new beginnings

Snow

Jordan and I didn't come out of our house the rest of that day.

We knew we were supposed to go to dinner that night, but we mutually agreed that we wouldn't. Instead, I slept and so did she till morning. That's a thing about us- we can sleep for the longest time no matter what. I was thinking after I woke up while she was still asleep.

I thought about Ron. I always did anyway, but now I was really thinking. I was terrified of not ever being able to see him again. There was no way to communicate with him, and no way to find him. What if he died and I would never know? I wanted to know so many things about him. Was he okay? Were the Alexandrians treating him right? What house did he live in?

Did he even miss me?

I just really wished I could talk to him. He was my best friend, after all. I missed him so much.

I remembered the summer nights we spent on the bench, getting a tan, getting to know each other, having adventures, trying new things together, and falling in love.

I looked out the window. It was a cold, looking to be dreary day. The clouds cluttered the sky, and it looked like it was about to be the first snow.

Being a Georgia boy, we didn't have snow. The worst we ever got in the wintertime was maybe dropping down to forty degrees. Now, snow is a pain. I've only experienced two snows in my whole lifetime, and they were pretty weird. It was sleet the first time, and then the second time it was just a little bit. Snowflakes are cool to watch falling down, though.

I got up, and I was super hungry. I slipped on my boots and coat, then woke Jordan up gently. She got dressed, and was also starving. She hadn't eaten anything the whole day yesterday, I guess I didn't either.

We didn't want to go at all, but we knew we would have to see everyone eventually. She helped me out of the house and walked close to me, in case I fell trying to walk. I didn't.

People were in the cafeteria at breakfast, and once we walked in, everyone went to their knees and bowed to us. I blushed and Jordan sort of hid behind me.

They continued to bow and stare at mostly me and not Jordan. The guy closest to us whispered, "We can't stand up until you say so."

I became flustered and embarrassed, remembering how Negan would say it. "As you were," I tried to say loudly, and everyone went back to eating. We awkwardly walked to where they were serving food. There was a lady behind the counter.

"Ah, you're Carl. Nice to finally meet you... I saw what happened yesterday," she cringed. I tried to remain confident, because if I was Negan's right-hand man, I would like to be respected and taken seriously. I just nodded.

"My name is Colleen," she changed her tone and shook my hand over the counter. I forced a smile.

"And nice to meet you, Jordan," Colleen shook her hand, too. Jordan smiled.

"So what can I get for you two? We have eggs, sausage, and some applesauce," she said. I looked at Jordan.

"You... you have eggs and sausage? How?" I asked.

"We have a whole bunch of animals, I'm surprised you didn't hear them," she kinda laughed. I thought about that for a second, and how long it's been since I've had both of those things.

"We'll just share a plate. Everything please," I said. She nodded, and in a couple of seconds, she handed me a plate. I gave it to Jordan and we sat down at an empty table, across each other. We kept passing the other the fork, since we only had one. I insisted she ate first.

A couple of tough men with huge muscles and grim faces wandered to us. I kept my cool, but I was kind of afraid.

"Hey," I said to them, while Jordan focused on her food.

"You're Carl, right?" one man asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, well we just wanted to come over here, and get to know you. Do you mind?" another motioned toward the rest of the table. I nodded again. They didn't seem very threatening. They sat down.

I faced them, and they introduced themselves as Mike, Jay, and Troy. Two of them had tattoos all over their arms. "How old are you, son?" Mike said, the only man without tattoos.

"Sixteen, sir," I said. Why was I talking to him like he had more power than me? Probably my mind automatically thought to call him sir, since he was an adult.

"Damn, that's an honor to have Negan give you the same respect he gets himself. At sixteen? We'd love to have your job, you're lucky. We just go out and recruit," Troy spoke. He had a deep voice that startled me a little.

"Yeah... it's nice, I guess," I shrugged. They looked at me, confused, but ignored it. "So this is your girlfriend?"

I looked at Jordan. "Yeah, this is Jordan. She's my wife," I corrected. Not a lot of people seemed to get that, which I don't blame them. Jordan smiled and held up her hand for a second, showing her ring. The men smiled genuinely.

"Very nice," Troy said. The other two nodded.

"Well, nice to see you," Jay said and shook my hand. The others did then left the table. I grinned at Jordan. She finished and brought up the plate back to the counter. We talked to a few others briefly before leaving the building.

When we walked outside, it was all white. Snow was falling from the sky, and the ground already had snow sticking to it. I started looking around, amazed at the sight. Jordan loved it.

"Let's go get the rest of our winter clothes!" she excitedly said. I followed her to the house and I put earmuffs on under my hat. She put on her ridiculous fluffy earmuffs. I laughed at her while she put on her winter coat.

We went outside again and she ran around in the snow. I watched her as she laughed and jumped around. She came towards me and pulled on my sleeve to follow her to the grass. "Come on, babe!"

I tried to keep up with her, even though it was difficult. If she was happy, that's all that mattered.

The tiny snowflakes fell on her hair, and she shook them off. I thought they were cute, but I stopped thinking when she told me to turn around. I did, and I was told to not peek. She was giggling behind me.

Then, my hat was snatched off my head and I felt a sudden coldness on my head, followed by my hat being put on again. I took it off and brushed the snow out of my hair. Jordan laughed at me, and ran into my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and embraced her in the cold.

"I love you," she said, giggling.

"My heart is as cold as this snow, but you always warm it up," I laughed, and she started shaking her head. It was so corny. I reached down for a kiss and she returned it. I squeezed her back and picked her up a little. She fell on the ground accidentally when I put her down, and she started laughing.

"Snow angels!" she exclaimed, and began moving her arms and legs. I carefully sat, then laid, in the snow and made one myself. Jordan helped me up, and we looked at ours. Mine had a hat mark in the snow.

"C-A-R-L," she traced in the snow with her boot. I used my limited abilities to make a plus sign beneath my name.

"J-O-R-D-A-N," she put her name under that. I hugged her tightly, smiling. 

"Okay, I'm freezing, let's go inside. Maybe you could warm me up," she winked, bursting out in laughter. I nodded, and we held hands all the way to our house.

This snow day turned out better than I expected.