When I Taste Tequila [h.s] ✓

4. Then

Colorado, January 2018

Dating Skye wasn't much different than being her friend. We did the same things: ate, studied, picked at each other, went to parties. The main difference being we added kissing to our activities. The last three months had been the best I'd had in the states. Texas was definitely starting to grow on me.

It was still winter break. The first two weeks, I flew back home to England, leaving Skye and I video chatting every chance we could get. This week was our final week of break. I had flown back to the states, only to hop on another flight a couple days later with Skye to Colorado.

Her sorority and Kappa Sigma always got together to take a trip during winter break or spring break, she'd told me. Last year, they'd done Florida for spring break. This year, they'd deciding to go skiing. She'd taken me as her plus one. As clumsy as I am, I was hesitant to try skiing, but Skye and I held onto each other, dragging each other down into the snow where we spend most of our time.

It was our last night here. We'd all gotten accustomed to leaving our doors open and mingling about everyone's rooms as we pleased.

Our door was open but Skye and I were the only ones in our room. She pulled a box of cards from her purse, then moved back to the bed, sitting cross legged as she began shuffling. I pulled a bottle out of the brown paper sack on the floor beside my luggage. I spun around, holding the bottle up proudly. "Look what I've got." I shook the bottle of Patron at her.

"We don't have any cups," she said, looking around the room. She sat the cards down on the nightstand and reached a hand out towards the bottle. I joined her on the bed and passed the bottle to her. She broke the seal then gave me a cute grin. "Guess we'll have to drink it straight."

She lifted the bottle and took a sip before passing it to me. Playfully, I huffed and made a show of wiping her germs off of the top, causing her to roll her eyes at me before I raised the bottle to my own lips.

"We're playing Texas Hold' em," She decided. She tilted her head and eyed me.

"Okay."

"You know how to play?" Her tone was full of surprise. "I didn't know you'd know how."

"Because I'm from England?" I erupted in loud cackles, causing her cheeks to flush. "We play poker there too, darling. Even Texas Hold' em. Ouch!" I yipped as her fingers twisted my nipple through my shirt.

She then grabbed the bottle of tequila from me, resting the bottle in the space between her legs as she giggled. "Now look who's laughing. Let's make a bet. Five rounds. Loser has to.." She tapped her chin as I leaned back against the headboard to get comfortable. She looked over at me then, her eyes glancing at my arms folded behind my head. "Loser has to get a tattoo."

My brows shot up to my hairline, my mouth dropping open at her suggestion. "Why in the world would you want to do that?"

"Why not? You have tattoos. Lots of them."

"Yes," I nod. "And you have none. I don't have as much to lose as you do. Darling, if you're wanting to up the ante and get wild, I can bend you over the bed and fuck you until you can't walk straight. Let's just stick to the booze and sex like normal college kids. I don't want you marring up your beautiful skin."

"What makes you so sure I'd be the one getting the tattoo? I'm good at poker. Really good, so you better start thinking about what you want." Her eyes were lit with mirth as she turned away to open the nightstand drawer.

I groaned and scrubbed a hand over my face. We were really doing this then. Well, I was. Even if I won, there was no way I was letting her get a tattoo. Not when she'd been drinking and might not be completely sure it's something she wanted. Adding another one to my body wouldn't phase me.

She turned back towards me and she had the hotel bible clutched in one hand. With her other, she grabbed the tequila and pressed her lips against the bottle, eyeing me over the rim. When she pulled her mouth away, she rubbed the lingering wetness on her lips with her wrist, then sat the bottle back between her thighs. She laid the bible on the palm of her hand and started giggling. "Swear you won't leave me when you lose and have to get another stupid tattoo."

"What do you mean another?" I teased, barking out a laugh. "I'm not going to leave you, silly."

"That doesn't count." She shook her head in disapproval, then grabbed by hand and placed it on the bible resting in her palm. "Now swear."

I sighed, giving into her. "I swear I'd never leave you."

"You wouldn't?" The way she said it felt heavier than the light moment we'd had before and her eyes held a vulnerability I hadn't seen in them before.

"No. I wouldn't want to," I swallowed, thinking about how my year abroad ends in four months. Skye knew that as well and I wondered if that's where her head was at too. I licked my lips, staring into her eyes and promised something else to her with my hand on the bible. "I love you."

Her eyes widened, not expecting those words she'd never heard before to come from my lips. Then, my girl breaks out into a bashful smile. "I love you too, Harry." She leaned forward and kissed me then. When she pulled back, she grinned wickedly. "But that doesn't mean one of us won't be getting a tattoo tonight."

I stared at her for a moment, amused by her but mostly in awe of her. Her hair was down in soft loose waves and she was wearing the same sorority t-shirt she was wearing the day I met her. It felt like it had been longer than just months that I'd known the girl sitting in front of me.

Skye ended up beating me fairly and never one to back down from a dare, we went to the closest tattoo shop we could find, shivering the whole way. I let her help me look over the designs on the wall, trying to choose what to get. She'd said she was having trouble concentrating because she was too cold to function so I wrapped my arms around her to warm her up. She mumbled something about suggesting they go to California next year. Right after she said it, she gasped and looked up at me with another one of those grins they let me knew she had an idea she thought was brilliant.

That's how I ended up with a small palm tree tattooed on the back of my upper right arm that Niall teased me about when we got back to Texas. He said that I now had matching tattoos with half of the famous Instagram influencers and laughed, but I didn't mind. I couldn't see it well with the placement I'd chosen, but every time I rubbed my hand over it, I felt a warmness in my chest.