Chapter Text
Michonne smoothed the unwrinkled fabric of her black Alex Perry one-shoulder wrap scarf mini dress. She felt simultaneously silly yet hopeful. When she applied to get on this show, it had been a dare proposed to her by a friend. Now that she was here, she was wondering if something could really come of it. There was a pretty huge part of her that was skeptical, but there was a small part of her that thought…‘Maybe.’
She sighed and told herself not to overthink it. The show would probably be full of creeps and degenerates; she thought it best not to be hopeful. They had corralled them all into a fancy-looking den stocked with a full bar, velvety chaise loungers, and padded high-top chairs. Michonne looked around at the other women in the room exuding nervous and anxious energy. Despite all these comforts, she didn’t quite feel comfortable and shifted in the high-top chair.
Finally, a petite woman busted through the door, her energy frantic and excited as if she just downed a dozen Red Bulls. She looked at all the ladies in the room, as if examining them, until her gaze landed on Michonne. “I’m Vanessa Lachey. Shall we start, ladies?”
CONFESSIONAL: MICHONNE HAWTHORNE - LICENSING ATTORNEY
“Hi. My name is Michonne Hawthorne. I decided to come onto Love is Blind because…honestly, I thought, ‘Why not?’ I have a successful career, and I’m just at the point now where I’m starting to wonder what else I can get out of life. I don’t know if I’ll find a husband here. If I do, great. If I don’t, well…at least this was an experience I can check off of my bucket list.” She chuckled.
In another room that was similarly furnished and flooded with too-bright fluorescent lights, Rick Grimes sat nursing a cup of wine in a gold chalice. He was nervous. This was a last-ditch effort on his part to re-enter the dating game. It was a bold choice to do so on a reality TV show, and it was something that none of his friends back home would anticipate him doing. But that was the point. He had decided that he would step out of his comfort zone to make something happen because the people and places he knew within the confines of his small town of King County just weren't cutting it.
He sat deep in thought until he found himself interrupted by another male contestant. “Cool boots, man.”
Rick looked down at his well-worn tanned cowboy boots that contrasted the cleanliness of his new navy blue tailored suit and starched white dress shirt. The sudden compliment took him off guard, and he rubbed the nape of his neck where his tousled black curls ended. He gave the strange guy dressed in a similar suit a head nod and a “thank you” as a reply. Instead of leaving Rick with his drink and his thoughts, the contestant reached out his hand and introduced himself, “I’m Donald. But everyone calls me by my last name, Okafor.”
CONFESSIONAL: DONALD OKAFOR - RETIRED MARINE
“Hello. I am Donald Okafor. I joined the marines at 18 years old. I’ve been 20 years active duty. Got a leg injury and retired. And now I’m just ready to settle down. Find a wife. White picket fence. You know, the whole nine. I already have a house and everything prepared. All my wife has to do is move in.”
“Rick.” Rick shook the other man’s hand. “This is strange, isn’t it?” He looked around. “Looks like an apartment but feels like an asylum.”
They heard some loud shouts from a group of guys in the corner, seeming to immaturely make some crass jokes as they toasted their golden chalices in the air. “Yeah, seems like a big frat party to me. I hated those then and am not fond of them now,” Okafor replied in agreement with Rick's sentiment. “I think guys like us have to stick together in this thing.” He spoke as if he had already sized Rick up to be a different kind of guy.
Rick didn’t know how he felt about being lumped in with this stranger. “Well, I’m not here for whatever all the rest of this is.”
Okafor raised his glass in a subtle sign of shared acknowledgment. Suddenly, they heard the crowd again go wild as a familiar yet not-so-familiar tall-ish white guy entered. Everyone besides Rick seemed to recognize him.
“Who is that?” Rick asked.
“It’s the host, Nick Lachey, from that silly boy band. I think they were big in the 90s,” Okafor replied to a still confused Rick who squinted his blue eyes, trying to make out if he had ever seen this man’s face before.
Some random boy band guy…He realized just how strange this whole experience would be and wondered if he’d made the right choice in getting out of King County.
Okafor took in Rick’s confused expression and chuckled. “You really don’t know who that is?! You came on this show without having done any research about what exactly you were getting into?”
“I saw an ad while I was scrolling on my phone in my squad car and here I am,” Rick replied with a shrug.
