- New chapter -
Chapter 2: The After Effect
Michonne watched Lori and Rick talking and laughing together in the hallway. She wished the glare from her eyes could burn the two of them to the ground. Knowing she didn't want to be caught staring, she gave an angry groan and turned to slam her locker door closed. It was crazy how even a few weeks ago, Rick Grimes hadn't even been on her radar. Now he was all she could think about. Him and what they had done.
"Girl, what's wrong with you?" Sasha asked. Sasha was a pretty girl who wore her hair in a stylish afro. And she was one of Michonne's best friends.
Michonne had sworn to herself that she wouldn't tell any of her friends about what had happened. It was too embarrassing. But if she were to tell anyone...Sasha would be the perfect person. And Michonne was feeling all filled up from having to keep something so frustrating inside. She needed someone to be on her side. "Sasha," Michonne said, turning around. "I have to tell you something. But you have to promise that you won't tell anybody else."
Sasha immediately straightened up and focused on Michonne, giving her all of her attention. It was always something serious and juicy when the sentence started like that. "I promise," she said.
Michonne took a deep breath and expelled it, speaking the words before she could lose her nerve. "IlostmyvirginitytoRickGrimesatapartylastweek," she said quickly.
"...What?" Sasha asked, tilting her head towards Michonne. She hadn't caught a lot of that but she was sure she heard "lost" and "virginity" in the same sentence.
Michonne took another deep breath and repeated what she said. More quietly but more slowly as well. "I lost my virginity to Rick Grimes at a party last week."
Sasha's eyes widened and she lowered her voice as well. "You did what?!" she whispered with urgency. "And who the hell is Rick Grimes?!"
Michonne pointed over Sasha's shoulder towards Rick. He was still talking to Lori. Sasha followed the direction Michonne's finger was pointing with her eyes and she turned back around with a sigh. "Girl, uh-uh..." she said. "You did not lose your virginity to that bow-legged white boy. I thought you liked Mike!"
Michonne felt frustrated tears begin to well up again. "I do," she said. "Or I did! Or at least I thought I did!"
Sasha sighed again and gave Michonne's arms a comforting squeeze. She tried to rein in her swirling thoughts for the sake of her friend. Freaking out on her part would not help things right now. She could tell that Michonne already had some of the freaking out part down for the both of them. And that was something considering how level-headed and calm Sasha knew Michonne to be. "Okay," she said. "It's okay. First of all...how did this even happen?"
"Okay...So we're lab partners," Michonne said. "In Chemistry."
"Right," Sasha said.
"And he's sweet in this Southern gentleman kind of way. He's got this cute twang in his voice going on, blue eyes – God! Really blue eyes – And he compliments me all the time. There's this thing he does when he talks...he tilts his head forward and sort of to the side and it's so cute and...Oh! Did I tell you he has a car? He bought it with money he earned from working summer jobs. Doesn't that show character? And how mature he is?"
Sasha stared at Michonne as she talked. She had never seen her friend go silly over a guy like this. She was leaning against her closed locker with hearts practically coming out of her eyes. She had to pull her friend out of this considering the fact that, at the moment, Rick wasn't over here with her but with some other girl who was clinging all over him. "If he's so mature," Sasha said. "Why is he over there with that string bean girl instead of over here with you after taking your virginity?"
That got the effect Sasha wanted; it sobered Michonne. She stood away from her locker. Sasha's eyes then took in what Michonne was wearing. She hadn't paid attention before.
Michonne's dreads were pulled into a ponytail and she was wearing makeup that made her skin glow and the right features stand out. Earrings dangled from her ears and framed her face and she wore a colorful shirt that clung at her breasts, accentuating them tastefully. The shirt was tucked into high-waisted jeans and a belt completed the look. Michonne usually dressed up but Sasha had never seen her look this classy before. Not on an average day of school.
"Girl, you look great today! What are you dressing up for?" She shot a look over at this Rick guy. "Don't tell me you're trying to get his attention!"
