Finally chapter 8 is up! Hope you like it, and sorry for the long wait. Just the same details as my last chapter.
Anyway, quick reminder, I didn't want to go into Daryl's perspective just yet, because it will give things away. ;)
Please enjoy, and review for me?
Doing laundry during the hot day really was refreshing, the other chores that followed weren't so awful either. Yet the entire time, Eva couldn't stop thinking about the whole situation with Daryl. The whole time, she was feeling confused, not knowing what she did for him to ignore her. ~Was he still upset about Merle? Even though he apologized?~ Eva's throat started to drop further and further down into her stomach each time she walked by the main campire. Lori, Jacqui, and Carol were all preparing for dinner. Looks like they were all having canned foods tonight. Daryl was no where to be seen, and neither was Merle still. Her greatest guess was that they were both in the tent this time. She was fighting with herself on whether she wanted to see him, or punch him square in the face. They were finally hanging up some clothes to dry for tomorrow, Eva felt like an idiot following Amy around all day like a stranded dog.
"Your clothes should be dry by tomorrow morning." Carol said with a weak smile.
"Thankyou." Eva said with a warming smile. Then Amy came closer to her side and whispered in her ear.
"So what are you going to do about redneck boy when dinner's here?"
"Ignore him, what else." Eva said it very bluntly.
"Good riddance, just forget about him. He'll get what he deserves soon enough." Amy gave Eva a small pat on the back. Then Eva gave Andrea a confused look.
"What? No. I said I was going to ignore him for dinner, but afterwards I want to talk to him alone." Both of the sisters stopped what they were doing to look at her.
"Come on Eva, you can't be serious. I don't think that you should waste your time talking to Daryl, he's not one you would hope to have a relationship with."
"Yeah and I doubt that he did anything else besides shooting squirrels and hanging with his brother before the world ended." Amy and Andrea were both trying to convince her not to bother with it, or to have anything to do with him. Inside, it did frustrate her a little, but she also understood what they were trying to do. They knew him more than she did herself, even if they had a private chat with eachother last night. They've been around him long enough to know what kind of person he was. But for some reason she still had her reasons to have interest in him. Last night there was a moment where he wouldn't bother talking about himself. Maybe there was something else about Daryl Dixon, he obviously wasn't one to be open about things. Maybe, just maybe, if Eva could get him to open up, he wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Look, I understand what you girls are trying to do, and I am grateful for you concerning about me. But honestly, we have all the time in the world to waste, it's not like we have school or jobs anymore, right?" Eva smiled and gave Amy a wink, and she smiled back. Andrea looked at Amy, then back into Eva's eyes.
"We just don't want to see you get hurt, that's all."
"And if he does hurt you, me and Andrea can kick his ass." They all laughed, all picturing the scene in their minds.
"You both are darling, and thankyou." Eva reached a hand out to shake theirs but instead the sisters both pulled Eva into a group hug. The embrace made Eva feel a bit awkward, so she just stood there with her arms down at her sides and blinked confusingly. Upon noticing her actions, Andrea assumed it was their stench and pulled away.
"Do we smell that bad?" Hearing her comment, Eva couldn't help but escape a few giggles behind her huge grin.
"Oh no no! I'm just not very-uh familiar with hugs. New thing for me."
"Well get used to it." And again Andrea pulled her into another warming hug, with Eva gently giving her a small pat on the back in return, not knowing what else to do.
After hanging up all the clothes they could put up, they all took a seat around the campfire to talk about random and nonsense things. Eva kept a cool attitude throughout the whole conversation,
pretending to be oblivious to the people showing up one at a time around the campfire. The flames burned bright, and in everyone's eyes held a reflection of the dancing orange lights. The last one to show up to dinner was Dale, instead of coming from his tent, he came from the direction of the Dixons'.
"Merle says he's not feeling well, to just give him his dinner at his tent. Daryl will be out in a moment." The mentioning of Daryl's name made Eva's stomach churn. She had no idea on why this moment bothered her so much. She was trapped in the middle of feeling happy for seeing him, and feeling angry for the same reason.
"Aww, still a little butt-hurt from yesterday." Amy spoke out. Some laughed, but Eva tried not to pay any attention to the looks that she might be getting by looking down into her lap. Paper plates were passed out throughout the group, containing beans and canned vegetables. Yum. Small talk went around as they started eating dinner, yet Eva wasn't very hungry, and the food appeal wasn't helping much either. It all seemed to be going well until the dreadful name escaped out of Shane's mouth.
"Hey Daryl, here's your plate." Eva shot her head up to see Daryl grabbing a plate from Shane's hand. As he walked towards the farthest seat from the fire, he glanced over at Eva, and both of their eyes met. Her heart stopped.
