Remember that text? update is on it's way, sorry for the long wait. Expect it this week - anon
"You lied to me Rick." He watched Michonne stash two crates of papers in the closet of her hall. He was lucky, since calling him the son of a bitch in the staff lounge she hadn't spoken a word to him since. Call him stalker but he followed her back to her flat. He didn't want things to be on bad terms between them.
"Michonne I didn't lie, I just withheld that little detail?" He really didn't mean for it to sound like a question.
"Rick, you kissed Jessie Anderson. Jessie." She trailed of shaking her head. "I mean she was pinning for you but Rick, I didn't expect that. To make it up to me, you need to tell me everything, I mean it."
"Michonne it was two years ago. Jessie, she came onto me at the party. You were sick that Christmas remember?"
Michonne nodded from behind her granite counter. "You mean when you came over that night and brought me soup. You had Jessie's lips all over you." She made a face.
"I went into the parking lot, just to shake her off. She followed me and kissed me. We were both tipsy. I guess I kissed her back. It was a misunderstanding." He watched her, expecting her to say something. She remained quiet. "We didn't have sex if that's what you're waiting on."
"Oh, I knew you didn't have sex with her. I find it odd, compared to Andrea she's so timid." Just thinking about his ex-made his head hurt. Every now and then, she'd call him, come over and they'd 'talk'. At least that's what she told her current boyfriend. Yes, Rick was someone's side piece. Though the last time he spoke with her was 4 months back. And they did just that, talk. Michonne knew all about that. "Now that I think about it, I don't even know your type." Michonne crossed her arms. He scoffed, was she serious? Reading his mind she replied. "I'm serious Rick. There was Lori then Andrea, that one night stand you had before we met. Do you even have sex anymore? Last time Andrea called was like 3 months ago wasn't it?"
Michonne knew she shouldn't be asking, she knew damn well she shouldn't. She just loved to torture herself, call her a masochist. She watched as he scrubbed his hands down his face. He sighed, clearly annoyed with her line of questioning. "It was four. Four months ago, Michonne." She felt jealousy that Andrea had him. She envied Jessie, of all people; she was able to plant her thin lips on him. She shuddered at the image she conjured. She had no one but herself to blame, Rick was handsome, she couldn't deny that. Just his face could reel in any woman he wanted. It was her fault for falling in love with her best friend. Talk about hiding things from each other. She wanted to tell him, tell him how enthralled she'd become. She found herself craving his words, his laugh and his smile. She wanted to tell him, but she didn't want to risk it, risk it all on the possibility that he wouldn't feel the same.
Of course there were times where she felt confident enough to express her feelings. Pour her heart out to him. Those quite moments sitting on his couch making fun of predictable lifetime movies, her feet would always end up in his lap. He'd nurse a large bowl of popcorn, often throwing some in her direction before grabbing a handful and stuffing it in his mouth. She wanted to tell him when he broke up with Andrea. She couldn't.
"As for a type, I don't have one." He continues oblivious to her roll in self-pity. She shook her thoughts off and scoffed at him.
"Clearly there's something, Andrea was blonde and so was Jessie, so explain that."
"Jessie shouldn't even be brought up again. And Lori was a brunette. Let's just say I'm starting to have an appreciation for a strong minded woman with a curvy body." He trailed off tilting his in her direction. Feigning shock Michonne threw a hand over her mouth.
"Little big Judy Rick?! She does have a nice shape." Little big Judy's name spoke for itself, she was biggity yet tender. She didn't have time for Negan's shit. And for the benefit of the eyes of the male staff, she was slender with wide hips, hence the name little big Judy. Rick scowled, he knew she knew who he meant.
"No. Judy always has this strange look when I'm around her." Michonne knew what that look meant. Hell, it was the same look she sported when she first met him. If it wasn't for Rick initiating small talk with her constantly. They wouldn't be the way they are. "Earlier when I got my ticket, she kept staring at me, didn't even greet me."
Michonne scoffed. He was so clueless when it came to women at work. It's quite funny how he realized when women wanted him everywhere besides their workplace. "Well Rick, that's because she fancies you." She watched has he pierced his lips in doubt. "Shit, most women on campus fancy your baby blues." She watched as he squinted his eye's, brushing invisible dirt off his grey denim button up.
"Speaking of tickets, did you get yours? And you never answered Sasha about that trip." He decided to disregard her earlier comments as 'unimportant', quite frankly he didn't care who liked him. He braced his arms against the counter Michonne occupied. She shrugged crossing her arms. "I'm still in shock that these tickets are both valid and legitimate. It's a bit of an upgrade in comparison to his last gift giving spree." She was putting it nicely. The last array of gifts that were showered on the staff was door stoppers. Although there were multiple colors for the choosing, they were still door stoppers.
