seraphic [h.s]

chapter forty six.

So, when I felt my cheeks flush a little, I shoved my face back into the crook of my elbow and continued to stay as still as possible. Even though it was only a small tattoo that Dee was doing, it still felt like the last piece of the puzzle was being placed.

"You know," Dee piped up while wiping over my raw skin, "I'll be honest and say that I was pretty hesitant when you said you wanted to try out the dimple piercings," She tapped her cold, gloved fingers right beside the two piercings I had on my lower back and continued, "but I really fucking love them."

Without being too obvious, I peered up at Eli who was still standing with his arms crossed and watching my back. He sported a grin for the tiniest second and then let it drop. "I think so too." I said, wondering if Eli was erupting with proudness inside, since he had been the one to do them for me.

Whereas I trusted Dee in tattooing my body, I trusted Eli in piercing it. The three of us shared that trust in each other. Dee let me tattoo and pierce her. And Eli let me pierce him, because he quite literally had no more space left on his body for more tattoos.

When I'd asked him, why he chose to cover his whole body in all the fine, dark swirls of tiny sketches? He told me that he'd given up on sketching in thousands of books and just started doing it on himself instead.

"Coming for pizza night tonight, Eli?" Dee wondered aloud. Every Friday night was pizza night. It had started a few weeks after I'd moved in with her, when we'd both realised that neither of us could cook anything exquisite and honestly, the pizza was cheap. Just how we liked it. "I sure am." He nodded, taking a final look at the work on my back and bringing a gentle hand to rest on my forearm. He brushed his thumb in soft motions, the comforting kind I needed. Then he stepped away, greeting the newest customer that had entered through our doors.

Eli always tried to make it to our pizza nights, though there were some Friday's when he couldn't, and so then bright and early the next morning, the shop would be filled with the smell of fresh coffee and baked goods. That was just what Eli did. He was unreadable in the best way. If he meant something, then he'd say it, and if he wanted to do something, he'd do it. It was only now that I was getting quite good at picking up hints in his subtle eyes, though he never gave too much away.

But it worked, for him and I. He was always just there for me, and I was always just there for him. And that was how we kept it. It was the most refreshing thing to come out of what I'd endured. In a lot of ways, I was glad Eli was so unreadable. I didn't want to read him, because he only ever said what he meant, so I knew his words were true. And he only ever acted on what he thought was right. So the equation fit. His words were always followed by his by actions, but in his case, there were always more actions than words.

The buzzing to the machine stopped, and I heard the wheels to Dee's chair roll. "Little lune, huh?" She teased in her husky tone, I was glad I couldn't see her face because I knew exactly the look she'd be pulling. I shook my head, "Not today, not later, not ever. We aren't having this conversation." I heard Dee chuckle lowly under her breath but enough so that I would have noticed her. She loved to try and pull answers from me about Eli. But she knew, as well as I did, and as when as Eli did, that there were no answers to give.

He was there, I was there, and that was all we needed.

"Uh huh, yeah. Alright, whatever you say..." She dwindled off, though I knew more was coming. "So we won't talk about how I've caught you almost three times now locking lips?" And she had, unfortunately, Eli and I had both been equally as mortified. I laughed out into my arm, feeling as Dee spread cream over the fresh ink. "We kiss sometimes! We make out! We do some over the clothes action, but that's it for now and we're keeping it that way." I divulged.