Holding Hands (Jardougall)

The Tattoo

Tay's P.O.V.

I woke up with arms wrapped around me, and my fingers intertwined with someone else's fingers. Once I remembered last night, I smiled and turned my head a bit to see Jenna sleeping peacefully beside me. I tried to untangle myself from her arms, and once I succeeded, Jenna pulled me back in her sleep. She nuzzled her face into my neck and I giggled, knowing that Jenna was awake.

"Good morning," I laughed.

Jenna let out a childish grunt and tried to bury her face farther into my neck. "I don't want to let you go," she murmured.

My face began to feel warm. "I never said you had to."

She raised her head and looked at me before letting out that childish grunt again.

"Oh, how old are you in the morning?" I joked, rolling my eyes.

"Four," she replied, snuggling against me. "You'd be six."

I laughed. "Is that so?"

"Mhm." Jenna kissed my neck a couple times before pulling up and smiling at me. By now, my face was feeling very warm and my heart was pounding in my chest. "You are so beautiful," she breathed, staring into my eyes.

My face only reddened even more as Jenna kissed my cheek.

"Hey, beautiful," she said, and I giggled a little. "Am I allowed to call you that now? Ooh, can I give you a cute nickname? Does this mean we can do cute couple stuff?"

I laughed at Jenna's adorable excitement before nodding my head. "Yes to all of that, Jen."

"Fuck yeah!" she yelled, throwing her fist in the air in victory before wrapping her arms around me again.

"I think you have an unhealthy obsession with holding me."

"Is that a complaint, love?"

"Mhm, no. Just stating facts."

"Good." Jenna kissed my cheek. "Because I really like having you in my arms, beautiful."

I smiled and our eyes met. Mine flicked down to her lips and she pulled me towards her, our lips meeting softly. At first, the butterflies in my stomach refused to let me move my lips, but Jenna made the first move, taking my bottom lip between her soft lips. At that point, the butterflies were going to have to suck it up because I really wanted to be kissing my girlfriend.

Just using the word in my head to describe Jenna made me feel sickeningly happy inside. Especially because she didn't seem to want to stop kissing me. Honestly, I didn't want to stop kissing her either. Even when we started to pull away, we both rethought our actions and began to kiss again. She eventually released me from her arms and I brought a hand to the back of her head, pulling us together even more. Then, Jenna pulled me on top of her, smiling up at me as I leaned down to kiss her again.

When we pulled away again, Jenna had her eyes closed and the widest smile on her face. "Tay Jardine's my girlfriend," she said, still smiling. Once she opened her eyes, I felt my cheeks redden again. She reached a hand up and brushed some stray hairs behind my ear, and then pulled me down to peck me on the lips again.

"Jenna McDougall's my girlfriend," I giggled out. Saying it out loud made me feel even happier.

She sighed happily and stared up into my eyes. "You're the most beautiful girl in the world, I swear."

I shook my head, feeling my ponytail coming loose. Bringing my arms up, I began to fix my hair. Jenna's eyes moved from my eyes to my wrist and the light in her eyes dimmed. After I fixed my hair, I looked down at her.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Ever since she had woken up, Jenna had been in an amazing mood--but now she seemed really sad.

Jenna shook her head and intertwined our fingers. "When did you get a tattoo?"

"Oh." I looked at the tattoo, but Jenna refused to. "I got it in December of 2012. You like it?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, uh, I got it with my friend Sam."

Jenna furrowed her eyebrows and I sighed, realizing that she had no idea who I was talking about.

"You'll meet her," I said.

Jenna slowly nodded and I really wanted her to be happy and bubbly again. She seemed really down now, and I wrapped my arms around her neck and kissed her lightly. She smiled into the kiss a little, her hands going to my hips.

"Thank you," I breathed out.

"For what?" Jenna tilted her head a little.

"For smiling. You seem really sad."

Jenna shook her head and tried to pull me closer to her, that sad puppy look in her eyes.

"What is it, Jen?" I asked. I almost called her 'babe,' but I felt like that would've been weird.

She looked on the verge of tears and she slowly grabbed my left hand, turning my arm so that my tattoo faced up. Jenna ran her fingers over the scar running through it and I closed my eyes with a sigh.

"Oh," I said quietly. I pulled my arm from her grasp and held it to my stomach. "Um, I'm sorry." I climbed off Jenna and ran to the bathroom.

Jenna's P.O.V.

"Tay?" I called softly, knocking on the bathroom door. She had been in there for maybe twenty minutes, and she hadn't made a single sound.

"Um, yeah," Tay replied. "I'll be out in a second, I promise."

I sighed and walked over to sit down on the couch. Resting my head on my hand, I propped my legs up on the table and waited for Tay. A cell phone began to ring so I pulled my legs down and sat forward, looking at the iPhone ringing on the table. The bathroom door opened and I furrowed my eyebrows at the caller ID on Tay's phone.

"Hey, who's Alex?" I asked.

There was a small pound followed by Tay yelling, "Fuck damn it." She walked into the living room just as her phone stopped ringing.

"Why do you ask?" she asked, sitting in my lap.

"Your phone was ringing and it was someone named Alex."

"Oh, Alex is a...friend..." Tay seemed confused on what to call him. "We went to school with him."

"Alex Gaskarth?"

Tay nodded and I made a face. I vaguely remember Alex from school. He was popular, but hung out with some pretty odd kids. He was very attractive, and definitely a player. He wasn't the type of person that Tay would hang out with, which confused me even more as to why he would be calling her.

Tay looked at me and nudged me with her shoulder. "Hey, smile," she said.

I laughed a little at her and she smiled back, kissing my cheek.

"I have to go change," she said.

I grunted in disagreement, wrapping my arms around her. She giggled and tried to move.

"Jen," she groaned. "Come on." I buried my face in her neck, kissing her warm skin before she shook her head at me. "Can I start calling you 'Cuddles?' "

I pretended to pout. "Why?"

"Because you're cuddly. Like, really cuddly."

"Only with you," I admitted. It was true. I wasn't typically the person who would cuddle with someone, but Tay made me feel like that, so whatever.

Tay smiled and kissed me before finally finding her way out of my arms, to which I groaned.

"I'm changing and then I'll be right back," she said. "I promise. And then you should probably get ready because we're going out."

I furrowed my eyebrows as she walked away. "Wait, what are we doing today?"