The Shadow of an Outcast

chapter seventeen

I literally cringe when I see this chapter...dear lord Jesus wtf was I thinking

Aria

"No, you're lying to me." said Beth.

"Ask my fiancé then." I said with a smile.

"Fine, I'll ask Carl." I started to laugh.

"Go ahead, ask." I said tempting her even more. Beth and I have gotten pretty close since both of our previous boyfriends died around the same time.

"Carl!" She yelled throwing the comic book he had across the floor.

"Hey! That was a collectable!" He said.

"Collectable my ass." I said and we all started laughing.

"Are you two engaged?" Beth asked.

"Why yes Beth, we are Mr. And Mrs. Potato head." Carl said proudly.

"Hey!" I raised my voice. "I do not have a potato head! I can't help your case though Carl." We all started laughing. It was little times like these that makes it feel like the old days.

"Hey Beth and Aria, are you guys ready?" She asked.

"Hell yeah I am!" I yelled. The whole group was laughing. The girls were all going on a 'special' run to get the dresses. A mall was nearby. We had to choose our maid of honor and maids. My maid of honor is Michonne. I wanted Beth but Maggie and Beth are sisters. I'll let them have their moment to celebrate. My maids are Maggie, Carol, and Beth. Maggie's maids are pretty much the same people.

My maid's dresses are all going to be a very dark purple. Carl and I are going to make the cake, we decided multi colored frosting and we are going to get Funfetti cake mix. We found eight eggs a couple of days ago along with two roosters. The rings are up to Carl.

We got in the store and we tried the lights. It lit up like a Christmas tree, Maggie and I began running to try and find the prettiest dress. We each picked out three and we went into the dressing rooms. I put on my first dress. It was a kind of off white and the front was just plain. The group was sitting on the couches and cleaning their weapons when I came in. I had Rick come to see me put on dresses because he is like a dad to me and he will be my future dad in law. Michonne is also there with all the other girls. She is the closest thing I have to my mom left in this world.

"What do you guys think?" I asked. I only really cared about Beth, Rick, and Michonne's opinions.

Rick spoke up. "I like it, it just seems, plain."

"I agree." Beth said. Michonne just nodded. I'm pretty sure her son would've been my age right now if he was still alive. Then Maggie came out. She had on a dress with sleeves and lace and it made her look, normal. Not scary skinny like she gets when she is upset.

"Well, what do y'all think?" Maggie asked.

"This is the dress!" I said clapping my hands.

"Yes, it is." Beth said. We all started crying.

Maggie wasn't. "I have like five more dresses in there!" We both went back in and we put on our second dresses. Maggie went out first. Michonne came in and helped me with the dress. Then she started crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Your mother would go to hell and comeback to see you in this dress." Michonne said crying.

"We're gonna make sure the Governor has a slow, painful death." I said.

"Over my dead walker body we won't." She said and we both smiled. I went out on the wooden circle pedestal and I stood on it. I turned around and I saw everybody looked at me in a different way. Maggie was wearing a mermaid dress. She stared at me and smiled.

"You are going to be one beautiful bride Aria." Maggie cooed.

"Thank you." I said softly. Everybody thought I was beautiful, even though Maggie picked out some awesome dresses. My second dress was pretty good, but I need to try on the last dress. It was a wine colored dress, it felt tight up by my torso, but Michonne said that's how it's supposed to be.

I got out before Maggie and everybody looked at me with the same face they had for my second dress, then Maggie came out in a flow like dress with flowers caressed across her torso. Everybody said it looked good, but not as good as her last two dresses.

"What do you think Aria?" She asked.

"My favorite out of all three was the first one, it looked fantastic on you." I said.

"What about mine?" I asked.

"I'm stuck between the second and the last. Those two were gorgeous." She said smiling.

"Let's get back into our own clothes." I said. We ended up taking all three of the dresses home with us so we can show the rest of the group. Carl, Daryl and Glenn were still at the mall. When they got back, I ran up to Carl and I kissed him. He looked at me and he smiled. He only broke his gaze once when he was putting on the ring. It was gorgeous. It had my birthstone in it and it had words engraved on the inside, but it was pretty small print.

"Fuck it, I could die tomorrow."

When I saw that I showed Beth and she started dying from laughter. I showed everyone else and I saved Rick, Daryl, and Michonne for last. First I showed Daryl.

"I remember when Carl was putting in the words for that. It made a shit load of noise so I was killin' walkers left and right. Fuck you two." He said and I gave him a big hug.

"Thank you."

"It was worth it, look at your face." Then I started laughing. When I turned to leave I said,"That's not getting you out of being one of my maids!"

"Fuck you too then!" I chuckled to myself and I went to Rick's cell.

"Hey Rick." I said softly.

"Hi Aria."

"There's something I want to show you. It's from your son." I showed him the ring and he chuckled slightly.

"I remember him asking what to do to make the ring special. I said to engrave the words or reaction on it. Let's see." He started bursting out laughing.

"You said that?" He asked still laughing.

"Hey! I said yes after it, he forgot to include that." I said blushing.

"Or he meant to."

"See you tomorrow Rick." When I left he was still bursting out laughing.

"Aria wait!" It was Rick.

"What?"

"I just wanted to thank you for bringing Carl back to happiness. If you didn't, I don't know what would've happened." He said quietly. I just gave him a hug I only used to give to my mom.

"He did the same for me," I said as I walked towards Michonne's cell. When I got there, she wasn't inside, then I saw Hershel walk by.

"Hey Hershel!"

"What's wrong Aria?"

"Do you know where Michonne is?"

"She just left for her shift."

"I'll just see her tomorrow. Thank you!" I called after Hershel. I went back down the stairs to quarantine with Carl. I went to our corner and I wrote above on the wall with a purple crayon.

"Mr. And Mrs. Potato Head aka Mr. And Mrs. Grimes, I love you Carl.