Protector || Shane Walsh

Chapter 25

"No." I answer with a laugh. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"A little, yeah. You're always together." he says, nailing another one of our blue flags to a tree. "You're literally wearing his hat right now. Is that not like, promise ring equivalent?"

"We're friends."

"Uh-huh." He finishes with the tree and looks at me. "Friends don't look at each other the way you guys do."

"And how's that?"

"Like you want to rip each other's clothes off."

I scoff and laugh at him, shaking my head.

I mean sure, it's true on my end. But does Shane really look at me the same way?

I think I've seen it a few times, but I've always been too scared to figure out whether it's genuine or fleeting.

"I thought you were the observant one?" Glenn says. "What, he not your type?"

Oh, he's very much my type.

"I don't have room for anything other than friend." I say, my tone sadder than I intend.

"Make room." Glenn replies. "Like I said, I could die tomorrow. So could you, so could he. Are you content with your relationship the way it is, if that were to happen? There's no time for regret or missed opportunities, Mia. And if you just don't want to, that's fine, obviously."

He looks at me and I give him a small smile.

We're quiet for a minute, as we continue searching.

"So do you?" Glenn asks.

"Do I?"

"Want to have sex with Shane?"

I can't help but laugh.

"What?" Glenn questions.

"I don't know. I'm walking through the woods, searching for a missing child, while keeping a look out for undead humans, talking to you about whether I want to fuck Shane." I say, looking at the forest floor for footprints.

"Oh, hey Shane.." Glenn says and my stomach drops.

Oh god.

I quickly snap my head around, looking for Shane with wide eyes.

When I don't see him anywhere, I look at Glenn and he's stifling a laugh.

"Glenn!" I let out a short, breathy laugh. "You little shit!" I say through gritted teeth, smacking him with Shane's hat.

He guffaws.

"You should've seen your face.. I'll take that as a yes." he says and laughs some more. "Look, I don't blame you, he is pretty sexy. Even us men can see that." he adds.

"Oh my god, shut up.." I say, putting the hat back on my head. "..And for the record, he's fucking gorgeous." I add.

And that's the first time I've admitted that out loud.

"Aww, Wolfe and Walsh." Glenn coo's.

"Yeah, yeah, alright. We got a job to do, remember? Let's bring Sophia home."

We cover the rest of our grid, nailing up our flags along the way.

I nail up our final blue flag while Glenn goes off to pee. As I walk away from the tree, I hear voices.

I stop and listen for moment, but soon realise it's just Shane and Rick, walking their grid.

"What are we doing, man? Got every able body at your disposal out scouring these woods for a little girl we both know is likely dead."