"No!" Michonne denied. But when Rick parted from Lori and began to make his way down the hall in their direction, Michonne's whole demeanor changed. She quickly turned to her locker and began to open it, making sure Rick knew she was definitely not aware of his presence.
"I thought you already put all of your books away," Sasha said, not fooled by Michonne's feigned indifference.
"I forgot something," Michonne said. "I have to look and see if I've got my lunch in here."
Sasha watched Rick's steps falter as he walked by Michonne but he kept going. She shook her head and looked back at Michonne who's body was tense and Sasha was sure she wasn't breathing. "You can relax; he's gone now," she said.
Michonne stopped rifling through her locker and closed it without retreiving anything. She sent an embarrassed look towards Sasha. "I'm in it pretty bad, aren't I?" she said.
Sasha sighed and wrapped a comforting arm around her friend's shoulders. "It's okay," she said. "Whatever you need, just say the word."
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Rick felt like a fool. And an idiot. And a coward.
He paced back and forth beside the door of the empty classroom. The last class had just let out for the day and it was time to go home but he was waiting for one particular person. She was still inside talking to the teacher. She came out about ten minutes later and Rick stood up quickly from where he had sat against the wall.
"Michonne!"
Her steps faltered when she saw Rick but ultimately she ignored him and kept going, making her way down the hallway. Rick ran to catch up. His mouth worked silently. There was so much he wanted to say he didn't know what to start with first. What he needed was for her to slow down...sit with him...talk with him. So he ended up asking, "When are you going to come by to finish our Chemistry project? It's due in three days."
That must have been the wrong thing to start with because Michonne swung to face him with her hand planted on her hip. "Our Chemistry project?" she asked back in disbelief. Anger flashed across her face. "I don't care if we fail it!" she said before turning to leave.
Rick knew that was a lie. She prided herself on her straight A's and her plan was to go to Harvard. There was no way she didn't care.
He ran to catch up with her again just as she pushed her way through the school doors and to the outside. "Let me give you a ride," he offered, following her down the stairs.
"I'll walk," she stated.
Rick caught up to her and tried to stop her by grabbing her arm. That also proved to be a wrong move. She whirled around with flashing eyes.
"Don't you ever touch me again!"
Rick raised his hands, letting her know he wouldn't do it again. Since he had her attention though, Rick began to speak.
"I looked for you after you left."
"After you ditched me, you mean."
"I didn't ditch you. You're the one who left without waiting for me."
"I was left standing in that hallway looking like an idiot while you got back together with your girlfriend! After we had just-!" Michonne took a breath and looked around. Lowering her voice, she finished. "After we had just had sex!"
"I didn't get back together with her," Rick rushed to explain. Michonne gave him a disbelieving look.
"Then why is it that every time I see you these days, I see her too."
"She's-!" Rick sighed. "It's complicated."
"Then uncomplicate it. Until then...I'm not speaking to you." She turned on her heels and began to walk away before she turned back. "I'll come to finish the project on Thursday." Then she walked away.
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Michonne twisted in front of her mirror on Thursday morning, attempting to see her outfit from every angle. She was wearing a long top that fell loosely to the middle of her thighs and she wore tights under that. On her feet, she wore high-heeled boots. Michonne wondered if she should wear something to show off her figure more but she liked the look that the long sweater gave. It made her feel petite. She wrapped a decorative belt around her middle, though, just to show off the fact that she did have a figure.
"You look good."
Michonne pulled in a small breath of air due to her surprise at suddenly not being alone. She smiled shyly and pulled at her earlobe when she saw who it was. Mike was standing in her doorway, watching her with a smile on his face.
"Thank you," Michonne replied. "How long have you been there?"
Mike crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against her door frame. "Long enough to see you turning this way and that, tryin' to see if you looked alright. So I thought I'd clear up any confusion. You look great. Like always."