“Squad car!” Okafor said. “So you’re an officer. The women are probably gonna dig that.” Rick shrugged again. He didn’t need all of the women’s attention. Just one. And he hoped he would find that one here.
He really took a chance and time away from his son, Carl, to be here all in the name of finding that one right woman for him. He listened as the host explained they had up to ten days in the pod to find a partner and propose marriage. Afterwards, they’d be whisked off to a honeymoon. And within four weeks, they’d end up at the altar.
CONFESSIONAL: RICK GRIMES - DEPUTY SHERIFF
“Hi. My name is Rick Grimes. I’m sheriff of a small town in Georgia - King County. I’m here because I thought my first love would be my last love. That didn’t really turn out to be the case. I’m now a single father, and…I love it. I love everything that comes with being a father. But I also miss having someone to come home to at the end of the night. And…I’m just ready to put myself out there again.” He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Michonne knew all the rules of the show - ‘avoid talking about physical appearance’ being the one she’d abide by the most. To all the ladies, they handed out notebooks with their names on them and ballpoint pens. After getting mic’d up and touring the rest of their facilities, the time finally came…their first pod dates. Nerves hit her all over again when Vanessa told them to have fun and left with her designated camera crew. Michonne started to tap her foot, her notebook in one hand and her chalice of red wine in the other. A young woman in the line behind her noticed her nervous tapping.
“You’re gonna wear those shoes out,” the woman said. Michonne looked behind her to see who was speaking. It was Jessie, a blonde who had introduced herself as a woman who cut hair and did a million other things. Michonne didn’t know what that vague descriptor meant - OnlyFans maybe? - but the woman seemed nice enough. She smiled and forced a laugh at the attempted joke.
“My name is Jessie. I get it. This is a lot, but you’ll get used to it.” Michonne looked at her, wondering what she meant. “Oh, yeah. Don’t tell anyone, but this is my second time being on a dating show. So that’s what I meant. Usually, they do serve you more food though.”
Though an avid fan of dating shows, Michonne never felt compelled to be on one until recently. “I’m Michonne. I’m an attorney and a writer.” Jessie’s face lit up with interest as if she wanted to ask Michonne a thousand questions. But much to Michonne’s relief, one of the handlers came in and told them the pods were officially open and that they should all follow him.
CONFESSIONAL: JESSIE ANDERSON - HAIRSTYLIST (AND A MILLION OTHER THINGS)
“Hi. My name is Jessie. I haven’t had much luck in love. I’m here to, hopefully, change that.”
Michonne’s first date was with someone named Phillip Blake. His words were charming, but she didn’t feel any kind of sincerity. It was like he was reciting lines he knew would usually work on women. She wrote Phillip’s name, age, and occupation in her notebook. Then she wrote: ‘Hiding behind a facade; Ted Bundy type.’
Although not off to the best start, she decided to stay optimistic and her next date on the other side of the wall was a man named ‘Tyreese’ and an ex-athlete. He seemed like a breath of fresh air at first in comparison to Philip, and their conversation flowed. Suddenly, though, he broke out into tears over her mentioning her love of cats. She became a little concerned by his somewhat fragile mental state. She loved a man who could be vulnerable and sensitive but something about his reaction felt a bit over the top. She wrote ‘a bit too dramatic’ in her notebook next to his name.
Her next slew of dates were also a bust. ‘Bob - Sweet. But working through alcoholism; I don’t know if I can handle that.’ ‘Gareth - Young. And all he talks about is food.’ ‘Eugene - …What the fuck?’ She eventually had some promising dates in the form of Glenn and Morgan, but she was quickly starting to lose what little hope she had.
***
Rick had moved from pod to pod while wondering how much booze he could consume in one day and still be able to stay awake to hold a meaningful conversation. He’d met some women, Rosita and Sasha, who both seemed a little too young for him. He sat down on the couch of the pod and put his drink and notebook on the table but noticed the eerie silence from the other side of the wall. “Hello…Anyone there…” Rick said, trying to see if maybe he entered an empty pod.
“Your voice. I like. The name is Jadis.” A slightly husky voice sounded from the other side of the wall.
He thought the woman’s phrasing seemed a bit off and jotted that down in his notebook. “Interesting name. My name is Rick. I’m from King County, a small town a hundred miles from Atlanta.”
“Rick, from King County, do you want to go up up up with me?”
With that, Rick thought maybe he should have researched the show like Okafor said.
