Page 43 of Fake Love

“Yeah, it's a real passion of hers. I’m just glad that the team can help in some way.” Aaron pauses and I’m so enthralled with his arms that I don’t notice that his attention moves over to me until he speaks again. “And who’s this?”

I finally am able to look up at his face and give him a warm smile before holding out my hand.

“I’m Jen. It’s nice to meet you.”

Muscle man shakes my hand. “It's nice to meet you Jen. I’m Aaron, this bastard’s teammate.”

“Yeah, Maddox said that you were the one that told him about this. I’m happy that we were able to come and help out. The aquarium is one of my favorite places.”

As I talk, I can't help but to hear just how put together I sound. Is that how a girlfriend is supposed to sound? Am I laying it on too thick?

“Well, I’m glad that Maddox was able to bring you along. I didn’t know he knew someone here in the city outside of the team.” I don’t miss the smirk that Aaron throws in Maddox's direction. One that says that he knows who I might be to his teammate.

Maddox throws him a smirk back before dropping my hand and wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

“We met last month when I came to sign my contract, and we kind of reconnected a few weeks ago.”

It's not a lie at least.

“That’s great.” Aaron says and he’s about to say something else, before a woman, who I assume is his wife, calls him over. “Looks like I’m needed. I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

After Aaron leaves us, Maddox drops his arm from my shoulders. A sadness rolls through me when he does that but the second he takes my hand in his again, the sadness disappears.

With my hand in his, we walk around the exhibit, looking into all the tanks and even stopping to interact with a few more players and their wives and some kids.

It’s when Maddox is with the kids and listening to them tell him all about their favorite animals, that I take out my phone and take pictures.

I take pictures of Maddox with the kids as they point to something in the takes. I take pictures of him with his teammates as they talk about something mundane. I take pictures as he talks to some of the aquarium employees and learns more about what they are raising money for.

The more and more pictures I take, the more I come to know who Maddox is. He’s a caring person that is passionate about learning new things and helping in any way that he can. As I take the pictures, he’s not just standing there waiting for me to take pictures, he’s actually listening to what the person he’s talking to is saying. He’s not looking for the camera, he’s just being himself.

That’s the side of him that he wants to show people and now that I’ve gotten a glimpse of it, I want people to see it. I want people to really see him for who he is, and not for who he was last year.

Toward the end of the event, a little boy comes over to me and Maddox as we stand by one of the octopus tanks. The little boy asks Maddox if he can help him find an octopus because he’s been trying to find one all day but can’t seem to.

Maddox with a big smile on his face says yes to the boy and lifts him up so that they can look for one together.

Seeing this, makes me take out my phone again, but this time not because I need it to post on Maddox’s Instagram. No, this time it's for me because right now my ovaries are exploding at the sight and I’m not the only one.

A few of the women around the exhibit stop and watch the two boys search for the octopus.

After five minutes of looking, the mission is accomplished and an octopus is found.

When we leave the event, I can’t help but walk out with a huge smile on my face. One that I know Maddox notices and can’t help but smile back at.

“What’s with the huge smile?” he ask as we step out of the aquarium and out to the San Francisco breeze.

“Just really happy you invited me today. It was an awesome event and I got some great pictures of you to post. But the icing on the cake was definitely the search for the octopus.”

Maddox lets out a laugh. “Was it now? Was it because I was acting like a kid?”

We walk towards the edge of the pier where the sea lions are and I notice that he has yet to drop my hand.

“Yes, actually. You let your guard down with that little boy. You weren’t a baseball player. You were just a regular guy having fun,” I say, giving him another smile.

Maddox just looks at me. He was probably waiting for him to give him a basic answer instead of the one I gave him.

“I’m happy I invited you today, too,” he says after collecting himself.

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