"You know, some people are very shy by nature, you know?" Rocky said before he struck a match and lit his cigarette.

Adrian looked down for a second before replying, "I suppose." She cleared her throat as Rocky took a long drag and they kept on walking down the row of apartments in his shabby old neighborhood. She didn't know where they were going exactly; at first, she thought he was going to walk her home after their short ice skating date. But this wasn't Adrian's neighborhood. She'd watched Rocky stroll down it many times before, and then watch him duck inside a doorway. But she wasn't familiar to this neighborhood. A few dozen yards away, a small group of college-aged guys were humming a tune over a lit oil drum while drinking some liquor.

"I say you're very shy by nature, you know?" Rocky broke the silence, and Adrian let out a small laugh as she looked at the ground and scratched her head through her hat.

"I suppose," she said, just as a man walked out of the alleyway shadows and exchanged a nod with Rocky.

"Hey, hey. The bum from the dark," Rocky said as the guy walked away. "Get a job, you bum!"

Once he was gone, Rocky continued his conversation with Adrian. "Some people think that being shy is a disease, you know, but it don't bother me none."

"It don't bother me either," Adrian said back, even though she mentally kicked herself for saying it. It did bother her. She had grown to dislike her shyness over the years, and only wished to get rid of it. Thing was, though; she didn't know how.

Rocky mentally kicked himself too, and turned to her. "So why'd I bother bringing it up, huh?" Without waiting for a response, he added, "Cause I'm dumb, that's why. I think we make a couple of real sharp coconuts. I'm dumb and you're shy. What do you think, huh?"

Adrian changed the subject quickly. "I don't understand why anybody would wanna be a fighter."

"Hey, you gotta be a moron. You gotta be a moron to wanna be a fighter. You know what I mean? It's a racket where you're almost guaranteed to end up a bum."

Adrian looked up at him and a tiny smile formed on her lips. "I don't think you're a bum," she said softly.

Rocky, taking no notice that she was being sincere, shrugged. "Well, I'm at least half a bum, you know. But I'll tell you something," he stopped at one of the many apartment doorways and fished the cigarette out of his mouth, "the worst think about fighting is the morning after."

Adrian stopped walking and looked at him. "Morning after?"

"I'll tell you. Yeah, the morning after a fight, you're nothing but like a large wound, you know what I mean?"

She shook her head.

"Sometimes I got pains all over me. I feel like calling a taxi to take me from the bed into the bathroom. You know what I mean? Your hair hurts, your eyes hurt, your face is all busted up, you're hands are swollen. Look at this face. Sixty-four fights. Look at that nose. You see that nose?"

Adrian nodded.

"That nose ain't ever been broken. Sixty-four fights. I had guys busting on it. I had guys chewing on it, twisting and punching on it." He made some punching motions with his fist. "I mean, whack, boom. These guys are hitting my nose all the time. Never broke. I'm very proud of that." He scrunched up his nose and began to touch it a bit. "Ain't that rare? That's rare."

Adrian looked at her feet, and then back up at him. "Why do you do it if it hurts?"

"Why do you think?" He turned and climbed up the steps of the staircase that led to one of the apartments. Adrian stood at the bottom of the steps, thinking. "Cause you can't sing or dance?"

"Yeah, something like that." He opened up the screen door and asked, "Hey, you wanna come inside?"

Adrian's smile quickly faded and she took a small step back. "No, I gotta go," she said quickly. She hadn't ever been inside a man's apartment before, not to mention alone.

Rocky was persistent. "Hey, c'mon. I got some animals. I got these rare, very rare animals inside. Come on, come on in."

Adrian turned down the offer. "No. No, I gotta go."

Rocky turned towards the door again. "I gotta go, too. I gotta go to the bathroom. Come on."

Adrian managed a smile and even chuckled a bit, but it soon faded too. "No, I gotta go."

Rocky pointed at his face. "Hey, look at this face. Is that a face you could trust or what, huh? Is it? They ought to stick this face on a stamp. What do you think?"

She softly laughed and shook her head.

Rocky motioned for her. "Come on. Come on in." With that, he went inside, leaving her there to ponder at the bottom of the steps.

