Hey everyone! I took a break from writing and decided to start a story about a character I kinda just came up with. I don't own TWD or its characters, just Rose. This is one of those stories that I haven't really planned out, so it's just developing as I go. Hope to hear what you guys think!
"Looks like someone's got a little crush already!" Olivia jabbed Rose in the side, laughing as she kept track of the armory. They'd been teasing her most of the day because she just so happened to give a double take to one of the newest group members.
Jessie shrugged, "I don't blame you, Rose. He is pretty handsome, especially after his haircut…" she gave out a small smirk as she continued to help Olivia keep track of the weapons.
"Will you two please shut up already?" Rose was annoyed, why do I even talk to these two, she wondered to herself. She felt cooped up inside, she belonged outside of the walls. For a while, she'd been trying to convince Deanna to let her do something similar to Aaron's job, but every time Deanna insisted she stay within the walls.
You see, Rose was just as capable out there as Aaron. She was lucky to have learned to shoot as a kid, and had killed her fair share of walkers. Roamers. Floaters, whatever you wanted to call them. And she'd killed her fair share of other people, only when necessary, of course.
As for scavenging….well she didn't do it officially, of course, she had the tendency to go over the wall at night and return in the morning with some scavenged goods. Occasionally, she would join Deanna's sons but it wasn't too common, since Aiden was an annoying asshole. Besides, Spencer had also been getting a little needy lately and she just wasn't up for that kind of shit.
Rose tried to help out as much as often around Alexandria, but the jobs for women seemed like such bullshit. All kinds of crap like cooking, washing clothes, and all that. She wanted to be out there, she needed to be out there.
She also didn't trust the new group. Who the hell were they anyways? They just rolled up out of nowhere and settled in like it was their place. Rose was confused as to why Deanna would even let them in in the first place, let alone make two of their people the constables. When she first came to Alexandria, she was treated as an outsider. She had to earn her place, it wasn't just handed to her on a silver platter. The thought of having to get along with this new group sickened her.
"Rose? You gonna help out?" Olivia asked before running through her list again.
Rose sighed, "Nope, heading home." She let out a small smile, "I'm already sick of you two." She knew Deanna would be pissed that she wasn't helping out, but she didn't really give a shit. Rose was already tired of being "social" and just wanted to get away from everyone. She also wasn't feeling too great about the new group, and wanted to avoid them at all costs. There was just something about them...
Jessie laughed, "Stop it, you like us and you know it." Yeah, okay, maybe she did, even though they were annoying sometimes. It was just hard to try to live the normal life that people in Alexandria insisted on living. Rose spent too much time outside the walls, it was hard to pretend to be happy and jolly all the time or to feel safe.
Her home was small, at least smaller in comparison to the other ones in Alexandria. Rose felt grateful that Deanna allowed her to stay by herself, she likely had the feeling that Rose was better off being alone.
She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, already feeling annoyed. Spencer was probably going to stop by later to "talk", as he liked to call it. Every time he'd come around, it'd all end the same way. That was probably one of the few things she actually liked about Alexandria.
Instead of staying inside the rest of the night, she decided on a cigarette instead. Something small to clear her mind. It was funny, because before all of this, she found them to be repulsive. It was a nasty habit her husband had and she smiled at the memories of her nagging him to drop it. He'd probably laugh at her now if he saw her lighting one up between her lips.
The day was starting to get dark, which was probably her favorite time of day. It meant that she would be able to get past the wall and more or less do her own thing. She knew just the right spot in the wall that the guards tended to overlook, that or they just didn't care too much. Rose liked to think that she was just really sneaky.
Part of her enjoyed going out at night, there was a small hope that she would run into her group again. Of course, that wasn't the case. It was never going to be the case. They were all dead. She saw them die, get torn apart by a walker ambush. And then she was left on her own, for God knows how long. She was surprised she managed to keep herself alive for as long as she did before meeting Aaron, who scared the hell out of her the first time they met. Sneaky little shit.
