Chapter 2: Art

Michonne stepped into her house, she wanted to change her shoes and put on some lipstick before her date with Mike even though she was running about 10 minutes late. She met Mike through her colleague, who was a friend of a friend of Mike's. Their first dates had went well enough but she moved slowly him like she did in every relationship. Painfully slow for most men who couldn't be bothered to wait till they had sex. Mike wasn't as pushy as her most recent ex and seem to be more understanding, at least for now. There was an attraction towards Mike, a slight spark when he smiled at her or he wrapped his arms around her but nothing that truly excited her….like with Rick. Even the smallest touches between them made her heart race and she made sure to not make him aware of her feelings whenever they touched, becoming hyper aware of her expressions. She was unsure if Rick was ready to be in a relationship or even if he felt the same way towards her. Even though she didn't feel the same spark with Mike she thought, maybe I could get there with him, even if it would take some time.

Michonne pulled her hair out of her bun and shook her head to allow her locs to fall loosely around her face. She slipped on black velvet heels that were peep toe and had a kitten heel on them. She applied a deep red lipstick on her lips and rubbed them together. She glanced herself over in the mirror and grabbed her purse, stepping out of her house again.

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A few moments later

"Hey, hey sorry I'm late." Michonne breathed out as she walked into the restaurant, lightly kissing Mike on the lips. He looked down at his watch and frowned slightly, "Why were you late tonight Michonne?" He asked, a bit of a tone in his voice. Michonne sighed as she grabbed the menu in front of her and began to look at the options. Granted, this wasn't the first time Michonne had been late to a date of theirs. She tried her best to be on time but she never seemed to be on time to see him, maybe he's just not that important she thought to herself but quickly shook that idea off, not wanting to admit it.

"I'm sorry," she said as she looked up and reached over the table and lightly touched his hand with hers. "I went to go watch Rick's kids for a couple hours and then he got back and we started talking, I lost track of time." She gave him a small smile and went back to looking at her menu. Even though Mike had yet to meet her friends he knew of them as she talked about them often, with Rick and his kids topping that list.

"Were you late to meet him too?" Asked Mike, still a bit irritated. Michonne sighed and looked up at again pausing as the waiter came over asking her what she would like to drink. "Can I have a glass of Merlot please, thank you." She said, as the waiter nodded and then walked away. "Can we not do this? I want to eat and drink and smile and enjoy the date, is that okay? I won't be late again, I promise." She said, with a small smile. She leaned over the table and gave him a light kiss on the lips. Mike returned her small smile and nodded, deciding to leave this conversation for later. "Now," said Michonne, "how was your day?" She asked, smiling as the waiter returned with her wine, taking a sip of it.

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A few hours later

Michonne laughed lightly, it was now midnight and she was driving home with Mike in the seat next to her. Mike had loosened up once the conversation about her lateness had ended and after dinner they had gone to see an art exhibit on African art at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. She enjoyed her time with him, despite the lack of spark, and was now driving back to his place. "Look, it's not my fault you don't get art." She said, with a smile.

"I get art! It's just...not...all art." Said Mike, also smilingly. "Yeah, sure." She said, as she playfully rolled her eyes and slowly came to a stop, stopping in front of his home. Michonne took off her seatbelt and leaned over to him, "This is you," she said softly, giving him a smile. "This is me," said Mike just as softly. He took off his seatbelt as well and leaned over, giving her a deep kiss on the lips. He pulled away for a moment and smiled sheepishly, "...Wanna come inside?" Michonne smiled but pulled away from him. "Not tonight." She said gently, as if not to hurt him yet firmly so he knew there would be no convincing her otherwise. Mike nodded, slightly embarrassed, he looked down and then back up at her pausing for a bit wondering if he should bring up the subject he had decided to put on the back burner. He bit his lip and decided to go for it, "...Can I ask you something?" He asked and then continued once Michonne gave him a nod. "...Did you and Rick...ever date?" Michonne's face quickly contorted into confusion, her eyebrows pushing together and her eyes wide. "Look, its okay if you guys did I just wanna know what I'll be walking into if I ever get to meet the guy."

Michonne was shocked, to say the least. When she had denied to spend the night at a man's house usually the first question was "why" and she already had her lists of answers prepared but this was not a question she was prepared for. It took her a moment to fully understand what was being asked and that Mike was serious in his question. "No!" She said firmly. "Why would you...Rick and I are just friends. We've never dated or….done anything else." Mike nodded and breathed out a sigh of relief, "Okay...it's just...you talk about him a lot and his kids as well. I was just wondering. You talk about him more then you talk about any of your other friends." "He was my first friend here in Atlanta! He's my closest friend here of course I'm gonna talk about him! And I love his kids like they were my own….Why are you doing this? I thought we had a good night." She said, sighing as she folded her arms over her chest. "Hey…" said Mike, as he reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I just…" he sighed, "It was stupid I'm sorry." He paused, waiting for her to say something but she stayed silent, looking straight ahead. Mike sighed again and looked down, the air was quickly becoming tense in the car and he knew that now Michonne wasn't about to start talking again. He gave her light kiss on the cheek and pulled away, "I'm sorry….Call me tomorrow, okay? Or...whenever you wanna talk…" he paused again but she once again stayed silent. "Goodnight." Mike quickly stepped out of the car and walked towards his door, disappearing in his home once he was inside.

