My head shakes once. “Nothing.”
“Tell me,” he urges.
“I just like your tattoos.”
He laughs softly. “That’s not what you were going to say.”
“I suppose people think tattoos are surface level, but they’re not.”
“No,” he says in agreement. “They mean a lot to me.”
“What do your parents think about your tattoos?”
JJ scoffs. “My dad hates them, but my mum likes them.”
“I think both my parents would cheer me on if I got a tattoo.”
His face lights up. “Yeah?”
“They’re very into not letting anyone hold you back from being your true self.”
“Would you get a tattoo?”
“I don’t know if I could deal with the pain,” I admit.
The thought of tiny little needles makes my head spin.
“They don’t hurt too much,” he brushes off. “You get used to it after a while.”
My lips press together. “I suppose I don’t know what I’d get.”
“I wish I had that problem,” he sighs with a smile. “I have too many ideas.”
“Sometimes I want to push myself out of my comfort zone,” I find myself admitting as I glance along the beach, the wind floating through my hair. “Do something unlike me.”
“Why?”
To feel something again.
I raise my shoulders. “To try something different.”
“Well.” JJ shuffles impossibly closer until our legs are brushing. “If you want to go get a tattoo, I’ll be there to hold your hand.”
My teeth sink into my bottom lip. “Moral support?”
JJ flashes a grin. “Moral support, princess.”
A flutter in my heart sparks at the silly nickname. “I’ll let you know when I’m brave enough.”
“You are brave, Ivy,” he says sincerely. “I just don’t think you see it.”
I blink at him in surprise.
And I don’t think either of us is talking about tattoos anymore.
CHAPTER 20
IVY THOMPSON
