At first, it had been a matter of pride.

Being told you were less attractive than a greasy biker was aggravating enough, but when the only woman in your group said it to you? There weren't enough curses to express Nick's anger, so he made a string of them into a very profane song. Needless to say, it didn't increase his appeal to Rochelle.

"Oh hush, Nick!" she scolded, angrily looking back at him over her shoulder. "Now I know you're jealous! Besides, the zombies are sure to hear you if you keep that up."

Nick very nearly kept going, but she had a point. And no, he wasn't jealous, he was pissed. How in the world could Rochelle find that douchebag more attractive than yours truly? No way a gay-looking vest and a bunch of tattoos outclassed a three thousand dollar suit. Jealousy, ha! This was all about ego.

He kept quiet for a while after that, deciding instead to tease her repeatedly whenever the opportunity presented itself. And several did.

"Hey Rochelle, want me to tattoo your boyfriend's name on your arm? I'll just write "GREASY PIG", we all know who we're talking about."

He burst out laughing at the end. The look she was giving him was too funny.

Then, back at the bridge where she was trying to talk to that tattooed disaster, the jackass had the nerve to start hitting on her! As if they weren't in the middle of a goddamned zombie apocalypse!

"Should we leave you two alone?" Nick asked snidely.

"Yes!" Francis replied eagerly (that fucker).

"NO!" Rochelle hissed to him (oh thank God, maybe she wasn't really into him).

"What's the matter, sweetie, you playin' hard to get?" Nick muttered, grinning.

"Shut up, I'm just being nice!" she whispered back, blushing.

"I don't know, I saw the way you were lookin' at him!" he replied, raising his voice.

"Ssssh-"

"Aw, Depeck Mode! I love that guy!" that monkey asshole yelled down from the bridge. Great, now he was blatantly staring at her tits. Totally classy.

"Maybe you should get a room!" Nick yelled back, sounding angry.

"Witch! …oh sorry, I must have mistaken you for one of them with all that crying you were doing."

Nick wanted to grab that goddamn bridge in his goddamn hands and shake the goddamn thing until that fucker fell off and cracked his head wiiiiiide open.

Eventually the two groups were able to reach an agreement. If the four on the ground would refuel the generator, then the three up top would lower the bridge so they could continue driving to New Orleans. Super.

A few Hordes, Tanks, and Special Infected later, the generator was gassed up, the bridge was down, and the four were on their way, shouting goodbyes as they ran for the car.

"Bye, Zoey! I love you!"

"Good luck, you guys!"

"Be safe!"

"Bye…sexy guy in the vest!"

"See you, brother!"

"I'm not your brother, greaseball!"

"Thanks for the help, y'all!"

Ellis flung himself into driver's seat and Coach joined him in the front passenger seat. Rochelle and Nick slid into the back seat and everyone slammed the doors closed.

"Ok, Ellis, get us outta here!" Coach instructed, and the young man stamped down on the gas pedal.

The car sped over a few Infected and then roared across the bridge, swiftly heading into the distant horizon.

"Man…I'll never forget that guy," Rochelle said dreamily, looking out the window.

Nick clenched his fist angrily. He was damned if he was going to listen to her gush about that jackass the whole way to New Orleans.

"Hey, sweetheart? He'll probably forget you," Nick snapped. "Did you see that girl he was with?"

"Oh man DID I!" Ellis shouted from the front. " She was like an an-gel!"

"Ellis, shut up!" Nick yelled.

"Why are you such an asshole, Nick!?" Rochelle demanded, glaring at him. Her lip was shaking.

Oh shit, was she going to cry? For a moment, Nick felt like an ass. Then she turned away from him and wiped at her eyes, and he felt like a complete ass.

"Ro," he muttered awkwardly. Fuck, how do you comfort women? He carefully put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me," she murmured sulkily, shrugging his hand off.

Ok, he was going to have to make a sincere apology. Nick glanced towards the front to make sure the two up there weren't listening.

"-an-gel, I tell you! Ah man, I shoulda married her-"

"-no cake at a wedding! WHO has no cake at a wedding!? I tell you-"

Yup, safe on that front. He turned back to Rochelle.

"Ro, I'm sorry. I didn't really mean it," Nick said quietly.

She looked at him with an eyebrow cocked, as if to say, "Yeah, right, who are you trying to kid?" But at least she wasn't crying. Maybe he wasn't a complete ass. Still, he had to continue.

"You know any guy'd be glad to have you," he grinned.

"Yeah, since there's only two women left," she replied, and they both laughed.

"You know what I mean, though," he said seriously. "I don't care what Hayseed over there thinks, that Zoey girl probably couldn't heft an axe to save her life. You're like a…a warrior princess, princess."

Rochelle scoffed loudly and rolled her eyes, but he could tell she was pleased. Ha ha, take that, you greasy douche. One step closer to being first in Rochelle's affection.

"That biker's still sexier than you."

Oh goddamnit.


Hey look, I'm starting something else I probably won't finish. Hooray!

I have no clue how long this will be, either. I was planning on it being a one shot and then I found myself with 18 pages at 2 in the morning, so...that went well.

Also Nick/Rochelle is my favorite L4D couple. 3