Michonne let out a deep sigh once he was inside and turned her car back on to drive home. Do I really talk about Rick that much? He's my friend...my best friend. When I moved to Atlanta he was the first person I talked to. He's seen me at my best and at my worst and so have I for him. She sighed as she thought to herself. If he has only heard me speak of Rick what would he think when he saw us together? Would he be jealous? Think that I was lying about our relationship? We're friends….Just friends... Even if I told Rick how I felt about him what would that do to us? He doesn't want to be with me and even if he did he isn't ready for a relationship. You heard him, he can't get into a swing of thangs with this relationship stuff. She chuckled lightly outwardly as she mimicked his accent in her head and smiled as she thought of it. His accent is cute...his smile is cute...his eyes...the way he walks...how he says 'Chonne. She bit down on her lip as she pulled into her driveway. "Jesus, Grimes...you're killing me." She mumbled to herself, sighing afterwards as she exited her car and walked towards her home.

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The Next Day

"I was late...again…" said Michonne, as she walked in the aisles with her friend Sasha in a party store. Sasha was of a medium complexion, with a large afro that was now pulled into a low bun. She was pushing a cart filled with party supplies in front of her for her upcoming husband's birthday, Daryl Dixon. Sasha had recruited Michonne in picking out party supplies for the upcoming party and now they were discussing Michonne's date with Mike the night before.

"'Chonne the next time you're late that boy is not gonna be waiting up for you." She said, as she picked up several black, gold, and silver center pieces and put them in her cart. Michonne nodded and sighed, "I know. But it's not like I wasn't doing anything, I was watching Carl and Judith for Rick, did Daryl tell you he went to go break up with Jessie?" As she grabbed some black and white streamers and put it in the cart. Sasha nodded, "Mhm, he told me alright. She was...okay I guess," she shrugged as she said this. Daryl and Rick were incredibly close and being married to Daryl consisted of knowing many things about Rick. "But I wanna hear more about your date so continue." She waved as if to push the conversation along. "Okay so I was late. I told him that I was at Rick's house watching the kids, then he says 'oh, did you get to Rick's house late?' Sasha paused and turned to her friend, her eyebrow raised and eyes wide. "Yeah," said Michonne agreeing with her look "Anyway, I told him that I didn't want to talk about that on our date and he let it go and we were fine we ate, laugh, we went to that exhibit I was telling you about...and then…" she said with a sigh.

"And then?!" Said Sasha her mouth dropping open. "Girl we choose a great day to go shopping this is one juicy date you went on." Michonne chuckled lightly and rolled her eyes, "Do you want to know what happened or what?" "Come on, tell me!" Sasha said, lightly pushing Michonne. "Alright, alright calm down." Michonne said shaking her head smilingly. "Okay so we were in the car, I dropped him off at home, and he ask me to come in-" "Oh my god do you sleep with him?!" Sasha asked, excitedly. Michonne sighed and threw side eyes at her friend. "No, I did not sleep with him Sasha, geez. Anyways I told him I wasn't coming in and then….he asked me if Rick and I had ever dated."

Sasha had stopped moving and turned slowly to face Michonne her eyes wide. When Sasha was first introduced to the group by Daryl she had told Michonne that for the first two weeks of seeing them interact she had thought her and Rick were dating but she had never heard anyone else in their group comment on the idea that their relationship seemed more than platonic so hearing that Mike, someone who hasn't even seen Rick and Michonne interact thought they had dated had surprised her and at the same time made her want to blurt out, "I told you so!" even though she held back and instead she said, "Really?" Now leaning against her cart and smirking slightly.

Michonne sighed and nodded, knowing that Sasha wanted to say I told you so and had done so just fine by giving her this look. "Yes. Really. He said I talked about Rick a lot...More then I talk about you guys. Anyways, I told him that we hadn't dated and that Rick and I were just close friends just like I told you when you thought we were dating. He ended up apologizing and saying goodnight but I didn't say anything back. We haven't talked yet."

Sasha gave her friend a small nod her bottom lip sticking out as she did so, "Interesting." She simply said as she began walking again. Michonne looked at her questioningly, "What do you mean interesting?" Sasha shrugged, "I thought you two were dating….Mike thought y'all were dating...its...interesting. Maybeee...it's a sign." Michonne frowned, "A sign for what Sasha? That I should date Rick? Haha, yeah right." Sasha sighed, they were now making their way towards the cash register with a cart packed with party items. "Look, we aren't going to go back to that conversation again," recounting the numerous conversations she had attempting to convince Michonne of her true feelings about Rick unaware that Michonne was so aware of how she felt about Rick that it was almost painful, "I'm just saying maybe...there is something that you just aren't aware of that...you should become aware of." She said, shrugging.

Michonne sighed and rolled her eyes as she began to push their cart out of the store and towards Sasha car, regretting that she hadn't also brought her own so she could leave this conversation here. She grabbed bags as she began to put the party supplies in the back of Sasha's trunk. "Okay, so are we done with this topic? How prepared are you for the party?" Sasha shook her head at her friend's insistence of changing the topic but she decided to not push the topic anymore. "I think we have everything," she said as they both entered the car, "we have the bar booked, a dj, food is set, just gotta decorate I guess. Wear black or white, no exceptions. You know I love you but I'm going for a theme here alright? You know he doesn't want a party right? But c'mon when was the last time we partied?"

Michonne smiled at her friend, Daryl was not the partying type but Sasha was, if she could she would party every time there was even a slight momentous occasion. "Yes I got it Sasha, black or white I hear you loud and clear," she said playfully rolling her eyes, "I think it's been a couple months since our last one, what was that Judith's birthday? That was fun." She said smiling at the memory. "Yeah it was, but this one is no babies allowed," Said Sasha wagging her finger, "There is gonna be lots of alcohol involved and I plan on getting you nice and drunk." She said with a grin. Michonne laughed lightly, "you can try but it's not gonna happen."