He spent the rest of the conversation trying to decipher whether Jadis was hitting on him or threatening him. Sometimes it seemed like a little bit of both. He wondered if he needed to get production involved. ‘Did they let her through without giving her the mental health eval?’ he wondered, scratching her name out of his notebook completely.’
***
Michonne smiled as she enjoyed the velvety smooth voice from the other side of her pod wall. ‘Finally,’ she thought, ‘a decent contender.’
“So…Michonne, do you like art and going to galleries?”
She crossed her legs and let her feet hang bare as her red stilettos lay on the floor. She had gotten comfortable due to her intriguing company. “Yes, I wouldn’t consider myself an expert or anything. But I do have a few pieces in my home. Have you heard of Romare Bearden?”
“Yes, the collagist right?”
Her face lit up. She wrote next to Okafor’s name: “a man of culture”.
“That’s the one,” Michonne said. “What do you know about him?” Her voice held a tint of playfulness.
Okafor gave a light laugh. But being one who was always up to show off his mental aptitude, he responded. “He was an African American artist coming up during the Harlem Renaissance, but his works span many decades. He specialized in collage of black people. I believe my favorite piece of his is called ‘The Block’ or something like that…”
Michonne snickered as she wrote in her notebook and twirled one of her long locs with her finger. “Yeah, or something like that.”
Okafor loved her voice. It felt melodic and sensual to him. He could tell he had passed her test but still decided to ask. “Well, did I pass? Can I now take you to the High Museum of Art when we are outside of all this?”
Michonne liked his confident response but still wanted to keep him on his toes. It was their first date after all. “Who said there would be a ‘we’?”
“Didn’t mean to be presumptuous,” Okafor said, a smile on his lips. “But I can definitely tell you, without a doubt, this is shaping up to be my favorite date of the day.”
She didn’t want to get ahead of herself but part of her wanted to confess that he too was her favorite date so far. And with the handlers letting them know they may soon have a break, she didn’t want the date to end quite yet. Instead of being that vulnerable, she decided to give him a similar and dulled-down response. “Glad to be able to be your favorite date of the day. I can say the same for now. I look forward to us talking again.”
***
Rick felt happy to have a break from filming in the pods so they could go back to the lounge while the crew changed shifts. After his disastrous date with Jadis, he didn’t think it could get worse. But then he talked to another woman named Dawn who spent the entire time directing the conversation military style as if he was a soldier in her army. He took a bottle of water and noticed Okafor entering the room with a big grin on his face.
“I take it you’ve had a better day than I have,” Rick said.
Okafor looked up to acknowledge Rick as if he had just woken him up from a daydream. “Yes, I think I may have just had a date with the most interesting woman here.”
Rick’s eyebrows shot up. “That good?” he said. “I wish I could say the same. I haven’t felt a real connection with anyone here yet. And there’s a woman named Jadis…You should probably watch out for her.”
Okafor continued talking, not even acknowledging Rick’s previous comments. “Her name is Michonne. Isn’t that a unique name?” Rick flipped through the filled pages of his notebook to see if he talked to a “Michonne”, but there was nothing. He figured he would have remembered that name anyway.
They ate lunch. Okafor practically had stars in his eyes as he talked about Michonne the whole time. Rick was amused by it. He only hoped he could find that with someone in this experiment. So when break was over, and it was time to start the dating process again, he chuckled in disbelief when he heard - “Hi. My name is Michonne. You are?”
***
Michonne tapped her pen against the page of her notebook. Her date with Okafor had given her a bit of hope. But after looking at her notes, she realized that she still didn’t really know a lot about him other than his interests.
She heard the door on the other side open and close. She also heard what seemed to be a very heavy walk on the carpeted floor. She cleared her throat after taking a sip of her wine and introduced herself to her next date. “Hi. My name is Michonne. You are?” She heard a light chuckle and wondered what amused him about her question.
“Michonne. I’m Rick. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Michonne’s mouth dropped open. ‘Two sexy voices in a row,’ she thought as she wrote his name in her notebook. But then his statement registered in her brain. What exactly had he heard?
She sat up a bit on the couch. His southern drawl elicited a physical reaction in her body. Her toes pointed a bit in her red shoes. She pulled up a hanging loc to join the rest of them she had in a messy bun. “Tell me Rick, what have you heard about me?”
Rick considered how much he should disclose. He didn’t want to hurt Okafor’s chances any if Michonne were to take offense at him talking about her to other people. “All good things,” he said. “Have you heard anything about a ‘Rick Grimes’ on your side of the island?”
