Find Me (Life After the Outbreak, Book 2) (28 page)

We walked next door to the cafe just as everyone was finishing up.

"I was about to send a search party out for you two," Jay said and Mira kicked him under the table.
 

Jenny was talking to Izzy about some bracelet design and what colors would look the most awesome. Dan was sitting quietly, pushing a bit of egg around on his plate. Dan was never sullen and I felt a twinge of guilt when I looked at him there. I couldn't shake the feeling that everyone knew what happened, like I was wearing some sign that read '
Will and I had sex
.'

Mira dished some eggs onto two plates and handed them to us. "Eat up. Last thing I need is leftover eggs."

I sat down next to Dan and elbowed him in the side. "You don't like eggs?"

He gave me a weak smile. "The eggs are fine. Just not much of an appetite this morning."

Dan always had an appetite.

"Are you sick?"
 

I reached over to feel his forehead, but he stopped me. "I'm fine."

He got up from the table and followed Jay out back to finish up the last bit of the trap they were working on.

Will noticed the exchange between us and gave me a funny look. "What was that about?"

I swallowed hard.
 

Hopefully not what I think it's about.

“Hey, Will, why don't you go give them a hand so you guys aren't stuck here too long. I know you have a long walk ahead of you," Mira said and took his plate back as soon as he forked the last bite of egg into his mouth.

He nodded. It wasn't hard to tell she was trying to get rid of him. As soon as Will was gone, she sent the girls in the back to work on their bracelets so we could talk.

"Okay, dish. What is going on between you and Dan?"

"Huh? What are you talking about? I'm with Will."

Mira laughed. "Cupcake, I know a love triangle when I see one. Yesterday that boy was looking at you like you were his one true love and today he won't even look at you."

"But nothing happened? We didn't have a fight or anything. And by the way, we're just friends. There is nothing going on between us."

Mira snorted. "Andi, something most definitely happened. Thin walls, remember? And you have to know he is completely in love with you … even if you are going to deny there's anything going on."

I stared at her with wide eyes. "You could … hear us?"

She laughed out loud. "Yes."

"And Dan …”

"He was right next door." She took the chair next to me and rubbed her had on my back to sooth me. "Or he was. I found him in a sleeping bag in here when I came in to make breakfast."

"He slept in the cafe? Alone?"

She gave me a weak smile. "Looked like it. So what's the deal? You were with Dan first or something?"

"No. Seriously, we are only friends. He has feelings for me, but I love Will."

"He has more than
feelings
for you, Hon."

I took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "I care about him. I don't want to lose him as a friend. What am I supposed to do?"

"You need to give him some time. If the friendship means anything to him, he'll get over it. I'm guessing that was the first time he heard you two, uh …”

"It was the first time, period." I shifted in the chair, a little uncomfortable talking about it.

"Oh!" Mira's surprise was replaced with a devious smile. "So, how was it?"

"Amazing." I couldn't help but smile at the memory.

"On a scale of one to ten, how did he compare?"

I shrugged. "I don't really have anything to compare it to."

Her mouth dropped open and she was speechless for a brief moment. "Wait, what? That was your first time,
ever
?"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head at her. "Yes, Mira. It was my first time."

"Wow. Well that's a big deal. He did know, right?"

"Of course he knew."

Mira got up and started clearing the dishes. "What were you waiting for? Life is short, ya know."

"I know." I sighed. "I guess I was afraid."

"I get that. I was terrified my first time."

"Ugh. Can we talk about something else, please?"
 

"Sure." Mira held a sponge in my direction. "You can tell me all about how much you like washing dishes."

I would rather wash dishes than have that conversation, for sure. In my old post-zombie-apocalypse life, I would have been dying to tell Amy every single detail the moment it was over. I probably would have exploded on her the second I saw her face, but my best friend was gone, and I couldn't bring myself to replace her.

By the time we got the breakfast mess cleaned up, the guys were finished with the trap. Dan was back to looking at me, but he still didn't seem quite right. I overheard Jay telling Mira that Will and Dan had a fight while they were outside working. He didn't give any details, but he didn't seem surprised about it.

We said goodbye to Izzy and our other friends, and went on our way. My feet were still sore from the blisters, but I was ready to get back to the basement. Everything would be better then. I was going to keep telling myself that, anyway.
 

Normally when we walked together, Dan hung back and walked at a slower pace with me, and Will stayed a yard or two ahead. The guys were still being weird, though, and Dan was the one up ahead. Will kept pace with me and insisted on holding my hand for the entire first hour.

We came across a few flesh eaters, and Dan insisted on handling each one himself. He took his frustrations out on the walking corpses. One he even knocked to the ground and stomped on its head to kill it, splashing it's rotten brains all over a nearby tree. It wasn't at all like Dan to even be angry, and I hated that it was all my fault.

We managed to get halfway home before I couldn't take it any longer.
 

"I need a break." I sat down on a fallen tree and waited for the guys to pay attention.

Will rolled his eyes. "Already? I thought Janet toughened you up?"

Dan walked back and sat next to me. "You hungry?" He opened his backpack and pulled out a small container with some berries in it.
 

"Kind of, yeah." I recognized the berries. They were tart and almost tasted like blueberries. I took a few and passed the container back to him.

He popped a few in his mouth and held the container out to Will. "You want some?"

It was the first civil exchange between them the whole day. Will nodded and grabbed a handful of berries.
 

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" I glanced from Will to Dan to gauge their reaction.

Dan just shook his head, but Will seemed more annoyed.

"No, Andi. It wasn't hard. There are some things you share, and some things you don't." He glared at Dan, and I knew he was talking about me.

That did not go how I planned, at all
.
 

Dan stood and walked right up to Will. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Will said, and pushed Dan backward a foot. "That food, or water, or sleeping bags, those are things friends share. Girlfriends are not."

