Stay With You (Anthony Rizzo)

26

Maliyah

"Please be careful" Tamara begs as she finishes packing me a bag. It had anything I would need in case of a emergency and all my favorite fall head scarfs and some food to keep my iron up. She hands the book bag to me and I smile as I pull it on my back.

"I'm going to the pumpkin patch, not six flags" I remind her. I'm weak not breakable.

"I know. But you've been doing so good, I feel like we're getting close to getting you out of here and into the real world again. I don't want something to happen and it set you back again or kill you" she claims. 

"Awww. I love you too" I smile. I pull her into a hug and she squeezes me tight. We break apart and she looks up to me with a soft smile.

"Have fun" she says softly.

"I will. I'll bring you back some cute pumpkins you can decorate and apple cider" I promise.

"You better" she smirks.

I head out of my cozy room and to the lobby where Anthony was waiting for me. He had on jeans and a big grey sweater on. He had a hat and some gloves just in case we got cold out in the pumpkin patch. Chicago can be tricky like that, especially this time of the year where you can have all four seasons in a week. I smile big as he opens his arms for me, that's my favorite place to be. I walk into them and he wraps them around me. I smell his musky cologne on his cute fall sweater and I couldn't help but smile.

"You look so cute" he claims as he grabs my hand. We head out to the car where a adventure awaits for us.

"Thank you. You're looking extra adorable yourself. Where did you get this sweater" I question.

"I'm not sure. My mom got it for me" he admits and I giggle.

"Well she has great taste" I admit.

We hop in his car and go a little outside the city to a town near my hometown of Evansville. It wasn't all that big, not compared to Chicago at least. But it's where Northwestern resides and where my family home is. We roll up to a little pumpkin patch and get out of the car. I find my best friend Julie and her boyfriend and we set out to find the best pumpkin in all the land. Anthony goes off with her boyfriend Travis giving us some much needed girls time.

"It's cool that they let you out for once" Julie admits as we walk around. I keep my eye for the perfect pumpkin to decorate.

"I've been doing pretty good lately. After the whole almost dying thing everything kind of fixed itself. The cancer stopped spreading and now we're back to getting it out of my blood. We're just hoping that my cells will go into remission and I can finally get on with my life" I insist.

"Well I'm happy that you're here for the annual pumpkin patch trip after we couldn't go last year" she admits. Her and I did this every year since we were in fourth grade and last year was the first year we couldn't do it.

"Okay you weren't even around here to go pick out pumpkins even if I could have. You were "studying" with your boyfriend in Paris" I remind her.

"So we're both at fault" she smirks.

"I got cancer... you got to go to Paris" I laugh.

"I already feel like shit that this happened to you, no need to remind me that my best friend in this entire world was sick while I was in Paris not being able to help her" she insists.

"I have to give you a hard time. It's what best friends do" I tease.

"Then it's my turn" she smirks and my face drops.

"Oh no" I whisper.

"So are things with you and Anthony serious, like he's the one serious" she asks.

"You know the answer to this" I insist.

"I just want to know when you're planning on getting married so I have enough time to scrounge up embarrassing pictures. As the self proclaimed maid of honor I plan to fulfill my duties and that includes embarrassing volleyball action shots " she claims.

"Anthony and I already talked about this, we're not getting married for a while. There's a lot of things that need to happen in order for us to sit down and be able to start a family" I insist.

"You guys already talked about starting a family" she squeals and I roll my eyes. This women, I swear. She hears only what she wants to.

"You're missing the point" I sigh.

"No Mal, you are" she claims. "This is huge and you're acting like it's not. You don't need to be strong when it comes to Anthony, that's what he's here for. And he's so head over heels in love with you that he doesn't even know what to do. I wished Travis looked at me the way Anthony looks at you or talks to my friends the way Anthony talks about you to yours. What you guys have is special, it's deep and it's great and it's going to last forever. You and him... that's huge. When have you ever talked about marrying a boy? When have you ever thought about having kids and starting a family with your boyfriend?"

"Only once I guess" I shrug. And that was only since I've been with Anthony.

"Then stop trying to downplay what you and Anthony are. And give me a rough estimate to when you're getting marreid so I can find old videos" she claims.

"A while" I assure her.

"I guess that's better than never" she shrugs.

Eventually we catch up with our boyfriends who were doing some pumpkin hunting themselves. I find one for me and one for Tamara before adding them to the wagon they picked up somewhere. We get some fresh apple cider and pay for it all before going to decorate whichever pumpkin we wanted.

Anthony got the biggest one, naturally, and he had fun painting it. One side was painted white with laces to look like a baseball and he wouldn't show me the other side until he was done.

Me on the other hand, I drew clouds on my pumpkin. There was a giant hole in them so it looked like you were looking down. Inside the hole was Anthony and I holding hands. You knew it was us because I had my hospital band on and Anthony had his cancer awareness bracelet he always wears on. I show him my pumpkin and he smiles big.

"Okay, now I feel silly about mine because yours is so good" he claims.

"Oh come on! I want to see it" I pout.

"Put that lip away missy" he warns.

"Please" I beg and he easily breaks.

"God, why are you so cute" he asks and I giggle.

"It's a blessing" I claim.

"For me it's a curse" he says.

He turns his pumpkin around and he shows me probably the cutest thing over ever seen. He was painting the Chicago skyline and on top of one of the buildings was two people kissing. It was a bit messy but I got what it was, and it meant the world to me.

"Oh Anthony, that's amazing" I insist.

"It's nothing" he shrugs.

"It's everything" I smile.