Carl had watched the whole encounter between Shane and the new girl and was shocked. Shocked and highly amused. He wasn't the biggest fan of his dad's supposed best friend and thoroughly enjoyed the dressing down he'd just gotten.
The teenage boy waited a few moments hoping Evie would come back out of her tent so he could sp[eak to her but it wasn't long before his mom called him over to help with setup. Thanking God they had separate tents because there was no way on earth that a 16-year-old boy wants to share a tent with his mother.
Once both tents were set up, no thanks to Lori, Carl gritted his teeth as he noticed Shane and his mom making eyes at each other. He did not want to be around for that so he scanned the camp looking for an escape. When he noticed Evie heading into the woods he got an idea.
"Hey mom." he called out, withholding yet another eye roll as she looked startled from whatever deep and meaningful conversation she was having with Shane. "We need firewood. I'm going to see if I can find any fallen branches or logs for tonight."
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea sweetie." she replied looking hesitant.
"I won't go far. I'll stay in shouting distance." he said, taking off before she could say anything else, throwing a wave over his shoulder.
He kept to his word and stayed close enough to be heard if he yelled but far enough into the trees to not be seen directly from camp. He didn't want to seem like a creeper so he actually suited action to word and started gathering up small logs and what looked like fallen branches. He'd done this with his dad a million times so knew what to look for. Carl wondered around scrounging for about half an hour before he finally came across the person he was looking for.
"Not sure how pleasant Shane's day is going but that smackdown definitely made mine." he said with a small grin as he came up beside where Evie was crouched looking at something on the ground.
Evie let out a soft laugh. "Well then I guess you're welcome." she said, looking up at him with a return grin.
"Many thanks." he said putting the wood he'd gathered down and crouching next to her. "I'm Carl by the way. Hopefully, you won't hold my house in the suburbs against the too much." he said with a grin to show he was only teasing.
Evie was surprised that he'd heard her comments about city people but his teasing told her he wasn't mad about it. "Only if you promise not to scream like a little girl when a bug crawls in your tent." she said playfully. "Because out here it's a guarantee."
"Promise." he said with a nod. "Not my first time in the woods. My dad used to take me out camping and hunting."
"Oh? Well, that's good. Deputy Douche didn't seem like the outdoorsy type but I guess I was off on that one." she said with a shrug.
"Oh no. He's not my dad." Carl said quickly. "He's my dad's best friend. And you were actually right about him. He acts tough but couldn't track an elephant in his own backyard." Carl explained with a small laugh before it faded. "My dad was a cop too, Shane's partner. He was shot two months ago in the line of duty and been in a coma ever since. Shane tried to get him from the hospital when we left for the refugee center but he was gone."
"I'm so sorry, Carl." Evie said softly. "That sucks." Carl just nodded.
"I get it, sort of. I lost my mom." she almost whispered. "She was a nurse at a hospital in the city. She got called in and I was at home packing for a week with my dad. I saw … these things outside and panicked. Called my dad and he was already on the way to pick me up with Uncle Merle. He told me to call my mom and tell her to meet us here. Dixon's don['t really do … government joining. As crazy as that sounds. So I called her and she explained what was happening. But … but she was bitten by a patient." she paused, taking a deep breath. "She was still in the city. If the bite hadn't killed her then the bombing did." She finished in a small voice.
She'd come out here to be alone and try to process the bombings and what that meant for the death, one way or another, of her mom. But here she was pouting it out to a strange boy she'd literally just met.
Carl was stunned by what she had just revealed. Finally, after a few moments, he gathered his scattered wits and spoke. "I'm sorry, that sucks." he echoed her earlier words when he'd spoken of his dad.
As Carl had done with her own sympathies, Evie nodded in response.
"Wow, this got depressing." Carl said after another moment, breaking the silence they'd fallen into.
"Yeah." She said with a small laugh. "I guess comparing dead parents will do that." she offered wryly.
"Yeah, maybe we should avoid that topic from here on out." Carl said with a small smile.
"Oh? And will we be talking often enough to warrant worrying about future topics?" She asked, turning to look at him fully, one eyebrow raised.
"Well, I sure hope so." Carl answered with a little grin, slightly flirty.
"Oh, I* see. Flirting directly following the 'dead parents' conversation takes balls. Brass ones." She said, a smirk slowly spreading across her face.
"What can i say?" he said, his own grin growing as she hadn't outright rejected him. "That topic shows things can happen when you least expect it so makes me want to take a chance."
"Oooh. And he doubles down on the flirting." she said, the smirk steadily growing. "Smooth by the way." she said with a small laugh.
"Thank you, thank you." Car5l said with a mock bow from where he knelt next to her. "That's better than a no at least."
"You sure you want to open that door?" She asked almost incredulously. "You saw my daddy, right? Not to mention the mean bastard next to him."
Carl let out a laugh and a nod. "Yes, I saw the scary father and his dangerous-looking crossbow." Carl replied. "But I'm not scared and you seem worth risking the wrath of badass rednecks."
