Dinoverse is fun for the whole family.

"Weeeeeeeelcoooooome tooooooo Diiiiiiiinnnoooveeeeeeeeerssssse!" A giant animatronic brontosaurus greets you at the gates. It has seen better days, but for you, a big part of the appeal is how the patchwork repairs and deteriorating voice box over the years transformed what was a friendly sight as a child into an abomination straight out of Herbert West's lab with a voice of a demon.

"Niiice. Digging the Reanimator meets Dinosaurs vibe." Cindi floors you once again with her interest in the dark and dorky and what seemed like a surefire failure is showing signs of success. "I have to say, I was skeptical when you said you'd take me someplace I've never been before, but I didn't even know this place existed!" You smile as she takes your hand, giving it excited little squeezes as you 'wait in line' to pay. Really you are waiting for Gus to get back from a smoke break. When he arrives, you feel a sudden pinch of panic. You come here all the time to get away from everyone, will he recognize you in your girly getup?

"Well HACK Hell's bells! I haven't seen you in a coon's age, Emma! How's Elliot doing? I expected him earlier what with it being Spring Break." You blush and shrug and Cindi has to bury her face in your shoulder to stop from cracking up again. It's such a heady mix of pride and embarrassment, and even the humiliation is tinged with the warmth of sharing a secret with your sweetheart. You take your tickets and go through the rusty turnstiles into the 'Prehistoric Paradise!' as advertised by a faded sign with missing letters that actually reads 'Preho rad!'.

"So, 'Emma'," Cindi starts teasing but stops when she sees your expression. "Sorry, Ella, I have catty-like reflexes." You give her hand a squeeze and smile. You don't want to encourage her cutting comments too much, but you secretly hope she doesn't lose them altogether as they are part of her bittersweet charm. "Holy shit! This place is huge! How did I never hear about this?!"

"Well, it was always a bargain basement theme park even when I came here as a kid. There is no other development nearby so it's kind of just poor families, instagrammers, and weirdos like me coming in now. The place has this eerily enduring post apocalyptic charm now." You lead Cindi over cracked sidewalks with weeds growing through it and down darkened pathways with overgrown trees providing a canopy as you make your way from exhibit to exhibit. The state of disrepair actually lends a power to the cheesy plastic replicas peeking through untamed bushes.

HISSSSSSSS

"EEEP!" Cindi clutches you tight, her breasts crushed against your arm causing you to blush beet red. You feel so silly getting goosebumps at the slightest touch after how 'intimate' you've been. But diving face first between her legs in the middle of lunch wasn't intimate, it was just explicit. Not that you have suddenly shriveled up into a prude, but you are enjoying the thrill of courtship on a much more primal level than you expected. You share a feverish look with Cindi that suggests she is finding something novel and almost naughty as well. Still, she doesn't want to dilute her winning brand of bitchiness too fast, so she hisses back, "You better not tell your friends a rubber raptor made me almost pee my pants!"

"What friends?" You smile with a wan self-deprecatory charm as you continue even deeper. You end up at what appears to be a dead end, the cracked pavement stops altogether and there is nothing but grass running past rusted gates. "Follow me, the best part is through here." Cindi follows warily, watching your steps over uneven rocks and trailing you closely with her hand clasping yours ever tighter. You walk past what appear to be completely empty exhibits save for the hints of remains of ravaged reptiles. A fin that barely pokes out of high grass...bright yellow eyes in the hollow shell of what was once a face eerily reflecting from a deep, dark cave...all leading to an opening in the path where the prize of the park stands proudly...

"It's a fucking zombie T-rex! Oh my God! That's my jam!" Cindi darts out ahead of you and runs towards what was once a four story foam and plastic titan with bright green scales and blood red eyes with fangs the size of a toddler. Now it is even more fearsome than your childhood memories. The scales faded to a sickly pale moss with glaring gashes revealing the rusty iron skeleton beneath, the eyes dimmed by weathering but growing darker and more dangerous looking as a result, and the teeth remaining are cracked and craggy. Cindi easily outpaces you and is admiring 'King Rex' in all his redundant resplendence when you catch up to her and start to catch your breath.

"If you WHEW think it looks HUFF HUFF cool from here, wait until you see the view from inside." Cindi's eyes grow wide and wild and you wonder if you might be dreaming, only none of your dreams ever went this well before you ended up getting disemboweled by a dinosaur. You show her the shoddy looking, but shockingly still sturdy staircase leading from the back of the tail up to the inside of his head. You lead the way, up...up...up...until you reach the top and the best view in the park.

"It's..." Cindi trails off, letting her silence say what words cannot. It's magical, an untamed vibrant veldt with a maze of paltry pathways and badly maintained buildings that still contain a spark of that childhood wonder with a warped playfulness amidst the uncaring nature. The titan's tongue serves as a bench, and you both sit in awe. Cindi of the view, and you of her. You never showed this place to anyone for fear they would miss its beauty and somehow kill its magik with their cynicism. Yet somehow, the coldest, most cynical chick you've ever met is sitting speechless with her head on your shoulder, moved to tears.

"Yeah. I like it too. You know, Cindi, I've always had a dumb crush on you, but that was for childish reasons. You're pretty and popular and impossible to attain, but that's all bullshit and it will all get overgrown and lost to time like the double king here. But sharing this..." you catch a tear and hold it up to the light so it catches all the heavens and earth before you, "this has been magical. And I'm glad it was with you."

Cindi looks up at you with the same expression of awe that she gave the view and then lays her head back down on your shoulder. You stay that way for hours, running your fingers through each others hair and holding each other close. Your internal monologue slows to a crawl, the nagging naysayer constantly chipping away at you grows quiet, and for the first time since you can remember, you feel at peace.

"I changed my mind. You can tell anyone you want that the raptor scared me if I can tell them I spent the best date of my life watching the sunset from inside a dinosaur's mouth." Cindi smiles up at you and you wonder if you weren't the only one that has been living your whole life warped by fear. Are you seeing a new side of Cindi, or witnessing it being born? You are sure she wonders the same thing about you, but if she asks, you don't have an answer, not yet. You hope to by the end of the week, but right now you are right where you want to be with.

"Come on, Gus isn't as spry as he used to be, and he was never that spry. Let's get back before we get locked in for the night." You stand up and extend you hand to Cindi, who gets a mischievous look like she might not mind spending the night here. She licks her lips just in case you are too thick to miss her hint, which to be fair, you would have a day ago. It's been such a perfect day, maybe it wouldn't hurt to make it a more perfecter night by fucking like primates in this prehistoric paradise. Then again, if you fall back into the easy, explicit indulgence of your first fumblings together, you might lose the intimacy you are slowly building.