September 18, 2010
I woke up with the sun kissing my face through the window. I had almost forgotten the events of the day before; I had almost forgotten that I had her back here with me, in my arms, in my childhood bed. I looked over at her, still sleeping against my shoulder.
I had very little desire to move, but my bladder was suggesting otherwise, and I had to admit that the trivial desire to have clean teeth and fresh breath around an attractive woman was eating at me.
I pulled the blanket up over her, and did my best to slide a pillow under her head as I moved my shoulder without waking her up, but I seemed to have failed this task.
Her brown eyes sprung open and for a moment, she looked scared, out of place.
"Mornin'," I said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
She wiped her eyes, and grumbled out an, "it's okay."
"Coffee?" I asked her.
I remembered how she liked it. Just pure black. No cream, no sugar, no nothing. I didn't like coffee at all, so I especially didn't understand her not only willingness but desire to just drink it pure bitter. But she was tough like that.
"Sure," she agreed.
I snuck out of my room, tip toeing to the kitchen to put a pot on my mom's coffee maker. It looked like everyone was still asleep, in fact, I could see Shane on a blow-up mattress in the dining room.
He was a good guy. A better guy than me, that's for sure. I had to do what I had to do when it came to Magna, but I was glad he was here for my mom and brother while I wasn't. Seeing him here overnight- well, he must really love my dad like a brother to do all this for his family.
After turning the coffee maker on, I slipped over to the bathroom, relieved myself and brushed my teeth, not missing the opportunity to apply some deodorant either. I had been tromping through the woods with no hygienic practices for a few days, I was surprised Magna was willing to come near me at all. Though I suppose she was practically in the same boat, but she was just as beautiful to me.
The bathroom was a mess since I last left it- but I supposed that everyone had been using it since we were all sharing this small three bedroom house for now.
Going back into the kitchen, I poured Magna's black coffee into a purple mug and crept back to my room.
She was sitting upright on the bed, stretching her arms upward, still in my t-shirt.
"Thank you," she said as I handed the mug over.
"Careful. It's hot."
She grabbed the mug with both of her hands wrapped around the cup.
I shook my head and smiled as she took a sip.
"That's the best coffee I've had in well over a year," she said.
I nodded my head. I understood why. Such a simple statement like that brought a pang of pain to my chest.
"What happened?" I asked, though I wasn't sure if I should.
Her demeanor changed back to her usual stoic one, and she looked down into the coffee mug as if there was something swimming around in there.
"Alison," she spoke, her voice low. "She called me crying. She told me what happened. Some scumbag who said he was gonna give her a job at a roadstop as a waitress. Real redneck piece of shit. I lost it. I went to my dad's, got his gun, and I shot him. I unloaded the clip."
Her eyes went far away, gazing out of the window.
"Anyone would have."
She shook her head.
"Anyone would have wanted to," I clarified. "Hey," I walked over to her and placed a tentative hand against her cheek, "you shouldn't have been put in prison to begin with for that. And you ain't goin' back."
"Why?" she looked up at me.
"What do you mean, why?"
"Why would you do all this for me- I mean, I thought you'd just move on. I thought it would be easier this way for you. Without me."
"Stop," I said, and I leaned down to put my face at her level. "It could never- never- be easier without you. I love you- you don't have to say it back, you don't have to feel it too, but I got to say it because it's the truth. There is no why other than that. You should've told me. You shouldn't have disappeared on me. You didn't have to go through it alone."
She looked away and out the window again.
I stayed in place and watched her eyebrows twitch until tears were in her eyes again.
"Hey, hey, it's okay," I cooed, and put myself back next to her in the bed.
She cowered over and some of her coffee sloshed on the floor. I grabbed the mug and set it on the headboard before more of it could spill, pulling her closer to me as she began to let her tears flow out of her eyes.
She pulled herself back up, and to my surprise, pushed my back into the bed, throwing the blanket over the both of us and pushing up against me.
Magna held my face in her right palm as we laid face to face in my bed. I looked at her, waiting for her to say something. Waiting for her to do something.
"I thought about you," she looked down when she said it. "All the time. All the fucking time. I didn't want you to deal with my shit, Jack. It wasn't your place."
It was my turn to take her face into my hands.
"It doesn't matter if it's my place or not. I want to be here. I want to be with you. That's all I ever wanted. It ain't about obligation. It's about the fact that you're the only one I want to be with."