Michonne was thankful for her dark complexion. Otherwise Mike would have seen her blushing profusely. She pulled at her earlobe again. Mike smiled. "What are you doing here so early?" Michonne asked. "Are you and my brother going out somewhere today?"
"Yeah. Just here and there. What about you? Where are you going that's got you so worried about your looks?" Michonne tried not to let her eyes wander across Mike's milk chocolate-colored skin or his biceps, which bulged with the tension of him crossing his arms across his chest. He had a chiseled face, strong jaw, narrow nose and full lips that were now beginning to be surrounded by a becoming black goatee as he grew older. And his eyes were the worst. They were golden like honey and warm. Michonne could feel it on her skin.
"Just..." Michonne shrugged, avoiding his eyes. "To a friend's house."
"A friend?" Mike asked, his deep voice a sexy gravel. "Should I be jealous?"
Michonne's eyes flew up to meet Mike's. She had harbored a long-time crush for him ever since her hormones had kicked in. He shaped her definition of what was sexy. And he was sometimes playful with her...playful to the extent that she wondered if he was flirting...but this was different. He was definitely flirting. And Michonne didn't know what to do about it. She only chuckled.
The moment was interrupted when Michonne's brother came up behind his friend. "Mike," he said. "Come on man. Leave my sister alone and let's go."
"Alright." Mike let Michonne's brother walk ahead of him and before he left, he turned back to Michonne. "I'll see you later...Michonne..."
"See ya..." Michonne waved like a smitten teenager (which is what she was) and stayed frozen, allowing her flying emotions to go all over the place up to ten minutes after Mike left. When she recovered, she fell back onto her bed with a sigh.
'Rick who?' she thought with a happy smile on her face.
She only wished that feeling could last when she stopped in front of Rick's door an hour later, though. Feeling nervous all over again, she smoothed her outfit, took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell.
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Rick checked himself over in the mirror for the thousandth time (he had barely been away from it since waking up that morning) and he rolled up the cuffs of his t-shirt and smoothed it with his hands.
"Whew," he breathed. He pushed his shoulders back. "Good. You're good."
He wore a blue and white striped plaid shirt, one that his mother had said brought out his eyes. It was tucked into a pair of blue jeans and finished with a brown belt and brown shoes.
"Coming!" he called.
He walked past the table in the living room and made sure the Chemistry project was looking just as it had the last time before he got to the door and opened it. His eyes involuntarily swept Michonne's body up and down before he invited her inside. "Come in," he said. A stone-faced Michonne walked past him and he closed the door after her.
"Just so we're clear on some things," Michonne was saying as she went over to the table where their Chemistry project was and began to take some things from her bag. "I'll only be talking to you today in regards to our Chemistry project. Any personal comments, topics, or subject matter will not be touched on by me no matter how you may try to bait me. We're going to finish this homework assignment today, and after that we will have no more reason to meet each other or even interact. And I would like for you to respect that distance. Understood? Great. Let's get started."
Rick wrang his hands together nervously. "...I think you'll be a great lawyer..." he said as he moved around the table to sit beside Michonne. She made a point of scooting away from him. "Okay," he said. "So the project..."
Michonne set right in on completing the project and making notes in her notebook. She spoke a lot about what she was doing so that Rick could be able to orally describe what the two were doing in the correct scientific terms but Rick wasn't listening to her. He was too busy wondering about how he could begin to talk about what had happened between them. He continued to wring his hands underneath the table and he stared at the side of Michonne's face. A nice scent was coming off of her body and he was enjoying that as well. Suddenly, Michonne sighed and sat her pen down, causing Rick to snap out of his thoughts. "What are you doing?" Michonne asked, turning to look at Rick. "Are you even listening to what I'm saying?"
"No," a surprised Rick answered honestly. "I'm sorry."
Michonne stared at him, angry. Rick sighed, wishing he knew all the perfect things to say. "I've been wanting to talk to you all week. Ever since we..." He whispered the next words. "Slept together."
