I'd gone back to my tent for a while after doing laundry. My throat ached and I was exhausted from all the talking. Glenn was off helping one of the men with something or another, so I didn't feel so bad about going off to be alone. Although it occurred to me that I had no reason to feel bad about leaving Glenn anyway, since it was unlikely that my being away would affect him all that much. If anything, I suffered more from being away from that gorgeous face.

But I digress.

I was asleep when Glenn came around a while later. It must have been hours, because there was little light coming from outside the tent.

"Knock knock," He said from outside, his voice both nervous and joking. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Eden?"

I found the zipper at the front of the tent and opened it up. Cold rushed in and sent a shiver down my spine.

"Hey," he said, hunching down to look at me through the opening.

I tried saying hey back, but it came out as a squeak. I made another attempt after clearing my throat, but it wasn't much of an improvement. Should've seen it coming.

"It's okay, you don't have to talk. It's dinner, so I thought I'd bring you some food."

I looked at his hands. Two forks in one, a can of something or another in the other. Noticing my gaze, he looked away and smiled awkwardly.

"I thought we could eat together. If that's okay."

Nodding, I crawled backwards so he could get in. He ducked in then moved to close up the tent but seemed to have second thoughts and left it open. It crossed my mind that he might not want the others to think we were doing anything other than talking, but it was unlikely he thought the way I thought.

"Here. It's fish. That's okay, right?"

Again, I nodded. This time I earned a smile. He settled in and opened up the tin.

"Ladies first."

Laughing, I dug into the meat. Fish was something I hadn't had in a while. It was a good. Sometimes I missed having home cooked meals, especially when eating out of cans. There was just something comforting about a meal made by your family members. Something nurturing about it.

"It's nice having you around."

My gaze moved from the fish to his face.

"Someone close to my age, you know?"

I nodded, though his words were making me giddy. Even if he didn't mean it romantically, he meant... He meant something by it, even if I didn't know exactly what it was.

I took some more fish.

"It gets lonely sometimes. Especially since everybody's been pairing up lately."

His words hit home. When I was with the school kids I had to watch them all join up and walk off to have sex every day. Sure, some of them died from it, but it still made me feel very, very alone.

He laughed to himself, then added, "You probably know the feeling."

I smiled and patted his knee with my free hand. I wished I could have offered a more intellectual answer but my lack of a voice was more limiting than usual. We took a pause from conversation – or rather, he took a pause- and finished off what was left in the tin can.

"You know what I miss most?"

I looked back up. He was staring outside of the tent, captivated by something or another. He knew I couldn't ask him what he missed, so he only paused for a brief moment.

"The people. Back then, if you lived in the city like I did, you could be lonely, but you were never actually alone. If you walked outside onto the street, you'd see people. You walk in a store, you see people. You dial a wrong number, chances are some person is going to answer. I miss that."

There was a silent moment before he laughed, though there was no humor in his voice. "Sorry, this is pretty heavy stuff I'm putting on you."

"It's okay," I managed to whisper.

"I miss the internet, too," He added.

"I second that," I whispered.

He closed his eyes as he smiled this time, then he placed his hand on mine. "It's getting late, you should probably sleep."

I didn't nod but he left anyway, lingering a moment outside of my tent. I thought he was going to turn around and come back inside, but he walked away instead.

I'd just have to wait until the morning to see him again.