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Mike finished up my tattoo and wiped down the area with a paper towel. I squealed a tiny bit—a tiny bit—over the perfect little film reel before he wrapped it up, and then Neil and I were on our way. (After I paid my tab and tip, of course.)
We walked out of the tattoo shop wrapped around each other, laughing about…something.Honestly, I couldn’t even remember what it was we were talking about. The tone and lilt of his voice and the vibrato of his laughter caught my attention more than anything.
He spun around in the middle of the parking lot and walked backward with my hand still in his.
“Hey…” His steps slowed, and I pushed up on my toes and planted a kiss on his mouth. (I couldn’t help it; I’d kind of needed his mouth on mine since we’d walked into the tattoo shop earlier.) The rest of his words were smothered against my lips, and then disappeared completely. His tongue drifted over the seam of my mouth, and I opened for him, letting him in.
We kissed in the parking lot like no one else on this planet existed. If they did, they could fuck off and wait—
We got honked at, of course.
And then Neil was blushing all over again.
He cleared his throat, pulled us out of the way, and asked out of what felt like nowhere, “Will you go to church with me tomorrow?”
My stomach did a weird little flip. I couldn’t tell if it was a good flip, or a bad flip, orwhat.But it was a contrast from the butterflies that had been fluttering around in there a second ago.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” my mouth and brain settled on, bypassing my thoughts entirely.
“Why?” He chuckled, his brows furrowed together.
I looked down at my clothes as if they were all the answer he needed. I was basically dressed like a modern-day witch, sin freshly inked onto my arm for added emphasis. “I might burn the second I walk in there?” I tried.
His head fell back in laughter. “God, I love you.” He sighed. “But just come. Once. For me. Trust me when I say it won’t be anything like what you’re expecting.”
But I didn’t really knowwhatto expect.
And what the hell did one even wear to church, anyway?
Was it the kind of church where girls couldn’t wear pants? “Am I allowed to wear pants?” I asked, and his lips twisted in amusement.
“You can wear whatever you’re comfortable wearing, Liv,” he said.
“Okay. Well…” I trailed off, tossing the idea around in my head. It’s not that I was opposed to it, I’d just never had any interest in going before.
In being judged.
Possibly burned at the stake.
Only Neil would actually make me consider it.
“I mean, I guess—sure, I’ll go with you.” I shrugged. Best case scenario, he was right, and it wouldn’t be all that bad. Worst case scenario, my presence would cause some holy water to go flying. Either way kind of sounded like a good time to me.
“You will?” he asked, his voice rising with his obvious surprise at how easy I’d relented.
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Neil, I’ll go.”
I wasn’t even going to pretend like his answering smile didn’t light me up inside like the fourth of July.
I was dying inside. Slowly. From being jumpy and uncomfortable and way out of my element. I tugged at my shirt, twisted my hands in front of me, slipped them into my back pockets.
Yes,I was nervous. Obviously. But I didn’t knowwhy.Not really. Well, maybe it had something to do with the fact that I knew how important church was to Neil, and if I somehow screwed this up…
I didn’t know, maybe—
He slipped an arm around me, his whisper close to my ear when he said, “Relax, babe. I really think you’re going to like it.”
I wanted to scoff at him, but my mind snagged on a single word.