Zombpocalypse in the Making

Chapter 12~ The Ghosts of Friendships Past

Zombpocalypse In The Making

Chapter 12~ The Ghost of Friendships Past

James's POV~

We'd been here at the bunker for two days. I would've said 'already,' but it felt like an eternity had passed. Chrysanthemum and I were getting closer, and both Bryan and Kenny were getting farther away from me. I couldn't understand why. I mean, they'd been my best friends since I could remember, and after all those years of friendship, they were starting to distance themselves.

To say their friendships didn't phase me would be to lie. The fact that they were avoiding me broke me down. Chrysanthemum was weird about it, too. She only got upset when Bryan was being distant. Whenever Kenny was acting weird, she didn't care a bit. It seemed like she didn't like him, and that in itself was weird to me. At the same time, I didn't mind. The only one out of Bryan and Kenny that was actually being civil was Bryan. Kenny had just been becoming a jerk.

For the third time that day, I pulled Chrysanthemum out to the hallway and dragged her to the pantry. She laughed at me, because I couldn't stand the tension in the room. With me, Kenny, and Bryan all sitting in there, it was as if we all wanted to fight. The air was suffocating and I just couldn't stand feeling like my best friends wanted to come after me. So I would pull Chrysanthemum out of the room, telling her some crap story about not wanting to go through the hallways alone because of the possibilities of zombies, and she'd come along, knowing I was lying but choosing to stay silent about it anyway. I was thankful that she wasn't trying to force me to talk.

When we entered the pantry I sat down on a bench I'd placed in there, straddling it and facing Chrysanthemum. She'd become my method of coping the past couple of days, and I felt bad because it felt like I was kind of using her, but she didn't seem to mind, and we both knew I wasn't going to use her as my comfort blanket forever. I'd have to learn to cope without her.

She straddled the bench as well, pulling me toward her and pushing my head onto her shoulder before I could even release the sob that was building in my throat. My arms wrapped around her waist as I buried my face in her neck, grateful when she wrapped her arms around my back in return and started drawing soothing circles on my back. I couldn't tell her thank you enough. Even if I thanked her every day for the next 40 years it wouldn't be enough. So I just sobbed into the crook of her neck until I'd cried it all out like the big baby that I was.

It was the first time I'd cried in front of her, or rather, on her. And I hoped it'd be the last. I pulled away slowly, unwrapping myself and kissing her softly on the cheek. She smiled sadly and wiped my tears away, making me pull away and her laugh. I wiped my eyes instead of her and mock glared at her. "I already cried on you like a girl, you aren't supposed to make me feel like more of one!"

"What if I want to be the guy in the relationship?" She glared playfully right back. My fake glare dropped for a thoughtul look, and I shrugged, not exactly sure.

"I guess you can. As long as you don't go after any girls, we'll be fine." I smirked at her. She rolled her eyes, pushing my face back away from her and turning to face the pantry again. When she did, I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her into my chest, burying my face in her neck again, this time not to cry but to flirt. She giggled, pushing gently on my arms, but I only tightened them, running my nose up her neck to tickle her. She squeaked and pushed harder on my arms as she squirmed to face me. Her face was flushed as she looked at me, a smile splitting her face.

"Stop tickling me, you buttface!" She laughed when I gripped her sides. "Stop! You are a buttface. Leave me alone."

"Yeah, well you've kissed this buttface." I teased, puckering my lips like a fish. She giggled and then fixed her face to be blank as she looked at me.