Michonne turned back to her notebook, relaying through silence that she was not going to talk about it. She picked up her pen and began to write. Rick talked to her anyway even though she put up a very good air of ignoring him.
"I just...couldn't get it together. Every time I saw you at school or thought about calling you, my body wouldn't work right. It wouldn't do what I wanted it to do." Rick let out a defeated sigh. He and words didn't get along. But he tried his best to say what he was feeling. "Then at a certain point, I felt like I had waited too long. And you were always surrounded by friends...it was hard for me." He looked down at Michonne's notebook and saw that she wasn't really writing anything. Only scribbles and jagged lines were forming across her page.
"...What about Lori?" Michonne finally asked. "Why are you always with her?"
"She's my friend," Rick rushed to explain, willing to tell her everything she wanted to know so that she would keep talking to him about something other than valent and covalent bonds. "We've been friends since we were practically babies."
Michonne stopped scribbling and fixed Rick with a stare. "She likes you."
"I know. But I told her that I think it's best we stay friends. She said she'll respect that."
Michonne began to scribble in her notebook again.
"You still mad at me?" Rick asked.
Michonne was quiet for a moment. "...You can't just sleep with me and then ignore me..." she said.
"I know," Rick said. "I'm an idiot and I wanted so much to talk to you! I just...overthink thangs..."
Michonne tried to keep herself from smiling at the way Rick's Southern dialect affected his words.
Seeing a small crack in her armor, Rick continued. "I've thought about you every day since that night. Every minute actually."
"Are you sure it's not just the sex you were thinking about?" Michonne asked quietly.
"It wasn't," Rick said. "It was you."
Rick saw the hint of another smile and he began to smile as well. Michonne tugged gently at her ear and turned to another page of her notebook. "Let's finish this project," she said.
"Okay." Rick inched closer to Michonne and she didn't inch away.
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Rick was going over the last paragraph of what would be their oral presentation and Michonne was leaning on her elbow watching his lips form the words when she received a text. She picked up her phone to read the message. It was Sasha. Michonne had told her to text her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid...like forgive the guy who had taken her virginity and then didn't talk to her for a week. Michonne's stomach twisted nervously. Her resolve to ice Rick out was already gone. She read the text.
'Hey girl. How's it going? You need me to come over and help black girl shame him?'
Michonne smiled. 'No,' she texted back quickly. 'It's fine. We're almost finished.' She sent a smiling emoticon.
Another text message came from Sasha almost immediately. 'You've forgiven him! Girl, get out of there! DON'T YOU LET HIM GET IN YOUR PANTS AGAIN!'
Michonne sat upright. 'Damn!' she thought. 'I knew the smiling emoticon was too much...' Michonne fiddled with her phone for a minute and bit her lip. 'I'm not going to have sex with him again,' she texted back. 'Don't worry. We've just decided to be mature about this and move on.' She sent the text and waited for a response. Rick's leg nudged against hers as he shifted slightly.
"I'm sorry," he muttered quickly, a blush forming across his cheeks.
"It's okay," Michonne whispered with a smile.
Michonne got another text. She opened it. 'I'm calling you,' it read. 'I know you. You're understanding and forgiving even when you don't need to be. You need a chaperone.' Michonne's eyes widened and she pressed the power button on her phone, shutting it off, right as the ringtone began to start up.
Rick looked over at her. "Was that your phone?" he asked. "Do you need to go? 'Cause I can finish this-"
"No," Michonne said quickly. "I don't need to go."
They stared at each other for a moment. "Good," Rick said.
Michonne tugged at her ear, bit her lip, and turned from his gaze with a fluttering heart.
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The project was finished but neither of them moved. Rick was sitting stiffly. He hoped that Michonne didn't notice. He figured he must look frozen and odd but he was covering up an embarrassing situation. His and Michonne's thighs had been touching under the table for the past few minutes and even that small contact caused his newly aware manhood to begin to grow in his pants. He remembered the heat of their last intercourse and it wouldn't leave his mind. He clasped his hands together and placed them in his lap, trying to hide the evidence of his straying thoughts.