A low buzz invaded the room. Michonne glanced at her abandoned handbag. Groaning when she realized it was her bag vibrating against the counter violently. Grabbing her purse she dug through its contents until she found her phone. She stared at the phone. Mike's smiling face invaded the small screen, the cellphone icon budging with every vibration, urging her to answer the call. "You gonna get that?" Shit. Rick didn't know about Mike. Talk about hypocrisy. To be fair after meeting during the school's university tour for the English department, she made it clear she wanted nothing more than a friendship. She had to give props for his unwavering commitment of trying to change her mind. If she answered the phone Rick would be suspicious, as far as he knew nobody important to her called her through the week. However, if she declined the call he'd still be suspicious. She glanced up catching his blues gaze, she discreetly pressed decline.
"That may have been important." He saw. Of course he noticed her decline the call. She shrugged it off hoping he'd drop it. "It's not as important as getting to the bottom of your relationship problems." She resumed her earlier stance.
Rick felt his earlier exhaustion return. For the past month or so he noticed those little phone calls she declined whenever he was around her. He frowned, she never mentioned meeting another man. Rick didn't want to think about there being a man besides him and her father in her life. He was tired. They both had to deal with ignorant parents who thought their child was subjected to special treatment solely due to the money they slid Negan under the table. He could already hear the "I practically own this school." And their favorite, "What about all the money I invested. It'd be a shame if I stopped." He pinched the bridge of his nose. Suddenly, a summer vacation sounded utterly appealing. "We both have a long day tomorrow. I'll message you when I get home. Alright?"
"Fine."
After closing the door to his home, he took a breather. He locked the door and flipped open his phone. Michonne often teased him after he purchased the phone three years ago. He just felt more comfortable knowing he could slam his phone shut. He dialed her number.
"Sasha just called about ten minutes after you left." He relaxed hearing her voice.
"That woman works fast." Sasha must've really wanted this trip, if it only took her two hours to find activities and look through hotels.
"She emailed the details to me. You should check it out." After ending their call and ensuring Sasha's email was legit he dozed off.
Rick sat at his desk mulling over the list of students that have yet to drag their parents to him. Two hours into collecting their kids report, the number of parents with complaints seemed to have dwindled. He only hoped those that remained kept their threats and verbal abuse to themselves, for his sake and theirs. He rubbed the back of his neck. He was lucky, most of his students didn't bother checking in with him. They came for their reports and left. Compared to the noise emitting from the hall he was fortunate.
Leaning back in his seat he waited for the next pair of parents, they always came in pairs. The father, usually dressed in a tailored three piece suit would always to the talking. Finding their wives incompetent of persuading him to change grades he suspected. Which was true, he couldn't count the amount of times a mother pulled her blouse down to expose a little more cleavage, purely by accident, not that they would admit to seducing him. Onto a more polished perspective of a mother, she'd usually stand mute behind her husband. Compared to number of times she'd complain at PTA meetings, about little things, like criticizing other parents on putting sugar in pastries at bake sales. He'd expect her to be a little more vocal. He laughed to himself quietly, not that all parents were like that, about five percent of them didn't care as much. It was clear Rick got part of that five percent this term.
"What's so funny?" Glenn questioned, walking tiredly to the nearest chair. Rick watched him, he yawned widely stretching his legs out before him. Glenn got the other ninety-five percent.
"You got the other ninety five." He mentioned more amused at is words now that he thought about it. Glenn squinted in confusion, he turned pink trying to put the puzzle together. He sighed in defeat, too tired to put up an effort. "You math people, I tell you."
"Why does everyone have it out for us?" He asked. "Shit, this department has some of the best results in the state."
Glenn made a face. "It's nothing bad, everyone else feels that you guys are getting unnecessary funds from Negan. I'm not complaining the bio department isn't hurting." Though no one would verbally acknowledge it, since starting his job here there's always been this silent war between departments. Then there was the infamous printer accident, which only made things more hostile. For instance if Rick went to the foreign department for a projector he'd be subjected to being called a 'puta' by Rosita followed by a door being slammed in his face. Or maybe Rosita didn't like him. Regardless if he ever needed to 'borrow' something Michonne always had his back.
"By everyone else you mean the foreign department?"
Glenn shrugged, "It's just words from the wind. I don't know who said it." Glenn glanced around the class noticing the lack of uprooted desks and papers. "Didn't you have a full class this term? Where did your students go?" His demeanor turned skeptical. "You didn't kill them did you?"
He laughed. "I was lucky, the parents from this set don't same to care. In fact, I'm still waiting on the rest of them to show up." He glanced at his watch before continuing. "Only an hour left."
"Oh so that's what you meant by me getting the ninety five. You have no idea the war zone I've dealt with. I'm pretty sure most of the students I taught have two sets of parents. And they all shout. I did feel better when I thought I heard fist pounding doors on the other side of campus." Rick laughed, some departments just deserved it after all every teacher played a roll making those exams.
"By the way did you get Sasha's email, I don't know how she does it, getting our town house in order, finding activities, highlighting references to health articles and rented a jeep in one day." Of course he read it. It may have been half, no a quarter of the entire email he read but he tried. Glenn stared at him. "You didn't read it."
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, I did. I read it, well some of it. Honestly, I just wanted to sleep to prepare myself for today. Didn't look like I needed it."
