Tattoos Together | An Original

9

Dominic

Reese and I get back to her parent's house kind of late, but it seems like everyone is still up. The television is on in the living room, and the lights in the kitchen are on. Reese's mom is in the kitchen, so we go in and sit at the counter to keep her company.

"How was your date?" Emma asks, smiling at us.

"It was good," Reese says. "We went to the cheesecake diner in Wisconsin."

"Ah. A classic. Did you bring any extra home?"

"Of course," Reese says, handing her a bag.

Emma beams. "Thanks, honey."

"No problem," Reese says. "We really enjoyed our meal."

"I heard you guys are coming to the show on Friday," I say. "I'm excited for you guys to see the show."

Emma nods. "Yep. Ethan and I will be there. We love your music."

"Thank you," I say, smiling. "That means a lot to me."

"Reese would play your songs all over the house a few years ago, and we all started to listen to them more. Now Ethan plays it in the car non-stop. He loves it. I hear him singing along when he showers sometimes."

I chuckle. "That seriously means so much to me. You guys are the best."

Emma smiles. "You're a good kid. Reese wouldn't speak so highly of you if you weren't."

I smile at Reese, who is already smiling at me. "I speak highly of her as well. You've got a good one here, Emma."

I put my arm around Reese's shoulder, and she leans closer to me.

"I know. She's amazing. Except when she got her nose pierced without our permission," Emma says, giving a motherly look to Reese.

"That was when I was sixteen, Mom," Reese says. I can see how they've butted heads before, but they seem to be laughing about it now.

Emma laughs. "I know, honey. But it wasn't cool."

"Does she know about your tattoos?" I whisper-yell.

Reese laughs. "Yes. She doesn't mind those since I'm an adult now."

"Did you show her the one you got in Detroit?" I ask.

Reese nods. "Yeah. She likes it."

"It's cute," Emma says. "I like that you guys picked tattoos out for one another. That's a cool concept."

"Dominic definitely had a lot of trust in me, letting me pick something so permanent," Reese says.

"This is my favorite tattoo," I say. "I don't know what you're talking about, Reese."

"D, you should show it to my mom. She hasn't seen it."

I pull up my shirt sleeve to reveal the tattoo on my bicep. "It's supposed to represent our daily facetimes," I say. "Reese came up with it. I think it fits in perfectly with my other tattoos. She did good."

"Awww. That's so cute," Emma says. "Reese has quite the artistic eye, doesn't she?"

"She does," I say, agreeing.

"Dominic flatters me at every chance he gets," Reese says. "Stop acting like I'm not sitting next to you," she quietly says to me, nudging my arm.

"Gotta make sure you know how I feel," I say, smiling at Reese. She playfully rolls her eyes at me. She's so damn cute.

"It's so strange to me how you guys make so much sense together. Whether you're friends or more, you guys just seem to click," Emma says. This makes me smile. I like that her family can sense our connection. It makes it seem so much more official. It hopefully will be just that very soon.