Walking off the ride, I could see in my peripherals the smug smile on Tony’s face. Looking up at him, I asked “What’s with the goofy grin?”

“You love me, don’t you?” He asked teasingly.

I rolled my eyes. “We didn’t even go on our first date.” I pointed out with a slight scoff.

“I won’t get weirded out if you love me Verity because it just so happens that I might be falling for you.” His voice started off jokey before growing serious towards the end.

His sentence itself held weight that I wasn’t ready for. “Tony,” I sighed before continuing “I like you. I really do, but it’ll take me a while before I can allow strong feelings like that to form.”

The smile on his face slowly slipped, but he held it there. “I love your honesty.” He said.

I smiled at him, glad that he didn’t take it offensively. “And I love your monkey face.”

Walking by the roller coaster souvenirs section, I saw that the camera on the ride snapped a picture of Tony and me in a lip-locked session. Blushing fiercely, I tried to walk by it with quick steps. However, Tony saw it and stopped.

“I have to buy it.” He said enthusiastically.

“Really?” I questioned while scrunching my face.

“Of course!” Tony exclaimed. “It’s our first picture as a couple. Whether you’re my girlfriend or not, I want to remember this day for the rest of my life.”

I smiled before walking up to the guy in charge of the pictures. “I’ll take two.” I said to him while pulling out my wallet.

Tony was about to interject, but I grabbed his hand from reaching his wallet.

“No self respecting girl will let a guy pay for everything.” I told him while handing the guy two 10 dollar bills.

“It doesn’t feel right to have a girl pay for me.” Tony huffed.

“Well, I don’t like when people treat me.” I countered.

“Are you always this stubborn?” He questioned.

“Are you always this insistent?”

“Are you always this evasive?”

“I could say the same for you!”

Smiling, Tony said “I love that you never back down.”

Rolling my eyes, I replied with “And I love that you’re never an easy opponent.”

The guy handed over our pictures with a puzzled expression on his face. I guess not many people argue over paying for the pictures, but I stand by the mere principle that self-respecting girls won’t rely on a guy to pay for everything. I mean, this is the 21st century for crying out loud.

“Let’s grab some juice before heading over to the photo booth.” He suggested.

This might have not been our first date, but it sure felt like it. I wasn’t sure how regulatory first dates went, but I swear this could have beaten any that I’ve seen on a movie screen. The one’s I saw at the movies always had some form of intentional fluff that it never seemed real. It lacked sincerity to me; however, today seemed to hit all those cheesy romantic comedies out of the park. My day started off on a sad note, but with just a few hours with Tony it somehow did a 180. I wasn’t sure just how long this high will last, but I knew I was gonna cherish every second of it.

We got ourselves slushies before making our way to the empty photo booth just on the outskirts of the gaming section. To be honest, I hated taking pictures, but thinking back to Tony’s comment I did want to remember this day forever. I wanted proof that today wasn’t a dream or that I made it all up in my head. I want to be able to stumble over these pictures when I’m 80-years-old and smile at the fond memories I had as a teenager.

---

Our faces were still covered with paint as we reached Tony’s house. I felt ridiculous for having to meet his family with my face painted as a tiger. I inwardly kicked myself for being foolish for forgetting that we had plans to have dinner at his house for tonight. It was Tuesday! How could I have forgotten?! Walking up the paved path from the curb to his house, I noticed that his place was much smaller compared to mines. Tony lived in a humble one story house that had beautiful yard decorations lingering in the small bed of flowers near the windows. If it wasn’t a normal garden gnome it was a sprig of colorful butterflies, making the garden seem like a little slice of paradise.

“Unfortunately, you won’t be meeting my step father, but Maria flew in today so you’ll meet her.” Tony informed me, breaking me from my inner thoughts.

“Tony, I look ridiculous.” I whined while pointing at my face. “Your family is gonna think I’m weird.”

Tony laughed. “They already think you’re weird for wanting to date me.”

“Tone, I can’t seriously meet your mom like this.” I remarked.

“She loves you already.” Tony commented.

“Wait, what?” I had stopped walking before we reached the door, standing in the middle of the pathway.

Tony smiled before saying “They know about you because I might have mentioned you to them on more than one occasion.” His smile turned bashful. “My mom’s just happy to see me happy.”

I was utterly speechless as I held Tony’s hand before continuing up to his house. I didn’t know what to say because all I wanted to do was kiss him, but refrained myself from doing so. Tony led the way into his house. The first thing that hit me was the potent smell of food wafting through the air. It smelled heavenly even though I was still full from lunch. The next thing I noticed was the way Tony’s quaint house was colorfully decorated. The décor reminded me of this small village my family and I had visited in Mexico a few summers ago. There were many figurines set up on a shelf; all biblical that it seemed sacred as a black rosary hung from the open palms of Christ.

I smiled. “Your place feels really cozy.”

“Thank you.” A woman’s voice said from behind me.

I was nervous while turning around to find a short, middle aged woman standing with a kitchen cloth in her hands. She had age lines that faintly showed while smiling kindly at me. Tony had her eyes along with the same type of hair, which was thick and black.

“You must be Verity.” She greeted while pulling me in for a hug. “My Tony has spoken so highly of you.”

I blushed while hugging her back. “Has he?”

Stepping back, she said “Constantly.”

“Okay mama.” Tony cut in. “I think you’ve sufficiently embarrassed me.”

“By the way, I’m sorry for the fact that my face is a tiger instead of its regular, boring self.” I added.

Tony’s mother waved me off. “I like it.” She smiled.

There were footsteps coming from the hallway that brought a broad smile to Tony’s face. I followed his gaze and saw him staring at a very beautiful girl coming our way.

“Maria!” Tony exclaimed.

“Turtle!” She yelled back.

Notes

Hey all you fantastic fucks!

I read through your comments and I literally teared up from how beautiful they were. Thank you so frigging much for being lovely human beings because it really made me smile like an idiot <3

Hope this chapter lives up to your expectations! Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts on the chapter :)