Lucky Penny [h.s.]

10.

"Why'd you cover it up?" I asked as I tucked a piece of semi-wet hair behind my ear and stretched my legs out in the sand in front of me so they were fully covered by the water now.

Harry shrugged at my question, "Not sure. I got a lot of them done when I was quite young, in a short period of time. I got them with a certain meaning and it just didn't really apply anymore. I wanted to cover up the 'things I can't' one for a while already and since they came in a set, I covered them both."

"Hmm." I hummed at his explanation, "Bit depressing to see 'things I can't' on your arm all the time?"

Harry let out a knowing laugh and nodded, "Exactly, bit demotivating. Anyways, not the only tattoos I covered up. Beneath this fern," he pointed to the left fern on his belly that was visible above the waistband of his yellow swimming shorts, "Was another one, and here on my wrist too." He showed the anchor on his left wrist.

I nodded as I looked at the tattoos he pointed out, "It's so weird. Most of your tattoos are really big yet I never really noticed them because they suit you so well. It's like it's normal? I don't know, it hardly stands out, if you know what I mean."

"I do." He smiled, "I like that, was worried about that in the beginning. I don't want the tattoos to be the first thing that people notice about me. Just want them to be a part of me, which they are."

"Which one's your favourite?"

He looked down to see himself, glancing his eyes over multiple parts of his arms as he pondered my question, "I'm always going to love the butterfly. I haven't regretted it for a second, I think it's really cool. And I actually really like the eagle right now. I've got phases of liking and disliking some tattoos."

"It's really nice," I complimented, reaching my hand out to brush my fingers over it but I stopped myself before doing so. I dropped my hand while clearing my throat, "Eagles symbolize freedom and strength, no?"

Harry nodded as he seemed to ignore my little slip-up even though he had clearly seen my hand reaching for his arm, "They do. Do you know a lot about this stuff?"

"Kind of." I shrugged, "I know eagles fly higher than any other bird, which is why they stand for courage and searching your limits. Like looking at things from a new, higher perspective and seeing the bigger picture. Did you know eagles can see eight times sharper than humans?"

"Really?" Harry asked with wide eyes and I grinned while nodding, "Mhm. My dad told me all about that, he's kind of got a thing for birds."

"You don't have tattoos, right?" Harry asked, his eyes lingering on the exposed parts of my body, which was about 98 percent right now.

"Actually..." I spoke as I sat up a little straighter and moved my fingers to the waistband of my bikini bottoms. Even though the skin was beneath the surface, there was enough sun and the water was clear enough to show my tattoos. I had three little doodles on the skin of my hip, and I lowered the band of my bikini slightly to show Harry, "Katie did those."

Harry hunched his back to get a closer look, squinting his eyes, "A sun, butterfly and flower?" He asked and I chuckled, "Yep. Katie drew them."

In contrary to me, Harry did not stop himself when he brought his finger to the skin, tracing the outline of the tattoos. I froze immediately when I felt his finger on my hip and bit down on my lip, "Flirting."

He let out a laugh and retrieved his hand, holding it up in defence, "Sorry, sorry, you're right. Good job at drawing the line." He praised me in a tease and I played along, beaming, "Thanks."

I moved the bikini bottoms back in their place as we sat up straighter again, "Katie had a phase last year where she wanted to be a tattoo artist, so Dave and I gave her a gun and everything for her birthday. She did all of us. Well, except for Niall."