"Do you think we'll get an A for this?" Rick asked, trying to get them talking about something to distract from his current predicament.
"Yeah," Michonne said. "You know me. I won't accept anything less."
Rick smiled over at her. "That puts a lot of pressure on me to get the oral presentation right."
"You won't have a problem," Michonne said. "We're plenty prepared."
"I don't know. I was never very good at oral presentations..." Rick said.
"Are you one of those people that get really nervous?" Michonne asked. She smiled at the image that thought presented. A red-faced and stuttering Rick Grimes with that cute, Southern twang of his.
"A little bit..." Rick said.
Michonne cleared her throat and sat up straighter. "So where are you planning to go to college?" Michonne asked. "It's our senior year. I'm sure you've thought about it."
"Well, I haven't got it all planned like you do...Harvard. But uh...I figured I'd go to a community college here and uh...probably enroll in a police academy after that."
Michonne's eyebrows shot up. "You want to be a police officer?" she asked.
"Yeah..." Rick said with another blush. "My dad was a police officer before he got injured. Now he's a trainer at the police academy. I guess I just always wanted to help people."
Michonne nodded. "Cool."
"What do your parents do?" Rick asked.
"My mom is a writer and my father is an attorney."
"I see..." Rick said. "So we're both following in our fathers footsteps."
Michonne smiled. "I guess."
"Your mom..." Rick said. "Has she written anything that I would be familiar with?"
Michonne cleared her throat. "She writes...romance novels," Michonne said, holding back an embarrassed smile.
"Oh." He tried to hold back a smile of his own but he couldn't.
"What?" Michonne said, pushing his arm. "Don't do that. I'm proud of my mom!"
Rick wished she wouldn't touch him with the condition he was in but he continued to play it cool. "No, I know," he said. "It's cool that she's an author."
"I used to sneak and read them because Mama wouldn't let me. 'Cause they have some...intimate material. But...I got my idea of what love is supposed to be from those books. Don't know if that's healthy or not," Michonne confessed.
"It's not," Rick said teasingly.
Michonne hit his arm gently. Rick groaned.
"What's wrong?" Michonne asked.
"Nothing," Rick said. He gritted his teeth through the demands his body was giving him. "I'm glad I didn't know about the romance novel thing when we slept together. I would've driven myself crazy trying to make sure I was on the same level as some Don Juan in Heart's Desire 2."
Michonne laughed and turned to face Rick. She rested her elbow on the cushion of the couch that they were leaning against and propped her head up onto her hand. "You did fine," she said.
Rick blushed again and he glanced in Michonne's direction but he couldn't continue to look at her for long.
Michonne smiled and admired Rick from the side for a while. After sitting for a few minutes and realizing she could sit there all day like that, Michonne's body gave her a warning signal. She remembered Sasha's text and sat up. "I should probably go," she said. "It's getting late."
"Really?" Rick asked. His eyes showed disappointment for a moment then he nodded. Of course she had to go at some time. "Okay," he said. He looked at the finished Chemistry project and realized further that they didn't have an excuse to meet anymore. He remembered what Michonne came in saying and wondered if she wanted to stick to that. He hoped she didn't. "Hey," he said. "My parents own a couple of horses. We keep them down at a friend's ranch. Maybe we can go horseback riding sometime."
Michonne looked surprised at the sudden suggestion. "Oh. Okay," she said. "Maybe! Yeah!"
"Have you ever ridden a horse before?" Rick asked.
Michonne shook her head. "No," she said with a laugh.
"That's okay. I can teach you."
"Cool," Michonne said. "Yeah. I'd definitely be down for that."
"Okay. Sunday?" He wanted to put a definite date on it so that it became a concrete thing and not just an idea.
"O-okay," Michonne agreed. Again, she was surprised by the suddenness of his suggestion. "It has to be after church."
"No problem. I'll pick you up."
"Okay."