Dan pressed his lips together and balled his fists at his sides. Will was asking for a fight, and I wasn't sure how much longer Dan would hold off. I tried to squeeze myself in between the two, but Will held his arm out to block me.
 

"You two need to stop this." I never had two men fight over me before, but I couldn't imagine anyone actually enjoying it.

Dan looked at me and took a step back. "No one is trying to share your girlfriend, Will. She isn't a towel. Are you that insecure?"

Will tensed, and I thought he was going to punch Dan right then. "It's not insecurity when you are trying to steal her out from under me. You don't think anyone notices how you act with her?"

Dan laughed. "She isn't a prize to be won, Will. She's a girl that we both clearly care about. How exactly do you want me to treat her?"

Will tried to take a step forward again, and I took the opportunity to slip between them with my back against Dan. "Will, stop it."

For a moment, I thought he was going to back down, but then Dan put his hand on my shoulder and Will's anger renewed.

"See that's exactly what I'm talking about," Will hissed.

He was making no sense. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

Will's eyes moved to Dan's hand on my shoulder and narrowed.

Dan threw his hands in the air and shook his head. "You can't be serious? You don't want me to touch her? Two nights ago, you had no problem with her in a sleeping bag with me. What the hell is your problem now?"

"Will, you're being ridiculous." I took his hand and tried to diffuse the situation. "You have nothing to worry about."

Will pushed my hand off his. "Stay out of this. It has nothing to do with you."
 

He was joking, right?

"This has everything to do with me. You two need to stop fighting. We are on the same side here. There's enough out there trying to kill us. We can't be at each other's throats, too."

I turned to Dan for a little back up. He could take Will with one hand tied behind his back, but I hoped for my sake that he wouldn't try. My eyes met his and pleaded for help. Will wasn't listening to me, and I wasn't sure what else to do.

Dan's face softened at once, and the tension left his shoulders. "She's right. Look man, I'm not trying to steal your girl. Why don't we just calm down and get Andi home in one piece."

Will looked from Dan to me and for a moment, I thought he was going to argue, but then he let out a breath and nodded.

Fight avoided.
 

At least for now
.

The closer we got to home, the more hope I had that we would make it back without any major battle between the guys. Neither of them said anything too antagonistic for at least five miles, and we didn’t have a lot further to go. We were coming across more flesh eaters, though, so we split up a bit and had Will walk ahead a few yards, while Dan hung back with me.

"You okay?"

Dan turned his head to look at me with a sad smile. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You know why. You're not mad at me anymore?"

"Sweetheart, I was never mad at you." He leaned over and kissed the top of my head. "And don't roll your eyes at me."

"You were so. And don't say stupid shit if you don't want me to roll my eyes."

"Andi, I seriously wasn't angry with you. Why would you even think that?"

"You wouldn't look at me. You were being all quiet and sad. Dude, you grabbed my hand to stop me from touching you. How else would you explain that?"

Dan took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. But, it wasn't you."

I reached over and took his hand. "I don't want you to be upset with me."

He glanced ahead at Will and dropped my hand. "Angel, I promise you I wasn't upset with you. I'm sorry I gave you that impression. It wasn't you."

"You're mad at Will?"

"I'm not mad at anyone. The situation … maybe, I don't know. I'm fine."

A group of four flesh eaters came up from the west, and Dan jogged over to Will to help take them out. I let the boys handle it and took the opportunity to stay back and rest on an overturned picnic table. Zombies didn’t flip over tables, and it made no sense to me that the living needed to destroy everything they came across. It would be nice to see people working together and making things in this shit world better for a change.
 

That was probably one of the things I liked about Jay and Mira. Even though they lost most of their group, they were trying to live a normal life. Or as normal as anyone could live anymore. They were willing to take me and my friends in and let us be part of their community. They got up everyday, cooked, worked, did all the things that needed to be done, and they didn’t bitch about what was wrong. They just lived with it, as they would have lived before everything went to hell.

Everything looked clear, so I waved over to the guys and went to find a secluded place to pee. Traveling with two guys definitely had its advantages, but there were certain times when a girl needed to be alone.

It didn’t take long, but by the time I walked back over to the guys, they were yelling at each other.

"What the hell is your problem anyway? She's yours. I fucking get it. Why don't you just piss on her to mark your territory?" Dan threw his backpack down and took a few steps toward Will.
 

"I really don't think that you
do
get it. If you did, you'd stay the fuck away from her."

"We're friends. We're living in the same place. How the hell can I stay away from her." Dan took another step toward Will. "And she doesn't want me to stay away from her."

The rage in Will's eyes bubbled over, and his whole body tensed. I knew something had to be done, or someone was going to throw a punch.

"You guys need to stop this now." I tried to get between them, but both of them blocked me.”

"Stay out of this, Andi." Will gave me a gentle push to keep me out of the way.

I stumbled over a branch and twisted my ankle. Dan reached out and grabbed my arm to keep me upright. It hurt like a bitch, but I was too angry to acknowledge the pain at that moment.

"I'm not going to stay out of it, Will. You two are acting like idiots, and you need to stop. You are both too important to me to have you at each other's throats all the time." I met Will's eyes, then Dan's. "Janet would be so disappointed in you two."
 

With that, I walked away and left them to kill each other or not. I couldn't stand there and watch it any longer. A stabbing pain shot through my ankle with every step, but there was no way I was going to stop.

"Where are you going?" Will called out.

I ignored him and kept walking. Every step hurt more and more, but I needed to get some space between me and them. At first I felt guilty and upset over their fighting, but I was starting to get angry. They were acting like children, and tantrums were best ignored.
 

Will caught up to me and pulled at my arm. "Andi, stop. You can't go off by yourself."