Consequences (Warm Bodies fan fiction)

Chapter 2

A steady stream of rain trickled down Julie Grigio's window. It seemed fitting, really, it fit with her current mood pretty well. She stared out, her eyes in the direction of the center of the city, where R was still unconscious. It had been two and a half days since everything happened, since his body miraculously came back to life. A day and a half since her dad forced her to go home.

"Don't sulk."

Julie half-glared over at her friend sitting across her bed. "I'm not sulking, Nora," she said with a indignant tone.

"Sure, sure," Nora nodded in false belief in her. "Should I go fetch you a tube of ice cream and a sappy movie?" she teased.

"Nora," Julie threw her a warning look, even as a smile ruined her threatening tone.

"Talk to me, Jules," Nora begged. "I haven't seen you this quiet since your mom..." the older woman trailed off with a guilty expression.

"It's alright. It's nothing really, just thinking..." Julie sighed.

"Yeah, there's a lot of that to be done, isn't there? With everything that's happened to us, to you," Nora nodded. "Anything specific? Or should I say, anyone? Maybe a certain dark haired zombie-boy?" she smiled playfully.

"...Maybe," Julie relented and a glance back at her friend.

"I'm sure he's fine!" Nora shrugged.

"How can you say that? He was a zombie, then suddenly he wasn't a zombie, and then he got shot, and now he won't wake up and the doctors don't know why," Julie sighed once more.

"I'm sure he just needs time to recover!" Nora argued.

"That's what the doctor said..." Julie's eyes dropped to the pillow she was smothering.

"Then believe them!"

"I'd like to," Julie didn't say anything more for several minutes. If her eyes hadn't been open and staring out into the gray world outside of the room, Nora would have thought her friend had fallen asleep. She wouldn't have blamed her, all her worry was making her friend more tired than usual. Nora didn't remember Julie getting so worked up over Perry, but then, back when everything between them was still bright, she had tried to stay a bit distant from them, still feeling the guilt in what she had done to them years ago. Maybe Julie just felt too much, gave her heart too completely, even if the girl herself didn't know she did at the time. "He told me he loved me..." Nora almost thought she imagined Julie speaking again, so quiet was her voice.

"Really?" Nora's eyes nearly bugged out. "Love?"

"Yeah..." Julie nodded slowly.

"...And?" Nora probed eagerly, leaning forward in anticipation.

"And what?" Julie looked over to her friend and raised a brow.

"How do you feel for him?" Nora's eyebrow rose. "I mean, we both know he certaintly has got looks going for him..." she teased.

Julie ignored her friend's tease and thought about it. "I... I'm not sure," she shook her head. "It's all so sudden. I mean, I guess I have pretty strong... feelings for him... but it was kind of hard thinking that way about a corpse," she shrugged.

"But he was never really like the rest of them was he?" Nora reminded her. "And he's alive now, he's human," she added slowly.

"Yeah..." Julie relented, trying hard not to smile. "I um, well... I don't know. I guess I might, but is it because of how many times he saved me? Or what? L-Love can't just... happen, can it?" Julie's eyes bore a hundred questions as they searched Nora's for answers.