She enjoyed a couple more drags of her cigarette as she planned where she was going to go that night. She'd already scouted outside the walls of Alexandria so many times, but never went too far. She didn't want to let her guard down, that's how her group got killed. Damn, how she really missed them. Rose already spent so much time dwelling on the what ifs, what if she was on guard, what if she searched the camp better, what if she was awake. There wasn't a point anymore. She was alive and they weren't. She need to stay alive. She didn't know exactly why or what there was left for her to do, but she know she wanted to live.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Spencer coming up to her front porch. She quickly put out her cigarette and stood up to greet him, "Hey Spence," she began, "what's up?" Rose didn't know why she asked. She knew why he was there, it was so that they could fuck each other's brains out and then pretend it didn't happen the next day. It didn't mean she had to be rude though.
He shrugged his shoulders, "Nothing much, just thought I'd come and give you some company…" he trailed off as he raised a half empty bottle of liquor. She appreciated the gesture, but was more of a beer person herself.
She gave him a smile, "Come on in." she said as she opened the door for him, already feeling a little excited.
He didn't fuck her like her husband used to, but it was still pretty damn close. She missed the feeling of having someone inside of her, and it helped that Spencer was pretty much the only cute guy in all of Alexandria.
Spencer grunted a few more times before he finished, flopping down beside her to catch his breath. "Wow," he breathed, "that was amazing."
"Mm," she muttered in response as she reached for a cigarette. She tried to refrain from smoking indoors, but who was going to check? "Yeah it was…" she said before lighting it.
Rose wasn't a huge fan of the whole cuddling afterwards, no matter how much she tried to like it. It wasn't that Spencer was a bad guy or anything, she just...didn't really know how to feel about him. She made it clear in the beginning that she was just looking for fun, but was getting the sense that Spencer didn't get that. He'd been hanging around a little longer than usual, or would find excuses to come talk to her. Even going so far as to limit her from going past the walls, which she would find a way around anyways.
She didn't even notice that her cigarette was almost done as she zoned out. She didn't notice that Spencer was trying to get her attention either.
He moved closer to her in bed, trailing small kisses from her shoulder to her neck. She internally cringed, yeah she liked it but it was bordering on the whole feelings line and she couldn't have that.
She felt him smile against her skin, "What's up, Rose?" He gently murmured.
Rose tensed up before scooting away a little bit, "Nothing, why?" She lied, and he could tell. He also felt that she was being a little colder than usual.
"Well you just have been...kinda zoning out a bit…"
She pretended to act surprised, "Oh?" she sat up in bed, using the bed sheets to cover her chest even though it didn't really matter since he'd seen her naked plenty of times. "I just...I don't know..."
He gave her a small smile, "Come on, you can talk to me, Rose." Damn it, she really didn't want to have this conversation. She didn't want to be awkward about it either, and she definitely couldn't just leave him hanging. But right now, it looked like it would be for the best to just slow things down.
Rose sighed before starting, "Look, you're a great guy, Spencer. I like having sex with you and all that...but just lately it's starting to feel like more than that and I just can't have that, I thought I made it clear but I just don't think you get it and I'm starting to feel bad and now, well now I'm just babbling and-"
Spencer slowly pulled away from her, getting out of the bed and starting to get dressed, but she stayed where she was, avoiding eye contact. "This whole time Rose...I thought we were getting closer but-" He stopped himself for a moment, "But that's clearly not what you want. I just want to know why you had to lead me on like this?" He threw his hands up in exasperation, "You could have...I don't even know…" he trailed off before pulling his shirt on.
She started to get defensive, oh hell no, she thought to herself. She didn't lead anyone on, she made it pretty clear from the beginning. "No, that's not fair Spencer. I told you right from the beginning that all I wanted was someone to fuck. I didn't want someone coming over for date nights or cuddling and all that shit. Nobody made you come over, nobody told you to try to spend the night, and nobody is making you stay right now." She knew she was being a little harsh but fuck it, she had to make herself clear because apparently he didn't get it the first time.
He backed into the wall and his posture slumped a little as he took in her words, "You know, I thought you would appreciate that but I guess Aiden was right, you're just a mean bitch, you know that, Rose?"
She let out a small laugh, she was almost baffled at his reaction. How could he have the nerve to call her a bitch? She was the one who made it extremely clear in the beginning, she warned him not to catch feelings and yet here he was.
