n. def. a love bite.

XX: Hickeys are never not awkward. Granted, getting them isn't awkward, but the aftermath is just awful. Dealing with friends, parents, professors, etc.; you might as well be wearing a big sign that says "I'm stupid!"-

XY: -or "I got hammered at Seelye last night and all I got was this stupid hickey!" But if you have to get a hickey, college is as good a place as any, and probably better than most. If your friends see it, so what? Now parents, that's a whole other story ...

XX: And one that nobody wants to get into right now. Still, I don't really want my friends or my enemies to see the proof in the pudding, as it were; if I'm going to kiss and tell I'll do it myself rather than let a purple tattoo of devotion broadcast my love life to the world at large. Frankly, people who give hickeys and people who display them like Burberry scarves are exhibitionists, plain and simple.

XY: I'll have you know I've never had one. I have given them, on occasion, but partly because I'm sort of sensitive around my neck (and by "sensitive" I mean fidgety, ticklish, etc.) I've never had to sport a turtleneck. And I'm glad. If I see a guy wearing a turtleneck, I don't assume it's because he got play last weekend; I just figure he's a tool. Particularly if it's a mock turtleneck. Those suck.

XX: And if I see a girl wearing a turtleneck, I just figure she's cold. Anyway, lucky for us, we femmes fatales don't need to wear turtlenecks or scarves or burqas to cover our hickeys-we have cover-up (thanks CoverGirl!).

XY: I think there's some justice in that, too. Like, my theory has always been that hickeys are the calling card of insecure, territorial guys, who like to be able to look at a girl and think, I "had" her-and if you don't believe me, there's proof! (And yes, I'm aware that I just copped to having given them in my youthful indiscretion.)

XX: I'd never thought of it like that, but yeah, it kind of makes sense. It takes some pretty calculated chewing and biting and sucking to leave a mark. I'm not going to lie, in the moment it can be pretty hot to get a hickey, and I'm not going to make my guy stop for fear of what my friends are going to say the next day. But afterwards I'm sure going to be pissed at both of us for letting it go down like that!

XY: I do agree that no one who doesn't want to leave a hickey will in fact leave a hickey. I understand sucking, kissing, biting, whatever-but to do it in only one very localized area? It's just hard to believe you can give someone a hickey inadvertently. Now, if you know you're giving her a hickey, and you're both enjoying it-

XX: -make sure it's beneath the neckline.

XY: Hahahaha. You mean a titty hickey?!

XX: I wouldn't use the word "titty" but yes, I do mean around the mammary gland area. As long as she's not posing for Playboy later that day (or week) it shouldn't be a problem.

XY: That way, she can be a lady in the street and a freak in the bed.