S1E34 - Dinner and a Show

After getting cleaned up, Clem and I head to the cafeteria to get some food. We're greeted by a gathering of Glen, Amy, Shane, Andrea, Carol, and Sophia. I pat Clem on the back and let her go to Sophia to play while I cook. I look at the other guys in the room and ask,

"Anyone gone into the fridge yet?"

Everybody shakes their heads,

"Alright then, I'll cook something up."

I open up the fridge and find some hamburger meat, cheese, and some veggies. All veeeeery close to their expiration dates. We'll have to find somewhere permanent to set up soon. I'd rather not rely on MRE's for everyone. I'm thinking the prison. Say what you want, but that prison was damn near perfect for a zombie apocalypse. The only thing more perfect would be an oil rig. I mean, fishing, fresh water since most of them have water purifiers on board, and ample space for gardening if you bring bags of dirt.

Well, that's later. For now, I take out the meat, cheese, and veggies and decide to make a little cheesy meat and veggie mix. Not the steaks I was thinking of, but beggars can't be choosers. I cook it all up as the others start to trickle in from the showers. Daryl comes up to me and says,

"Damn, looking like a housewife already?"

I take the spatula and slap him on the arm,

"Just for that, you're getting half what you were gonna get."

He chuckles and walks off to sit in the corner by himself. As I'm cooking, the group finds the liquor and starts grabbing them up. Shane and Andrea are at a table by themselves, taking apart and reassembling pistols together. Amy is showing off to the group her new arm. Rick and Lori are joking around, letting Carl take a sip of wine. Dale is smiling away at Amy's new arm. Carol is watching Clem and Sophia play. Morales is talking with his wife while their kid is reading a comic book.

As I finish off with the food, I start putting it in the paper bowls we found in the cabinets. I grab mine, Clem's, and Amy's and head over to them. I plop the bowl down in front of Amy and sit down beside her while motioning for Clem to come over. Clem sits down beside me and starts munching down on the bowl of food. Dale speaks to Amy while we eat,

"So, how do you like it?"

Amy swallows her food and answers,

"It's pretty awesome! Doctor Jenner said that it was made to connect to a person's nerves, letting them feel stuff through it, but unfortunately, he also said that he isn't able to do this surgery since he isn't a medical doctor. Still, it feels great being able to grab things again."

I nod my head, while Rick speaks to me,

"I know we haven't had much of a chance to speak to one another, but I do have to thank you for keeping my family safe. If you hadn't been there during what happened, I'd imagine most of us wouldn't be sitting here right now. Hell, if it weren't for your quick thinking, we coulda lost Amy."

I nod my head,

"You're welcome. But, if I had said something sooner we could've avoided the situation all together. I knew that spot was dangerous, and that the walkers had been leaving the city, but I didn't say anything. I didn't wanna dampen people's moods, and that cost a couple people their lives, and Amy her arm."

Dale shakes his head,

"No, you couldn't have predicted this. This world is random and unforgiving where even the tiniest mistake could cost you your life, or your humanity. You did the best you could."

Well… I actually did predict this… I just didn't think it would happen so quickly… Clem speaks to me, seeing me looking sad,

"And you saved me. I thought I was gonna be alone after Lee died…"

Tears start to form at the corners of her eyes as she continues on,

"And then I saw that group of walkers all around me when I opened the door and I felt like I was gonna die. But then you showed up! It was like Superman came to save me! You even protected me from those bad people!"

I smile at the cute girl before wiping a bit of sauce off of her cheek. Carl speaks up,

"And you gave me and Sophia pizza!"

I snort as he says this, and the entire table starts to laugh, partially because of almost everyone being a little buzzed. While we laugh, I reach over for the bottle and pour a bit of red wine into a glass for both me and Amy. Andrea looks at us with a bit of a conflicted look, wanting her sister to have fun, but not TOO much fun. Dale speaks to me, sarcastically,

"Woah, there, I'm gonna need to see some ID missy!"

I chuckle as I take a sip of the wine,

"I think I'm owed a bit of a buzz."

