There was a stiffness in Rick's neck when he awoke on his small couch, the trade paperback Wytches resting on his chest. He had fallen asleep while doing his required reading to join Michonne at her comic book club that was meeting the following day. His first impression of the book he had fallen asleep reading was that it was nothing like the Archie comics he read as a child. The artwork looked like something that should be hanging in a gallery. He thought the themes were very mature as well as the language; Rick suddenly questioned whether or not he should be worried about Carl reading that particular book. He figured he would ask Michonne.
…..
Rick, being an upstanding police officer, did not usually feel intimidated easily; he was always one to face any difficulty head-on. However, he felt less adequate to deal with his current situation as he and Michonne made their way into one of the back rooms at Mom's Basement Comic Book Shop. He did not want to make a huge fool out of himself and then embarrass Michonne; he just wanted to show her that he could take an interest in some of the things that she loved.
Michonne led the way as Rick followed behind with the bottles of soda that Tony asked that she bring. She led him over to what looked like a refreshments table covered with sandwiches, chips, dip and other finger foods as well as plastic plates and cups. Rick set the drinks down and a friendly girl named Mindy thanked him.
"You're new," she said with a warm grin as she introduced herself.
"I'm Rick," he said amicably. "And it's my first time at one of these functions."
"Ooh!" said Mindy enthusiastically. "That's so exciting! Did you just recently move here or just stumbled on and decided to become involved in our little club?"
Rick chuckled a little.
"Nah, none of that," he smiled. "My girlfriend, Michonne, she told me about it so I thought I'd come along. I'm not really into comic but she loves 'em so I thought I may as well see what the fuss is about."
"Michonne's awesome and that's so nice of you to do that for her," said Mindy as she glanced over at Michonne who was now setting up another table.
"Well," said Rick as he leaned his weight onto his left leg. "It ain't no secret, but I'd do anything for her."
…..
Tony brought a box over to where Michonne was that contained a bundle of comic books that were to be left on the swap table. He spread them out and offered Michonne a wide grin.
"Got some good stuff to swap this month," he said cheerfully. "Hope you brought something with me in mind."
"You know, I completely forgot," said Michonne. "I was so caught up with making sure Rick read Wytches that I forgot to bring something to trade."
"Why does Rick need to read Wytches?" asked Tony, a little surprised that her cowboy boyfriend would be interested in the same things that she and he were.
"He's here today," she said, gesturing to where Rick stood talking to Mindy.
"Oh, I didn't realize he was coming," Tony said. "That's cool. It's good to have more people here."
Michonne nodded and thought he did not sound convinced of his own words.
…..
