It was about 10AM when Makayla woke up and got ready for the day.
She walked out into the streets of Jackson seeing many people on their feet already.
She walked through a group of people when she saw Maria.
"Maria!" Makayla called her name and she automatically turned to look at her.
"Seems like you do love to sleep in." Maria declared with quite a smile as Makayla stopped in front of her.
"Come with me." Maria motioned and Makayla followed her down the street right into the stables.
There was multiple horses, all different colors and she noticed two of them missing. Tommy and Joel must have took them.
"I got one for you." Maria said and walked to the back.
Makayla's eyes were immediately met by a pair of big brown eyes staring at her while chewing on some dry hay.
"That's Shimmer." Maria looked at Makayla while stroking Shimmer's big head.
"Hey you." Makayla stepped closer, patting Shimmer's neck as she admired her. She had such a shiny coat and a muscular body.
"Dina should be here in a moment, you can help her prepare the celebration tonight."
"Celebration? What, another 'little revel'?" Makayla snorted.
"Something like that. A group of our men came back tonight after a pretty long journey. We're celebrating their survival."
"That's great." Makayla nodded, giving her whole attention to Shimmer again.
"I just hope this one will be without drama." Maria emphasized and went for the exit and Makayla remained silent, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
"Sorry I took so long." Dina walked in as soon as Maria walked out.
"You didn't. So when do we start with the preparation?"
"Right now if you want to?"
...
"So you had a brother?" Dina looked at her as they were finishing getting everything ready.
"Yeah. He was 5 years younger than me. He got bit..." Makayla responded, her brown eyes fixated on the wooden floor when she couldn't finish the sentence.
"Don't feel like it's your fault. You kept him alive for 6 years. Many wouldn't make what you bodied." Dina gave her a small smile, trying to cheer her up and Makayla smiled back just to satisfy her.
But truth was, she still felt guilty..
... Later that day
She could see Joel already enter the pub before him and Tommy made their way to the bar.
"You're not gonna say hi?" Dina provoked in a flirty voice, bumping her shoulder into Makayla's.
"No.. that'd be awkward." Makayla shrugged.
"Seems like he's looking for you."
Dina's words made Makayla look back at him and his eyes sure were moving all around. Until they landed on her.
He gave her a slight wink as he took a sip of alcohol.
Makayla could feel her cheeks burning just from looking at him. He was leaning against the counter, a smug expression on his face while he was talking with the others.
His shirt a little bloody, hugging his hard chest and arms.
Joel sure was a dream.
"Stop drooling, let's dance!" Dina pulled Makayla into the crowd of people as they started swaying to the music. Their hips moved together and they didn't really care that their dance moves looked mostly sexual.
But every now and then Makayla took a peek towards Joel. Making sure he was watching.
Tommy snorted out a laugh when he saw Joel looking at Makayla so fixedly.
"Seems like she likes giving you a hard time,huh?" Tommy nagged but Joel only smirked at his remark,
"A hard one for sure."
Tommy immediately elbowed him with a frown making Joel release a low laugh.
"Jesus Christ Joel." Tommy shook his head, this time with a smile before looking at Joel again.
And that was when he realized he liked this Joel. It reminded him of the Joel before everything went down. Before infected. Playful and sarcastic.
When he compared this Joel to the Joel after the outbreak it was like two different people.
After Sarah's death he was fixated on survival. Killing innocent and drowning himself in alcohol. There was no talk with him. It was rough.
Makayla could also see Tina and not only her checking Joel out. While Joel could see many man checking out Makayla. They were completely hypnotized by such a young and pretty woman.
"My head's spinning." Makayala laughed as Dina pulled her to the side and continued dancing.
Dina sure had a lot of energy. Maybe too much energy for Makayla's liking.
"I'm gonna go outside for a second." Makayla let go of Dina's hand and walked outside straight to a bonfire since the night was pretty cold. A cloud of warm breath escaped her mouth as she watched it dissapear in the air.
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"Came for some fresh air?"
She jumped when she heard Joel's voice behind her.
"Didn't realize it was fucking freezing." Makayla clenched her jaw, hugging herself with her arms and Joel released a low chuckle.
She couldn't help but react to that sound as she walked closer to him and he invited her into his embrace.
She could feel him take a deep breath as her head was resting against his chest. She immediately warmed up and when she looked up she was met by his eyes right away.
Her hands gripped his shirt as his hands made their way to her waist and their faces slowly moved closer when a voice interrupted them,
"Who would have thought." A guy snorted while he was walking past them.
It was Seth with that mean expression on his face.
Joel slightly pulled away, his body stiffened as he glared at Seth, his gaze following him.
"Joel-" Makayla gripped his shirt tighter to make him let it go, "Let's just go home."
The words that left her mouth made him feel something. He felt he would never get used to this.
His face relaxed but only a little. He was still fuming it was obvious.
He released a heavy sigh before nodding in agreement and they both walked back to their house.
