❛ SURVIVOR'S HEART ! ❜
chapter fourteen ―― can i kiss you

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ AFTER DINNER, Jenner led them down a hallway as the lights flickered on. "Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here." He told them, but Charlie didn't care all that much, she was just excited to sleep in an actual room and not just a tent. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy." He turned and looked at Carl and Sophia. "Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power." They nodded before he stood up. "Same applies - if you shower, go easy on the hot water." With that he walked away and Glenn turned around, his eyes wide as a smile pulled at his lips.

"Hot water?"

"That's what the man said." T smiled.

"Hell yes!" Charlie cheered, throwing her head back a little as she closed her eyes - she couldn't remember the last time she had been so happy to take a shower with hot water.

After showering, most people went to bed, but Charlie lingered in the hallway with a bottle of whisky - she had never been much of a drinker before but she figured with the world ending and all that it wouldn't hurt anything if she got a little drunk. She smiled a little as she leaned her head back against the wall, it was the first time had felt truly safe in a while and was planning on relishing every minute of it that she could.

"What are you doing out here?" Josh asked as he sank to the floor next to her, she could tell he was drunk just by the way he stumbled on his way down the wall.

"Mason's sleeping." She told him, her voice low but not quite a whisper. "Not quite ready for bed and I didn't want to bother him." He chuckled as he shook his head a little. "So, here I drink alone in the hall."

"You're not alone." He told her, extending his hand out towards her and she handed him the bottle. "Not now at least." He added and she giggled as she leaned her head over on his bare shoulder.

"I was gonna shoot you." She mumbled, a laugh behind her words.

"What?" His brows pinched as he looked over at, but she wore a smile.

"Yeah." She chuckled. "When you first showed up, I grabbed my gun but Rick stopped me. I'm glad I didn't shoot you."

"I'm glad you didn't shoot me." He emphasized and she laughed as she sat up before she covered her mouth with her hand. She didn't want to wake up the others who had already gone to bed.

"Come on, let's get out of the hall before you wake everyone up." He patted her knee then pushed himself up and extended his hand out to her, she smiled as she took it and he pulled her to her feet before they started down the hall towards his room.

"I like talking to you." She told him as she flopped onto the couch and he sat next to her. "And looking at you."

"We've established that you think I'm pretty." He chuckled and she shrugged as she moved towards him. "Don't look at me like that." He mumbled, shifting a little in his spot and the girl smiled as a blush took over the boys cheeks.

"Like what?" She tilted her head to the side, batting her eyelashes.

"Charlie-"

"Can I kiss you?" She asked, moving closer to him.

"I'm not gonna stop you."

"Men." She groaned a little before leaning over and grabbing him by the front of his shirt. She pulled him to her and pressed her lips against his. It had been her first kiss since. . . she couldn't remember at that moment.

He moved his hands to her waist and moved her into his lap. The kiss grew heated and he moved a little before standing up, making sure he had a good hold on her, before he laid her back on the couch. He trailed his lips down to her neck and she let out a soft moan as she tilted her head to the side, then she grabbed his cheeks and pulled his lips back to hers.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ CHARLIE GROANED AS SHE woke up the next morning, her head pounding with a headache as she moved. She stopped when she felt something heavy on her side and she looked down to see an arm. Her eyebrows pinched as she turned then her eyes grew wide at the sight of Josh ― he was sound asleep.

She sat up, moving his arm slowly so she didn't wake him. Then she looked around the room, she found her clothes by the couch so she pushed herself up off the floor and made her way over and pulled her underwear up her legs before pulling her shorts up. She looked around but she couldn't find her bra, so she pulled her tank top over her head then she made her way to the door.

She glanced back to see that Josh was still asleep, she felt bad for leaving but she hadn't meant for things to go the way they did and she wasn't entirely sure what she was gonna say to him. She quietly made her way out the door, crossing her arms over her chest as she limped down the hall towards the room she and Mason were supposed to share. She opened the door slowly and peeked in, she sighed when she didn't see the blue-eyed boy, then she rushed in and dug through her bag for a bra and a change of clothes.

Once she was dressed, she pulled her hair up into a messy bun then made her way out of the room and down the hall, she had her hand against the wall to keep her steady.

"You alright?" She jumped and turned to see Daryl behind her, an amused smirk pulling at his lips because she was obviously hungover.

"Don't sneak up on me." She slapped his bicep and turned to make her way down the hall.

"Jeez, princess, how much did you drink?"

"Too much." She muttered and he chuckled. "Stop laughing at me." She grumbled before she stopped and leaned against the wall. "Help?" She looked over her shoulder at him, her lips pulled into a pout and he chuckled as he pulled her arm over his shoulders and she leaned against him - doing her best to keep her weight off of her ankle.

"I'm cutting you off next time."

"Sounds like a plan." She nodded, resting her head against his temple. "Now, stop yelling. My head hurts."

"Okay." He whispered as they walked into the cafeteria and few people turned to look at them, Mason narrowed his eyes at the two - when he woke up Charlie wasn't in the room and he was a little worried about her, even more so after seeing her with Daryl. "There we go." He mumbled as he lowered her into a chair next to Mason. "Eat somethin'." He patted her head before walking away and T-Dog walked over and scooped some eggs onto her plate.

"Eat up." He pointed at her plate as Mason put a few pieces of bacon next to the eggs. "Helps with the hangover."

"Thanks." She mumbled, getting a pat on the back from T as a few others filed into the room. She picked up her fork and poked at her eggs before scooping some up and taking a bite, she sighed a little, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Drink this." Mason put a glass of orange juice in front of her and she turned and smiled at him, her cheeks full - she loved orange juice. "Weirdo." He mumbled, smiling at the girl as she swallowed what was in her mouth then she reached for the juice.

