Thanks again for all the reviews/favorites/follows darlings! Here's the second date!

-x-x-x-

Next Saturday

The school week flew by in a flash and it's already the day of Emily and I's second date. She refuses to tell me where we're going, only that I should dress casually and wear comfortable shoes because we'll be doing a lot of walking.

At 11:00 in the morning there is a knock on the door and my mom yells up to tell me that it's Emily. I hurriedly put my shoes on and bound down the stairs with a grin on my face.

"Hey, Em."

"Hey, you ready?"

"Yeah, just one question: we're getting lunch right? Because I'm starving."

"Yes, Hanna. I had planned to start with lunch at The Grille and then go from there," Emily laughs.

-x-x-x-

After lunch, which turned out to be a lot longer than planned because Emily and I got too caught up talking instead of eating, we left the restaurant and got back in Emily's car. She took off towards the interstate.

"Philadelphia again, huh?" I muse.

"Yep, it's one of my favorite places so you might have to get used to it," she laughs.

"Get used to it? You planning on keeping me around?" I ask flirtatiously.

"I'm not sure yet. I'm still weighing out the pros and cons," Emily deadpans.

"Hey!"

"Relax, blondie," she smirks.

I huff and lean back in my seat, looking out the window. If she wants to play it that way then I can too. After five minutes of silence and Emily glancing back and forth between me and the road, she finally cracks.

"I'm sorry for calling you blondie. I won't do it again," she mutters. I turn to face her and try to keep up my act, but it's too hard. I crack a smile as soon as I see her eyebrows frowned worriedly.

"I was just messing with you, Em. I wasn't really mad," I say with a light laugh and nudge her arm playfully.

"You suck! I really thought I made you mad and ruined the whole day."

I just laugh and turn to look out the window again. It's not too much longer before we reach our destination.

"Here we are," Emily declares.

"The zoo? How old are you again?" I joke.

"Ha. Ha," she responds dryly.

I grin back at her. "I love it, I really do."

-x-x-x-

After looking at the lions, tigers, birds, and monkeys, Emily leads me off to a little cart along the walkway.

"You want anything to drink or a snack?"

"Nah, I'm alright."

"Okay, I'll be right back," Emily tells me as she walks the rest of the way to the cart.

I'm having a lot of fun with Emily. There's never a dull moment between us. We're always laughing, talking, and joking. We can just be ourselves. We never do anything boring, Emily always keeps me on my toes. It's only our second date, and she has already made them the best dates I have ever been on. They aren't the typical dinner and a movie dates and I love that. If she keeps taking me on dates like this I'm pretty sure I'm going to fall for her hard and fast.

"You okay?" Emily asks me quizzically as she comes back, soda and bag of cotton candy in hand.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Good things I hope."

"Very good things," I smile. Emily smiles back, switches the cotton candy into the same hand as her drink and takes my hand in hers for the first time, intertwining our fingers and leading me along the walkway again. I can't help but smile even wider at the feel of her hand in mine. A perfect fit.

As we walk, I reach across and grab some cotton candy from the bag with my free hand.

"Hey, hey, hey, you said you didn't want anything," Emily reprimands teasingly as she pulls the cotton candy away from me.

"I changed my mind," I smile innocently.

"Go get your own."

"Nah, I think I'll just steal yours." Emily smiles and shakes her head, handing the cotton candy over to me. I grin as I take it and lean in to peck her on the cheek. "Thank you," I say sweetly.

My bliss is broken when I see the next exhibit we reach. The reptiles. I shudder involuntarily and Emily gives me a confused look.

"What's wrong?"

"I, uh, don't really do well with snakes and stuff."

"You'll be fine they're all behind glass," she says as she tries to pull me through the door. But my feet remain stock still on the ground. "Pleaseeeee, they're my favorite," Emily pouts.

"Em-"

"I won't let them hurt you, I swear."

I look into Emily's big brown eyes and sigh. How can anyone resist that puppy dog face? "Alright."

"Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you," she replies giddily as we move through the door.

The lights are turned down very low and it's hard to see anything aside from the reptiles illuminated from the lights in their glass containers. As we move through the exhibit, Emily's eyes continually get brighter and full of more child-like wonder.

"You really do love these things, huh? I can see it in your eyes."

Emily snaps her eyes up to look at me and nods with a huge smile on her face.

We reach the last animal of the exhibit and it's a huge lizard. I've been kind of hiding halfway behind Emily throughout the whole exhibit, but this time she makes sure to pull me in front of her. I whimper slightly and tense up.

"You'll be fine," Emily whispers soothingly in my ear. She puts her hand on my waist and pulls my back against her front lightly. We spend the next minute or so listening to the automated voice tell us facts about the lizard. All of a sudden, the lizard lurches forward into the glass. I shriek and turn around in Emily's arms. She laughs and wraps both arms around me tightly, protectively.

"Shut up. It's not funny," I mutter into her neck.

"It kind of is."

I pull back and pout at her. Her laughing subsides as she leans forward and kisses me on the forehead before taking me by the hand again. "Let's get out of here before the big, mean lizard attacks the poor little baby again," Emily mocks playfully.

"You're never going to let this go are you?"

"Hmmm, I don't think so. It was way too cute to just forget about."

"Yes, because that lizard was so adorable."

Emily comes to a halt and tugs on my hand, bringing me back to her and into her chest. "I was talking about you," she says as she locks her eyes with mine and catches me in an intense stare before she smirks and walks away, leaving me gaping at the spot she stood before. I shake myself out of my stupor and turn around to catch up to her.

-x-x-x-

Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think?