I woke up pretty late the day after. When I left my tent everyone was already up. I had to look for Glenn, and when I found him, I didn't like I what I saw.

"Glenn?" I said, approaching him and the car he was kneeling beside. There was a nearly empty backpack beside him and he was just closing up the zipper as I spoke. "Going somewhere?"

"Eden!" He said, smiling at my name and standing to greet me. "You're finally up!"

He looked so happy when I showed up, but his face fell when he saw my confusion.

"Where are you going?"

He hesitated.

"I have to go into the city," He replied slowly, looking down at the car and not at my face. He seemed utterly guilty now, his eyes losing their excited sparkle. "We need some stuff..."

I looked down at the ground, trying to hold back how badly I didn't want him to leave. He was quiet with me for a moment.

"I didn't know I had to go," He said quickly. "It wasn't that I didn't want tell you. I would have told you last night if I knew I had to head in. I only found out this morning. I didn't want to wake you up, so..."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to smile at him.

"I know," I assured him. "I'm not upset."

"You look pretty upset," he stated, stepping a little closer to me.

I gave in to a smile.

"Stop doing that," I said.

"Stop doing what?"

"Stop being so cool all the time. I can't keep up."

He smiled and rested his hand against the back of my hair, guiding me forward so he could press his lips against my forehead. I wasn't sure what triggered all of this lip contact but I was certainly not complaining.

"I'll be back in an hour or two," He assured me.

"Okay."

I didn't believe him, but I let him go anyway. My fingers pressed against the hood of the car as he got in and started it up. It rumbled against my skin.

"Come back in one piece," I said through the rolled-down window.

"I will."

He pulled out and I let my hand drop from the car. I didn't look away until the car was completely out of sight. I felt entirely empty with him gone, and it had only been a few seconds. I should have offered to go with him, though I knew I would only slow him down and put him in danger. I started thinking about all the things that could happen to him out there alone, but a hand on my shoulder interrupted me.

I turned to face Lori, who was giving me a somber yet knowing smile.

"He'll be back soon, sweetheart, he's gone in tons of times."

I didn't reply.

"We're going down to do more laundry today," She continued, trying to appeal to me. "Care to help out?"

I kept my eyes lowered but I nodded. There was no point in sulking around and being useless. I might as well do some work to take my mind off of worrying.

Lori led me over to the other women, all of whom had things to carry with the exception of one of the sisters. They were chatting already and I immediately felt like I didn't belong. Something about being away from Glenn made me anxious and naked and I found myself worrying again as we made our way down to the water.

"What was your name, again?" The younger, stuff-less sister asked, slowing her pace to walk in step with me.

"Eden," I replied. I could tell she had to strain herself to hear me.

"I'm Amy," she said. She started asking me some simple questions like where I went to school, what I like to do for fun, what type of music I used to like. It wasn't a conversation with Glenn, but it was still relatively pleasant and it certainly took my mind off of him. I found I could relate to her somewhat, seeing as we were the closest in age in terms of the women of the camp.

When we reached the water and started scrubbing the clothes against the washboards, I started to get questions from the other women.

"So you and Glenn, huh?" The older of the sisters- who I learned was Andrea- half announced, half asked.

I recoiled and sunk into the washboard a little. I made an affirmative noise.

"Oh don't be so shy," Amy teased, dropping a clean shirt into the basket behind her. "It's cute, the way he looks at you."

I felt my insides tighten at the words. I had always thought that I was the one who was always gazing, the one who made a dreamy face every time I looked at him.

"You shoulda seen him when he first turned up with you," another woman, who I learned was Jacqui, added, a laugh in her voice.

"Oh, I remember that," Lori chimed in. "I saved a pretty girl! I saved a pretty girl!"

"He wouldn't stop talking about it," Amy informed me. "Kept glancing at your tent to see if you were ready to come out yet."

"Then he saw you come out for dinner the first time," Andrea was shaking her head at the memory. "Man, he wouldn't stop staring. He was like an eager puppy waiting to play catch."

"Didn't I see Shane nudge him and tell him to keep his eyes to himself?" Amy asked.

The women laughed and I did too, feeling completely wonderful all over my body.

"Oh, we all did," Jacqui affirmed.

"I think it's sweet," Carol, who was a quiet woman, added.

The laughter died down and we returned to focusing on the task at hand. My mind wandered to the amazing person who apparently felt for me just as strongly as I felt for him. I didn't think it were possible for someone to feel that way about me, especially not based solely on appearance. I had myself convinced he was interested because there was no other option, and I certainly wasn't going to argue to that, but having this new information on Glenn had me starting to feel comfortable. Glenn genuinely liked me. This was not what I was expecting to hear today. This was new to me. Foreign, even.

Maybe I was worried about where I stood for no reason. Maybe we were on exactly the same page and he was just doing his best to deal with my timid nature, not wanting to push me too far to the point where I reject him. Maybe we were a lot more alike than I had thought.

With the laundry-doing drawing to a close Lori proposed I help her son with math, since I was freshest out of school and I'd probably be a big help.

"It'll keep you occupied until he comes back, too," she admitted, deciding there was no point in pretending it wasn't why I was kept busy. I agreed since I had nothing better to do aside from count the seconds until Glenn came back.

I walked beside Lori on our way back to camp. I felt strangely comforted by her. I guessed it was because she was, in fact, a mother, and since I happened to be lacking in one at the moment she seemed like a likely surrogate.

