He shrugs. “Yeah, probably. I haven’t had a parent since I was seventeen.”
“You’ve never had anyone tell you to stop acting like an idiot, have you? Everyone around you just double-dares you and goads you on.”
“Pretty much.”
“Well, jeez.” I shake my head. “Call me before you do anything else involving ink on your body. Do you hear me? You’re a freakin’ train wreck, Josh Faraday. You need someone to slap you occasionally.”
He belly laughs. “I know—I totally do.” He’s beaming at me.
I roll my eyes. “That shit would so not fly in my house. My mom would have whipped you the fuck into shape. Jesus God.”
He laughs.
“So what’s the deal with your other tattoos? What other monstrosities am I gonna find on you?”
“No other monstrosities. Everything else is meaningful.”
“What’s the story of ‘OVERCOME’?”
He takes a long sip of his drink. “Sorry, I don’t tell anyone the truth about that one.”
“No?”
He shakes his head.
“What do you say when people ask you?”
“I just say it means, you know, ‘keep your chin up’ or ‘rise above’ or some other inspirational sound-bite like that.”
“But that’s not true?”
“Well, yeah, it’strue. But that’s too simplistic to be the whole truth.”
“What’s the whole truth, then?” My heart is suddenly clanging wildly.
He looks at me with hard eyes for so long, I’m not sure if he’s ever going to answer my question. “I never tell anyone the whole truth about that particular tattoo.”
I bite my lip. “Well, gosh, I never tell anyone my initials spellKUM.” I flash him my most charming smile. “AndI never tell anyone I made out with a woman.Orabout Garrett Asshole Bennett calling me a slut.” I feel my cheeks burning. “And Inevertell anyone about poor, sweet Nate and how I broke his heart.” I frown. Even saying his name makes me feel literally sick with guilt.
Josh looks unimpressed.
“Aw, come on, Josh. I already know the truth about your ‘Grace’ and ‘YOLO’ tattoos, so why not go balls-deep and tell me about the rest of them, too?”
Josh exhales. “Yeah, but I never would have told you the true meaning of ‘Grace.’ Sarah spilled the beans for me, against my will.”
I purse my lips. What more can I do? I can’t force the guy to open up to me.
Josh takes a deep breath. “Shit.” He looks up at the ceiling like he’s trying to make a decision.
I wait, my skin buzzing.
Josh looks at me with sparkling eyes. “Goddamn you, Kat. I really can’t resist a woman who uses the phrase ‘balls-deep.’”
I grin.
He sighs audibly. “I got my ‘OVERCOME’ tattoo so I’d see it every single day and feel inspired to keep going, no matter how much I sometimes just wanna lie down and say ‘I can’t fucking do it anymore.’”
I wait again.