Her dark eyes flicked back and forth between mine as she pushed her lips closer to mine until they were touching.
I was waiting for her to do it. To really kiss me before I did it first, but I really just savored the feeling of her soft, round lips against mine, little tastes of her breath seeping in through my lips.
But I couldn't help myself. I broke the tension and parted my lips, taking her bottom lip into my mouth, sliding my tongue up inside of hers.
She kissed me back- gentle at first- and then with such a ferocity that I felt my heart was going to explode.
She snaked her hands up the back of my neck and into my unwashed hair, pulling my body closer to hers as if close could never be close enough.
I matched her energy with the kiss, sliding my left hand around her waist and pulling her body closer to me, feeling her up against my chest.
I had begun to feel a stiffening in my sweatpants, when a knock at the door prompted us to pull away from each other.
"It's locked," I joked.
I got out of bed and hopped over her, going over to the door and opening it.
My mom was standing there, some items in her hands.
"Can I come in?" she asked; she sounded serious, so I wasn't going to tell her no.
I moved out of the way, so she could pass me by and closed the door behind her.
"Good mornin'," she said, more to Magna than me.
She handed over the items in her hand to Magna- a toothbrush, some hairbands, among other things.
"Thank you," Magna said, after having sat up in the bed.
"I know I told you last night, but you're more than welcome to be here," Mom told her. "And I don't want you to feel like your place is at risk. After Jack said somethin' about the prison bus crashin', I looked the story up. It hasn't been on the news because the disease is playin' on every station now. No one else knows, not Shane, most importantly. You don't gotta keep it from me, though, honey, I found your case, and I get why you did what you did. There's been plenty of times where my husband would come home, wishin' he could have done the same to men like that. Shane too. But he's gonna need time to come around."
I was shocked at how willing my mom was to just harbor a convicted criminal, but God, was I grateful.
"Thank you," Magna said, "for the stuff, and for that."
"No need to thank me," she said. With that, she walked away from Magna and back towards me, ruffling my hair like I was a little boy before saying, "I'm makin' eggs if you guys want any."
"We'll be right out," I said to her, taking a step back from her hands in my hair.
She closed the door on her way out, and I walked over to my dresser.
"Sorry, I ain't got much women's clothing-"
"I'd be concerned if you did."
I snorted, "but you can go through my clothes and wear whatever you want. Take your time in here if you need it. The whole Grimes menagerie is here, so I'd understand if you need your space."
"One of you is enough," she joked.
I laughed, "maybe too much."
"No," she said, and I heard her walking up behind me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her head against my back. I smiled to myself at the contact. "Never too much."
I turned around, not letting her arms leave my waist, until I was facing her.
She was only about an inch shorter than me, which really wasn't noticeable except for when we were this close.
I brought my lips down and closed that inch, kissing her softly, cutting it short before I got carried away.
"I'll be back," I said and slipped on by out of the room.
"Well, someone's got a little extra pep in their step," Shane remarked upon seeing me.
He was sitting at the island in the kitchen now, forking at a couple eggs on his plate.
"He's got the Grimes way with ladies," Uncle Jeff called out from the living room.
"Shut up," I said as I entered the kitchen to see if I could help my mom at all.
"It's good to see you came back, son," Grandpa Arthur said.
I wasn't sure how genuine this was, or if it was some kind of passive-aggressive dig, but I decided to give him a friendly nod.
Arthur Richard II was my dad and Jeff's father. All three of them looked pretty much alike, but Grandpa was aging, now sixty-three-years old. His once black hair was now thin white strands on his head. He was still in good shape from working on his farm, but his skin was wrinkling.
He sat with Shane at the kitchen counter, his wife, my Grandma Joan sitting on the other side of him. Grandma looked much older than I had last seen her too, but she was aging gracefully. My father and I had taken after her brown curls. Unlike all of the Grimes men, she had hazel eyes.
Uncle Jeff took much after Grandpa, with his black hair and blue eyes. Grandpa was the tallest, but Jeff was tall too, just a little bit more than my dad. Dad would never throw a fuss about his little brother being bigger than him, but I thought he was secretly insecure about it. I might be if Carl ever got bigger and taller than me.