Moments later, Rocky poked his head out and motioned for her again, his cigarette hanging off his lip. "Yo, come on." He ducked back inside.

Adrian still hesitated.

His arm shot out from the doorway and opened the screen door a bit wider. Then it reclined back inside.

Adrian looked down at her feet and thought about what she was about to do. Paulie had warned her about guys before. Guys who lured in girls like her.

"Guys'll try 'n get in your pants," a not-so-drunk Paulie told his sister one night while watching TV. "You better watch out for them free-feelers. They're all the same, you know." He took a drag of his cigarette while Adrian quietly watched TV. Paulie then laughed. "Who am I kidding? No one in their right mind would ever be stupid enough to take you anyplace. Forget what I said."

It didn't hurt her feelings back then, but now that she was actually in one of those situations, she figured there could be some truth behind what her brother was saying.

But she knew Rocky. Not all that well, but she figured he was pretty nice. The man liked turtles, for crying out loud.

Adrian took a deep breath and trudged up the stairs and into his apartment.

Rocky flipped the lights on and Adrian stepped inside his apartment, taking in the boxer's home. She heard the door close and looked behind her to see Rocky locking it. She nervously stepped back.

"Yo, Adrian, you hungry?" he asked, and she said no. "I got some things in there. I got, uh…if you like sodas, donuts or something. Got a couple cupcakes, huh?" He took of his leather jacket. "I think I got some chocolate in there. No?"

Adrian stayed quiet as she watched him hang up the jacket and his hat and lifted his shirt and sweater up and over his head, leaving him wearing a white wife-beater. "Hot in here, you know?"

Adrian held her breath, her eyes taking in his muscles and biceps. She'd been used to seeing his arms covered, but she didn't know how strong he was until now.

"I could go for some music."

Adrian looked at her feet again as Rocky turned on the music. Soft jazz floated through the air, and Adrian looked up to see Rocky, now at a table, holding up a small turtle. "Yo, Adrian. These are the exotic animals I was telling you about. These are my friends, Cuff and Link."

Adrian mentally rolled her eyes. "I sold them to you."

"I know you sold them to me. Remember, you were working at that pet shop, huh?"

Yes, I remember, Adrian thought. I still do.

"First day you was there and I came in and bought both these animals, huh? Sure, I remember that. I came and I bought this bowl, and I bought the, uh, animals themselves. Some food, the marbles that go on the bottom there. Remember that mountain? I had to get rid of that mountain though, cause they kept falling over and flipping. You know what I mean?"

He put the animals back, wiped off his hands, and then sat down on his couch. There were beer empty bottles stuck in between the couch cushions and the wall. There were crumpled newspapers covering up the holes in the old, beat up couch. A crumpled dirty blanket made up for a missing cushion next to Rocky.

"Yo, why don't you come on over here and sit down? Hmm?" he invited.

Adrian stayed put.

"It's a nice couch, I don't know."

Adrian almost laughed at that one. It was not a nice couch.

"There's big bugs in there, you know," he said. "It's safer over here."

Adrian chuckled and looked down again.

"You wanna sit down?" Rocky asked again.

Adrian took a few steps, then looked around a bit to try and look for something. Something she could bring up, or something that she could just…anything that would distract her from sitting down next to the man.

Something caught her eye and she turned to see her reflection looking back at her. All over Rocky's mirror were pictures. Pictures of him, boxers, football teams, older people, couples, even one or two of his turtles.

She saw one of two older people, a couple. "Um…these, these your parents?"

"Yeah, that's both of them there," he answered from the couch.

"This you?" she asked, taking a pictures off the mirror and gazing at it with interest. It was a young boy, frowning at the camera.

"Yeah. That's me when I was eight-years-old. That's the Italian Stallion when he was a baby. Why don't you come over? Make yourself comfortable. Relax."

Adrian put the picture back and looked back at Rocky. She bit her lip and asked politely, "Do you have a phone?"

Rocky shook his head. "No, I got no phone. I had it pulled. Cause people calling all the time, and uh, who needs the aggravation, right? Interruptions." He then looked straight at her. "Who'd you wanna call?"

"I wanna let my brother know where I am."

"Why?"

