Author's Note: This is my first one shot, I kinda got the idea when the song came on in the car. This is just a little snippet of all of them being in high school with prom in the near future. Rick is trying to get the guts to ask Lori to go with him. There's a tiny scene in it were they are really little and I can't get over how adorable Rick and Daryl (all of them, really) would be as little kids! I hope you enjoy.
Let me know what you think? If people seem to enjoy it, I'll try writing some more one shots in between Like Ships in the Night!(:
xoxo

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Walking Dead characters :[

Call Me Maybe?

There she was, just like always, just like every other Friday night. Sitting across the way of the food court just looking perfect. Her perfect chestnut hair, her perfect pink glossed lips, her perfectness just emanating all around the room.

"Ricky, Jesus man," Rick finally tore his eyes away from her at the words of his friends' jarring southern accent. He waved his hand in front of his dazed friends face with a bemused chuckle. He already knew why he seemed to be frozen in place; he already knew where his eyes were transfixed.

"You okay, Rick?" The smaller boy of the group asked from beside him.

He couldn't be sure but he was almost certain he was still staring at an angel. He just had to be.

'Yeah," he finally answered, still caught in her trap, still staring. "I'm cool, I'm cool." Rick repeated his words accidentally, the fix she had on him so strong he could barely form full sentences. Shane looked on with disapproval as he always did. His secret desire for Rick's obsession taunting him in the back of his mind.

"You need to get over her man," the bulky man punched his friend in the arm to appear to be teasing him, though his festering feelings for her made him want to punch Rick for real.

"Shuttup Shane!" Daryl chided, dipping a french fry in ketchup before popping it in his mouth. "I think ya should ask 'er, brother." He grinned mischievously over at his dumbfounded friend. Shane sat brooding at being told off, now picturing punching both of them right in the gut.

"You think?" Rick perked up, painfully tearing his eyes away from the oblivious Lori. He looked between Glenn and Daryl, knowing that Shane had always told him to stay away from her because she was 'trouble'. "You think I got a shot?"

"Of course! You're a regular stud." Daryl, Shane, and Rick all shot him a confused, almost taken aback look. Glenn quickly prattled on, "No! I just mean that you've had lots of girlfriends... they obviously like you for something."

The four boys sat idly chatting about the girls who were paying absolutely no attention to them whatsoever. Lori, Andrea, Amy, and Maggie all sat munching on their Chinese food and slurping their 'diet cokes'- an idea that still baffled all the boys. The girls were busying themselves discussing their latest shopping adventures, and of course the ever allusive prom that was mere weeks away. The gang of boys were not talking about shopping, and were barely eating; no, they were much too concerned with those girls.

"Just ask 'er man! Go now, they're leaving!" Daryl urged his absent-minded friend who apparently was on autopilot, jumping up quickly at his words and stumbling over his own clumsy feet. He nervously mumbled to himself as he edged nearer to her, trying to figure out the words he was going to spew out at her and possibly make a fool of himself. No... he was rather sure he was going to look like an idiot, but there was no going back now.

Lori stopped mid-text when her girlfriends all began cooing and giggling at the sight they were witnessing. She glanced up, her bangs falling in her face, making Rick's knees go even weaker than he knew was possible. She cracked a small smile at him as if to say 'I remember you', and she should, shouldn't she? She was the very reason he was taunted all the way through elementary school with no remorse from his vindictive classmates.

"Yer gonna give 'er a FLOWER?" The stunned seven-year old Daryl looked on with utter confusion. He could not believe his best friend in the entire world was in love... with a girl! It was just unheard of, and to top it off he was going to give her a gift. He stuck his tongue out with a sour, "Yuck! What if she kisses ya Rick?"

"So..." He sat pondering his friends question, unsure of how to answer because really, he didn't know how he'd feel. "Maybe I'd like it."

"NO!" The small boy scolded his love infected friend. "Yew'll get cooties dummy!"

"Nu uh! My mom told me that cooties aren't real Daryl," Rick posed his little arms on his hips in protest. Even if cooties were real, he was willing to risk it if it meant Lori would just talk to him. Maybe even be his girlfriend. No wait! That's thinking too far ahead. He steadied himself with the flower in his hand and turned to face where Lori sat by herself on a lone swing.

"Gross... I'm going to look for squirrels!" He stomped off in the opposite direction of where he was sure the love fest was going to take place, leaving Rick to his own thoughts.