Jeff's wife, Aunt Melody rushed around busily in the kitchen, helping my mom cook for everyone. She was a nervous little thing, always doing everything as fast as she could. I thought maybe it was because she was barely thirty and taking care of three kids already. She was younger than Jeff and a bit shorter. She was of mixed race- her mom was Mexican and her father a good old Kentucky redneck. She got his blonde hair, and the tan skin and big brown eyes of her mother.
Their two older kids- Bryson and Lana- took more after their father, Bryson especially. He had dark black hair and a long face with blue eyes. Lana got more of her mother's rounded features, but dark brown hair and blue eyes. The three-year-old, Garrett, took entirely after his mom- round features, blonde hair, tan skin, and big brown eyes. You could barely believe he was a Grimes if he didn't look just like his mother.
"Think I'm gonna take Magna to the store, pick up some things," I announced.
"What, are you crazy?" Shane asked.
"What?"
"Y'ain't goin' back out there," Shane continued. "I know it was dark when you pulled up last night, but didn't you see the state of things? Shops broken into. It's all anarchy. It ain't safe and no one steps foot outside this house."
"I ain't scared," I retorted, opening the fridge and pulling out the orange juice. "We can handle ourselves."
"I'm sorry, honey, but Shane's right," Mom spoke up. "It's way too dangerous out there. Magna can wear my clothes if she needs."
It was a nice offer, but I really didn't want to see the girl I loved in my mom's clothing.
"Or mine," Aunt Melody said.
That was at least better, but I thought I'd prefer her in my clothes.
Jeff walked off the couch and over to the counter, ruffling Carl's hair.
"Hey, buddy, why don't you take the kids off to your room and show them your comics?"
"Why?" Carl asked.
"Carl," Lori warned. "Do as your uncle says."
In true twelve-year-old fashion, he rolled his eyes then went over to the living room, rounding the kids up as they finished their breakfasts.
"You should've told him why," I suggested.
"You're pickin' up quite the habit of tellin' me how to raise my son," Mom said.
"He shouldn't have to follow every order without understandin' why," I replied.
"John, listen to your mother," Grandpa Arthur said. "If I spoke back to my parents like that, I would've been whooped."
"Yeah, and look how that worked out for you," I spat.
Just as Grandpa opened his mouth to say something, everyone was distracted by the sound of my door opening and Magna appearing in the doorway. She was in my clothes- a black tank top underneath a green button up. The tank top rode up on her stomach a bit, just above my jeans that she had on.
I never knew how incredibly hot she'd look wearing only my clothes.
"Why, hello, darlin'," Grandma Joan greeted.
"Want some eggs?" Mom asked.
"Sure," she agreed, walking forward to join us at the table.
"We need to talk about what's goin' on," Grandpa said. "I'm thinkin' we might be safer goin' back to Kentucky."
Grandma swatted him on the arm, "everyone could come," she added.
"I ain't leavin' my husband in the hospital here," Lori said.
"That ain't an option for us," Shane agreed. "I can't keep you all here, but I ain't sure I feel safe with all you goin' on out there with the kids on your own."
"We can handle ourselves, can't we Jeffy?" Grandpa turned to his youngest son.
Jeff's face was serious in a way no one saw often.
"I ain't leavin' my brother," Jeff answered.
Grandpa shook his head defeated.
"Look, I ain't sayin' y'all can't ever go back home, but for now, I'm tellin' you, we're all safest if we stay hunkered down here, somebody back me up here."
"You know I do," Mom said.
"He's right," Magna spoke up. "There's some weird shit going on, and we'd all do best to stay the fuck out of it."
Grandpa gave her a scolding look for her swearing, but she didn't notice because she was just looking at me. I knew she was thinking of the same thing as me. The way James had eaten Robert's face. She and Shane were right. We were safest all huddled up in here.
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AZW330: Thank you for reading and reviewing! I wish there were more male OC stories or just OC stories outside of heterosexual females; I wouldn't mind reading a woman/woman romance story on here. I really haven't seen many pairings outside of Daryl, so that's another way I wish there was variety on here with. To me, Magna is a character that kind of became wasted potential. She seemed very interesting in season 9, but they really never developed her even though they kept her around. And of course, Nadia Hilker is gorgeous. I wanted to show the early apocalypse, so we will slowly get into the walkers and whatnot. I don't have everything exactly planned out, but I want to partially follow the show, at least at first, but mostly have original events, locations, etc.