil and flashed it at me excitedly. "So?" He asked. "How do we feel about it?"
My heart melted at the stencil, the grace encapsulated in her handwriting, it's beautiful dark ink that would pierce my skin in mere minutes. "It's perfect," I admitted.
Joe's lips thinned into a tight smile and he nodded, "Well let's get on with it then."
Giving Eros one last glance, I shed my shirt, pulling down one of my bra straps to make room for Joe to place down the stencil. Eros' eyes widened and he mumbled incoherently about privacy and women, turning quickly and exiting the worm, his cheeks significantly redder than when we had entered the room.
Joe chuckled. "You guys are that complicated couple huh?" He asked jokingly.
I frowned. "It's complicated."
He laughed again, shaking his head. Joe picked up a canister and sprayed some foam on my skin, taking a fresh razor and running it over the skin just under my collarbone a few times. "Things aren't typically complicated. Things are actually really simple. It's the people who make things complicated. Tell me Alice, are you and Eros complicated people?" He asked, but I knew he knew the answer by the joking glint in his eyes.
"You have no idea."
â¦
WASSUP BBS
LONG TIME NO AUTHORS NOTE! hehe i fucken love these parts of the chapters!
i'm curious-- do you guys have a list? would you ever want to get a tattoo, and if so, what do you want and why do you want it?
personally, i'm very excited to one day tattoo my skin with things that matter most to me in the world.
idk if i ever told you but Eros mf Zane is played by Luke Hemmings!
Yeah, once upon a time I was that  5SOS stan and stumbled across a luke edit that inspired the whole book, who would've fucken thot.
all my love