"You seriously need to learn to relax, Michonne. You are going to pass out one day from the pure exhaustion of worrying about everyone, but yourself," Rick said, slowly massaging Michonne's shoulders. "You do realize that you are as tense as hell, right?"
"Yeah, I know I am. I seriously don't know how to relax Rick, you should know this about me by now. After all, we've been friends for over fifteen years now."
"Well, one of these days you will need to learn. It's not healthy for you to be worrying about everything underneath the sun and not take care of yourself. All you are doing in the end is burning yourself out. You really need to take a vacation," Rick stated, as he stopped massaging Michonne's shoulders and sat down next to her.
"You know there is too much going on around here for me to do something like that just now." She whined. "You are aware that the IT program is coming up in 2 weeks and we can't seem to get the bugs out of it. Andrea is going to be leaving in about 2 months for her maternity leave and we can't bombard her too much. Jessie is breathing down my neck to make sure this program is working by Friday; I haven't even laid eyes on it yet and today is Monday."
"Michonne, you are starting to ramble." Rick said, turning Michonne to face him. "You have to remember that you are not the only one dealing with this stuff. We're on the same team, remember?" Michonne just nodded.
"So, please don't think you have to carry this load by yourself. Plus, if you don't calm down, I'll make sure the both of us go on vacation at the same time, so I can show you how to relax." Rick said, with an evil grin on his face.
"You're full of it, Rick. You know you aren't going to show me a damn thing. You can barely keep your mind off of Lori." Michonne stated, rolling her eyes and getting up to walk down the hallway.
Rick grabbed Michonne's arm and turned her around, with them basically inches away from each other.
"I might be with Lori, but I don't forget those who matter to me most, even if they are stubborn as hell and won't listen to me."
Rick put his free hand underneath Michonne's chin and lifted it, so they could look into each other's eyes.
"One of these days, some man will sweep you off your feet and you won't have time to worry like you do. I'm just waiting for that day."
"Whatever, Rick. There is no man out there that will or can deal with me and you know it. I work too much and play too little." Michonne stated, trying to back away from Rick. "Rick, come on. Let go. We have a meeting in ten minutes and I need to grab my notes."
"We're going to the same one, crazy. One of these days I'll get it through your thick skull that you deserve a good man and you will have one. You are just too damn stubborn to realize that right now." Rick stated, finally letting go of Michonne's arm and walking into his office.
"I seriously doubt any man would want to deal with me." Michonne thought to herself, walking into her office and shutting the door. "Plus, it doesn't help that the one man I want, treats me like his little sister."
Standing 6'2", with dark brown hair, sparkling blue eyes, evenly tanned skin, and cute boyish face, Rick Grimes was quite attractive. He had the typical athletic build, with him playing basketball. Of course, almost any woman would drool when they saw him. So, seeing him in dress shirt, with a tie and dress pants really didn't help matters either. He was attractive and had the personality, confidence and sense of humour to match.
The only difference was that Michonne had watched him grow up when he was basically a nobody in school, to somebody and she always thought it was an amazing transformation. So, she had seen his more sensitive side when other guys and girls were picking on him in high school and how he would cry from time to time. She had also seen the hurt in his face when he would ask a girl out and they would turn him down flat. But, now, she had not seen him shed a tear in years; on top of the fact that he could get any female he wanted.
Michonne always considered herself more of a "plain Jane" type of woman. She didn't think she had anything spectacular on her that would catch a guy's eye. She was a black female who stood 5'6", around 145 pounds, brown eyes and long black hair that reached below her shoulder blades when it was down. She had a slightly curvy body and if anything, she got sick of her behind. It wasn't out of proportion to the rest of her body, but if she put on jeans just right or a dress, she would get the constant stares from guys all over and it unnerved her. So, typically, she'd walk around with her dress pants and a nice dress shirt that would partly cover the top of her behind. If she was in casual clothes, it was always some slightly baggy jeans and a long t-shirt. She always felt it necessary to cover up her body, rather than show it off. Probably the way she dressed might have explained why she hadn't gone on a date in years, but that really didn't matter to her. She knew the one person she wanted and knew she would never get him.
Rick had always treated her as the "little sister." He would always make sure she was taken care of and that no one would treat her badly. Of course, he would flirt with her all the time, but she knew deep down it was never serious. It was always to catch her off guard. There had only been a couple of episodes where Michonne though Rick meant what he was saying, but she had realized that he had been drinking and whenever he was drunk, anything would come flying out of his mouth; so she had to learn not to pay attention to what he was saying. Of course, sometimes she wished that what he said was truthful, but it was nice to feel that attention from him, even if the next day he didn't realize he had said it.
Overall, Michonne had learned to love him as a friend, first and foremost. Her other feelings was something she dealt with when she was at home by herself. Seeing him with other women did not help matters. Even walking in on him having sex with some women didn't help. She would always wish she was the one that was underneath him, feeling every inch of him inside of her and on top of her. But she knew deep down that reality would never happen. She would keep her fantasies to herself and learn to move on. She figured that friendship was better than nothing at all, even though some days it was torture.
"Michonne, can you please come pick me up? I'm fucked up again and I don't want Lori yelling at me." Rick pleaded, slurring his words badly.
"Argh, Rick it's fucking three o'clock in the morning. You fucking know better. Where the hell are you?" Michonne asked, slightly pissed off from having the phone wake her from her sleep.
"I'm at Shane's house. I'm sorry, Michonne. You know I'll make it up to you."
