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“How did you get these?” Cameron asked, her thumb tracing the light scars around his right eye. They were sitting cross-legged on her bed, facing each other with their knees touching as they spoke quietly to one another.
“Fell down riding my bike when I was five,” he said, smiling at the memory. “My dad had lifted one of the training wheels and I was a little over-enthusiastic about showing my mom that I could ride it just as well as I had when they were even. Didn’t go as planned. I ran into a tree, fell on the sidewalk, and scraped my face up pretty badly. Almost needed stitches.”
Cameron chuckled lightly as her fingers found their way across the indents again. His own hand worked its way up her right arm until he came across a scar near the crook of her arm that he had noticed early in their relationship. The crooked silver line was hardly visible, but almost glowed under the yellow light in her room.
“What about this?” he asked her. Moving his gaze to her arm, his thumb brushed up and down the length of the scar.
Cameron’s eyes looked at his moving hand. “I’m honestly not sure how I got that. I’ve had it since I can remember. I was a pretty rebellious kid, so if I got it falling out of a tree or something, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
“Shocking,” laughed Joe. His mind conjured up images of a young Cameron being rowdy and getting into trouble with the neighborhood kids.
“Yeah, well, I’m sure you were hardly any better as a kid,” she countered. He shrugged and dropped his hand from her arm. Her fingers intertwined with his as she leaned closer to him with a small smile on her face.
Joe’s free hand moved to her other arm and traced the lopsided rectangle tattooed there. He had never asked about it, but they were on the topic, so why the hell not?
“Did you pay someone to do this? Because you probably should have demanded a refund,” he teased. Her hand came up and playfully pushed his chest causing his hand to leave her arm to keep from falling back.
“Some guy did it to me while I was partying. I think a part of me was hoping it would disappear once it washed off since he didn’t seem like he knew what he was doing. Last I checked, using a pen to make a tattoo wasn’t the most efficient way to do it.”
He grimaced slightly at her words. His hand came back up to touch the smooth skin marred by the light tattoo. Oddly enough, he didn’t hate the thing. It was a strange imperfection, but it seemed to fit her and he wouldn’t change it if he could.
“Any secret tattoos that I don’t know about?” Cameron asked. He brought his attention back to her face and laughed at the mirth in her eyes.
“None that I’m aware of.”
“What about other scars?”
“I have a scar on the bottom of my foot that’s pretty bad,” Joe said, not going any further.
Cameron furrowed her brow and shifted her eyes side to side. “You going to elaborate on that one or do I have to guess?”
“I think we could have some fun with you guessing,” he said with laughter in his voice again.
She narrowed her eyes, but seemed up to the challenge. “Okay. How about…. Can we play twenty questions with this one?”
“Sure.”
“Was it from your childhood or recently?
“Recent-ish,” he replied as he uncrossed his legs and laid down on his side. He used his left arm to prop his head up to look at her.
She kept her position and the glare on her face as she looked down at him. “Okay…. Did you need stitches?”
“No. Almost did, though.”
A scowl was starting to appear on her face as she got on her knees. “Okay, no, no. You know what? I need a look at this thing to see if it’s even real before I find out I’m just making an ass of myself.”
He let out a loud caw of a laugh as she crawled down to his feet and lifted them both up into her lap. He turned fully on his back once she found the scar on his right foot and she let out a small “aha!” at her discovery.
“Not a lie, for once,” she said. He shot a glare her way but didn’t say anything.
“Did you…. Were you sober when this happened?” She looked back up at him with a smirk on her face.
“Well, in a matter of speaking, kind of.”
“Was it—” She was cut off when he twitched his foot at the feeling of her fingers grazing the bottom of his feet. “Oh, ticklish there, are we?"
“No,” he lied very unconvincingly. She was far from fooled and proceeded to grab better hold of that foot and dance her fingers along it. She took his other foot in her opposite hand and did the same to it. He squirmed on the bed as the look of mischief grew on her face. There was no way to describe the noises that were coming out of his mouth as anything but giggles.
“No, Cameron…. Cameron…stop,” he said between chokes of laughter. He accidentally kicked her in the arm in an attempt to get out of her grasp and it was enough to get her fiery digits to stop, but she looked less than impressed. “Oh, sorry. Are you okay?” he asked, slight worry mixed oddly with his laughing fit.
