Women Weaken Legs - A Rocky Balboa Fanfic

On the Road

Rocky's POV

Back at Mick's gym and I cannot lie I'm a bit distracted from my sparring. Energy's up and I'm feeling great. It's just, in my head I'm elsewhere. Jabbin constant lefts and rights. Absorbing the occasional blow. Finally Mick calls time.

"Wake up would ya!? Let's go to the bag" Mick hollers at me.

I take a look at the time. Its already 11.

"Aye Mick I've gotta call it. Got business ta tend to." I start to head to the showers.

"Business? Only business you've gotta tend to is preparin for dis fight! Where da hell ya think you're goin?" Mick hollers once again. I just dismiss him. I'm not missing this for nothing.

Once I get to the showers I rip off all my hot clothes and turn the shower to real cold. The cool water feels like absolute heaven running down my body. I lather, wrap myself in a towel, and finish up.

I sneak out of the gym and cruise on back to Rosenthal's where I've got the prettiest girl in Philly expecting me. Once the buildings in sight I feel it all in my stomach. Micks always said fear was man's worst enemy however, somehow I've always managed to shake it. Once I head in I'm approached by a wider gentleman. I take a peek down at his name tag: Ralph - General Manager.

"Hey man, we close in 5. 'Fraid ya gonna have to find somewhere else to eat, kid"

"Oh naw naww. Im just here to pick up Rose."

"Rose? Our Rosie?" He questions me before hollerin to the back. "Aye Rosie! Some meatball is here for ya!"

I hear her laugh. "I'll be out in a sec!!" She yells back. Such a sweet voice.

"She's not done rollin her silverware. You can wait by the bar." The big man tells me.

I head on over and I see the beaut preforming her task.

"Aye you want help with that? How you feelin? Full of life?" I ask her while I take over some of the forks and knives.

"Ehhh you could say that. A little drained. Last table didn't tip me none." She says looking up at me through her mascaraed eyelashes. I notice she's got real pretty hands. Nice and polished. Not all rough, beaten, and calloused like mine.

"Ah what they didn't like ya service? What you do to em?" I joke.

"Oh nothing! Nothing! I swear. They were just teenagers. You can usually expect that with them." She says while we finish up. She unties her apron, grabs the basket of freshly rolled silverware, and puts it all by the host stand. Slinking back over to me she asks "So what are we about to get into, Rockstar? I've got a couple of books to return but other than that I'm all yours" Her nickname puts a smile on my face.

"Ohhhh 'Rockstarrr' haven't heard that in awhile. Y'know I was thinkin we could stroll around, get ta know ya. Hell, we could even stroll on by the library. You like ta read? Me I've never been too good y'know. You see I'm a boxer ya know. It's every day I get a new brain cell knocked out of me." I put my arm around her and lead us on out of the place.

"A boxer huh? What made you decide you wanna do that?" She asks holding onto her books.

"Well, my Pop always told me I wasn't much of a brain, so I oughtta use my body. You see, I can't sing and I can't dance so I figured why not give fightin a shot. I turned out to be pretty decent so I stuck to it. Anyways whatchu readin there? Let me carry those" I point down to her books and take 'em out of her hands.

"Oh it's On the Road by Jack Kerouac. You ever heard of it? Its absolutely wonderful. You outta read it some time!! Errrr... maybe I could read it to ya considerin your brain cells and all that. How many ya think you've got left?" She kids. Man I really do love this girl's sense of humor and she don't seem to mind me blabbin on too much.

"Oh yeah? You would do that for me?"

"Oh absolutely. Any time Rocko. I could renew it for ya. Who knows, maybe I could even help you get your own library card if we're feelin real crazy." She smiles up at me with her big wide eyes. She's a real cute thing. She wraps her arm around mine, holding onto me while we walk.

"Lets not get too crazy now. Say let's stroll on down to the Oval park, find a real nice tree to sit under and you read that book to me. Would you do that for me, Rose?"

"Oh absolutely, Rocko." Her nicknames put a smile on my face.

So we do exactly that, stroll hand in arm down to the park. She picks out a wonderful maple to make our spot. I lay leaning against the tree and she lays head on my belly, book in the air. Occasionally she looks up at me with her doll eyes and she tells me little bits about the background of the book and the dude who wrote it. It a true story about some beatnik traveling all around America with some goon buddies all on foot. I just love to hear her talk all passionately and watch her eyes dance around the pages. I play with her beautiful soft hair while she reads. She smells like fancy perfume and a tinge of coffee. 

After awhile she squirms and readjusts, curling up next to me. I lay my head on hers. Its strange yet so wonderful how instantly comfortable I feel around her. After a few more pages she jolts up. "Oh gosh! I haven't been keeping track of time. We oughtta go renew this for ya. Would you like that?" She asks while checking her watch. 

"Oh yeah, if you promise to keep reading it to me. Just a few more pages then we go?" I suggest. I really just wanna keep laying here with her, all warm, listening to her voice.

"Sounds like a plan." She continues for a while longer.

 I help her get up and grab her books then we head on over to the library, hand in arm. She drags us into a coffee shop on the way there. As we walk in a bell above the door jingles and the floors creak with every step. We're immediately engulfed with the warm cozy scent of espresso beans. There's a few people sitting in there, working on God knows what, and looking very serious. She got a tea and I got a hot cider. Goes perfect with the fall weather she said.

Finally we reach the Library. She puts her books in the return slot, renews 'On the Road' for me, and looks around for her next read. I carry them around for her. We get her all checked out with some sweet older lady wearing in glasses and a bunch of knit sweaters. As we walk out and the autumn air hits us once more.

"So what now Rocko?"