The Mistake [Norman Reedus] Book One {{COMPLETED}}

Chapter 10

Beep beep beep beep beep.

The alarm clock jolted me up.  I looked around the room and remembered that me and Sean crashed in this hotel room last night.

"Good morning sleeping beauty!"  Sean cheered. I smiled, rubbing my eyes and sitting up.

Beauty.  I thought.  Did he mean actual beauty, or just referring to the fairy tail.  What's wrong with me.  I thought.  I didn't mean to dwell on the thought too long, and Sean was waiting for a response or for me to say anything.

"Oh, good morning." I say, my voice hoarse.  My throat was still sore and tight from last night's cold plus the coughing attack I had.

He chuckled then sighed.  "Coffee?" His arm extended a fresh mug full of steaming hot coffee.  "Oh goodness, thank you!" I take the cup with pleasure and get up, realizing I slept in my clothes (Of course; what else would I sleep in?).  

Me and Sean still had to figure out how to get home.  Probably a bus or taxi.  Then we'd drive down here and get my bike.  

"So, you should probably call Norman and ask him for a ride."  Sean suggested, showing me the screen on his phone.  It was dead.

"Alright," I pulled out my phone and set my cup down.  I had a bit of guilt and a hint of my confusion in my voice as Norman answered.  

"Hi, um, I'm with Sean and we're stuck in the city.  You mind picking us up?" I asked, awkwardly rocking on my heels.

Norman hesitated, and cleared his throat.  "Why?"

I decided to take this conversation onto the balcony.  Sean gave me space and I slid the door shut behind me.  The breeze gave me a kick, but the sun was warm and bright.  It bugged me that it was so severely cold last night, and now, it was almost the beach.

"Look, I'm sorry about last night.  It just got to me.  Ya' know?" I began, hoping he would accept my apology and we could move on from this topic.

"I'm sorry too." He said, his words hanging in the air.  

I didn't expect for me to jump right back in to having that secret passion for him.  I just didn't feel comfortable enough now.  Plus, we barely knew each other, anyways.

I cleared my throat, "So, you wanna come pick us up?" 

"Oh, er, yeah.  Where are you guys staying at?" He asked, as if being awakened from a sleep.  

I gave him the directions, and that was followed by a tricky, uncomfortable goodbye.

I stepped back into the hotel room and picked my coffee back up that sat on the side table.  "He'll be here in an hour or two." I explain.  This gives us plenty of time to check out the city.

"You wanna go check out some popular sites?" He asked, getting up and gulping down the last sip of his cup.  

I nodded and hung my jacket across my forearm.  Sean and me walked out and down through the revolving doors of the front.  

"We'll come back in an hour or two to meet Norman." He said, figuring out the plan out loud.  

I coughed, not thinking of it as a threat to another attack, but just let it run for a second.  I quickly ran back inside to a vending machine and bought two waters.  

Sean thanked me and we started heading to one of the Walking Dead sites that Norman had showed him before.  It was the bridge that held the view of Rick Grimes riding in.  We walked around the swarming streets of people trying to get to work.  It was Monday.  

In all, I believe we spent half an hour waiting to cross the streets.  

Sean was hiding behind sunglasses, a hat, and his coat that he zipped up to his nose.  A handful of people managed to pass him a paper for a signature, but that was only a few.  

We walked up sidewalks that led to a crowd with a dozen people snapping photos and taking optical illusions by lining up a picture of the shot of Rick riding into the city with the buildings and roads.  It was pretty cool.  

We made our way to the front, and I got a bit claustrophobic between all the people.  More came and me and Sean ended up having to squeeze back out of the mess.

"Well," He started, removing his jacket due to the heat.  

"That didn't work." I finished his sentence.  We both chuckled and waited to cross the street.

"How 'bout ice cream?" I suggested.  His smile grew large and cheery and he guided us to the nearest ice cream shop.

It was a small hidden shop, located on the corner of a busy street.  You could smell the flavors from ten feet away before you got to the door, and when we got in, my mouth flooded with saliva.  I was so in the mood for this.

"What flavor?" He asked, pulling out his wallet.  I would have offered to buy both of our treats, but again, my stuff was still at Norman's.  

I requested chocolate on a cone and Sean got the same.  The lady generously handed us our cones and we paid.  Sean signed the receipt and wrote "Yes, it's THE Sean Patrick Flanery ;)"

We walked out, licking up the drips of ice cream that dribbled down the sides of the cone as it melted away in the hot sun.  "How's your's?" He asked, not looking up.  

"Mm," I said, taking in another lick.  "Good." He smiled.

I'm wasn't quite sure where we were headed, but it seemed like a good destination because Sean was in a rush to get there.  "What's the hurry?" I asked, taking the first bite of my cone as the cold shot through my teeth.  

We crossed the street in front of us, "I don't really know.  Just excited to get to the next site."  He said.  

We were half-rushed and half-pushed through the growing crowds and Sean did his best to keep us going in the right direction.  We managed to only miss one turn and had to turn around.  

My ice cream was only a small, soupy bowl of mess so I decided to just throw it away.  Sean had finished his.  

"Are we almost there?" I asked impatiently in the hot sun.  I had to pee, and I knew we had been walking for at least an hour. 'And don't we have to go meet Norman soon?!"  

"Oh goodness, yeah!" He noticed what time it was from a big sign that showed the temperature, time, date, and local events.  

We hurriedly ran through the herds of packed people, trying to get to the hotel.  We knew we didn't have to hurry like this, but the running made it much more fun.  

My throat caught in some more bad air, and I was forced to continue coughing.  I'm sure I made people around me angry, and when I looked back, I saw some of them coughing as well.  Is it contagious?  I asked myself, catching up to Sean as we hit the front of the building.  

Our breathes were heavy and thick.  My couching intensified for a moment, but I held it down with a gulp of water.  

"You alright?" Sean asked, wiping his forehead.

"Yeah," I coughed. Sipping more water, I slid down the wall as we waited for Norman. 

Five minutes turned into ten.  Ten turned into twenty, and twenty into forty-five.  Before we knew it, we had been sitting there for an hour and a half.  My stomach wanted real food now, not just ice cream.

"You think he forgot?" I asked Sean.  "Sure.  Try and call him."  He suggested.

I nodded and pulled out my phone, hesitating.  "You call him." I handed the phone to Sean and he took it, dialing in his number. 

When he held it to his ear, his facial expressions dropped.  He kept nodding and saying, "Yeah," Flatly.  He sniffed, cleared his throat and hung up.  

"What'd he say?" I asked, looking off into the distance, squinting due to the sun.  

"Grace, it's Norman.  There's been a motorcycle crash."