Chapter 12:

Rick woke up feeling uncomfortable, lying on his back with one arm tucked behind his head. It wasn't a position he was accustomed to sleeping in, and it was evident in the pain that radiated throughout him.

In spite of that however, a small smile still crept onto his face when he felt Michonne's breath tickling his cheek. He imagined she would face the same soreness that he did when she finally woke up, as one of her arms were tucked beneath her and she lay almost on top of him. He hoped she wouldn't mind how they slept, as he was more than happy with the arrangement.

The warm sun rays were already pouring through her window, allowing him to see things more clearly than he had the night before. He had been curious to see what her room looked like, as she had always been the type of person who expressed themselves through their surroundings. Her old room at her mother's house was always one of his favourite places, even though he rarely ever got to spend time there. He remembered her purple and white, polka dot wallpaper, the countless pillows on her bed and the little trinkets she kept on her shelves. Her dorm room was hardly different.

He heard stirring coming from somewhere in the room, and he almost jumped out of his skin when he saw Shane sit up, holding his head as he muttered a few curse words to himself, before looking around the room the same way Rick had, "Where the hell am I?"

"Shhh!", Rick hissed at him, cause Shame to whip around at look at him with wide eyes.

His best friend eyed the two teens on the bed suspiciously, "Uh… how?"

"Shhh!"

"Stop 'shushing' me-"

"Shhh!", Michonne shifted on him, raising her leg to his waist as she got more comfortable. Rick stayed deadly still, waiting until he was sure she was still sleeping before he mouthed to Shane, 'Be quiet!'

'What happened here?!', Shane mouthed back.

'I'll tell you later! Now be quiet!'

The other teen narrowed his eyes at him, then shook his head as he looked the other way, "Lord? Why me?"

Rick's thumb lightly brushed the material of the strange pyjamas she wore. He didn't want the moment to end anytime soon, and he wouldn't be above killing Shane to make that happen.

"Oh god, my head…", The hungover teen groaned as he rested his head back on the bed.

Rick resisted the urge to kick him.

"I need an Advil-", Both teens looked to the door when they heard a light raping. Shane frowned as he looked at his watch, "Who the hell is that? It's barely even noon"

Rick rolled his eyes before he breathed, "Might be Sasha or Maggie"

Shane took his time getting up, muttering a few more curse words for good measure. It was just as he rested his hand on the door handle that Rick realised something.

"Wait!", He hissed, "Are we even meant to be here?"

Shane peered at him from over his shoulder, "What?"

"We don't go here Shane, so are we really meant to be here right now?", Rick raised his eyebrows at him, just as the person knocked a second time.

His friend looked away as he thought about it, "Shit… I don't know?"

Rick nearly growled as he began to gently rock Michonne awake, "Hey… Cha- Michonne, wake up… come on, I need you to get up"

She groaned slapping her hand over her face as she shook her head.

Rick found that adorable, but he didn't have time to admire her, "Michonne? Wake up, someone's at your door… Michonne-"

Shane had stepped over to the bed, and in one swiftly movement, he picked her up by the underarm and made her stand, frightening her awake.

"If you ever do somethan', like that again-", Rick warned as he threw his legs off the bed.

"Next time put some bass in your voice, then won't have to!", Shane whispered harshly as he frog marched a barely awake girl to the door, "Michonne someone's at the door"

"What?", She muttered, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

Shane stood behind the door and Rick quickly joined him, just at the teen yanked the door open.

"Oh! Shoot, sorry, we're you sleeping?"

Michonne looked at the person through squinted eyes, "Uh, no… just… just… yeah, I was"

"I didn't mean to wake you, but I knew you were staying here this weekend, so I brought you breakfast…"

Shane's eyebrows sprung up as he looked at Rick.

"Uh, thank you so much, but you didn't have to do that, at all… did you make this?-"

"Oh no, I wish. I just put it in a better container so it was still warm...", The stranger chuckled, leading Rick snarl the door.

