3rd Person POV
Daryl was up so fast you'd think he'd fallen on hot coals, backpedaling more than 3 feet and refused to look anywhere except the frostbitten white & green front lawn.
"Sorry," It came out gruff and strangled and he cleared his throat the second after it left his mouth. He hasn't been this stiff since Merle was still with them. Thank god it only sounded like someone's hand is wrapped around his throat and not a prepubescent teenager.
Eve's brain finally got a grip and she sat up, a little too fast. All the aches and stinging and shooting pains made a hostile takeover of her awareness and she hissed, sitting up with hand on her elbow.
You'd think she'd be used to this sort of pain by now. As stealthy as she is, her gracefulness has taken a dive ever since she had to start worrying about being eaten alive or being the one to do the eating if she gets so much as a scratch.
Eve cleared her throat this time. The crisp air stinging it straight after as she breathed in. "t's fine. It—it wasn't on purpose."
Stiff, awkward silence doesn't suit them but that's exactly what enveloped the two.
A single second felt like a lifetime and the tension built over several until Eve finally couldn't handle it anymore. The itch to run burned her legs and her stomach like a heating pad that's been turned up too high.
"We should — get inside."
"'ll be dark soon." Daryl agreed too quickly but can finally breathe again instead of trying to stand as still as humanly possible without even realizing he was doing it.
Neither thought too much about it before Daryl's stuck his hand out, out of habit, and Eve took it — also out of habit — to stand up before they all but speed walked inside.
Eve preoccupied herself almost the second she walked into the living room, trying not to think too much (hardest thing in the universe), and Daryl took the dark steps across from the front door two at a time. He didn't even think about what he's gonna do once he's up there, so long as it's by himself, it doesn't matter.
Eve tried to keep her hands busy but it isn't working.
This isn't something she ever thought she'd have to deal with.
'It's fine. Don't overthink it.' Eve didn't even know what she was doing, it was just a bunch of little tasks and busy work. 'It was just an accident. There's no reason to freak out. It's not like it had any meaning that I need to find. It doesn't change anything. Will it? God I hope not. I can't handle awkward — I don't do well with awkward.'
'I can't take this.' Eve stood up and made a beeline for Glenn in the corner. Where he was crouched over a bag, digging through it.
She walked up behind him and grabbed his shoulder. He spun on his toes to look at her.
"Hey," Glenn's brow furrowed. "You ok? You look kinda — shaky."
"I need to talk to you. Right now."
Glenn stood up, "Ok, uh… let's go," He didn't even get to finish his sentence before Eve was almost out the door.
Glenn hurried after her, shooting Maggie a confused shrug when she raised a brow at him from across the other room before he slipped out and caught sight of Eve waiting — impatiently — near the corner of the house.
She ducked around the corner the second he started towards her and he started to panic.
It's not like Eve to be so shaken up, it does not sit well with him. Did she find something? See something? Are they in danger?
He turned the corner fast, almost expecting to see her with blades in hand glinting off the bright moonlight tonight. Thanks to the snow on the ground they can actually see out here even though the sun went down hours ago.
His gut churned in even more unsettlement, watching Eve pace a hole in the snow.
"What's wrong?" Glenn glanced around, trying to keep his cool but a cold sweat has already started to collect on his neck.
Eve took a deep breath. "I need your help."
"Yeah, of course. Whatever you need — well not whatever but— you get my point. What is it?"
Eve took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down before recounting what happened earlier.
"Wait — you guys kissed!?" Glenn's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his skull.
"Yes. What do I do?" Eve tried to summon her patience but her teeth sinking into her bottom lip and her boots that's almost soaked through by the snow, are making it a bit difficult.
"What? What do you mean?" Glenn's confused now. "I thought you two liked each other."
"What?" Eve looked at him like he just spoke a different language.
"Oh come on, the way you guys are always together. I figured it was gonna happen sooner or later. Don't tell me you've never thought about it."
Eve bit her lips and Glenn's eyebrows hit his hairline.
"You haven't?"
"Is that something I'm supposed to think about?" 'Oh god, I'm so far out of my depth with this.'
"Well— no I guess not, but most people do. Even just briefly. But — I'm confused. Why are you freaking out so much?"
"I don't know what to do."
"About what?" Glenn's really trying to understand here, but he really doesn't.
"About— ...mmmhhhh" Eve motioned wildly, with a frustrated whine. "I don't know if this changes anything — it was an accident but everything got really awkward really fast and I panicked and—"
"Whoa whoa whoa, calm down. Your gonna give yourself a panic attack." Glenn grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to stop pacing and to take a few breaths.
It's surreal seeing her like this. He's never seen her panic before. To be honest though, he's trying really hard not to laugh because he can't stop thinking about a little kid losin' their shit over something ordinary.
Evelyn Rider. A woman who can put a 6 inch knife through a 200 lbs walking corpse's head, without so much as blinking, is losing her shit because of an accidental kiss.
'They're so awkward, it's almost endearing. Is it bad some part of me wants to see how Daryl's taking it?' Glenn stopped himself from smiling by clearing his throat.
Glenn watched her now swinging the other way, and instead of all that nervous energy coming out in the form of pacing, she's holding really still.
Glenn grimaced. 'Maybe I should help her. If I leave it up to them … I don't even wanna know what would happen if I left the two least communicative people on the planet to sort this out all by themselves.'
Glenn braced himself, folding his arms. "Did you like it?"
"What?" Eve looked at him, dumbfounded.
"Did you not like it?"
"Wha? — No. It was… fine? I guess."
"Fine? Just, fine? No 'you would be ok if it happened again' or it felt nice...?"
"I don't know, is this important?"
"Kinda." Glenn answered like she's missing the obvious.
Eve sighed. She knows what he's doing — somewhere in her jumbled head, she just can't sort that out right now. "Glenn, please. I don't know what to do about this now."
He sighed, letting his arms fall to his sides as he watched his breath mist. It's freezing out here. "From what you said, I don't think you need to do anything. Instead of trying to figure out what it changes, why don't you start by sorting out how you feel about it first?"
Eve stopped and he watched her brain visibly settle to actually think.
"Like you said, it was an accident, right? If you don't feel any different, why should anything change?"
Eve nodded, her bottom lip sucked so far into her mouth it's like she's trying to eat her own chin; thinking about it carefully.
Eve sighed like a teenager giving up on their homework, releasing her poor lip. "But what then?"
"We can talk again after you figure it out but there's not much we can do before that."
She nodded, clearly not too thrilled but not arguing. And she looks leaps and bounds calmer than before.
For someone so stealthy she sure gets itchy feet.
"Come on. Let's go back inside." Glenn shivered and Eve nodded, finally taking notice of how cold it is.
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