“Oh, so that’s how you want to play, huh?” she asked, completely ignoring his question as she crawled up his body. She straddled his hips and used her fingers to try and find any other ticklish spots on his torso, but didn’t have much success until she hit the jackpot with an area on the edge of his back and waist. She attacked him on each side until he was writhing around again in silent laughter.
Finally, after gaining a little awareness and control of his body in the midst of her onslaught, he grabbed her upper arms and rolled her onto her back on the bed. He pinned her down with the length of his body and gasped out a few more laughs before looking down into her eyes, where unmistakable lust was slowly darkening the green irises. He bent his head and dragged her mouth against his for a deep kiss. Her tongue darted out and licked his bottom lip, begging for entrance but he kept up with their earlier charade and denied her access, continuing to press long, closed-mouthed kisses to her lips. She let out a frustrated moan and roughly plunged her tongue into his mouth, exploring the familiar contours . He wasn’t one to keep this one-sided for long, so he begin moving his tongue just as fiercely against hers. Her hands were moving over his clothed back now and pressing her blunt nails into the fabric every once in a while. His own hands moved from her waist and made their way to her jaw, tilting her head and exposing her neck. Tearing his lips away from hers, he trailed his mouth along her jaw and down her neck until he reached the base, where he lavished attention there. She let out a low moan when he bit her sharply and he smirked against her skin at the reaction.
Feeling vengeful at that smirk, she flipped them over so that she was on top of him again, and he let out a muffled sound of surprise at the sudden movement. She attacked his mouth with fervor and brought her hands to his chest to start unbuttoning his shirt. Her mouth moved from his lips and she left a row of kisses down his neck until she reached the top of his shirt, her lips following each button as it was unhooked. He let out a groan when she sucked on the skin under his collarbone, and it was a sound that definitely inspired her to go further. When she brushed the scars on his chest, he tensed slightly; their conversation about scars coming back to him and causing him to remember his worst ones. She noticed the stiffness in his body immediately, despite how small the movement had been, and sat up in concern.
“What’s wrong?” she asked quietly. Her eyes lost all traces of their previous lust and scanned his face looking for the source of discomfort.
She already knew how he got his scars, but she was one of the few who did. He usually faded away a bit when people saw the scars, let alone touched them, and he had definitely never gotten used to people touching them in a sexual manner.
His eyes must have drifted towards his chest at one point because her gaze suddenly fell on the harsh indents on his skin. She looked back up to his face and hesitated only a second before leaning down and softly pressing her lips against his. It was a completely different kiss than the ones they had just shared. There was no lust or urgency in that kiss, just comfort. He hummed slightly against her mouth and relished in having her close despite what had just happened.
She broke the kiss and sat back up. Her fingers brushed his scars gently as she stared at them again. He was starting to feel self-conscious until she suddenly looked up and spoke, “These scars don’t define who you are, Joe. They’re a part of you, but they’re not all of you. Don’t let them be a monster."
He swallowed at her words, trying to make the lump in his throat disappear. He hadn’t expected them to ever have another conversation about these burdensome scars, but he had definitely been wrong about many things before. She offered him a sympathetic nod and stilled her hands on his chest, just leaving them there. Drawing his own hands up, he cupped her jaw and pulled her in for another kiss. He pathetically sought more comfort and she didn’t hold back in giving it to him, something that surprised him every time she did it.
Again, she broke the kiss first, but with a smile this time. She sat back again and let out a full grin as she said, “All right. So how did you really get that scar on your foot? I clearly deserve an answer for defeating you in that tickle war.”
“You did not win that…”
“Oh, yes, I did. Answer now, please.”
“Fine…. It’s not actually something I’m proud of, but I guess it’s pretty funny now. Got drunk one night, came home and apparently had more to drink. I guess I was also feeling nostalgic because I took out a box of childhood memorabilia before falling asleep on the couch. I woke up very hungover the next morning and got up to get some Tylenol and water. Well, I tripped over the box and knocked my knee into the coffee table, which caused some of the beer bottles to roll off. Once I recovered from the pain in my knee, I stepped on a beer bottle and it broke and cut my foot deeply. Almost had to go to the hospital. Luckily, it stopped bleeding, but I never got that bloodstain out of the carpet. Lost my security deposit at that apartment.”
“Oh, Joe. The world’s just got it out for you, doesn't it?” she laughed as she leaned down to kiss him yet again. He smiled against her mouth before she plunged her tongue in his mouth, apparently deciding that scar talk was over and they were onto something more physical. He didn’t mind one bit.