Chapter 21: Lonely Hearts Club
The next couple of weeks went as Rick thought, awkward as fuck. Their little chat after Negan's massage went okay, Negan thought, but was still met with hesitation and concern from Michonne. Negan had grumbled something about being quick with his feelings and that he'd get over it just to get her off his case. Michonne and Rick both felt weird displaying their usual affection and Negan felt weird being friendly towards Rick. The other employees had no idea, however, much to Negan's relief. Alpha had finally left them alone...for the time being.
Negan was sitting in the office, mindlessly looking at Corporate emails, the only way he ever looked at Corporate emails. He rested his hand on the bat behind his computer. The past few weeks were going by fast and slow at the same time. And he tried desperately to move on from his feelings, but when Rick laughed, when Rick smiled, when Rick's southern drawl covered his words, it only made Negan's head spin. He laughed to himself. What the fuck was he doing?
Rick walked through the office door and sat down. "Anything interesting?" Rick asked, referring to the emails.
"Yeah, actually, Corporate is setting up some charity event, not sure what yet. I'll get an email by the end of the day with the details." Negan said.
"Oh that's cool." Rick replied.
"It's finally starting to get a little bit warm." Negan said mindlessly.
"Yeah. I can't wait to sit on my porch." Rick laughed a little desperately, the winter was getting to him.
Negan still wanted a porch. Really fucking badly. "I need warm weather." Negan said quietly, almost inaudible.
"It will help." Rick replied, thinking about Lori, how warm weather always cured the overbearing layer of depression that came with winter. The depression would still be there, but sun and warmth can make a big fucking difference, Rick thought.
Negan cleared his throat and turned around in his chair. "So you ready to go to that meeting upstate at the end of the week, when is it, Friday?"
"Actually...I can't go with you, Michonne's going to go."
"What."
Rick looked over at Negan and cracked a smile, "Don't act so happy."
"Why the fuck can't you go?" Negan asked, getting flustered.
"I have to go to Carl's school." Rick replied cooly, without a goddamn care in the world.
"The fuck for?"
Rick was too amused by Negan's anger. "Are you scared to spend a day with Michonne by yourself?"
"Pfff." Negan rolled his eyes. "No!"
"Well, if it helps, Michonne ain't thrilled either." Rick laughed, Negan calmed down.
"Who's gonna watch the store?" Negan asked, knowing it was a stupid question and he was only trying to find reasons why Rick had to go and Michonne had to stay.
"Glenn."
Negan turned around in his chair. "UGHH!" He groaned. Rick laughed.
Michonne was heading out of the store, keys in hand, when she saw Maggie walking towards the door as well.
"Heading out too?" She asked Maggie.
"Yep." Maggie said, following Michonne outside. "So...how have you been lately? You haven't seemed yourself." Maggie could read vibes like a scholar.
Michonne sighed. "You're right...I haven't. How do you...feel about Negan?"
Maggie looked up at Michonne, wondering why she brought him up. "Negan? He's alright."
Michonne sighed again. "Yeah I guess he is."
"You still don't like him?" Maggie asked. "I know he's an asshole but...I don't know, he's kind of like a gym teacher. You don't like him, but he gets you all working, and sometimes he's endearing."
Michonne laughed. "I completely understand that."
"Seriously though, you okay?" Maggie asked, stopping by her car.
"You know, yeah, I'm good." Michonne said, giving Maggie a smile. The air was still cold but there was a warmth sneaking in and it suddenly made Michonne feel a little clearer. She decided not to dwell on the fact that her and Negan were going to be going on a Corporate road trip together. The things she did for Rick.
"I guess I like that movie. But I read the book before and the book is a lot more detailed and involved. I guess it depends what kind of viewer you are, if you're able to let the movie just be a movie or if the experience of reading the book-"
"Eug-"
"Ruins your perception of the movie. Overall it could have been a solid movie if not for the intense storytelling of the book-"
"Eugene!" Tara hissed.
"What?"
Tara sighed. "I just...needed to know if you liked it or not. I don't need to hear your entire opinion on it."
"Oh," Eugene nodded. "Okay."
"Then it's settled, I'll take Denise to see that." Tara said.
"Did either of you read the book first?"
Tara groaned.
Enid was ringing up a customer, she started moving as quickly as possible. When the customer finally left she turned to Carl sharply.
"Carl! I forgot to tell you, we need to have cookies with white chocolate chips and sprinkles!" She said exasperated.
"W-what? Okay, I'll tell my dad."
"And you have to bake it the morning of! I can come over early if you want." Enid suggested.
"Yeah that's fine, should I tell Sophia?" Carl asked, getting his phone out of his pocket.
"Yeah we're gonna need all the help we can get." Enid said, biting her lip. "How many cookie sheets do you have?"
"I...don't know." Carl said unsurely.
