"I wanna cut your hair."
"You're not going anywhere near my hair."
"Oh, please?! I love Negan but it gets so damn boring in the boudoir. C'mon, let me at least even it out a little?"
"Hmm." At Sherry's pitiful puppy dog eyes, you conceded. "Fine! I guess it could do with a trim."
You managed to finish work a little early today and met up with Sherry in the stairwell for a quick smoke. James was out scavenging who knows where and everyone else will still be working, so you figured hanging out with Sherry would be better than going back to your room.
With all of the new residents streaming in over the past few months, the communal living area was even more cramped and smellier than ever. You tried to spend as little time in there as possible these days.
Waiting for Sherry to be done with her smoke, you catch sight of Mason making his way up the stairs. He doesn't linger, sending a wink your way as he marches on up, heading towards Negan's office.
Following Sherry through the double doors and down the corridor towards the boudoir, you try and take in everything you can. Though you have walked past the fifth floor doors everyday on your way up to the office, and not to mention your, albeit slightly odd, friendship with Sherry, you have never actually seen what Negan and his wives' living area is like.
Suffice it to say, you were pretty damn curious.
The corridor alone was better looking than the rest of the Sanctuary, with various artwork lining the walls and fake potted plants dotted along as you went.
You followed Sherry through a set of intricately carved wooden doors that were just a touch more extravagant than the office doors, immediately feeling as though you'd entered another world.
Rich, velvet curtains, plush rugs, ottomans, chaise lounges - the room had it all and more. You were in complete awe of the luxury these women were living in. You knew that they had it good, being with the boss and all, but you had no idea of the sheer amount of grandeur they resided in. While it's not exactly a huge surprise, given who Negan is and his tendency for showmanship, it sure was jarring to the senses.
"This is fucking amazing." Your wide eyes greedily took in everything around you, before landing where the glorious smell of a home-cooked meal was coming from. To the right of you was a modest sized kitchenette where two of the wives were busy cooking.
Taking notice of you, they both smile politely before quickly resuming their tasks, flitting from one countertop to another.
"That's Tanya and Kira. Lovely girls. You'll like 'em."
Turning back to Sherry, half forgetting she was even there, you find that she's already walking away from you down a little narrow hallway to the left. Unsure if you're meant to follow, you slowly make your way towards her direction, only to awkwardly stumble back to avoid colliding with her as she promptly returns holding a little cosmetics bag.
"C'mon, this way." It was quite amusing watching Sherry take charge and order you about, considering your entire friendship was just you stealing her cigarettes.
You follow her into a decent sized bathroom, closing the door behind you, and frown at her when she gestures you to sit in the chair she's placed facing away from the sink.
"I said just a trim. You don't need to wash my hair for that."
"Oh, c'mon, let an ol' girl have some fun."
"This is your idea of fun?"
"It's what I used to do before. I miss it. I don't get to do it nearly as much as I'd like to these days."
Rolling your eyes at her second attempt to manipulate you with her doe eyes, you exaggerate a sigh before dropping down in the chair. Placing a towel around your neck, Sherry gently tips your head back and begins the process of shampooing and conditioning your hair.
And that's when it happens.
You have no idea where it came from, but all of a sudden you find yourself trying to stifle your sobs as waves of tears pour from your eyes. You're suddenly feeling incredibly overwhelmed and try to regulate your breathing as you feel Sherry softly comb your hair with her fingers to evenly distribute the shampoo all the way through.
Alarmed, Sherry takes notice of your hitching breath and abruptly stops.
"Oh my god, did I hurt you? Did I get shampoo in your eye? What's wrong?"
"Nothing! Nothing, really, I think. I don't even know why I'm so upset!" Your voice wobbles terribly and you're sniffling, trying to regain your composure, but it's a losing battle.
"Oh, sweetheart! It's okay! Aw, it's alright. Believe it or not, this isn't the first time this has happened."
"Really?"
Smiling sweetly at your hopeful expression, she replies, "Really! Honestly, the first time I did Amber's hair she started bawling her eyes out. It's just one of those things, getting your hair done, get's you feeling all nostalgic and thinking about the times before, about your life before all of this mess, all of the simple things you didn't realise you missed and the people left behind."
You mulled that over, realizing why it was that you suddenly fell apart.
"I think it was 'cause the last person to wash my hair like this was my mum." A broken sob escapes your lips before you're able to continue, "we hardly ever went to the hairdressers, only occasionally treating ourselves on our birthdays since it was always too expensive for us to go regularly. I try not to think about her, you know, cause it's too hard to accept the real possibility of what's happened to her. And I feel so guilty for not thinking about her, cause I miss her so fucking much… I just… I don't know, too much is just hitting me at once."
