Page 28 of Savage for You

We play twenty-one questions to learn more about each other. His favorite color is red. He’s been number eight his whole career because that was his dad's number too. If he didn’t play football, he wanted to go into sports medicine.

His hand ends up on my thigh during the drive and I love the feeling of it. They are rough from the years of football, but I love the feeling of his calloused hands against my soft skin. Seeing his tattooed hand on my thigh does something to me. I look more at his tattoos and see he has 2001 across his knuckles.

“When’s your birthday?” I ask.

“August 27th,” he replies with a smile.

“Hey, that's coming up soon!”

“Yeah, it is. When’s yours?”

“February 28th,” I say while looking down at his hands.

“Are you okay?” He rubs his thumb against my thigh.

“Yeah, I’m just not a fan of my birthday these days.”

We gravitate back to talking about random things, getting to know each other better, and forty-five minutes later we’re in front of Valleyfair amusement park.

I look over at him, and I want to cry. I can’t believe he remembered.

“Are you serious? You remembered?” I ask in an almost whisper.

“Of course, I remember. You think I’m not taking notes of what my girl likes? I knew today was going to be rough, so I wanted to do something that would provide you with some positive memories. I know you will always remember this as the day your parents were killed, but if I can make your day that much better, I will, baby.”

Tears well up in my eyes, and I sniffle them back because I don’t want to ruin my makeup.

“Come here, pretty girl, let's take a selfie before we walk in.” Rocky grabs his phone and snaps a couple of pictures. He takes one of him kissing my cheek, and I’m smiling like I’m a kid in a candy store.

“Will you send it to me?”

“Of course.”

I get it and set it as my phone’s background. He turns his phone to me and says, “It’s on my lock screen too. Now I can see you whenever I want.”

Gosh, is this man real?

“Okay, so…where to first?” he asks.

I smirk at him and reply, “Thunder Canyon.”

The rest of the day goes by fast. We have so much fun and I love making memories with him. He has shown me more in these past few weeks than Dylan showed me in the four years we were together.

We just got off the Power Tower ride and my adrenaline is at an all-time high.

“Let’s go eat.” Rocky pulls me away towards the different food choices.

After eating Mexican food, because hello, cheesy enchiladas, we go play some games. He wins me a stuffed elephant, and it’s the first time I’ve ever gotten one at an amusement park from a guy. I see a photo booth and pull Rocky in with me. There are five photos in a set and for one of them, he turns my head and kisses me. We smile, make funny faces, put bunny ears on each other and for the final shot I kiss his cheek while he is smiling with his teeth on display.

We see a sign for cotton candy, and I pull Rocky towards it. I get the pink cotton candy because that flavor is the best, but it has to be the pink vanilla.

“This has been the best day. Thank you for turning this day from one of the worst, to one that helped heal my broken heart piece by piece.”

As I finish talking, I feel my phone vibrate.

Atlas: Hey Monti, just checking on you.

Me: I’m good, at Valleyfair.

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