I woke up to the sunlight streaming through the curtains of one of the windows in the room. I couldn't recall when I'd fallen asleep, but it felt good. Sleep deprivation was no longer something to bother the heck out of me and the others. For the first time in so long, I felt light and happy. Genuinely happy. And it felt great.
"Arlynn?" I turned to see Rick standing at the door with a plate in his hands, probably his breakfast. The man looked exhausted, something expected from a tired father. He glanced at Rennie who was still sleeping quietly like an angel, the bandage wrapped firmly around his bicep. The sheriff sighed before taking a seat next to the chair I occupied, handing me the plate.
"Thanks," I gave a tight-lipped smile before placing it on my lap and waiting. Rick glanced at me and sighed, knowing by now that I knew something was on his mind.
"I'm sorry that Ren got caught up in this. If only I hadn't told them to go on ahead and try to pet the deer…" Rick slid a hand down his face, obviously very distraught.
"It's okay," I insisted. "You didn't know and you couldn't have stopped it. Plus, you saved their lives."
"I was the one who caused this- a-and you trusted me," Rick argued earnestly. "You trusted me with your only family left, your younger brother, and I went on ahead and got him shot with Carl."
"Rick," I patted his back tentatively. "Rick, it wasn't your fault. You got them both to safety, didn't you? You made sure help came to my brother even when as a panicked parent, you'd worry only about Carl. This doesn't break any trust in you, Rick. I trust you with my life and my brother's life. You're one of the few I trust earnestly."
He sniffled a bit before wiping his eyes, relaxing a bit. I patted his back a moment longer before returning to staring out the window as Rick pulled himself back together.
"Thank you," Rick startled me out of my blank stupor. "And if it's worth anything, I trust you with my life and Carl too."
I stared at him with surprise and later stared at his empty seat. I finally turned to the plate next to me and realized he'd forgotten a fork. I left my brother's bedside for a second, making sure he was still sleeping peacefully. Laughter burst from the kitchen and I walked in to see Glenn and Maggie getting along great. Glenn looked over at me, noticing me walking in suddenly.
"How's the little guy?" he asked as if I hadn't noticed anything.
"Great," I frowned, a wave of strange anger taking over. I moved to find the cutlery drawer without another word.
"We need to take out a walker from inside a well. Do you wanna join?" Glenn followed me around the kitchen. I glanced at Maggie who was looking on with an interested stare.
"Sure," I seized the fork before leaving the kitchen and heading back up. Unbeknownst to me, in the kitchen, Glenn had been staring crestfallen after me before glancing at Maggie who'd nodded her head in the direction I had gone.
"Go after her before she slips away, pizza boy."
"I don't like her, I-" Glenn protested weakly at first before shutting up, a look of wonder and crestfallen realization hitting him hard. Maggie smiled, having caught on. "I love her. Maggie, I love her."
"Took you a while to realize what everyone else saw," Ben entered the kitchen, having heard the last part. He got a cup of water before gulping it down bitterly. "Even I saw it."
Glenn ran out of the kitchen door, going upstairs to find me. Ben stared after him with a strange expression, one that Maggie caught onto, but said nothing about.
"Arlynn! Lynn! Wait!" Glenn called out after me, running into the screen door as he leaped over the stairs to the porch. I limped off towards anywhere but the house where Maggie and Glenn's laughs reverberated in the very walls. I had no right to be so mad or jealous but I couldn't help being like that. This weird feeling of nausea and burning made me sick and seeing him made me slightly queasy too. A hand grabbed my wrist, spinning me around to face him. Glenn panted, his grip firm but gentle as he made me look at him straight in the eyes. "Look, I-"
"Glenn! We're gonna take it out right now," T-dog hollered, not seeing the tension between us. I shrugged off his grip and walked over to where most of the group was forming. A debate started around the well that we were supposed to rescue and clean. Maggie got close to Glenn again and the two had a fiery whispered conversation, something that I obviously didn't care about. Why would I care about what they did? I tuned everything out for a moment and just stared at the rim of the well until Shane called my name.
"Arlynn should try and bait it out or kill it quickly and grab it." Instantly, protests sounded from every mouth in our group. Eventually, Glenn became the person to be walker bait, again. Honestly, why is it that everyone was so happy to send the guy down to be eaten up?
"Don't worry about it, bud. We'll get you out in one piece," T-dog tried but failed at reassuring Glenn.
"Living piece. The living part's important." I rolled my eyes while internally agreeing with Glenn who looked a bit pale.
"You good down there?" Dale asked, his voice echoing off the walls of the stone well as Glenn held onto a rope that wrapped around the pump. I peered down the well, worry overcoming my irrational irritation with him, and saw a fat and bloated walker that seemed to be having a grand bath in the water source of all the livestock. I mused to myself about how the walker must be a germaphobe to go bathing in the water for so long. Glenn grunted as he tried to attach the walker to the rope without getting bit. Something above my head creaked and I looked up to see the pump the rope had been wrapped around snap and break, lowering Glenn to his demise. I screamed with Glenn as he dropped further down, my hands raw from snatching up the rope in reflex to stop it from falling further.
"Pull me up! Pull me up!" Glenn screamed, looking up and down the well in a panic.
"Did you get it?" Shane hollered back. I nearly slapped him again right then and there when Glenn answered in the affirmative, begging to be pulled up again. The group with Maggie came around to pull on the rope, effectively yanking the guy out. Halfway up, however, we heard a sickening noise and found half of the walker out with Glenn and the other half in the water. T-dog proceeded to whack the crap outta the walker and killed it.
"Let's send the boy down and rescue the walker, they said," I grumbled, hands aching from the weight of the walker and Glenn rubbing against my injury through the rough rope. "We'll save the water and not contaminate it, they said."