"I'm going to do it... I'm going to do it..." he talked as he walked, unbeknownst to himself that he was doing both at once. Finally he was standing in front of her, a cheesy grin on his face. "Um... hi."

"Hi," she smiled at him and dragged her feet on the ground to slow her swinging to a complete stop. "Aren't you in my art class?" She asked, her grin growing since she already knew the answer.

"Uhm, yeah, yeah I am!" He beamed, nodding his head furiously. His hands were still behind his back, clutching the flower tightly. "I just wanted to uh..."

"Yeah?" She stood up from her swing, walking closer to him; he could feel the beads of sweat starting to form on his brow. Was she going to kiss him?!

"I g-got you t-this..." he took the flower out from behind him back and shoved it towards her, his eyes downcast to the floor too embarrassed to face her rejection. The rejection didn't come as he expected.

"Thanks!" She giggled animatedly and plucked the bright blue flower from his hand, twirling it in between her fingers. "It's beautiful," she delicately lifted it under her small nose, taking a little whiff of its lovely scent.

"You're welcome." Rick rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged his shoulders. "It was no big deal."

"So does this mean you like me?" Lori's little eyes lit up, giving him a wry smile while he squirmed uncomfortably at the question.

"Uh... uh... uh..."

"Yeah he does. Better believe it woman!" Rick's arch nemesis, who also happened to be his best friends older brother, called out from behind them. The older kids were mixing out into the group now, getting ready for their own recess. Merle looked on with a smug grin. "Rick loves Lori! Rick loves Lori!"

The chanting continued until Rick ran off with a face as red as a cherry. His shame burned him to his core, not wanting to believe that he was just caught, and now everyone knew that he liked a girl! And to make it worse, they knew which girl. He ran until his legs were tired, finally ducking under one of the playground jungle gyms. Rick sat under the dark slide, panting and mentally kicking himself for going through with it.

"Lori and Rick, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!" He could hear Merle and a few of the other older kids taunting from afar, shouting it all across the playground.

"Ah forget 'bout him," Daryl patted the heartbroken Rick on the shoulder. "He's a big bully. Beats on me all the time! Moms says he's just insecurr," he squinted one eye in an attempt to pronounce the unknown word, "whatever that means."

"I shouldn't have done it Daryl, you were right!" Rick buried his face in his hands, hot tears coming down in streams.

"Awh, shucks. It'll be okay." He sat down on the ground, crossing his legs and picking at the small rocks. "I think she'll remember you givin' her that flower forever... and it'll make 'er happy."

"You think so?" He looked up, wiping the tears away, a hopeful glint in his eye.

"I know so! Lori will always like you."

Back in the present, Rick tried in vain to get his thoughts together as he was only feet away from the stunning beauty. His same cheesy grin from their first encounter was plastered on his face, only slightly more matured with age.

"Um... hi." He looked over his shoulder only to see Glenn nodding away at his feeble attempt to talk to her. Daryl stood nearby, toppling Glenn over to give his buddy two big thumbs up and the widest smile Rick had ever seen him wear.

"Hi," Lori's lips parted into a smile that seemed to sparkle in the light. Or maybe that was just his imagination, he couldn't be sure, just like most things that involved her.

"I was just wondering if... if maybe... maybe..." She giggled at his mutterings, finding it adorable that he was so nervous around her. She placed her hands in her jacket pockets, folding her jacket closer to her body as she awaited his question. Finally he decided to just blurt it out, get the rejection over with, "will you go to prom with me?!"

"What?" She chuckled again, the sound he considered to be the most angelic thing to ever pass through his ears. He was stunned, stuck in the spot where he stood, was she laughing at him? His angel was mocking him, how could this happen? "I didn't hear you," the words were reassuring and made his heart pump again.

"Oh... sorry," he realized that he may have yelled it, and possibly strewn it together all in one ridiculously long sentence instead of separate words. "I said, will you go to prom with me?"

"Yeah," she smirked and leaned forward to place a kiss on his cheek. He stood stalk still, unable to process that she had kissed him. It may have been on the cheek, but it was a kiss from his forever crush nevertheless!

"Wha- what was that for?" His voice squeaked slightly, the shock still coursing through him.

"I never got to properly thank you for that flower." She swiftly whipped a pen out from her purse and grabbed his hand, he stood without protest, willing to let her do whatever the hell she wanted. She carefully wrote her number on his hand, he noted to himself that her penmanship was beautiful along with the rest of her. She smirked up at him and gave a quick wink.

"Call me, maybe?"