"You know how Sasha gets." Rick knew what he meant, she went a month without talking to him after he neglected to tell her Michonne went out on sick leave. She takes her emails very seriously. "Just in case you missed it. We're all heading to the bar after work for a trip 'briefing'. I'm surprised Michonne didn't run this by you." She didn't. He didn't hear from her all day. He knew she was hiding something, but that never stopped her from talking to him. Unless…
"I think I know who had the ruthless end of that ninety five percent."
"Sir you should calm down, your wife said getting riled up is not good for your health." Michonne stared at the red face man, his hairline receded the angrier he became, it seemed.
"You don't care about my god damn health!" He spat. "If you cared you'd have a fucking A on this paper! Who fails English?! It's his first language!" He shouted before coughing into his hand. Beside him, his wife was desperately trying to calm him down. He stomach was folded over his trousers, his belt pulled a bit too tied. On a whim, she guessed that could've been a contributing factor to his coughing fit. "I don't pay all that money for this shit!"
"If your son submitted all his written assignments on time he would have an F on that paper. You pay this school to ensure that your child is prepared for university on an Ivy League level. I assure you Professors at Harvard won't give (Not one god damn shit!) your son extended deadlines." Maybe if she pulled his belt a little bit tighter it would stop the flow of oxygen to his brain. Of course she didn't want him to die, just faint so an ambulance could escort him out her classroom.
Her patience was winding down. All day, it was like this all day. With few exceptions, every parent entered her class arguing, their child's report clutched in their fist like a vice. She sighed tuning out the man standing before her, he just repeated himself. Even students whose grade was a B+ had parents that weren't satisfied and they made sure she was aware of it.
Thankfully, this was the last of the bulk of parents that invaded her, she was tired of being caged in this war zone with no retaliation. She hummed her relief, inwardly grateful that the man's wife was able to coax him into halting his verbal assault. Before leaving the woman smiled politely as way of an apology for her husband's terrible behavior. Michonne smiled back, but she had a sneaking suspicion that she was scowling.
After hearing the door close, she quickly gathered her bag and cleared her desk area out. She couldn't get there fast enough, she needed a drink. Shots of all the strong stuff would do her justice, wash away the agony disguised as report day. Unfortunately she cared for the wellbeing of herself and others too much. Slamming her car door shut unnecessarily hard she made her way over to the entrance of Morgan's Bar. The familiar serene atmosphere greeted her. She was a bit late, between gathering her mind in the schools parking lot and waiting in lunch hour traffic Sasha was about 20 minutes into her 'briefing'. As soon as she examined the bar she spotted a high puff accompanied by some familiar faces and baby blue eyes. She had it bad.
Daryl made a gesture for her to come over. "Your late ninja." He greeted her, throwing her arm over her shoulder in a hug. One time she took a kendo class across the way from Daryl's job needless to say she never heard the end of it.
"I know Daryl." She could feel Sasha's eyes burning into her.
"You know, all this research I did, staying up all night to book and reserved everything. Not to mention ducking work on report day, being at least fifteen minutes late instead of forty would've been good." Of course she skipped work. From the corner of the booth Maggie rolled her eyes.
"Sasha you just got here, besides your only briefing us for five minutes and we'll be eating for the next thirty. She smiled as Maggie came to her rescue. She noticed as Maggie nudged someone beside her. Glenn was sleeping. "Slide over so Chonne can get in." Her southern drawl still prominent even after living in the city for years, much like Rick's. Rick was silent, he also looked slightly guilty. After making way for her to pass she slid beside him. She peered at him until those blue eyes were forced to look back at hers. She gasped her hand covering her mouth feigning shock. "You didn't read Sasha's email!" She exclaimed quietly but it was lout enough for Sasha's ears to latch on.
Rick groaned. "You had one job Rick, read and comprehend." Sasha said from her seat.
"That's two jobs." Daryl mumbled studying the menu. Sasha glared at him, Maggie laughed.
"Look I'm hungry so I'll leave my angry reactions in your emails with emojis. The red faced ones." Digging in her purse she retrieved a manila folder. She took out several sheets handing it to them. "Alright, our flight is for 9:00 am day after tomorrow," She glanced between her and Rick who looked as tired as she felt, "that mean you two pick a car and head to the airport two hours early if you have to." The shade was always dominant with Sasha.
Rick frowned. "Why are we leaving so soon. It takes time to pack."
Sasha gave him a look. "Well if you read your email you'd be packing from last night, Rick. I changed our seating arrangements so once in flight we're at least close together. Also when we check into our home during our 30 day stay we'll just have to confirm and we're golden." They all nodded.
"I don't know what coffee you drink but it works, thank you for doing all the things we're too lazy to do." Sasha smiled at her words.
Daryl stole a tray of drinks from a nearby table boy. He kicked Glenn's shoe beneath the table resulting in him shooting up in his seat. They all grabbed a drink off the tray while he posed a toast.
"To safe travel's and a fucking amazing trip to come."