Orthodontics in the Zombie Apocalypse

9. The Unfortunate Story of Mikah's Mom (1/3)

Shaniya sits down with Angel to bond over the experience of once being a homeless child, and Sean whips up some kind of soup for dinner. Since neither of us were occupied, Mikah's eyes find mine.

"Wanna go upstairs?" he asks.

I try not to make it weird, but I have to say, my heart is skipping as I follow him up the stairs. His steps are quick, confident. Mine are slow, deliberate, and about as steady as my nerves. I stumble about halfway up.

Mikah turns around with concern in his furrowed brow. He glances back and, seeing that I'm okay, continues up the stairs. I manage to hold off the bright pink heat in my cheeks until after he looks away, thank goodness.

Up the stairs, at the top, through the hall...to the bedroom.

"Are you okay?" Mikah asks, taking a seat on the bed. "You look a bit nervous? Did I do something?"

"Uh--no! No! You didn't do anything." I'm speaking too quickly; my voice is unnaturally loud. I clear my throat and drop the volume. "I'm--uh--I'm just new to this."

His eyebrow pops up. "New to what, exactly?"

I bury my face in my hands. "I don't know how to say this."

"Say what?"

Through my fingers, I sneak a peek at him. He looks so cool and collected, as if this is something he's used to; something he's done many, many times.

"I'm a virgin."

He glances around the room awkwardly, looking anywhere except at me. I am flooded with an uncomfortable feeling, and I know that it's because I'm ashamed.

"Um, Piper?"

I can't meet his eyes. They'll just reinforce the horrible shame. "Yeah?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Did he guess it already? Is he one of those who preys on the first-timers?

His eyes shift to the bed and widen. "Oh--wait, you--" he laughs, head thrown back and body quaking with every great guffaw. "Piper, I didn't suggest that we should come up here for that. I thought it would be a bit quieter to talk."

"Talk?" I feel both relief and disappointment.

"Yeah, talk."

"Oh." My fingers drag a lock of hair securely behind my ear. "What about?"

"Anything. The zombie apocalypse is ravaging the earth...that could be an interesting conversation-starter."

I take a seat next to him. "I've had enough of zombies for today. Let's talk about something less depressing...your life, maybe?"

His sardonic chuckle rings in my ears. "I don't know if my life is much less depressing, honestly." A breath whistles softly between his teeth. "Should I start as far back as I remember or just when everything turned to crap?"

"I guess the crap part would be most interesting," I reply.

"Fair enough." His hands fidget between his knees. "It started when my mom passed away."

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A/N

Shorter half-chapter this week...sorry about that! Hopefully you cringed a little, and maybe you even laughed a little, too!

Tune in next week (or a bit later because I'm bad with self-established deadlines) to hear Mikah's backstory!

(Yes, I am again neglecting Angel's backstory. I set it up so perfectly, too. All I had to do was have Piper listen in on Shaniya and Angel's conversation. But then Mikah would be left alone; how is that fair? Lone behold, we get to find out what Mikah is really all about [next half-chapter]!)