“No, but I’d do some pretty crazy things for you.”
Her eyes meet mine, and not a single tear is in sight.
“Ready?”
She nods in return, and I give her a soft kiss before driving off, but just as we pass Helena, I put Sage’s window down.
“What are you–”
“Fuck you! Hating ass bitch!”
I speed off, and Sage’s jaw agapes. “That was so–”
“Don’t say it was mean because she–”
“Funny!” She breaks into a laugh. “Did you see her face?”
The car fills with our laughter as I drive us to our date. I let her play her horrible music, and she dances in her seat with a smile.
When she puts the music down, I steal a glance at her, and she’s watching me with an innocent smile. “So…”
“So…” I keep my eyes on the road, but a smile tugs at my lips when I hear her giggle next to me.
“You love Greece?”
I take a slow breath and force myself not to sigh so she doesn’t misinterpret it. I told her I love Greece and that was the same card I told her about Shanti…
I asked her not to ask about it, but my last card also said she could ask whatever she wanted tonight, and I appreciate how subtle she tries to be.
“I do.” I bring my hand to her thigh before giving her a soft squeeze. “I think I’d like Jamaica or Haiti more, though.” When I look over at her, she only nods, her smile still present, and I’m glad she understands that I don’t want to talk about it.
She asks about my time in Greece, and as I tell her about it, I make sure to stay away from the topic ofwhoI was there with, but she, of course, asks, and when I cringe, she notices.
“Oh gosh, you were being a whore out there, weren’t you!” She laughs, and I’m glad this is her reaction, although I wasn’t expecting her to be weird or jealous.
“I was…” I sound like I’m in trouble, but when I think about the shit I did there, I’d probably be in trouble if she knew, and she didn’t even know me at the time. “But that’s not why I love Greece, and either way, I’m your whore now.”
She fills the car with her laugh, and I steal a kiss when we get to a red light.
“Why octopus?”
I kiss her cheek one more time before I continue driving. “I just always thought they were cool as a kid. Three hearts, eight legs.” I say with a shrug. “And they only live maybe five years instead of an insanely long time or ridiculously short time. They’re cool.”
“Five years is a pretty short time to live.”
In comparison to humans, I guess she’s right.
“Yeah,” I pull in a deep breath, and it’s not as hard as I thought it would be to continue, so I do. “I always liked them, but I think they remained my favorite animal because my sister liked them. We went to an aquarium, and when she touched one, she lost her fucking shit.”
I laugh at the memory. “She kept saying ‘octo’ like a broken record. We practically lived in the aquarium that week.”
Sage laughs softly from beside me. When her laugh sobers, I steal a glance at her, and she grabs the hand I have on her thigh. She studies my tattoo, and it's dark in here, so she uses the front of her phone for light, but I can see her connecting the dots in her head as she analyzes the octopus tattoo on my hand.
“I thought none of your tattoos had any special meaning to them?” She turns to me, and I offer a small smile as I glance back at the road.
“Those are for my sister. None of the others mean anything, though.”
She kisses my hand and then kisses my forearm where my bigger octopus tattoo is, and with how tender her lips are on a part of me that's so special, I never want her to stop kissing me.