"That's really nice of you...How did you know where my room was?"

"I saw Paula. I was going to just ask around but she was on her way over here… she didn't really look… sober"

"It's the weekend so… she's not"

The teen chuckled again, "Well...I'm heading over to the library soon so I'll be at our table if you're coming down..."

"Yeah, sure. Just give me a while… let me wake up a little more"

"Sure, take your time... uh, see you"

"Bye, and thanks again", Michonne chirped as she closed the door, then turning to face the two teens boys she hid with a less than impressed expression.

"Well ain't that nice", Shane began, resting his hands on his sides, "Question, how are we getting out of here?"

"I think you can just walk out…", She shrugged, "But I'm not too sure. I'll ask Sasha"

"You don't eat eggs", Rick pointed out, tipping his head towards the container she held as he stepped away from the door.

She glanced down at it, "Yeah… he doesn't know that"

"...I can get rid of that of you want", Shane volunteered.

"Be my guest"

The teen took the container from her before taking a seat at her desk, "Y'all talk amongst yourselves, don't mind me"

Michonne sniggered at him as she turned back to her bed, "So, fun night?"

Rick could only assumed the question was directed at him, as Shane had already began shovelling food into his mouth, "Uh… good"

She nodded as she took a seat, her back against the wall. The situation was only a little awkward, as Rick was still trying to wrap his head around the stranger at the door, and he was sure that was apparent in his face.

"Who's Paula seeing?", Shane quizzed, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

Michonne's eyes widened, "Uh… I don't think she's seeing anyone-"

"She said she's seeing someone, didn't she say that, Rick?"

Rick sighed as he sat on the edge of the bed, "I can't remember-"

"She said she was seeing someone here? Who?"

The girl hesitated, "You need to ask her that Shane because the last time I checked she was still… single…"

"She said he was older?"

Michonne shrugged innocently, "That's news to me"

Rick didn't believe that at all, but luckily for her, Shane was none the wiser, "I wanna' find out who he is"

"Why don't you just go talk to her?", Rick narrowed his eyes at the back of his friends head.

"Because I wanna' see what I'm up against first"

Rick rolled his eyes, "Got it"

He couldn't entirely blame Shane for wanting to check out his 'competition', so to speak, as Rick was very curious about Gabriel. The fact that he had brought Michonne breakfast so early in the morning, on the weekend, then proceeded to inform her of where he would be, told Rick that this was obviously someone she was familiar with, and maybe even spent a lot of time with. It was very possible that they could just be friends, but sadly, Rick's jealous and possessive streak wouldn't allow him to see matters that way.

"...Hey Eileen"

Rick tore himself from his thoughts when he heard Michonne speak, ignoring Shane as he glanced back at him with raised brows.

"Yeah? Next weekend?... Sure, I can, I'd love to… yeah, that's no problem. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah…"

He could only just hear the faint chatter of his mother's voice from where he sat, but Rick had to wonder what they were talking about. He was more than aware that they had grown closer, but not so aware that they were having conversations over the phone.

Michonne chuckled quietly, "I'm sure it will be fine… Yeah. I… I just got up a while ago. I might head over to the library in a little while…. Yeah. No, that's Paula's job… yeah. Okay, alright, bye"

Rick raised a questioning eyebrow at her as he watched her hang up, "Everythan' alright?"

"Yeah", She nodded, chucking her phone down beside her, "She's just checking in… she wants to go shopping next week…"

His face pinched, "You're going shopping? With my mom?"

"Yeah…"

"...Oh boy", Shane muttered to himself as he stood up, before clapping his hands together as he announced, "So, what's there to do around here without getting caught and thrown off campus?"

Michonne looked at him strangely, "…Study?"

His brow dropped to a straight line, "Other than that?"

"...Well considering you're not meant to be here-"

"Where's Sasha's room at again?"