Sherry, bless her fucking heart, listens sympathetically to your ramble before hugging you tightly with shining eyes. You imagined she was thinking of her own family as she held onto you a little tighter, breathing deeply. No words were said, because, truly, there are no words for such a shitty positions that everyone has found themselves in now.
After pulling apart and regaining your composure, Sherry gets back to work on your hair. She finishes quickly, which you're wholly grateful for as you were feeling a little embarrassed over your breakdown. You pushed those feelings away and concentrated on watching Sherry in the mirror as she grabs a comb and scissors.
"So, are you gonna tell me what's going on with you and James?" she raises an eyebrow at you through the mirror before diverting her attention back to your hair.
"I'm not too sure really. I mean, I like the guy, but we haven't spent enough time together. I see him about once or twice every couple of weeks, and I really enjoy myself when I'm with him, but it's just too much time apart. I like him though, and he's said he likes me. This is the last run he's on now though, for the winter supplies, so once he's back we're gonna spend some time together. I wanna see if there's anything real there or if I just like the way he looks, you know what I mean?"
"Mm, I get you. You can't really commit to any feelings right now can you? He is a good guy, you'd go well together. Plus, he's very easy on the eyes."
Sherry's little eyebrow wiggle had you trying to fight back a laugh so as not to ruin the cuts she's making, before replying, "mhm, that he is."
Waiting a beat, Sherry asked, "what about Mason? Don't think I didn't catch that little wink he sent you before."
"Nah, that's all harmless. He's just nice to me. We get along well. Besides, I'm just trying to take this one man at a time."
After your haircut, Sherry blow-dried your hair, smacking your hand away when you tried to put it into a bun once she was done. Glaring at her back, you follow her out of the bathroom to find the relaxed form of Negan lounging on one of the plush couches with a drink in hand.
"Ooh la la, you ladies doing something you're not supposed to do in that fucking bathroom?"
You scrunch your nose in disgust at the lecherous grin seemingly glued to his face.
"Behave, Negan. I was giving her a haircut."
Narrowing his eyes slightly at Sherry, he asked "what was wrong with her hair before?"
Rolling her eyes as she made her way towards the kitchenette, Sherry replied, "nothing, I was just evening it out a little, she wouldn't let me do much else to it."
You tried not to get offended at them talking about you as if you weren't even there.
Looking back at you, Negan commented, "yeah, it was looking a little ratty before."
Oh, now you were fucking offended. Though, before you could get a word in, the man was talking again.
"You staying for dinner?"
That surprised you.
"Um… I don't know. What are you having?"
"Lasagna!" a voice shouted from the kitchenette, coming from the curly-haired woman, Kira.
This really was paradise. Lasagna?! When was the last time you had that? Definitely not since the shit hit the fan.
Rising from his seat, Negan threw an arm over your shoulder and led you to the dining table, pulling a chair out for you like the gentleman you knew he wasn't and taking a seat next to you.
The food was absolutely amazing, and though you did feel a little out of place at the start, surrounded by all of the wives, they made sure to include you in conversation and regale you with stories about themselves to make you feel a little less anxious.
You were enjoying a particularly amusing story Kira was recounting regarding Negan's, surprising, arachnophobia - "That fucker was the size of my fist, of course I'd get away from the hairy bastard!" - when you felt and heard something that literally shook you to your core.
An almost deafening bang was heard, quickly followed by the entire building shaking. Dust rained down on you from the ceiling as cutlery dropped from the table. Shouting a quick order through the noise, Negan grabbed the back of your shirt and pulled you down under the table, making sure the wives all followed. You could hear the unmistakable crack of the windows fracturing from the pressure of whatever the fuck just blew up out there and you were suddenly entirely grateful to have Negan's arm still over you, shielding you from whatever damage may arise.
After what felt like forever, and once Negan deemed it safe enough to do so, you all scrambled out from under the table and immediately made a beeline for the windows. Luckily, none of them had shattered and only a couple of them had cracks running through them.
Looking out over the Sanctuary, you could see the residents and Saviors running around and panicking, wondering what the hell had just happened and if they were under attack.
"Holy. Shit."
Drawing your eyes up to Negan, you follow the direction of his eyesight to find the source of his ashen face.
Out in the distance, thick black smoke quickly rose through the air, visible even in the quickly darkening sky, the base of which glowed orange.
a/n - So sorry for the long wait! I don't hear from many of you on here so let me know if you're still reading and how you're liking it so far!