Gray Skies (A Carl Grimes love story)

Crossed Lines

CARL'S POV

I tried to gently pushed Cali off of my chest, receiving a groan in response.
"Cali..." I whispered. "Come on, we've gotta do chores. We slept in."
I wriggled out from under her, shivering as my bare feet touched the cold floor.
"Carl, wait," she groaned. "Now it's so cold without you."
"California, get up."
"Just five more minutes," she complained.
"Get. Up." I said, poking her cheek.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"I can do this forever."
I sighed. "Fine."
I turned around and began to dig through my clothes to find a fresh outfit to wear. Once I found a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt, I removed my current tee-shirt and pajama pants and began to change.
"Uh... Carl?" I heard Cali's voice.
"Yup?"
"You're... wearing nothing but boxers!" I turned around and she was standing by the bed, blushing, and staring at the ground.
"So?" I smirked at her. "Is there a problem?"
"Uh. No. Just." She glanced at my exposed stomach and gasped.
"Damn, boy!" She laughed. "You've got a six pack! Can I touchy?"
This time I was the one blushing. "Uh, sure." I stuttered.
She walked over to me and poked my stomach as I flexed as best as I could.
"Didn't know you were THAT built." She murmured.
I slipped on the rest of my clothes and my hat once she went to go change in her cell. I gulped down a quick breakfast from the living space and walked outside, my eyes adjusting to the bright sun.
My dad was tending to the garden as he called me over.
"Today, you and Taylor will be cleaning up the pig pen."
I looked over at my temporary work place, and almost vomited when I saw Taylor, waving at me with a giant smile plastered across her face from the pen.
"But Dad!" I whined quietly to him. "That's-"
"I know, son. She may not be the nicest girl, but if we're all going to live as a community, everybody has to get to know each other. Just try to be nice, okay?" He said sternly.
"Fine." I grumbled as I hesitantly walked towards my post.
"Carl!" She beamed. "Hey there!"
I muttered a quick hello as I grabbed a shovel and began laboring.

CALIFORNIA'S POV

I readjusted the earbuds in my ears as I tapped my fingers on the railing of the guard tower. I longingly looked over at Carl, who was trying his best to keep as far away as possible from Taylor as they cleaned the pig pens.
The song playing on the iPod ended and I momentarily scrolled through the long list of songs. Michonne had found it on a run and brought it to me, probably knowing how much teenage girls needed to listen to music, since she was one at one point. Fortunately, the small electronic still worked and came with a set of earplugs, so I could hum along to songs that had aired a couple years ago. Another bad thing about the world ending: nobody bothers to write new music.
I gazed down at our little community as Luke and Sterling, two of the many jerk boys from Woodbury, snickered and snorted about something behind me. As they usually did. Being boys.
Daryl had said something about how Rick thinks we all need to try to get along better, and that was why I was stuck on watch duty with these assholes. Daryl's words, not mine.

Cool Kids, a song that was vaguely familiar, came on and I tapped my foot along to it, trying to relate to the lyrics, but they no longer had meaning. There were no more problems about wanting to be like the cool kids, or feeling insecure, or that kind of stuff. The only focus was surviving, living off the land, and if you would have anywhere to sleep that night. Still, it was a pretty catchy song.
"Hey, Florida." Sterling called over my music.
"It's California."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Say, I haven't been seeing you and that Carl guy together much lately. Did you finally cut him off?" He looked at me smugly. "Because if you're free, maybe later we could..." He trailed off and smirked.
Luke was choking back laughs.
"Carl and I? We're still together." I huffed. I began to walk towards the ladder to ask Rick for a new job, but a firm hand held me tightly by the arm.
"Oh, come on. You never know when you're gonna die. Don't you wanna have a little fun before then?" He slurred in my ear. Suddenly, I felt a hand squeeze my butt.
I froze in my tracks, staring hard into space. He just crossed the line.
I spun around and stomped Luke on the foot as hard as I could, who was standing nearby and chuckling, causing him to yelp out and hop around on one leg.

Then I grabbed Sterling by the shoulders and brought my knee into his crotch at full speed.
He screamed in surprise and sucked in a breath, then fell to the ground clutching himself.
I watched as he writhed around, panting, while Luke proceeded to hop around clutching his foot. 'Yea, that felt pretty good,' I thought devilishly to myself.
I inserted my earbuds once more, and began playing "Something From Nothing" by the Foo Fighters. I brushed my shoulders off, climbed down the ladder, and walked into the sunshine with a smirk on my face.