Rose covered her mouth to stifle her laughs, "I'm sorry, Spencer. I really am, I just don't know what to say?" She shrugged, "I thought we both agreed in the beginning about what this was going to be, and well...if you think I'm just a mean bitch then maybe you should just leave..." Was it bad that part of her wanted him to still hate fuck her? She knew it would be inappropriate to ask given the current situation, but hey, maybe there was next time? Whenever Spencer would get over his man period.
His lips pursed into a thin line, clearly still upset. He grabbed the rest of his things, turning around before leaving, "Yeah, maybe I should."
"Okay...well close the door behind you then!" She called out, hoping to get a little bit of a smile out of him. She really didn't want to be a jerk about everything but it was better to nip it in the bud before things got more serious.
She lay back down in bed with her arm covering her face. Spencer didn't even close the damn door for her, how rude, she thought.
She pulled herself from out of the covers and began to get dressed when she noticed something on the dresser. Must be my lucky day, she thought to herself as she reached over to the bottle of scotch that Spencer had left. Maybe she could take it back to him as a way of saying "sorry for leading you on but I did enjoy the sex", but that didn't seem too appealing. Shrugging, she took a small swig from the bottle and continued to get dressed. She never really was a liquor person, but with the way things were, how could she be picky?
Wanting a breath of fresh air, she opened her front door and brought some cigarettes with her. She noticed she was starting to run out, which was good. Her husband would have wanted her to cut the habit, something about not following his bad habits.
A couple swigs later and she was starting to feel the scotch. She also never really had a good tolerance. This also meant that she probably wasn't going to go past the walls this night. Next time then, she thought before taking another small sip. Hopefully Spencer wasn't going to mind too much, but it didn't really matter. It didn't seem like she'd be seeing him around too much anyways.
As she lit up another cigarette, she noticed a tall man walking down the road. She leaned forward to get a better look, and...well it was the guy in charge of that new group. Rick, that's what his name was, at least that's what she could remember. She'd seen him a couple of times around Alexandria, but never really bothered to introduce herself to him or the rest of the group.
But now? She had a bit of liquid courage and she couldn't hide from the group forever. "Hey!" She called out, almost immediately regretting it. Shit, what was she going to say? Just a "what's up" or a "how you doin'"? Damn it.
He turned his head and stopped in his tracks, looking almost caught off guard. Rick was wanting to just get home since his shift was just ending, but maybe someone needed help.
Rick walked over to her porch and noticed the bottle of scotch in her hands, oh boy, he thought to himself before asking her, "Everything alright here?"
She snorted at his "greeting", "Of course, officer. I'm just saying hi." She was a little tipsy and he could tell, but he didn't have much else to do yet.
He gave out a small smile, he didn't think he'd be dealing with drunk people ever again since all of this started. "Need help or anything?"
"No, of course not. I'm all good, officer." She pushed herself out of the chair, "I just figured I would introduce myself since you guys have been here a while. Rick, right?"
"Yep." He placed his hands on his hips, trying to remember if he'd officially met her already. He'd seen her around but she always seemed to keep to herself, from what others have told him about her. "I'm guessing you're Rose? I've heard about you from the others."
"Oh...shit, was it like good things, at least?" She was a bit of a loner around Alexandria, but would occasionally talk to Olivia or Jessie. And then there's, well was, the occasional hookup with Spencer. But she didn't really spend too much time talking to him, which she preferred.
"Heh, of course." He gave her another gentle smile, "Mostly things about how you just keep to yourself most of the time."
Well, that part was true. But maybe she could change it, starting with offering him a drink? "That's mostly true, but how about I change it up a bit?" She grabbed the bottle and pointed it towards him, "Want to join me for a drink?"
He looked back down the road, his shift had already ended but Michonne and Carol were watching Carl and Judith so he figured it would alright if he stayed for a drink. After all, he hadn't met this woman yet, so he needed to see if there was anything that would be a problem later on.
Rick shrugged his broad shoulders, another little thing she noticed, "I don't see why not."
Next time, Rick stays for a drink! This could either be a slowburn romance or a steamy hot smut, we'll see what happens :D