Adrian swallowed and searched for an answer. "I think he might be worried." Now, she knew perfectly well that Paulie wouldn't give a damn where she was at that moment. More than likely, he'd already be drunk by now, and in no mood to hear his little sister's voice. Adrian wanted to tell him she was over with Rocky, but she half-expected him to yell at her and tell her that she should be with him instead of calling him up.

"Well, I'll call your brother if that's the problem," Rocky offered and hopped up from the couch. He opened up the window and shouted into the night, "Yo, Paulie. You're sister's with me! I'll call you back later! See ya!"

He closed the window and turned to face Adrian. "What's the matter? You don't like the room, do you?"

"It's fine."

"It's only temporary."

"It's not that…" Adrian's voice trailed off before she could say what it was that was bothering her. It was just…she was nervous. She hadn't ever been in a man's apartment before…and she wasn't sure about being in someone like Rocky's home either.

Rocky came towards her and then reached up to lean on the pull-up bar above Adrian's head.

"What's the problem, you don't like me? You don't like the turtles? What's the problem?"

Of course I like you, she wanted to say, but the words caught in her throat and she thought up new ones to replace them.

"I don't think I belong here."

"It's okay."

She turned away for a moment before looking at him again. "I don't belong here," she said straightforwardly.

Rocky let go of the bar and approached her; she stayed perfectly still.

"Well, you know, it's okay, cause you're my guest."

Adrian looked down and sighed. "I don't know you well enough. I've never been in a man's apartment…alone."

Rocky shrugged. "Well, I have. They're all the same, you know?"

Adrian tensed up. They're all the same, you know. Paulie had said that. Oh, God, I need to get out of here, she thought, and said to Rocky, "I'm not sure I know you well enough. I don't feel comfortable."

Rocky came a bit closer. "Yo, Adrian, I ain't so comfortable either."

Too close, she thought, and turned to leave. "I should go," she said and went for the door.

Rocky was right behind her. He intercepted her by placing his hands on either side of her head, blocking her from the door. "Don't go. Please, don't go. Don't go."

Adrian froze and shrank back a little in the corner. She was terrified now. She looked up at Rocky, ready to tell him to let her go, but didn't have the time to do so because that's when he asked her, "Do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Take off these glasses."

He didn't give her any time to do so before he took them off himself, exposing her beautiful brown eyes. She looked down at the floor.

"You have nice eyes, you know?" Rocky dipped two fingers under her chin and gently tapped it up so that she could look back at him again. She wanted to look away again, but instead, she held his gaze. Those brown eyes of his…they were beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Why hadn't I noticed them before? She asked herself.

"Do me another favor?" he asked, and Adrian prayed he wouldn't ask her to take off anything else. "Why don't you take off that hat?" Again, he reached up and slipped it off her head without waiting for her to do it. Her dark hair fell over her face, and she brushed it back.

"I always knew you was pretty," Rocky said.

Disbelievingly, Adrian shook her head and said timidly, "Don't tease me."

"I'm not teasing you," Rocky said sincerely. "I ain't teasing you."

He leaned in closer. "I just…I wanna kiss you. You don't have to kiss me back if you don't wanna, but I wanna kiss you."
He can't be serious, Adrian thought, but all hopes of him bluffing soon faded as he leaned in, and Adrian thought she might pass out from all this. She turned her head and tried to shrink back, but Rocky was persistent, and kissed her cheek, his lips barely grazing hers. He kissed her softly and then took a moment to look into her eyes. She looked back, and he leaned in again.

Adrian didn't know what happened, but she didn't turn away this time. His lips were on hers, but she hesitated and met his lips for only a second or so before she broke it and looked down. That was her first kiss.

Rocky then leaned in even closer this time and Adrian met him halfway through this time. Adrian put more passion into it and Rocky deepened the kiss. He gently pushed Adrian against the wall and stroked her arms softly. They both sank down to the floor as Adrian wrapped her arms around him and he did the same. He caressed her face and then gently broke the kiss, looking deep into her eyes. Adrian placed her hand over his and stared back.

"Yo, Adrian. I think this is a good time to tell you I love you, you know?"

A small smile appeared on her lips and she gave him a passionate kiss on the lips.

"I know. I love you, too."