"It's fine I'll bring some over." Enid said, she had looked elsewhere, thinking. Carl couldn't help but smile at how adorable he thought she was.
Glenn was walking back to the Sports department when his phone buzzed.
Maggie:
heading out, see ya tonight?
4:31pm
Glenn:
yep ;^)
4:31pm
Maggie:
love you
4:35pm
Rick and Negan were interrupted when Carl poked his head through the office door.
"What's happening, Carl?" Negan asked, grinning and flashing his teeth.
Carl looked over at Negan, ignored him, and turned to Rick. "Dad, we need to pick up white chocolate chips too, and sprinkles."
"Carl, how many different recipes are we following?" Rick asked.
"There's five now." Carl said. "We have to do it, Enid's counting on me. We have to make all this Friday morning too so it's all fresh."
Negan started laughing. "Wait a damn minute." He said, holding his hands up, he pointed at Rick. "Are you ditching me Friday...to bake?"
"It's a charity bake sale." Carl said monotone.
"You get to skip class and shit?" Negan asked, smirking.
"Yeah."
"And why do you need him?" Negan asked, pointing to Rick again, who found the whole thing funny.
"Because the teachers said we needed an adult. I don't know why." Carl said. "N-not that I don't want you to come," Carl said, looking at Rick.
"It's fine." Rick said. "Don't worry Negan, I'll save you a brownie." Rick said sarcastically.
"Oh fuck off." Negan laughed, but then put his hand to his mouth. "Oops, sorry Carl."
Carl just rolled his eyes and walked away.
"Welp, better get back to real work." Negan said, standing up. "Why can't Michonne do the bake sale?" He murmured.
"Because I want to do the bake sale." Rick said. "Don't act like a such a moody teenager, I already gotta deal with that shit."
"Alright daddy." Negan said, and then cracked up laughing. "Okay, I really did NOT mean for that to sound the way it did."
Rick groaned. "Go make sure there's no customers threatening our staff."
"I'm sure there are." Negan laughed, walking out.
Rick sat back in his seat. It could all work out, he knew it. He picked up the pen in front of him and clicked it mindlessly. He thought about Shane. The way they joked, the close bond they shared as law enforcement partners. Rick was friends with everyone he worked with, but he hadn't had a friend like that since Shane. He saw the potential of that in Negan. That maybe if they just got passed all the awkward shit, they could be close friends. Rick had Michonne, but he had realized that he was missing someone like Shane. Or at least, what Shane was before the affair. Negan knew his pain, and Rick was grateful for that.
Negan was whistling through the store, he had his hands in his pockets. It was easy work, if everyone did their job correctly, and he didn't mind it. Half the time it didn't even feel like work. He caught Rosita before she headed out on her break.
"Hey Rosita." He said, stopping her. "How's it going?"
"The same as it always has been." She said dryly.
"Still hung up about Red?"
Rosita rolled her eyes and began to walk away.
"Hey wait!" Negan jogged up to her. "Follow me."
"What?" Rosita asked, crossing her arms.
"What you can't hear? I said follow me." Negan began walking out of the store.
"Where are you going?" Rosita asked, but Negan kept walking. She followed him begrudgingly.
Rosita followed behind Negan halfway through the mall. Negan stopped and turned around, he pointed at the massage chairs.
"Have these always been here?" He asked, smiling.
Rosita groaned. "Yes they have. What do you want? I'm on my break."
"I'll give you a longer one, calm down. Take a seat." He said, sitting in one of the chairs.
"Are you for real?" Rosita asked.
"It will change your life. Sit down."
Rosita threw her arms up and sat down. "Happy?"
Negan put a dollar in both chairs, they turned on, Negan leaned back. "You don't like me, I know that." Negan laughed. "But we've got things in common."
"And what would that be?"
"We both love someone who isn't gonna love us back." Negan said.
Rosita looked over at Negan. "Yeah? Well, then I guess we can start a club." Rosita sighed.
"Lonely hearts club." Negan smirked. "You think you can still have a friendship with Abraham?"
Rosita leaned her head back. "Yeah. We were friends before." She shrugged. "I guess that helps. Was your breakup bad?" She asked.
Negan laughed. "No it wasn't like that. We never went out. They have someone so...there wasn't a chance in fucking hell anyway."
"Are you still friends?"
"Yeah. It's hard though. I figured you might have some insight." Negan said.
Rosita was surprised at the version of Negan sitting beside her. "I don't know if I can be of any help. I'm kind of having a hard time dealing with it actually. Everyday it gets easier, but, I was blindsided." Rosita sighed.
"Damn, I guess I have it easier."
"Does she know you love her?" Rosita asked.
Negan started laughing again. "It's not...uh, fuck...uh, I like a guy." Negan said through his teeth. "And yeah, he knows."