As he sat down, Lori told him that he could bring a plate to his brother after dinner, all he did was nod.
A few more conversations were going on around the warming flames, until the topic landed on Eva herself. She was supprised.
"So, Eva, you wanna tell us how you ended up here in the U.S. in the first place?" She never liked Shane, he was over-controlling to almost everyone in the camp. Being an ex-sheriff was not an excuse. Eva then put down her plastic fork and finished chewing the mixture of carrots and beans that layed in her mouth before opening it again to talk.
"Well I was here for a mission of course." She told them all the details that she still remembered about her mission in Ohio. Shane never once smiled the entire time, it was no suprise to her.
"What really confuses me is why they have someone all the way from England, kill someone all the way over here. I mean, why can't our government just have someone get the job done?" Amy had a mouthful of food when she asked.
Eva laughed at the question.
"How would a country look if they killed their own people?" Some of the survivors almost completely stopped chewing and started paying much more attention to Eva's response.
"It's just the way it works. You scratch our back, we scratch yours." Eva went on a little about the ways in the system, some were trying to understand, and others got lost. The whole time Shane just nodded. Eventually Eva found a way to end the conversation since she was boring herself as well. New conversation went on, but Eva paid no attention to what was being said. She acted like she was listening to Andrea about going fishing sometime soon, but really, she was taking a few glances over at Daryl. He didn't seem to notice, he seemed very distant with the group. Seeing Daryl's handsome face gave her butterflies, but he didn't acknowledge anything besides the non-appetizing food on his plate.
Once again Eva's head shot up from her meal when someone asked her another question.
"So like, can you teach me kung fu?" Carl had a twinkle in his eye. Eva pondered at the weird question, she looked over at Lori, who didn't seemed pleased at the question or the look on Carl's face. Fortunately, before Eva could think of an answer to tell him, Lori spoke first.
"I don't think thats a good idea sweetie." Lori said, patting her son's back.
"Your mother's right, it's too dangerous." Now, Eva was on the line with Shane. Even though it might've been true, it still wasn't his place his boss people around even more. The edges of Carl's lips curled downward, making Eva feel bad, that even though the world ended, kids still aren't able to choose for themselves.
"Oh come on Lori, Carl could use some self-defense, we all could. I know I'd like to learn a thing or two." Andrea brightened up the mood and gave a sly wink at Eva. The lack of having to get to know about the whole group, she loved Andrea and Amy, they always made her feel better.
"Well maybe Eva can teach you, but I'd like Carl to be safe." Lori kept a smile on her face, but almost everyone knew that there was an angry frown hiding beneath it. No one really said anything else for a while, and then awkwardness filled the atmosphere.
When dinner was over, Eva didn't have the slightest clue on what to do. Amy and Andrea were off getting ready for bed, Shane was taking night shift on watch duty, and the others were already off doing their own things, mainly preparing for bed. She still sat there around the campfire, observing the orange embers that now were just burning barely. Looking effortlessly around the camp, Eva caught a glimpse of Daryl wondering around. She took it as a perfect chance to talk.
She walked over to where he was by Dale's tent, seemed like he was looking for something.
"Need help with something love?" She bent down, putting her hands on her knees so that their eyes met.
"Misplaced my crossbow like a damn fool, don't need help." Daryl said blantly, he shrugged off her stare and walked away. Eva got a bit irritated, but was determined to have a conversation. She followed him.
"Listen, Daryl, I wanted to talk to you about something." Her voice seemed stern. He turned to look at her for a brief moment with angry eyes.
"'bout what?" He then continued looking downward for his crossbow.
"About earlier today, when you uhm-ignored me." Daryl's actions didn't change, like the comment didn't bother him at all.
"Ain't nothin' to talk about." He continued to look around on the ground.
"Excuse me?" Now Eva was angry. It was obvious that the topic mentioned definitely needed to be talked about, but not to Daryl. He bent down picking up what seemed to be his crossbow, please with himself, he mumbled something about being an idiot for forgetting on where he'd put it. Daryl then looked back over at Eva, not really frowning, but not the happiest guy in the world either.
"There ain't nothin' to talk about, g'night." And with that he walked away towards his tent, leaving her there, dumbfounded.
The anger that was raging inside her was unbearable, it pushed her to the point where hot tears were welling up. It made her more upset by the fact that someone even managed to push her this far.
She'd never really cried before, so the unfamiliar stinging in her tear ducts made her feel sick. ~Bloody hell. This is just..ridiculous.~ Eva walked back to her tent, got ready for bed, and felt lonelier than ever.