"Charlie." Rick got her attention and he handed her a pill bottle.

"Thanks, big brother." She hummed before trying and failing to open the bottle.

"I got it." Mason took it from her hands and opened it before giving her two of the white pills. "Where'd you disappear to last night?" He asked as she put the pills in her mouth and washed them down with orange juice.

"Morning." Josh greeted as he walked into the room. "Oh, eggs." He grabbed a plate and made his way over to T-Dog who put a hefty amount on his plate, then he joined the others at the table - sitting next to Charlie, who kept her eyes on her plate as she ripped a piece of bacon in half and ate it. "She okay?" He asked, looking over at Mason.

"Just hungover." Mason nodded, picking at his own plate, but he did notice that she was acting weird. "Can I talk to you?" He asked the girl.

"But my food." She mumbled, her brown eyes wide and her mouth full.

"It'll only be a minute." He told her and she nodded before downing some orange juice then she followed the boy away from the table. "What happened last night?"

"Mason-" She groaned, turning away from him but he grabbed her arm to stop her.

"You didn't come back to the room last night and Daryl pretty much carried you in here, if you and he-"

"You think I slept with Daryl?" She asked, her eyebrows pinched and her voice hushed.

"Well, you two have been getting close-"

"I slept with Josh, you idiot." She slapped his arm and he slowly turned to see that everyone had stopped eating and was looking over at them. "That was loud, wasn't it?" She asked, her eyes on Mason and he nodded. "Wonderful." She hummed before making her way back towards the table, sitting next to Josh - Rick was looking between the two. "No." She pointed her finger at him. "I'm an adult, don't start that."

"I didn't say anything." He raised his hands a little as if to surrender.

"Good." She shifted in her seat. "And let's not tell Shane, okay?" She looked around the table and everyone nodded. She sighed then went back to eating, not bothering to glance at the boy to her right - she was too afraid to look at him.

"Hey." Shane greeted as he walked in and Charlie shifted in her chair, keeping her eyes from her brother because she was scared he would sense that something had happened.

"Hey." Rick nodded up at him before looking at Charlie once more. "You feel as bad as I do?"

"Worse." Shane replied, fixing himself a cup of coffee as T walked over to him.

"The hell happened to you?" He asked, Charlie looked up, her eyebrows creased, T was looking up at Shane "You're neck?" He asked as the man sat down and everyone looked over to see three scratches on his neck - they looked relatively fresh and he hadn't had them the last time anyone saw him.

"Must've done it in my sleep." He told him.

"Never seen you do that before." Rick told him.

"Yeah, Bubba." Charlie told him as she pushed herself up and rounded the table.

"Me neither. Not like me at all." He looked over at Lori as Charlie stopped next to his chair and grabbed his chin to turn his head to get a better look. The young brunette saw the look and her eyebrows furrowed before looking over at Lori, who gave Shane a look - but it was different then how she used to look at him, even after Rick came back. Something was up, Charlie knew that.

"Does it hurt?"

"A little." He nodded as he turned his head away from her. "Quit making a fuss and go-ow!" Charlie pressed on the middle scratch and he turned in his chair, his eyes narrowed. "What the hell was that for?"

"Nothing." She gave him a smile before patting his shoulder and making her way over to her chair, Charlie looked up to see Lori looking at as she gave the woman a small smile and the older woman nodded as a sort of thanks.

"Morning." Jenner greeted as he walked in, but Charlie kept her eyes on her brother, he was acting weird. Something had happened and she knew that Lori was a part of it somehow.

"Morning, Doc." Shane and a few others greeted in return, and when he looked up he saw Charlie looking at him, her brows creased as if she were trying to figure something out. "What?" He asked, leaning forward, his elbows on the table.

"Nothing." She shook her head, a small smile pulling at her lips as she poked at her food but he knew that she was lying.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-" Dale started.

"But you will anyway." Jenner finished his thought.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea told him.

"I came here for the eggs." Mason mumbled, getting a small laugh from Charlie and a few others. Charlie's smile faded when she looked up at Shane again, she had a pit in the bottom of her stomach and a part of her didn't want to find out what had happened, but she knew she had to.

"I'll, uh, let you guys finish eating, then we'll talk." Jenner told them as he fixed himself some coffee.

"Bubba, can I talk to you for a minute?" Charlie asked.

"About what?"

"Privately." She pushed herself to her feet and nodded her head for him to join her, he sighed but picked up his coffee and followed her into the hall - she didn't want to repeat what had happened with her conversation with Mason.

"What's so secret?"

"What happened to your neck?" She asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I told you-"

"You've never scratched yourself in your sleep before." She cut him off. "And what was that look you gave to Lori? Did something happen?"

"Charlie, it's not what it looks like. I was drunk-"

She took a step away from him. "Lori did it?" She mumbled.

"Yeah, she, uh, caught me with her nails when she pushed me away." He told her and her head dropped, her eyes feeling with tears.

"Why did she have to push you away?" She asked, though she had pieced it together. She needed to hear him say it, hoping that maybe she wasn't right. "Shane?" He looked taken aback that she had called him by his name, it was rare that she called him anything other then Bubba, ever since she could talk.

"I was drunk-"

"And you tried to sleep with your best friend's wife?" She finished for him, looking up at him with tear filled eyes.

"I love her."

"If you loved her, you wouldn't have done that." She turned to walk away from him but he grabbed her wrist as they entered the cafeteria. She turned and slapped him, gaining everyone's attention. "Don't." She yanked her hand free then made her way back to the table, ignoring the questioning looks as she poked at her food. She had lost her appetite.

NOVA SPEAKS !

double update!! we're getting
closer to the end of act one!!