"...Two floors up"

Shane grinned, "And girls rooms are on the left right?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Yeah…"

"Well, looks like I gotta' go look for her then"

"Her number is-"

"I'll find it!", Shane almost sang as he turned to leave the room, "If I'm not back in a hour then don't look for me"

Rick pinched his nose bridge as he sighed, "I really should stop him but at this point… I don't have the strength"

Her eyebrows sprung up, as she commented quietly, "Surprised to hear you say that"

He peered at her from the corner of his eyes, sensing a slight hint of sarcasm to her tone, "Yeah?"

"Yeah…"

"...Gabriel a 'friend'?"

Her eyes snapped up to meet his, as her face grow annoyed, "Yes. He is"

"I'm just asking", He insisted lightly.

"No, you're not"

"Then what am I doing?"

She tilted her head to the side when she gave him a no-nonsense look.

He soon held his hands up in surrender, "Alright. Fine"

"I agreed to let you-"

"I know, Michonne. I'm dropping it, I don't want to argue with you, okay?"

"Good", She sighed, climbing off her bed.

His gaze didn't leave her, "You talk to my mom often? Phone calls and all that?"

"...Every other day", She shrugged, pulling open one of the draws to her chest.

Rick's mouth fell agape, "I don't even speak to her every other day? What do you even talk about?"

She took out a black item of clothing, "Stuff"

"...Stuff?"

"Do you have a problem with me talking to your mom-"

"No, I don't. Not at all", He admitted firmly, "I'm just trying to understand what the hell the two of you talk about-"

"Plenty of things", She scoffed, "She's really helpful with everything, and she tells me how Rocky's doing, and she-"

"The cat? You talk about the cat?", Rick bit his lip, trying to stop a smile from spreading across his face.

Michonne huffed as she rested her hand on her hip.

"...Do you ask to speak to Rocky? Have you ever done that?", He couldn't hold back his chuckle further.

"Get out!", She pointed to the door.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! But you can't expect me not to laugh at that!", He tried to straighten up, "You and my mother talking about the cat… I'm picturing it, and it's… I can imagine my mom holding that damn cat up to the phone… trying to get her to talk-"

"Leave", Michonne repeated, but Rick could see she was struggling to remain serious.

"You know she'd do it if you asked, right? Nearly three months ago she wouldn't have gone anywhere near a cat, but now she's blonde and some kind of hippy…"

"She's not a hippy, she's just very happy in her life right now"

"You plan on asking to speak to Rocky tonight? That's why you're defending her?"

A chuckle erupted from her, and Rick was sure his heart was going to swell out of his chest. She quickly tried to compose herself, "I need to change"

"Go ahead", He shrugged, nonchalantly.

Her smile immediately disappeared, "Rick."

His eyes darted behind her for a brief moment, "What?"

"I need to change"

"Yeah? Go ahead, don't mind me-"

"I'm not changing in front of you", His head reeled back in shock, while she looked at him like he was crazed, "Are you being serious right now?"

"You've changed in front of me more times than I can count-"

"That was different!"

"How?! What, have you grown a tail or somethan'? Is that making you insecure?"

She shook her head as she tried to catch another chuckle before it escaped, "Rick-"

"Alright, fine", He spun around and faced the other way, "See. Just like when we were kids... and you didn't want me to see your cha-cha's"

Rick heard movement behind him, and he assumed she had started changing her clothes, as the last thing he was expecting was to feel a cushion smack him on the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"Just face that way! ...God, I can't believe you're seriously not leaving"

He sighed as he sat back, resting his hands behind him, "I don't want to. This is the first time in a long time that were being nice to each other…and you're not glaring at me-"

"I have my reasons to glare"

"I'm not denying that, I'm just saying that I like this… Don't you?", He turned his head by a small fraction, waiting for a reply, and when he didn't get one, he looked back, much to Michonne's displeasure, "Sorry! You didn't answer me!"

"I was thinking!", She shrieked.

"You could've said that", He exhaled tiredly, facing the wall again, "...And that's a strange way to take off your pyjamas..."

