Crazy In Love (Anthony Rizzo)

Nice to Know

Anthony

It's the end of June now and the weather in Chicago is getting to the way I like it. It's hot but there is a nice breeze coming off the lake that can cool you down. It was the perfect time to be out and about.

And it sucks because every time we play in a series away from Chicago, we leave for three days minimum. And if we have multiple series away, we are gone for quite a while. There is a lot about Chicago to miss, and I'm not just talking about the weather.

One late off day we arrive back in Chicago. I do some shopping and call my parents so they don't freak out on me. I look outside the window of my apartment and see how pretty it was here, I wonder if Melissa is taking pictures somewhere out there. Maybe I could surprise her and grab some lunch or something.

I call Tim and he lets me talk to Mallory for a little. I promise to hit a home run for her tonight and she seemed pretty excited about it. Tim tells me that Melissa was in the Garfield Park Conservatory and I thank him for the information.

I go down to the convince store in my apartment complex and find a beautiful bouquet of flowers, the prettiest one they had. I get some nice words written on the card and head on over to Garfield.

I get there and walk around for a while, it sure was beautiful here. I've never been and didn't see Melissa immediately so I walked around for a while. After a few minutes I find Melissa out but the water fountain snapping pictures of some flowers in the distance. She takes the camera from her eye to see what she got so I go stand at where she was looking. She returns the camera to her eye and stops when she sees me standing there. She smiles big as she snaps the picture before hanging it around her neck.

She then walks over to me as happy as could be.

"I didn't know you were back" she claims as I wrap her in my free arm.

"I just got back and I just had to see you" I insist as I hand her the flowers. She takes them and gets a good smell before her beautiful blue eyes meet my brown ones.

"Thank you for this, but how in the world did you find me" she asks.

"I called your brother. He let me talk Mallory for a little then told me where to find you. I didn't know when I would see you next and quite frankly I didn't want to wait" I admit.

"That's very sweet of you Anthony, thank you"'she smiles.

"So when is your lunch break" I ask.

"I have to finish up here then I can grab something before heading back to the office" she explains.

"What more do you need to do here" I ask.

"Not much, so you can hang around for a little if you would like" she offers.

"I would love to, it's a beautiful day" I admit.

I hold the flowers for her as we continue to walk around. She snaps a bunch of pictures and I found myself fascinated. I can tell she loved taking pictures, how she smiles at each one she takes. This place had a lot of opportunity for great pictures and I'm sure she noticed it.

"Have you been here before" I wonder.

"A few times. Usually for photo shoots couples ask for. Either baby announcement photos or engagement photos, cute stuff like that. During the summer this place is pretty popular but I never get to go off on my own like this. But the family pictures I was scheduled to take here today had to be rescheduled because the grandparents flight got delayed but my boss insisted I came anyway, grab some good pictures she can send out for calendars or backgrounds are something" she shrugs.

"What's your favorite thing to take pictures of" I ask.

"Well this city is nothing short of beautiful. I'm never at a loss when I get free days to go around. No matter what season it is it's always a beautiful day around here.

And as nice as that is, my favorite part is capturing memories. Something that goes beyond the picture. I love doing engagement pictures the best, the way the couples look at each other. The way the woman is always so excited, has to make sure her ring is showing in every picture" she smiles.

"Do you want to get married" I ask and she laughs.

"I'm not so sure anymore. I used to say a strong no but I have to admit, my feelings have changed" she claims and I smile.

"Nice to know."

After a while she finishes up. She follows me over to a little restaurant down town and we decide to eat there. We order our food and I see her hand sitting on the table. I know our relationship wasn't public but I also didn't want to hide it.

So I grab her hand and she looks at me skeptically. Finally she relaxes and opens it up so I can hold her hand properly.

"I'm surprised you're letting me do this" I admit.

"It was bound to happen eventually" she insists.

"You said something in you has changed, what's changed" I ask.

"I was dead set that guys only wanted one thing and that was sex. Not all the stuff that comes with it. And I was pretty heartless for a while, but emotions are nothing to mess with. Even the ones you might think are weak and idiotic" she explains.

"Like love? You think love is weak and idiotic" I question.

"Not exactly. There's some love that comes natural, motherly love, brotherly love, that's all real. But true love, well I never really bought into that" she admits.

"But..." I trial off.

"But I'm starting to think I was wrong. That if we can learn about science and art, why can't we learn to love too? Like all good things it hurts and it's not always good, but the good outweighs the bad in the end. There's nothing weak about falling in love, and there's nothing idiotic with letting someone else make you happy. They shouldn't control your happiness but be the reason why it's there" she explains.

"Do I... do I make you happy" I stutter.

"You make me very happy" she smiles.

Is that her way of saying I love you? Do I have to say it back. But she didn't actually say it so I don't want to say it and scare her off. But I feel like she does love me, I know I love her. I love everything about her and I am scared to tell her. She is already so fragile and what if she doesn't want to be loved? There's no way of knowing these things and I sure as hell was not about to ask her.

"Earth to Anthony" she says and I shake my head.

"Sorry, what" I ask.

"Our food is here" she says and I look down. I see a sandwich and a salad and laugh.

"Right" I mumble.

I pull her hand up and kiss the back of it making her smile. I finally let her go so she could eat her salad.