Gray Skies (A Carl Grimes love story)

Belch Contest!

CARL'S POV

I leaned onto my maneuver shovel as I shielded my my eyes from the sun with my free hand. Through brightness, I saw California walking towards me with a mischievous smirk on her face.
"What's up?" I called to her suspiciously.
"Nothing." She said as she walked up to be and wrapped her arms around my neck.
I caught Taylor glaring at her. She stomped away.
"No. Really. What happened? You're looking more sneaky than usual."
She sighed. "Sterling touched my butt." She waved it off casually.
"What?" I demanded, surprised. "Why? Where? What happened?"
"Oh, well, I was just on tower duty and Sterling asked if I was still dating you. I said yea, and he just touched my butt." She said.
I took a second to comprehend that some boy touched my girlfriend's butt, and my stomach boiled. California is not an object. She was a beautiful girl that needed to be treated equal.
"Where is he?" I asked angrily and clutched my fists. "I'll-"
"Carl. It's okay," she laughed and placed her hand on my chest. "I already took care of it."
"What did you do?" I asked her curiously.
"Oh. Yanno... I just kneed him in the balls." She muttered.
I laughed out loud. "Oh my god, Cali. Nice."
She chuckled and nodded her head.
"Did you... knee him really hard?"
"Oh, yea." She snorted.
"I guess I'll let him off the hook just this once. But if he- or, actually, anyone,- does something like that to you again, tell me." I said sternly.
And we walked to the prison building.

CALIFORNIA'S POV

As Carl and I stood in the living space and snacked, we saw Sterling walking funny to his cell, being followed by Luke, who was still limping. Carl and I tried to choke back laughs as they stumbled past us.
"Hey, what's today?" I asked Carl. "I never even know the date anymore."
"Uhm..." Carl said, walking over to a small calendar pinned to the wall. "April 7th."
"What? Whoa.." I forgot about one of the most important events in a kids life.
"What?"
"It's three days until my birthday!" I exclaimed. I was turning 16. About half a month ago, Carl had turned 16. Of course, nobody made a big deal out of it, but I insisted on getting him a present. I had carved his initials and my initials onto the wooden butt of a knife that I had found on the ground in the woods on a supply run. It read: C.G. + C.T.
"Really?" Carl said happily.
"Yup."
"Oh, you're turning 16, like me! It would be about this time that we got a car, if the walkers didn't exist."
"Ha. Yea." I sighed, daydreaming at the thought.
*later*
Carl and I walked into the library holding two boxes of books that Daryl had collected for the younger kids in the community. Surprisingly, Woodbury had lots of little ones that were kept safe there.
Carol was carving the ABC's on a small hand held blackboard with a thin piece of chalk. Kids ages 5 and under sat "criss-cross-apple-sauced" on the small blue carpet, listening eagerly as the short-haired woman repeated the alphabet.
We placed the box of books next to Carol's feat and she paused a moment to mouth us a quick "thank you." She continued teaching the kids.
Carol insisted to Rick on educating the children, even in the toughest times. She argued that they still need learning opportunities and that if this whole thing ever clears up, they will need it in the future. She admitted that she wouldn't want it any other way for Sophia if she was still alive. It was comforting to me that some kids still had small bits and pieces of their childhood routine.
"School." Carl murmured once we exited the library. "I'm glad we don't have it anymore."
"I don't know." I shrugged. "Sometimes I kinda miss it."
"Oh. You were one of those goody-goody A plus students, weren't you?" Carl chuckled.
"No!" I bickered. "Just... I don't know!" I laughed.
"Speaking of that, I never really knew. Were you always a badass in first grade, and did I just not notice it? Because back then, you seemed like a sweet little girl. What changed?" He tilted his head.
"I don't know. I guess I just realized that I needed to get my shit together, after this whole thing began. Toughen up. Why? Is it a bad thing?" I looked up at him with worried eyes.
"No, no! Of course not! I love badass Cali!" He quickly explained. "I like you either way."
"Good." I smiled.
We began to walk towards the living space to grab dinner.
"So.. when's your birthday?" He asked.
"April 10th."
"Got it. What do you want?"
"Carl, don't get me anything. I already have you, what else could I want?"
"Thanks." He blushed. "But I'm still getting you something." I rolled my eyes.
We finally reached the living space, where we each grabbed a plate and headed put to the tables under the tin roof.
Today's meal consisted of most vegetables, as always; Tomatoes, carrots, eggplant, cucumbers, and stuff like that. Carl and I got lucky enough to get the last bit of deer meat, which wasn't much, but it was better than being forced to become a vegetarian.
For dessert, Glenn had brought back a 112 oz. can of chocolate pudding. It was offered all around, but nobody wanted any; they were to worried about being healthy.. Screw that.
Carl and I got the whole giant can to ourselves. After we ate the veggies and deer, we popped open the can and dug in with two plastic spoons.
Before I even took two bites, Carl had consumed almost half of it.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.
"It's okay," I laughed.
We continued to nibble away at it, Carl slowing down a bit. It got kinda boring just sitting there eating pudding, so I decided to play around. I glanced around and everybody had left to get prepared for bed.
"Hey, Carl." I said.
"What?" He asked curiously, momentarily looking up from a spoonful of dessert.
"Come here. I need to tell you a secret." I whispered. He leaned in, his mouth moving towards my ear.
"Closer. Closer." I directed him.
Once his head was right in front of my mouth, I swallowed a gulp of air and belched in his ear. Loud.
He jumped up in surprise, shaking his head. "Shit, Cali!"
I laughed put loud.
"What was that for?" He demanded.
"Oh. Just got bored." I smirked and shrugged.
"Ew!" He sat back down next to me again. "Don't do that again!"
He paused and mumbled under his breath, "Amateur."
"Excuse me," I raised my eyebrows. "What did you just say?"
"I said am-a-teur," He pronounced each syllable separately. "Wasn't even that big of a burp."
"Oh, and you can do better?" I snickered.
He gulped down a cup of water and puffed out his chest and let out a huge burp.
It was okay. Not as good as I can do it, though.
"Oh please." I belched again, and soon we were having a burping contest. It was me, then him. Me, then him. Me, then him. Until Rick interrupted us from behind.
"I hate to brake up this... romantic moment," he paused. "But it's night time. Get to bed."
Carl rolled his eyes. "Fine, dad." Carl said grumpily.
I let out a groan.
"Fine, dad." I whined sarcastically, mimicking Carl.
Rick giggled. "Hah. So cute."
We both made faces at him.

Finally, I was resting in my bed, staring at the ceiling. Carl had reluctantly gone to bed, also. Although, after about an hour, when everyone was completely in their cells, I saw him tiptoe past my cell door. He quickly peaked in, and I closed my eyes, pretending I was asleep. he continued to walk.
I noticed something strange, though. He was wearing tennis shoes. Where was he going? He also had a pair of bush trimmers clutched tightly in his hand.

Eh. He was probably just going to the bathroom. The clippers might just be a small weapon; everyone should always have a weapon with them at all times, now.
It's probably nothing.