Page 33 of #Beautiful

I try not to smile too much. He and Jackson chatted about tattoos one night last year, and I overheard. “I made you an appointment for tomorrow when they open. Figured maybe you and Jackson could make a day of it.”

His mouth hangs open as he quickly glances from the piece of paper to my face several time. “Babe, this is awesome. Like, holy crap.” Leaning up, he kisses me again before folding the certificate and putting it in his pocket.

Watching everyone open gifts, and try to open ours as best we can since Declan won’t let me move off his lap, the next hour flies by with a lot of excitement and laughter.

By the time all the gifts are done, it looks like a wrapping paper factory exploded. Snuggling back into Declan, he rubs his palm across my thigh, and my earlier moment of weakness in the bathroom, the dark thoughts about my weight are all but forgotten.

“One more gift,” my dad says as he hoists himself off the couch and pulls a large folded envelope from under his leg. “From all the adults for the five of you.” He holds it out to me.

My brows pull together as I take it, Candice, Jackson, and Darcy scooting closer. Carefully opening the top, I pull out a small stack of folded papers and five smaller pieces of paper. Scanning the tickets and then the papers, I gasp, and Declan cusses under his breath.

“This is a trip to Italy,” I say louder than I intend to. “You guys have to be kidding!”

Darcy and Candice fall into a fit of cheers and hollering, and Jackson gets up and comes to stand behind us to look at everything over my shoulder.

“You guys leave in two weeks. You stay for two weeks, and when you come back, you’ll have a little less than a week to get ready for school again. We thought after everything the last year or so, you all deserved a real vacation.”

Scrambling out of Declan’s lap, I rush over and launch myself into my dad’s arms. His hug is tight, and I whisper a thank you as tears threaten to take over.

“I’m so proud of you, Lena,” he says against my hair. “You and Declan are going to have an amazing life together, and I know you’re going to keep doing such amazing things. You’re better of a woman than I could have ever hoped to raise.”

That makes the tears spill over, and I squeeze him tighter. “Everything I am is because of you.”

When he lets me go, I wipe the moisture from under my eyes and move to hug Declan’s parents as well.

“Guess this means we need to go shopping,” Darcy says loudly and does a victory dance just as I turn around.

“Please don’t dance like that in Italy,” Declan says, grabbing a balled up hunk of wrapping paper and chucking it at her. “They’ll kick us out of the country.”

“Shut it,” Darcy quips and continues to dance around the room to everyone’s amusement.

Declan’s mom stands and claps. “Now that we got all that out of the way, breakfast and Church. Then you all can go do all the shopping or being lazy that you want.”

Turning to head to the kitchen, Declan takes my hand. “How about you guys go shopping tomorrow while Jackson and I are at the tattoo parlor?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Jackson says, “because I do not want to have to sit through the torture of bathing suit shopping. Not again.”

Candice playfully punches him in the arm. “I’m not that bad.”

Pulling her close, he kisses her temple. “Says you.”

Everyone is chatting as we head into the kitchen, but my stomach is in knots. Bathing suits? There’s no way I can wear one of those right now. I spent this year losing and gaining weight too drastically, and my skin is showing the side effects. The stretch marks aren’t too bad and don’t really bother me— but that’s because I keep them covered. Declan doesn’t even see me with my clothes off so yeah...

Maybe I can just lose a little of the weight in the next two weeks, and use some cocoa butter or something to try and lighten the marks? I mean, a little push for like enough weight to look nice in a bathing suit isn’t a big deal, right?

Chapter 28 - Declan

Jackson and I spent six hours at the tattoo parlor today. He was in the chair with one guy for four of those hours and left with an amazing piece that covers his right bicep, depicting Christ on the Cross. I was in the chair for the entire six hours, and the left side of my chest and part of my shoulder are tender as hell now. My mom’s asked to see it since I got home, but I refuse to let anyone see it until Lena does. This was her gift to me, and she’s laying eyes on it first. Aside from Jackson since he was with me.

The girls still aren’t home yet despite it being after six thirty. Mom is almost done with dinner, so they better get here soon.

No sooner do Jackson and I sit at the counter to hang with Mom while she cooks does the front door open, the chatting and laughter from the girls flowing down the hallway. My best friend looks at me, and we grin, pretty excited ourselves to surprise the girls.

“You got a tattoo!” Candice practically skids to a stop next to Jackson, holding his forearm as she looks over his new ink. “That is so amazing, Jackson.”

“Thanks, babe,” he says, standing and putting his arm around her, kissing the side of her head.

I stand as well and turn to find Lena in the doorway, eyeing me suspiciously. Taking a step forward, she holds her hand up, and I stop. “Show it. No hug for you until I get to see it.”

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