"Shut up," Ben snarked, shaking his head. I threw my hands up in frustration before proceeding to walk out on the whole group. Or rather, limp out. I checked on Carl who was still sleeping soundly with Rick hovering over him before returning to my brother and watching him sleep. His chubby cheeks showed off how young he was, his long lashes fluttering against his cheeks with every breath. I thanked God for giving me a bunch of lashes that were thick and long just like my dad, something that our older brother and sister had lacked. His cheeks were slowly regaining their flush, making the urge to reach out and pinch them gently and teasingly. A knock sounded as I watched his adorable face that I was sometimes tempted to punch and Glenn stood by the door. He looked a bit awkward and weary from his adventure down the well. He gaped like a fish at me as if to try and find the words for something before he glanced at my brother and stopped.
"Is he still sleeping?" Glenn whispered, carefully approaching the seat next to me. He hesitated until I motioned for him to sit down and took one of my brother's hands and held it firmly.
"He's been asleep since the surgery. I haven't seen him sleep like this before," I spoke softly back, watching as Glenn rubbed small circles on my brother's hand.
Glenn's hands were pretty large compared to mine and Rennie's made it seem like Rennie really was the child he was. I couldn't help but smile softly as he treated my brother so tenderly like he was his own brother or kid. Rennie frowned just then, suddenly starting to move a bit uncomfortably. Glenn froze completely, fear and worry clear as day. I simply touched a finger to my brother's forehead and hummed lightly while brushing his hair away from his forehead. Sunlight streamed in through the curtains that had parted because of the wind, probably bothering him. I got up to close them, only to look up and catch Glenn's eyes. I froze like a deer in headlights as his eyes shone brightly and I could feel the warmth in them. I bit my lower lip, unable to help myself as he looked at me in a way that rivaled the way Rick looked at Lori. He glanced down at my lips, slowly rising from his seat next to Rennie's bed. A part of me that had died out years ago awoke again, gluing my feet to the ground as he took a step, then another, then another until he was suddenly right in front of me. I could see something I'd seen before in Jake, shuddering a little as goosebumps rose up my arm from the light contact of his hand.
He seemed to be looking for something, something that he seemed to find, and he glanced down at my lips, making all my nerves scatter towards my lips in anticipation, my heart speeding up involuntarily as I dropped my gaze from his eyes, overwhelmed by the amount of light and warmth he was showing me. His other hand came up, lightly brushing against my neck before he was cupping my cheek and having me make eye contact with him again. I felt conscious of his nose brushing against mine as he crept in closer, both of our eyes fluttering shut slowly, unable to run from the warmth that spread in us. Another breath and we'd have our lips sealed against each others, my left hand against his chest with my other on his lower back, every nerve tingling with lightning that had disappeared till I'd met Glenn.
A groan startled us apart and we looked with wide eyes to see my brother had woken and was staring disgustedly at us. "Why did that have to be the first thing I woke up to?"
We blushed and glanced at each other before we both avoided even looking at each other. My brother rolled his eyes before moving his uninjured arm so he could cover his eyes.
"Keep going, don't let me ruin the moment everyone knew would happen since you two first looked at each other."
I blushed even further, feeling the heat erupting from my face as I likened the feeling to having a fever. I shoved Rennie roughly in a way to scold him, making him whimper and hiss in pain. I instantly got up worriedly and fussed over the kid, making Glenn laugh lightly. I punched him in the shoulder too, cheeks still fiery red and he yelped too. In the end, I was stuck with two fussy babies who wouldn't shut up. Rennie was complaining, but when I looked up, I saw Glenn's adoring gaze on me, freezing again and feeling cold while hot at the same time.
"I'm going with you," I snapped, shouldering my backpack.
"No way in hell," Glenn snarked back, firmly holding his ground. "You're still injured."
"It's only like what, a mile? Away! I'm going with you," I insisted, sounding slightly childish as I brushed a hand down the horse that Maggie had brought over for Glenn.
"Maggie's coming with me. Nothing will happen," Glenn firmly soothed me, never backing down and mentioning the one thing I hated. I love Maggie, don't get me wrong, but I can not let my man walk out on me with her by themselves on a run to the pharmacy.
"Glenn," I whined slightly, my tone accidentally taking a breathy one. His eyes widened and a heated look entered immediately, making me blush. "Get your mind outta the gutter. Men."
"Hey!" Glenn protested lightly. Maggie got on her horse swiftly, looking at us with a smile.
"Don't worry, Arlynn. He'll be fine," Maggie soothed, winking at me. Glenn nodded along with her before turning to get on the horse. He climbed halfway up before halting and surprising me with a sudden kiss on the cheek. He left after Maggie like that, looking back once to wave at me again. I stood frozen in the middle of the driveway, warmth sparking from my cheek where his lips had pressed against. I smiled completely, something I'd rarely done after everything that had happened, my lips pulling away from my teeth as I turned on my heel to go babysit my brother.
Rick paused as he stared at the couple before him on the driveway. Daryl stopped cleaning his crossbow as he watched the boy stop before turning on his heel and kissing her cheek swiftly with a laugh. Rick nearly dropped his coffee at the sight before him, internally groaning at Dale who he now owed twenty bucks. Ben stared heartbrokenly at what had occurred, his heart aching even more as everyone looked at the girl in surprise when she completely lit up and smiled a heavenly and youthful smile. The girl became just that, a girl, as she hummed cheerfully and practically danced her way into the house. Daryl and Rick made eye contact and both groaned a little, knowing that they had lost their bet.
Sure enough, T-dog went around the camp, demanding his money with a proud grin. "Pay up."