Loving & Living (a Norman Reedus FanFiction)

Chapter One: Adam and Skeeve

                                "She taught me how to love the world, I taught Her how to live it"

        

          The girl's first week in Atlanta proved to be more difficult than she hoped it would be. She had been harassed by three different men, all at different times, and approaching was the fourth. She wasn't certain he was strange or had malicious intent, but he had the same macho demeanor and expression that they all did. Similar to a man who takes out a loan he can't afford to buy a new car just to be the talk of the neighborhood. All she wanted to do was sit quietly at a picnic table and read her book, enjoying the sunny warm day. A light cool breeze made her hair brush her face lightly. She studied the man as he approached. She pushed the hair behind her ear and noticed as his smile drew closer how unnaturally white his teeth were. It didn't match his slight tan, which made it look even more out of place. He was well built and had seemingly clean clothes on. She wondered if he could be different than the rest. She wondered if he could be the start of some kind of relationship, whether if be platonic or otherwise. She hoped that was the case.

          "I couldn't help but notice you" he spoke with a cringy grin. She let out a small sigh, her time was being wasted yet again, and her patience was wearing quite thin. She couldn't stop looking at his teeth and his stupid shark tooth necklace.

          "Thank you" she replied awkwardly. He didn't leave much room for a response. She wondered if maybe he was just trying to say something different than the average you're hot, what's your number?. She would have preferred that over the current situation

          He sat next to her, much too close for her comfort, "i like your tattoo's" he said, eyeing each one thoughtfully "i usually hate girls with ink, but they make you look sexy" he had another grin that made her uneasy. He confirmed her suspicion if being strange when he started touching her tattoo's. She pulled her arm away quickly and stood.

          "I'd like it if you left me alone now" she said hesitantly. She didn't enjoy telling people how she felt. She wasn't used to all this attention she was receiving lately. She didn't mind being a pushover, as long as it kept the peace, but she was trying to work on that. The man stood up as well, looking incredibly offended as if she had just told him he smelled foul, or maybe insulted his mother. She hypothesized all men who act like this have an unhealthy relationship with their mothers.

          "All I said what you look sexy, why can't you take that as the compliment that is it?" he asked annoyedly, making a gesture with his arms that she was being unreasonably absurd for getting away from him.

          "Hey, idiot," a somewhat gruff voice shouted from the other end of the picnic table. She hadn't noticed him. Had he walked over when he noticed the pickle she was in? Or perhaps he'd been there the whole time and she was too stuck in her own world to even notice. "Just leave, she's obviously not into you" she looked over at him. The demanding way he spoke to the other man seemed to spook him enough, and he stalked off mumbling incoherently.

          "Thank you" she spoke quietly, nodding at him and sitting back down where she sat before. She noticed that the gum wrapper she used as a bookmark fell in the grass under the table. She bent over to grab it

          "Are you okay?" the man asked and she was so startled, yet eager, to lift her head above the table to talk to him more she thumped her head.

          "Not anymore" she laughed slightly, holding the back of her head. She hoped she wasn't blushing too much. He chuckled under his breath as she found her page and crumped the wrapper as she shoved it back in. she closed the book and looked at him. He was attractive, in a way. A way that the more she looked, the better the view became. His hair wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. It didn't look well kept, but not as if he didn't take care of himself.

          "Sorry for laughing," he said with a smile. She thought to herself that it was the most charming smile she'd ever seen. There was something about the way he carried himself that made her attraction to him intensified.

          "No worries," she smiled back "it was pretty funny" she leaned on the table a bit and looked at him as he scooched over in front of her, on the opposite side of the table. "It's like this city's out to get me" she joked, chewing the inside of her lip as she often did when nervous.

          "What makes you say that?" he asked in an incredibly genuine way that made her heart flutter just a bit

          "Oh, nothing really," she hesitated, wondering if when asking he was just being polite, or if he really wanted to know. She got her answer when he stayed silent, still awaiting her response. "Well, someone side swiped me yesterday, I've been followed and harassed by quite a few men, and the roommate I have in my new apartment isn't the friendliest" instinctively, she regretted telling the man that much of her personal life. Men didn't often care about the silly details of women's life, after all. She looked down at her book.

          "Oh, wow, the city is out to get you then" he said apologetically "where are you from? Your accent isn't from around here" she chuckled at the thought of someone considering her voice an accent

          "Seattle" she said, which was technically a lie. She had lived there for a time, but that's not where she was from, as there was no real answer for that. "Well, just the west coast in general" she added quickly.

          He nodded, thinking her answer over for a moment. "Have you ever seen a sasquatch?" he grinned and she laughed

          "Oh, yeah," she spoke sarcastically "they're all over" he laughed with her. Then he just looked at her for a second, but didn't say anything. "No book?" she asked, clearing up the silence

          He shook his head "i was just taking a walk, but I saw that guy was skeevy and wanted to make sure you were alright" that comment made her have hope that she had lately been severely lacking for the male population. He seemed like an alright guy, but only time could tell.

          "Thank you for that, again" she spoke, now looking at his eyes, and he looked right back. She blushed again and broke the contact

          "I hate guys like that" he said, sounding rather annoyed "i can't believe he actually touched you like that.." she nodded in agreement

          "Right?!" she rolled her eyes at the thought of it "at least the creepy ones tend to be upfront about it, you can weed most of them out of the good crops quick" he looked as if he wasn't sure what to say next, somewhat flustered

          "I guess while we're on the subject, do you want my number?" he asked her, almost embarrassed looking "just if you need help, or a buddy to help show you around" he added. She smiled first, then looked at him, puzzled. Buddy. Did he mean just a friend? She wasn't sure

          "Of course, I'd love that" she said, trying to decide if she should try and put out some kind of signal that she was interested in him. He asked for her phone to put his number in. she decided to play it safe and slow.

          He then checked his watch "shoot, I have to go"

          She nodded "oh, yeah, well go then" she smiled and picked up her book as he stood up "i'll text you?" it was more of a statement than a question. She just wanted one last affirmation from him that he really wanted to keep in touch. He grinned and nodded

          "I'm looking forward to it" he picked up his jacket, why he had a jacket in seventy degree weather was beyond her, and walked backwards, still looking at her "it was nice meeting you..." he trailed off, waiting for her name

          "April" she said, "how about you, mystery man?"

"Norman"

          Afterwards, she tried to focus on the words of her book, but her mind was consumed with the positive interaction she'd just had. Sure, she'd dated people before, but had never had such a smooth conversation, minus the head bump.

          To avoid seeming too desperate, she waited two hours to message him. When those two hours had passed, she looked, and in the contact name he had put "non-skeeve" which made her laugh. She sat on the edge of her bed and sent the message. She knew she would just keep checking every five seconds, so she threw her phone to the other end of the bed to prevent it. She didn't need to, however, because he answered in just a few minutes. A good sign? She hoped so.