The Monster In Us

30- There's nothIng

"I have a surprise," I tell Dante as we're walking into his room on Sunday.

"Alright," He looks amused and immediately eager to see what my surprise is.

"Well, I remember that you said that if I got a boner tattoo, you'd get the bunny tattoo," I begin. "And I really want to see that cute little bunny on your arm forever."

"You did not," Dante says with a growing grin on his face when he realizes where this is going. I make sure that his door is shut so that we're in his room just the two of us. My sides still burn from the tattoos that I'd gotten yesterday. On my left, I got two thorns on my rose which were small and not a big deal but I got a completely new tattoo on my other side, to the side of my boob.

"Well, I found a loophole," I explain to him. I sit my bag on the chair in the corner of the room and I wait until I'm sure that he's watching me before I start taking my shirt off. I don't do it to be sexy but it's the only way to show him my new tattoo. It's an outline of a bone, like the kind a dog chews on, and on the inside, there is a long R.

"That's not a loophole, that's cheating. It doesn't count," He shakes his head at me with a small laugh as he looks at the tattoo that is still red. "Going by your logic, all I have to do is get a bun and then a y at the end."

"No, this isn't vulgar and a bunny isn't vulgar. I did the best that I could, you owe me one bunny," I demand hopefully. I know that I kind of cheated but I can't get a penis tattooed on my skin. I especially wouldn't be able to explain that to a tattoo artist. Just getting this 'bone-r' tattoo was awkward. And I know that it was a stretch that he'd go for it, I still don't expect him to, really, but I figure that even if he doesn't get his bunny, I'll have my boner and if I get out of this thing alive, I'll have something to remember him by.

It sits right next to my Russian tattoo that is hidden under my tattoo makeup, ironically enough.

"That wasn't the deal," Dante shakes his head at me.

"I got the boner."

"No, you got a bone with an R inside," He debates.

"It's a pun," I defend as I put my shirt back on because I just got here so we're not going to be shirtless for a while, it's time for us to just be together. "I'll talk you into it eventually."

"I doubt it," He responds.

"I brought something else for you too," I change the subject, taking a little blue book out of the bag that I'd brought with me. I've assumed that I'm spending the night tonight so I brought clothes to wear to work tomorrow which means that my bag is stuffed to the brim with everything that I need for an overnight stay.

"What's this?" He wonders, looking over the book curiously.

"Well, you like to read," I remind him even though he obviously knows that about himself. "And this is my favorite book. Now, it's no Shakespeare or Hemingway because the last time that I had a favorite book was when I was little. So it's a kids' book."

"The Little Prince," He reads the title.

"My mom used to read it to me all of the time when I was young," I explain to him. "It's why I have the rose on my side. Anyway, I had more than one copy of it so I figured that you could have one. I don't think that you'll actually read it but maybe you'll like it. It's really good."

"Do you have your sketchpad?" He wonders.

I frown in confusion at him, not understanding where that came from. "Yeah. Why?"

"You can read it to me, and I'll draw you," Dante decides. "That'll be interesting."

"Okay," I say with a small laugh, thinking about how interesting it would be to see how well he can draw and I also want to know if he likes this story because it really is my favorite. Granted, I haven't read a real book since I was in my early teens so I don't have much to base it off of but this book still does mean a lot to me because it reminds me of my mother.