He heard her laughing quietly, which lead him to smile to himself. It left him almost giddy with pride.

It would be presumptuous to think that things between them would snap back to normal over night, but being able to speak to her and make her laugh, as opposed to upset, made him glow. As far as he was concerned it was a small step in the right direction.

"Where are my boots…", He heard her whisper to herself just as there was a knock at the door.

"Can I look somewhere else now? I'm getting tired of staring at this wall…", He peaked at her from over his shoulder.

"Yes", replied, slapping her hand down on the door handle.

"Morning!", Maggie grinned in the doorway, "Just wanted to see if y'all were up…Where's Shane?"

"Probably testing how well security works here", Rick smirked, rubbing the back of his neck as he stressed.

"Ah…", The girls green eyes darted between the two of them, "Can we go get breakfast?"

"Where's Glenn? Daryl? Sasha?", Michonne probed.

"Glenn's refusing to get up, and Daryl's copying him. Sasha said she'd meet me down here. We go get food and bring it back?"

"Sure. I need to stop by the library first", It was a good thing Michonne turned away from Rick, otherwise he wouldn't have seen the face he pulled, "Have you heard from Paula?"

"No! Not since last night! She said she was meeting a guy, Sasha said he was a professor here?", Maggie relayed with a shocked expression as she stepped into the room.

Rick's eyes bulged, "That's the older guys she's seeing? A professor? Here?!"

"Shhh!", Michonne waved her hand for him to quiet down, "I didn't know she went to meet him! They were just… I don't know it was weird-"

"Can't they get in trouble?", Maggie raised her eyebrows at her as she stressed her point.

"He's probably in his fifties…", Rick cringed at the thought.

Michonne began looking for her shoes again, "We'll check on her. I know she's back on campus…"

"Have you seen him? Do you know who he is?", Maggie quizzed, taking a seat at her desk.

"Unfortunately…"

"Sasha said he was hot, but in a 'TV show villain' kind of way? What does that mean?"

Michonne chortled, "That's the perfect way to describe him"

"And I am officially uncomfortable", Rick stood up with a groan, "I'm gonna' go… I'm just gonna' get out"

Maggie sniggered at him, "Go wake Glenn, do you remember where Sasha's dorm is?"

"Yep", He lied, strolling out the room.

The hallway was alive with students, moving in and out of each other's rooms, buzzing with conversation. Rick had always hated busy walkways and usually barged his way through, but as he was no longer in high school, he had to snake his way around students like everyone else.

"Oh hey, you going up?", Sasha stopped in front of him as he reached the grand staircase.

"Uh, yeah… Wait, No", He flashed her his devilish grin, "In fact, I need your help with somethan'...",

She squinted at him, eyeing him curiously, "What is it?"

"Who's Gabriel?"

Her visibly relaxed, "Oh, just some guy… he's nice and all-"

"He likes Michonne?"

Sasha's mouth snapped shut.

"He does, doesn't he?"

The girl shifted her stance, "He's pretty innocent Rick, you don't have anything to worry about-"

"Can you take me to the library?"

Her confusion was evident, "What for?"

Rick glanced over his shoulder, just in case he wasn't safe to speak freely, "He wants her to meet him there"

"Oh, well yeah they study there a lot—"

"So you can take me?", He grinned again, "I just wanna' see him. That's it"

"You're lying, aren't you?"

"At this very moment? No. I really just wanna' see him", He repeated sweetly, hoping he was giving her a persuasive smile.

Sasha stared at him with a blank expression.

"We'll just go, take a peak, and then come right back. That's it"

"He might not even be there anymore-"

"He woke up at god knows what time to bring her breakfast", Rick cocked his head at her, "He said he didn't even know where her dorm was and that he was just going to ask! Trust me, I can bet you my damn leg that he's still there, waiting for her at 'their' table"

Sasha narrowed her eyes at him as she crossed her arms, "You've put a lot of thought into this-"

He grabbed her by her shoulders and spun her around, "I have, now let's go"