The second I place down the bottle, Glen reaches over the table and grabs the bottle, pouring himself a glass. I quickly down the entire glass, and find this wine to be super smooth and fruity. Not really what I expected from a wine. I read the bottle, and found it to be whatever a Merlot is. Honestly, I don't like it as much as whiskey, but it's not bad. Good for some light drinking, I guess. I see the adults of the group looking at me with barely hidden smirks as I pour another glass. A little suspicious, but whatever. We continue eating and chatting for another few hours, where we all grow increasingly drunk. Me especially so, since I wasn't aware of how high the alcohol content of this wine truly is.

I start to be less and less talkative as time goes on, and start hanging onto Amy a lot more, who isn't nearly as drunk as I am because she didn't really like the merlot. I lay my head on her shoulder as she talks some more to a slightly buzzed Andrea,

"Yeah, when he put it on me, the part at the top shrunk in and sealed itself. It's waterproof, and super tough as well. I noticed pretty quickly that I can easily put too much force into it. When I was in the shower, I grabbed a shampoo bottle a bit too hard and nearly emptied it in one go! This thing seems to be much stronger than my actual hand!"

Andrea smile at her as she inspects the hand,

"This is crazy. I always thought prosthetic arms would be like plastic or something, nothing quite this lifelike. If it weren't cold, I'd probably even think this was actually real."

Rick and Morales's groups left a while back, along with Dale, Glen, Daryl, and Carol, leaving just Shane, Andrea, Amy, Clem, and I. Shane didn't get nearly as drunk this time around, as he was busy helping Andrea learn how to take apart and reassemble her gun. He said he was gonna help her learn how to clean it tomorrow. Good… We skipped the part where he assaults Lori.

I slowly start to drift off to sleep on Amy's shoulder. Clem taps my shoulder and says,

"Can I spend the night with Sophia?"

I lean over to her and say,

"Yeah, as long as Carol says yes."

She gives me a hug before heading off. Shane stands up and says,

"Alright, I think I've had enough. I'm ready for some sleep. I'll see you guys in the morning."

Andrea nods her head at him,

"I'll be ready for that lesson tomorrow."

He nods his head and leaves the cafeteria, without a bottle of wine in his hand. Andrea is the next one down, leaving just Amy and I in the room alone. We just kind of sit in silence as I'm way too drunk to be talkative, and Amy is too busy admiring her new hand. I look at her face, and feel an urge coming from inside me. I start to lean in, but I'm suddenly reminded of my night with V, and the subsequent betrayal. I stop in place, while Amy looks at me with a slight blush on her face. I sigh and say,

"I… Think I need… To go to sleep…"

I stand up and start to stumble my way to the door, only to nearly fall over and need to brace myself on the wall. Amy comes over and helps me up, saying,

"Alright, c'mon, I'll help you to your room."

I smile at her as she helps me down the hallway, where we stumble into Glen who says,

"Oh damn. You kept drinking?"

I nod my head,

"Turns out I'm… More of a heavyweight than… I thought…"

He chuckles,

"Yeah, I can tell."

He heads back into the cafeteria, most likely going for another bottle. Amy ends up bringing me to my bedroom without much incident. As she plops me down on my bed, I start to feel hot. I speak to her, with slightly slurred words,

"Is… It hot in here to you?"

She shakes her head no,

"No, but I'm not nearly as drunk as you are."

I sit up and reach for the bottom of my shirt, slowly pulling it off. Amy is stunned for a second and speaks in a hushed yell,

"Wh-What are you doing?!"

I look at her with a bit of confusion and say,

"Oh… C'mon… We've bathed to… Together…"

After saying that, I undo the button of my jeans and pull them down as well. I jokingly speak to the blushing girl,

"Dinner and a… Show, eh?"

She rolls her eyes and says,

"I'm going to sleep! Goodnight!"

I grab her hand before she leaves and say,

"Waaaaaaait… I need your heeeeelp!"

I motion to my bra,

"Can you unclasp it… For me?"

She sighs and reaches around me, unclasping my bra. She then says,

"I'm gonna get you some water. Then you need to go to sleep."

I nod my head and say,

"Yes mother."

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