Normally hearing her father and uncle called rednecks would have been enough to make Evie's hackles rise. This time though, she could tell Carl didn't mean anything by it. He said it more like a fact than an insult, a fact he didn't seem to care all that much about. She wasn't above teasing him though.
"Redneck, huh?" she asked, eyebrow once more raising pointedly.
"Well, yeah." Carl sia dwith a shrug, not backing down. "Your dad is a redneck. Mine was a cop. It is what it is. My dad always said truth is truth and people should be judged by actions alone."
"He sounds smart." Evie said with a nod, choosing not to tease further about the redneck comment.
"He was." Carl said before pulling out another like. "He also told me the risks are worth it for the right girl." He finished with a wink.
"And we've come full circle!" She exclaimed with a laugh. "You literally just met me, what makes you think I'm the right girl worth trying this hard?" It was a valid question. She usually shut down anyone who tried this hard this soon. They were usually only interested in her pretty face and petite, gymnastics-toned body. Or her tits, there was always that. Carl seemed different though, and she couldn't put her finger on what it was. Maybe it was the fact that he'd actually looked at her eyes the whole time they'd been talking and not her tits or her ass.
"You really want to know?" He asked, shifting to sit, leaning against a tree next to her. At her nod, he explained. "You're hot." He said, holding up a hand to forestall whatever cutting reply that would warrant. "And I don't mean how you look.:" Seeing the confused look on her face and tilt of her head he went on. "I mean don't get me wrong, you're hot on the outside too and I know you are aware. You're gorgeous. But it was the way you spoke when you put Shane in his place."
At this, both eyebrows inched their way up her forehead. He thought she was hot because she verbally bitchslapped Deputy Douche? That was new.
The surprise written clearly on her face had Carl expanding on his explanation. "You cut him off at the knees with a smile. You stood your ground when he pushed. He opened that door, you just walked on through it. You didn't act like a spoiled princess or whine to your Daddy. You weren't an out-right bitch. It was that hilarious back-handed insulting thing that cuts deeper than any amount of yelling or name-calling can. You used perfectly pleasant and sweetly condescending words like a freaking weapon. That means you have a spine of steel. My dad used to say that the best type of woman was silk and steel; a spine of solid steel wrapped in the softest of silks. Apparently, something my grandpa used to say to him." Carl just looked at her surprised and slightly, in the end, blushing face. "That's why. Because when I saw you shred that pompous ass I saw steel and sink in the most gorgeous face I'd ever seen."
To say Evie was stunned with that answer was the understatement of the century. She was silent for several long moments as she processed all that he said and all that it implied. Carl had blown her away.
"I… I didn't expect that." she finally managed to find her voice. "Thank you… for that. It's probably the single most sweet thing anyone has ever said to me."
"So I'm the first guy to see past the pretty packaging and see the awesome sassy girl underneath?" He asked tilting his head curiously.
"Yep. It's usually all interest until I open my mouth and sass back or they see my Daddy." She answered with a nod, looking down. "Most guys don't like a girl that spennds all of her down time in the woods, can shoot and fight better than them, and knows more about gutting, skinning, and prepping a deer than they do."
Carl nodded along until the end when he let out a snort. "Well considering that we're now living in the woods for the foreseeable future, I'd rather have a girl that knows all that stuff, which can help us survive, than one that spends all of her time worrying about her hair and nails." Carl sent her another wink along with a grin. "Besides, I don't mind that you're better at those things than me. It just means that you can teach me how to do them with you. I'm a quick study and more than willing to learn." Carl finished, leaving the ball in her court.
She shifted to sit fully instead of kneeling as he had. She ran his words through her head again and finally smiled, meeting his eyes. "Okay."
"Carl gave her a beaming smile lightening up his whole face. "Awesome." He says, shifting closer to her, so close that their thighs touched.
"You sure made me work hard enough." Carl said with a teasing laugh. "I have the feeling you're worth it though." he finished reassured sincerely before they lapsed into silence for a moment.
"So now that you're actually taking me seriously, tell me more about yourself." Carl said, breaking the silence as he settled down next to her, shifting until he was comfortably leaning back against a tree. "Tell me all about my new girlfriend."
"Oh, girlfriend is it now?" Evie asked challengingly, struggling to keep the grin off of her face. "How did you come to that conclusion from me saying okay to talking to you more?" She asked.
"Well first of all, I literally just put myself out there on the line and told you all that so I think that earns me a few points." Carl said cheekily. "Second, me laying out the aforementioned feelings was basically me asking you to be mine." He said pointedly.
"Alright." Evie said simply.
"Alright as in 'yes I can see how you came to that conclusion but you're wrong' or alright as in 'Okay then, yes I'm your girlfriend'?" Carl asked. "I told you that I'm a quick study and I apparently just learned to always clarify with you." He finished playfully exasperated.
Evie laughed and lay her hand on his. "Relax." She said, biting her bottom lip, dragging out the silence for a moment before deciding to put him out of his misery and answer the question. "The second." She told him as she slipped her hand into his, lacing their fingers together. "I'll be yours if you're really serious."