Rosita looked over at him and raised her eyebrows. "Shit, I didn't expect that."
"Yeah well."
"Sorry you just...seem very...typical aggressive dude that likes to fuck hot girls."
"Wow!" Negan couldn't help but laugh. "Maybe I used to be...before I was married definitely."
"You were married?" Rosita asked.
"Yeah, her name was Lucille. She died in September." Negan cleared his throat. "I'm sure I'm a horrible person for liking someone else so soon, right? But it isn't really like that. We had...a lot of issues."
"No, it's okay." Rosita said. "You don't have to explain yourself."
Negan sighed. "I feel like I do."
"So...this guy you like now, he has someone?"
"Yeah...a girlfriend. They're pretty serious." Negan muttered.
"Welp...we really are alike then." Rosita replied, thinking about Sasha. "So your guy's willing to be friends even after knowing how you feel?"
"Yeah, sometimes I wish he would just flip the fuck out on me about it, you know? I feel like it would be easier if he hated me. But he doesn't for some fucking reason. I feel like most guys with girlfriends would punch a guy in the jaw at least. But he's understanding and it's fucking annoying because it makes me feel like I have a chance." Negan looked away when he realized he had said way more than he meant to. "He's too good for me anyway." Negan muttered. "But I guess being friends is better than anything."
"It probably is…" Rosita looked down. "It just sucks, you want them in your life but it hurts."
"Well, hopefully that pain goes away. Time heals all fucking wounds right?" Negan said, glancing over.
"I hope."
The chairs stopped moving. Negan tapped his palms on the armrests. "Well, that was a nice talk. Do you feel better?"
Rosita sat up and looked at Negan. "Yeah...I do." She smirked.
"Good. Do you still hate my fucking guts?"
Rosita laughed. "No."
"Great, then you can stop giving me so much fucking attitude all the time."
Negan laughed hoarsely, Rosita just rolled her eyes.
It was nearing the end of the night and Rick and Negan were walking around the store, shutting down a few of the registers. Negan was both relieved and anxious about his conversation with Rosita. He started it, but he didn't exactly mean to get so candid. He wanted her opinion on staying friends with someone you like, instead he told her he loved some guy five months after his wife died. Well, three months, but thinking about that made Negan feel sick. Rosita was respectful though which he was shocked by. The only person who seemed to call him on all his shit was Michonne, which also made Negan feel sick. Rick and Negan were nearing one of the entrances when Alpha started to walk up to them.
"OH MY FUCKING GOD." Negan yelled, making Rick jump. "Give it a goddamn motherfucking rest already!" Negan crossed him arms when Alpha was only a few feet from them.
"Oh calm down, sunshine." Alpha said. "I came here to talk about the game."
"What game? What the fuck are you talking about?" Negan asked.
"You didn't get the email yet? The charity baseball game…mid April...hello?"
"We didn't look at the fucking email yet." Negan replied. "Obviously."
"Alright, well, Whisper & Co and Walker's are going to being playing each other." Alpha said.
"Alright, well," Negan mocked. "Get the fuck out."
"It will be fun beating you guys. I hope your temper doesn't fuck it all up for you when you're up to bat." Alpha smirked.
"Oh sweetheart, you don't wanna get anywhere near me when I have a baseball bat in my hands. I could've gone pro." Negan said.
Alpha raised her eyebrows. "Then this should be interesting." She smiled. "How bout you Rick, you pro material?"
"I'm pretty good." Rick said intently.
Alpha smiled crookedly. "It's good to see you guys so friendly still. I'm impressed."
"Great," Negan said. "Now get out, and I don't wanna see you till the game."
"Aw, but that will be weeks." She smiled.
"Yeah." Negan said. "You'll get over it."
"See ya then." Alpha said, turning around and leaving.
Negan and Rick walked into the office, Rick sat down, he looked at the email. "Charity baseball game...at the high school field," Rick was glancing through the message. "Oh here we go, Walkers verses Whisper & Co. April 15th, five pm. Store hours 9am to 4pm, and then we close."
Negan started laughing lowly. "Baseball huh?" He said, grabbing the bat behind his desk. "Fuck yeah...she's not gonna know what fucking hit her!" Negan said, swinging the bat in the office. Rick ducked.
"Jesus!" Rick exclaimed, a little alarmed at how thrilled Negan was to play baseball.
"Oh haha...sorry Rick." Negan said, resting the bat at his side. "Man, I'm fucking stoked! Guess it's a good thing I kept this pretty little lady by my side all these months huh?" Negan said, stroking the bat. "I'm gonna beat the holy hell outta Alpha's team."
"Does this mean you're no longer anxious to go on the trip with Michonne?" Rick tried to hide a smile.
Negan's expression changed, he slumped in his chair. "UGHHH!"
| END CH 21 |