"Okay."
They sat in silence for a moment more and then Michonne began to pack her stuff into her bag again. "You'll bring the project to school?" she asked.
"Yeah." Rick began to panic as Michonne zipped up her backpack. He usually got up to see her out whenever she left. But he couldn't get up. Not with the embarrassing bulge in his pants.
Michonne stood up, holding her bag in her hand and she turned to Rick expectantly. "Okay."
"...Okay," Rick said. He nodded and swallowed deeply. "Bye."
"...Are you not gonna see me out?" she asked.
'Damn!' Rick thought. He hoped that she would just leave. He couldn't really just say "no". She would think he was rude. And he had just gotten back into her good graces. And there was no way he could hide himself without being completely obvious. Having to make a decision quickly in order to not make things weird, Rick decided to just work on faith. Maybe his problem wasn't as noticeable as he thought.
He unclasped his hands and pushed himself into a standing position. "Right. Sorry. Let's go," he said quickly. If he acted normally, she surely wouldn't notice anything. He walked forward to lead her out and his stomach dropped when he saw that her eyes had fallen to his bulging jeans. What had he been thinking? Of course it was noticeable! Rick's face burned and his heart beat with nervousness and embarrassment but he continued to try to act normally in order to maintain his pride. He hoped that Michonne would play along. "Do you want me to drive you back?"
Rick breathed a sigh of relief when Michonne tore her eyes away from his traitorous body part and walked to the door alongside him. "No, thank you," she said. She cleared her throat and began to pull at her ear continuously. "I'll take the bus."
"Okay."
They stood at the door for a moment. "Okay!" Rick exclaimed. He opened the door. They stood and looked at each other.
"Okay," Michonne said. "Bye." Her eyes flicked to his jeans again then back up to his eyes.
"Bye," Rick said, pretending he didn't notice.
Neither of them moved.
Michonne willed her feet to move but they wouldn't. She didn't feel ready to go. But she knew she should. She laughed nervously, apologizing without words for not being able to leave.
Rick's heart beat loudly inside his chest. If she stayed there one second longer, he didn't know what he would do.
A second of silence passed.
Rick closed the door and pulled Michonne into his arms.
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Michonne sat astride Rick on the couch, kissing him fervently. She felt Rick's bulge pressing against her through the fabric of their clothing.
"I keep thinking about you," Rick breathed as he lifted her shirt over her head, revealing the expanse of glorious, dark skin that he had found so beautiful on first inspection and a sexy purple bra.
"I keep thinking about you too," Michonne said, before leaning in to devour him again. Their tongues clashed against each other without restraint.
"I'm sorry about not following you immediately. At the party."
"Let's not talk about it."
Michonne moved her hips against Rick's hardness. Rick leaned back and untucked his shirt quickly. He tried to pull it over his head but it got stuck going over his head at the first button. Michonne unbuttoned it for him and he tried again, pulling the shirt over his head effortlessly. She kissed his lips; he gripped her hips. They were so lost in their passion that they didn't notice the opening of the door.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN MY HOUSE?!"
Michonne jumped out of Rick's lap like a scalded cat and grabbed her nearby shirt. A quick glance told her that her worst fear was happening. An older woman and man had come into the house. They must be his parents. Michonne pulled her shirt over her head with wide, frightened eyes.
"Dad. Mom..." Rick said, just as panicked. He covered himself with his shirt as well.
Rick's mom looked as if she was about to faint.
"Get out of here, girl!" Rick's father shouted. Michonne didn't have to be told twice. She snatched up her bag and ran out of there. Only breathing when she reached the bus stop a block away.
"Shit..." she whispered. "Shit."
- Shit is right. And I'm gonna go ahead and let on that Rick's parents initially aren't gonna be able to wrap their heads around their son being involved in an interracial relationship and Michonne's parents aren't gonna be much better. Whether they'll come around or if their opinion really even matters in the overall telling of this story...we'll see. Dun Dun Dun! -