The fact that she seemed to genuinely care about my well being helped.

"How are you doing?" She asked, though I wasn't sure what exactly she was referring to.

"Could you be more specific?"

"I mean, how are you doing taking all of this in?"

Funny how you didn't have to say much beyond 'this' to know what someone was talking about.

"I'm okay. I'm much better here than I was with the kids I was hanging around before. I couldn't get separated from them or I'd die. I couldn't have any time alone or I could run into one of those things and have no way of warning anyone or getting help. I couldn't voice any opinions because everyone just yelled over me."

Lori was looking at me intently now. She seemed to be interested in what I had to say.

"I can't yell. I can't scream. I can barely talk half the time. It was frustrating." I let my gaze drop to the ground. "It was lonely, too."

Lori nodded like she understood, and maybe she did. I didn't know much about Lori but I didn't have to. Lori had this openness about her that even though she didn't tell you much, you felt like you knew her. I guess it was part of the motherly role she always seemed to play. I was curious about what she was hiding, but women like her keep things stashed away for a reason, and it wasn't my place to ask.

"If you ever wanna talk," She said, putting her hand on my shoulder, balancing the basket she was carrying on her other hip.

I nodded. "Thanks."

I noticed the faint, bare ring line on her finger as she put her hand back on the basket.

"Carl's a good learner," She said, changing the subject for my sake. "You just have to explain it slowly. He picks it up quick, you shouldn't have any trouble."

Carl was waiting around a small wooden table with Shane when we reached the camp. He and Shane were talking about something or another when we approached them. Shane appeared to be drawn into the conversation with the kid. I had a stray thought that Shane might have been Carl's father since no one else was around, but that theory was quickly debunked when Carl didn't refer to him as 'dad.'

"Hey Mom. Shane was just telling me about one of the bad guys he arrested while he was at work. Isn't that awesome?"

Lori raised her eyebrows at Shane. "Very. Now say goodbye, it's time for some work."

"But-"

"No buts."

Carl frowned but stopped protesting. Shane said his goodbye and walked off, making eye contact with Lori as he went.

Lori pulled a textbook out from behind one of the crates they used for stools and placed it on the table. I remembered the book; I had used the same one when I was in elementary school. Carl must have had it with him when the apocalypse started.

"What chapter was it again?" she asked, flipping through the pages.

"Four."

"Right," she mumbled, opening to the page and taking out a notebook and pencil for the boy. "Eden, do you remember much of this?"

I glanced at the textbook. It was basic stuff. Made sense, considering his age.

"Yeah, I do."

"Good. Carl, Eden is going to help you today. I have some things I have to do."

Carl, who was apparently not a shy kid, didn't seem to have a problem with it. "Okay, mom."

Lori smiled at me thankfully and walked off in the same direction Shane went. So that explained that.

Carl seemed to have no trouble with the work and remained relatively silent. I took to thumbing through a novel that was sitting on the table in front of me. It had "Dale" scrawled at the top of the first page so it was without a doubt borrowed from the RV owner. It was nothing spectacular but it held my attention until Carl started talking.

"Do you like Glenn?" he asked, looking straight at me. I blinked a few times, staring back at him, unsure of how to reply.

"Uhh..."

"He told me he likes you," he said.

"Did he really?"

"Well not me exactly. He told T-Dog, but I was here when he said it."

I smiled far too wide. "Oh, I see."

"Don't make him cry, okay?" He said, looking back at his math questions.

"Cry?" I repeated. "Why would I make him cry?"

"I don't know. People on TV always cry when it comes to that stuff."

"Wouldn't it make more sense for him to make me cry?" I asked, trying to see his logic.

"He wouldn't do that."

I smiled at him.

"I won't make him cry."

"Promise?"

"Pinky promise," I offered, and held out my pinky finger. We shook on it and he went back to doing his math questions and I went back to waiting for Glenn. It had been at least an hour or two since he left. I kept trying to convince myself that it was obvious that it was going to take time for him to get there and get back, but I couldn't stop the worrying.

Carl only got stuck on one or two questions throughout our time together, neither of which took long to help him with.

Lori relieved me of my duties a few minutes later and I was left with nothing to do again. I wandered over to Dale's RV after saying goodbye to her and Carl. Dale was sitting at the top of the RV, looking out at the area.

"Dale," I said, trying to be loud to get his attention. He glanced down and saw me.

"Just a second," He called out, and he got down off of the RV a few seconds later. "Do you need something?"

"I need something to do."

"Are you sure? You can just rest for a while, you seemed to be doing plenty earlier."

I looked down at my shoes then back up at the friendly aging man in front of me.

"Glenn, huh?"

I nodded, laughing awkwardly.

"That obvious?" I asked.

"Well, yeah," He replied, leaning against the RV. "Don't worry about it, he's just as bad."

"You aren't the first to say that today."

"Everyone's in on everyone else's business here, whether you like it or not." Dale shrugged and smiled through his beard. "Though you two are pretty awful at hiding it."

I lowered my eyes and let a smile creep on my lips. Funny how even with Glenn gone, he's the only thing that's brought up around me. And the only thing I can think about. I learned more about where I stood with Glenn during the few hours he was away than I did when he was here. I supposed that was mainly my fault, since I wasn't exactly the best communicator and I had a tendency for assuming the worst.

Dale opened his mouth to say something more but his eyes focused on something before words came. He smiled to himself and said, "Well, speak of the devil."