"Yeah, right, whatever. I'll be there in five minutes." Michonne said grabbing a jacket and her keys on the way out the door. "One of these fucking days, I'll make Lori go get his ass. She's his girlfriend, not fucking me." Michonne thought, starting the car and heading to Shane's house.
It really wasn't that far to Shane's house, since it was only five blocks from Michonne's apartment. The whole reason why Rick would call her instead of Lori, was that his place was about twenty minutes out of town and calling her would start another argument. Rick knew it was wrong to call Michonne, but she would always come and get him and he would sleep on her couch. He would never admit to Michonne that he liked the way she would take care of him whenever he was drunk. He knew deep down that Michonne loved him, but she would never tell him, not when he was sober anyway. He knew it was wrong to "use" her to get her to pick him up, but she was the only person he trusted when he was inibriated.
Michonne pulled up in front of Shane's house and Rick was waiting outside. He staggered over to the passenger side of the car and got in. He already knew Michonne was going to yell at him, but he didn't care.
"Why is it that you never fail to go out and get drunk with the boys, Rick? Don't you think it gets a little much to get drunk ever damn Saturday night?"
"Well, if you know I get drunk every Saturday, you shouldn't be surprised by my call!"
"Maybe you should stop going out and getting drunk and maybe spend time with other, sober people like your girlfriend. I bet she would love to spend time with you on a Saturday every once in a while."
"If it bothered her so much, she would tell me. Look, it's not that big of a deal. I just don't want to bug her to come and get me. I don't feel like having an argument with her. It's bad enough having you yell at me."
"You'd think you would get sick of me yelling at you every time. This shit gets old. Do I need to help you in?"
"Nah, I think I can walk in. You might want to get behind me, though. I still feel a little wobbly." Rick said slowly getting out of the car and walking towards the apartment building. Rick was just thankful he didn't have to climb stairs because there was an elevator available. He wobbled in the elevator and leant against the side of it. He watched Michonne walk in and hit number two on the panel to get the elevator moving.
The elevator stopped and they slowly started walking to Michonne's apartment. They got to Apt. 215; Michonne unlocked the door and opened it. She stood to the side so Rick could wobble his way in. Michonne walked in, switched on the hallway light and turned to lock the door. When she turned back around to walk down the hallway, she ran right into Rick.
"Uh, Rick, why are you still in the hallway? Forgot how to get to the living room?" Michonne asked, while trying to back up from Rick, but he grabbed hold of her arms and wouldn't let her go.
"No, I haven't forgotten where the living room is. I just want to know why you always take care of me and don't just leave me where I am?" Rick asked, while inching closer to Michonne, making her back into the wall.
"I don't think it would be wise just to leave you wherever, knowing you have a girlfriend and knowing what kind of trouble you can get into. Plus, I'm your best friend. It's not like there is anything new with me helping you out."
"Hmm, you like helping me out in any way, eh? I can think of a few ways you can help me out right now," Rick stated as he put his arms around Michonne and pulled her even closer to him, so he could feel the full length of her body, molded to his. He liked how he could feel her breasts against him and could feel her thighs on his. He was slowly starting to get turned on and was hoping that she wouldn't feel him starting to get hard. This was caused by the combination of the feel of her body and breathing in her scent of vanilla mixed with the light scent of cocoa butter.
Rick started to whisper in Michonne's ear saying "The thing is, would you honestly help me out or are you just saying it, 'cause it makes me feel better? Sometimes I wonder if you are just playing with me or actually meaning everything you say."
Michonne realized that she liked Rick exactly where he was, but she also realized that he was drunk and he was not hers for the taking. She started to feel him getting hard from standing this close and she damn near wanted to hit herself on the head for knowing she needed to stop everything before it started.
"Rick, you are squeezing me to death. I damn near mean everything I say to you, so I have no idea where any of this is coming from. If you would like, I could always take you home to Lori, so you can have your other needs fulfilled. I am the best friend, not a fucking booty call. Now, let me go so I can make sure you don't do anything stupid and you can get some sleep before going home in the morning." Michonne stated, managing to push Rick away from her and crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Dammit, Michonne. You'd think you would want a guy to be that close to you, let alone inside of you. It's amazing how moral your ass is, knowing this was the last time you probably had someone that close to you, let alone wanting to touch you."
"You know what Rick, go fuck yourself. All I did was pick you up and you want to act like a fucking prick. Call your fucking girlfriend and get out of my house. I no longer have time for your shit." Michonne said walking past Rick and moving towards her bedroom. "Goodnight and good bye!"
Michonne slammed her door, walked over to her bed and dropped face first on to her bed. Unfortunately, the words that Rick said were true, but it truly wasn't any of his business. Yes, it felt good as held to have someone else hold on her body and be able to feel damn near all of him. The whole thing was, she knew better than to act on any of her actions, because she knew if she crossed the line of friendship with Rick, she would regret it. She knew she would regret it even more if it happened whilst he was drunk. Michonne didn't realize it, but she had started crying from hearing what Rick had said. Not too much later, Michonne ended up falling asleep.
Rick wobbled his ass into the living room and lay out on the couch. He wasn't as drunk as Michonne thought he was, but he did feel like an ass for saying what he had just said to her. The thing was, it was true. Even if he did have a girlfriend, he did have romantic feelings for Michonne. It probably wasn't the wisest way to tell her that he actually gave a damn, but he wasn't ever known for being tactful. He seriously wanted to see if Michonne had any feelings for him, let alone seeing how she would react to having him all over her. He really wished she would have reacted because from what he could tell, she did feel something, but the chance of him getting with her was now slim to none. He could hear her muffled tears and felt like an ass. He took out his phone from his pocket and called Lori. He had a long road ahead of redemption of him.