She found some relief in him saying he only heard good things but was intrigued that he seemed interested enough to remember hearing about her. She had drowned out a lot of the other ladies' chatter about their dates. “Nope, can’t say I have heard of a ‘Rick Grimes.’ I’d be interested in getting to know more about him.”
Rick smiled at her coy tone. Her voice was smooth and thick. Sweet. Like molasses. “Well,” he said. “I’m a police officer. I live in the small town of King County, Georgia. I’ve lived there my whole life. I’m on this show because I wanted to try something new.”
She wrote the words ‘police officer’ in her notebook next to his name and underlined it twice. As a black woman in Atlanta, she didn’t find herself fond of law enforcement. From Rick’s voice, she assumed he was white. She told herself to give him a chance but to also not let the smooth voice take her in. Even though, the more she heard it, the more things she noticed about it. She now picked up on the gravel and grit that laced some of his words. “I never thought I’d be open to something like this, but I’m trying something new too. After everything I’ve been through, I thought ‘why not.’”
“My friend actually dared me to sign up for this,” Michonne said. A small laugh colored her words. “And me being me, I met the challenge head-on.” She decided to be flirtatious. Her date with Okafor had opened her up a bit. And she wanted to see if she could rattle the small-town guy. “Hopefully, I can find something that makes my time here worthwhile.” She made her tone as suggestive as possible, seeing if he would respond to it or avoid it.
Rick thought it bold that she signed up as the result of a dare. He found her boldness intriguing. Almost as much as the tone of her last sentence. He knew Okafor developed a connection with her after just one date…but should that stop him from exploring his own possibilities? “I hope to be, even if it’s just for a bit, someone who makes your time here worth the trip.” He cringed up his face after the words spilled out of his mouth.
A smile stretched across Michonne’s lips at his stilted flirtation. He made an attempt at least. ‘Cute,’ she thought. “Let’s have some fun,” she said, her playful side growing in the face of his clumsy flirting. “Tell me what you think I’m wearing based on my voice. I’m curious to know what kind of girl you think I am.”
Rick noticed he now sat on the edge of the plush beige couch. He wanted to kick his cowboy boots off as they suddenly felt too tight. His suit jacket was now on the other side of the sofa. He loosened his tie and ran his hand through his curls. The heat started to radiate off his skin. He closed his eyes and started to picture her based on her bubbly yet seductive tenor. “Forgive me if I get anything wrong. Your voice makes me think of you in a fancy, tight, short dress - maybe something black but also colorful and fun just like you. You’re so different from other women I’ve ever talked to or dated before. You're probably one of those real city women I don’t run into that much where I’m from. The kind my dad used to warn me about. Basically, nothing like my ex-wife. She mostly stayed at home and would only dress real simple and covered up.” Rick opened his eyes, taking in the silence that now filled the air.
Michonne mulled over his words. What she thought would just be a silly, flirtatious game actually ended up making some of her Spidey senses tingle. ‘Traditional father?’ she wrote. ‘Possible red flags…’ She didn’t want the silence to hang too long, so she spoke. “I'm not sure what to touch on first, Rick,” she said. She maintained a light tone but decided to let him know a few of her concerns right off the bat. “The fact that you brought up your ex-wife out of nowhere in casual conversation, the fact that you sound like you’re judging how she dressed, or the fact that it sounds like you think I'm not covered up?”
Rick didn’t even register that he referenced his ex-wife, Lori. His friends often joked that he had ‘the game’ of a little league pitcher. He chided himself for putting his foot in his mouth when things seemed to be going so well. “I’m sorry. No, I didn’t mean it that way. My ex-wife and I have been divorced for years now, and I don’t know why I even brought her up. I guess I was trying to compliment you. You’re just different…you know, kind of unique. Not uptight. Maybe I got that part wrong.” He stopped himself, realizing the hole he dug with what he presumed to be a beautiful and intelligent woman on the other side of the wall.
Michonne was left dissecting his words again. What did he mean maybe he got the part about her not being uptight wrong? Was that supposed to be shade? “So now you think I'm uptight?” Michonne asked for clarification.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I am just a bit nervous. This is my first conversation that actually felt real. Of course, I had to ruin it,” Rick said. His southern drawl sounded deep with frustration. He shook his head and used his right hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.
