Caged Heat
'even though it's freezing outside, it's getting hot in here.'
November 3rd.
"I think I might have been in love once."
He said it so abruptly, a random thought as he blankly stared out of the window of abandoned house number three. This house was a small one. Only one story, 2 bedrooms and a kitchen the size of a coat closet. Beth had rummaged though the rusted cabinets as soon as they arrived in the middle of the night, and the group had swallowed through a can of green beans as the sun came up. They were scattered now; Carl and T-dog keeping watch at the front of the house while Glenn and Maggie stood near the back door.
Daryl stood in the living room, watching fresh flakes of snow dance around in the new winter air. He wasn't on watch duty, but what else did he have to do? Carol tried not to watch him from the kitchen, where she pounded through knifes and plates for anything useful, but by the way he stared blank out the window, she knew he had something on his mind.
When he spoke she dropped a bent fork and it clanked around on the cracked mint green tile, landing against the turned over refrigerator. He didn't flinch though, and Carol blinked as his eyes as he followed the petals of snow.
"Just once." He almost laughed. "I am no sucker for none of that love shit, But damn was Stacey pretty. Course she had braces and always wore this nasty ass pink ribbon in her hair, but I think was in love her."
Carol smirked. "Elementary school?"
"I think it might have been this time of year," Daryl nodded. "I member cause Stacey liked it when it first snowed." He turned away from the window then, looking at Carol as she hung in the empty doorway of the kitchen. Her hair a grown a bit, split ends going in every direction. Tired eyes hung as low has her cheeks and a brown tank top that used to be white hung against her flat frame. She rubbed her cracked fingers against her crossed arms, her lips pursed together in anticipation. "I was a little pussy when I was a kid. Never even said a word."
Carol watched as he adjusted the strap of his cross bow, his eyes crawling away from her. "You think she liked you back?"
Daryl turned away from Carol then, his boots catching the frayed pieces of carpet as he walked away. "Course. Who couldn't?" She had almost been stunned by his last words, laced with a light tone that almost insinuated friendship. He hadn't talked to her like that in a month. Mostly it had just been screaming and mumbling and more recently just silence.
Maybe now it would be different.
A/N: Hey Guys! I hope you enjoyed this little babble! And expect some more winter fun with Daryl and Carol in the near future!