Different (Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln)

Chapter 10

I walked to my bedroom and dug through my piles of clothes. I hadn't been quite organized when it came to my clothes. I normally wore the same old plain t-shirt and jeans, but I kind of wanted to look nice for Norman. Not that he would care anyway. I sigh and continue scrummaging. I pick out a pair of dark jeans and a gray button up. I look in the mirror and cringe at my hair. It was ruffled from my nap. I ran my fingers through it, hoping to make it look less horrendous. I give up and decide it's good enough and walk out to the living room. I slip some shoes on and check my watch which reads 4:55 P.M. I furrow my eyebrows, usually Norman doesn't take long to get ready. 'Maybe he's trying to impress me too?' I thought. I bite my lip and shake my head at the thought. 'He's not gay' I remind myself. I sit back on the couch, waiting patiently for my roommate to finish.

"Norman? Are you finished yet?" I ask. It's 5:15 P.M. and he still hasn't came out of the bathroom. I hear the door open and I wait for his reply.

"Mm, fine I guess I'm ready. Just don't make fun of me," he groans and I knit my eyebrows together in confusion. He steps out and I gulp, looking him up and down. He was wearing a white long sleeve button up and jeans. I examined his face and cracked a smile, shaking my head while laughing.

"Hey! I said don't make fun of me," Norman pouted and covered his face. I continued to giggle and he slowly removed his hands from his face, revealing an amused smile. A little piece of toilet paper was placed over his cut mark he had got from shaving.

"Maybe we should get you a small bandage so you don't have toilet paper on your face," I laugh. He shrugs and follows me to the medical cabinet. I pull out a small bandage and hand it to him. He thanks me and puts it on.

"Do I need to show you how to shave properly?" I chuckle as we walk to his car. He rolls his eyes and smiles.

"No, I think I'll manage," he mutters and I smirk. We get in the car and drive in silence, as usual.

"Where are we going?" I question. I didn't really care where we were going, I was just trying to spark up a conversation.

"It's a surprise." He purses his lips and takes a hand off the wheel to run through his hair. I lean in and turn up the volume to the radio. I lean my head against the window and look at the trees as they pass by in a blur. I hear a slight hum escape Norman's mouth and smile lightly. His voice was beautiful and calming.

"We're here," he says startling me awake. "You sleep a lot," he adds with a smirk. I blink my eyes and shrug.

"I like sleeping," I reply and he chuckles. We walk into the restaurant and it smells like hot bread and garlic. We follow the waitress to a table and both take a seat.

"This place is nice," I say looking around at the lights and matching decorations.

"Mhm, wait until you try the food," he says. The waitress brings our menus and I flip through it, seeing what I wanted to eat.

After we ordered our food and drinks we sat silently. I was watching a child cry and whine as the mother tried to calm her down, clearly embarrassed. Norman snapped me back into reality though.

"We never really talk seriously you know? So I figured.. uh.. this dinner would probably be a good time for that. I guess, if you want," Norman explains nervously. I've never really seen him nervous.

"I think it's necessary," I agree and he lets out a breath. He smiles lightly and sips from his drink.

"Well first I just wanted to tell you I really appreciate you letting me come into your home. We were basically strangers, yet you welcomed me with open arms," he began and I smiled lightly at his kind gesture. "And I wanna uh- apologize for snapping at you. I'm not really good with feelings."

"It's okay, Norman. I forgive you. We just need to learn to communicate better, that's all," I reply. He nods and folds his hands on the table. He chewed on his bottom lip and looked down at his hands, as if he were thinking of what to say next.

"I guess I just have a lot of explaining to do, I don't know where to begin," he chuckles nervously. Again, I had never seen him nervous. He always seemed so confident. The waitress sets our plates of food out in front of us and asks us if we needed anything else before leaving. I took a bite of the pasta I ordered and Norman eyed me carefully.

Norman's POV

"Good right?" I asked with a grin. He chuckled and nodded. I took a few bites of my food and then cleared my throat. I knew I owed Andrew an explanation. I couldn't keep lying and isolating myself from him when he's already done so much for me. I suck in a deep breath before I begin talking.

Although I wanted to tell Andy everything, I only told him the reason I needed a place to stay. I explained to him the incident at the bar, leaving out the part where they called me a faggot and said Andy was my boyfriend. I made sure not to make eye contact with him. It was hard for me to open up to people and I sure as hell didn't like feedback.

It was silent for a while after I had explained everything. Andy listened intently the whole time, not interrupting me to ask any questions. I think he knew that I was uncomfortable and didn't want to push me further. I admired how thoughtful he was. I chewed on my lip nervously, waiting for him to speak.

"That's fucked up," he said, a hint of sadness and anger clear in his voice. "He should always have your back." I looked up at him and he looked frustrated almost.

"Hey," I say lowly, trying to get him to meet my eyes. He was glaring at his folded hands and finally glanced up at me, his eyes softening. "It's okay. I have you, right?"

His jaw unclenched and his hands unfolded. His eyes gazed into mine and I quickly looked away, feeling slightly embarrassed. His finger lightly touched my knuckles, small scars littering them. My eyes flickered to his cold yet welcoming blue ones.

"Yeah. You'll always have me."