Michonne was still unsure. She put a question mark next to Rick’s name. She wasn’t completely writing him off because he seemed sincere in everything he said unlike many of the men she had talked to before him. “You haven’t ruined it,” Michonne said. “I may just be overthinking everything you say because I'm interested in getting to know you better.” She decided to give him an out by moving them back into a fun and flirty territory. “Your voice is sexy.”
Rick looked up and smiled, a bit taken aback by the compliment. Maybe he still had a shot after all. “I’m glad to hear you at least enjoy my voice even when I sometimes say the wrong things. I hope you give me the pleasure of hearing your lovely voice again. I promise you if you do, I will make sure you won’t regret it. I’m a man of my word; I tend to keep my promises.”
Michonne chuckled at his ardent desire to continue engaging with her. “You sure are eager, aren’t you?” she said, amused.
“Maybe you’re eager too,” Rick quipped.
Determined to give him a hard time, Michonne snarked with a smile, “I’m not.”
Rick grinned and gave a light laugh because he knew she was probably right, but he liked a challenge.
“So tell me a little more, Rick,” Michonne said. She settled on the couch and pulled a provided blanket over her body. “You’re divorced…Do you have any kids?”
He didn’t expect the sudden change of subject but welcomed it. “Yes, I have one son. His name is Carl. He’s ten years old and loves baseball, comics, and pizza. He means everything to me.” He couldn’t help but smile a bit while talking about his boy. “But his favorite thing to do is to give me a hard time. Kind of like you.” He heard her snicker a bit on the other side of the wall and hoped one day he could bask in her smile. “How about you? Any kids?”
Michonne wrote, ‘He has a son, Carl, ten years old’ in her notebook. She decided to ruminate on possibly marrying someone with a child later when she could be alone with her thoughts. She responded to his question: “I don’t have a kid,” she said. “My ex and I talked seriously about trying once, but then he cheated on me with my best friend. So that was dead.”
Rick knew coming on the show as a father would be hard. He missed Carl, and it hadn’t even been a full day. He reminded himself of what another contestant named Abe said to him, ‘You got the cajones of a bull to come on here with a kid. If I find a woman with a kid I’m hightailing my red-headed ass the other way.’ He broke off from his thoughts and made notes about Michonne’s considering having children and her cheating ex. “I’m sorry for what happened to you. His loss. My ex dated my partner after we broke up.”
“The partner you have to work with everyday and trust with your life?” Michonne asked, scandalized by the bit of news Rick dropped. She knew how hurt she had been by Mike’s betrayal, but that had been nothing compared to how she had felt to be betrayed by her childhood best friend. It was devastating. She lost two of her most important relationships in one blow, so she understood the damage that would have done to Rick. She relayed that sentiment.
He couldn’t believe a stranger that he had yet to lay eyes on made him feel so seen. Could they be building a connection? “It’s in the past now. I’m here today talking to an intelligent woman with a honey voice. I think things are looking up.”
“Honey voice,” Michonne repeated. “I like that. So you can be smooth. I’m gonna have to watch out.”
Rick found himself blushing and just when he was about to reply a handler knocked at his door letting him know he had to move on to his last date of the day. “Well, Michonne, it looks like we are rudely being interrupted. Hopefully, this isn’t the last time I get to hear your voice.” He sipped the last drop of his chalice realizing how dry his throat had gotten from talking so much but didn’t regret a moment of it even the times he made a fool of himself.
Rick went back to the contestant-named “bachelor pad” with a smile on his face. “Uh-oh,” Okafor said. “There it is. You finally found a girl that got you smiling like I was. Who is she?” The smile dried up on Rick’s face.
***
Michonne sat in the women’s lounge, flipping through her notebook, going back and forth between her notes for her two best dates - Rick and Okafor. She wondered if she should already start a comparison list despite it just being the first day. Breaking her out of her thoughts, she heard the words ‘Officer Friendly’, and looked up to see two younger women - one she believed to be Rosita. The twenty-something petite woman seemed to be laughing with the other contestant.
She listened a little more closely. She had an inkling she knew who they were talking about. “That accent!” the woman not named Rosita said. “He’s such a country boy. And a gentleman! Definitely the kind of guy you’d wanna take home to meet your mom.” Michonne smiled as she listened, remembering how Rick asked her if she had heard anything about a ‘Rick Grimes.’ Well, now she had something to report back to him.