Call me England Dixon

Chapter 5: Looking for pecans...

(Edited)

England's POV:

I walk out of my tent, with the bow in my hand. I see Dale on top of his RV keeping watch.

"Hey, Dale. Do you know where Daryl is?" I call out to him.

"Um... I think he's at his tent. Why is something wrong?" He asks, concerned. I smile and shake my head. 

"No, just wondering. Thank you, See you later." I wave and walk in the direction of Daryl's tent. Which is further away from the groups of course. 

When I get there, I find him sitting down on a log sharpening his knife. "Um, Hello?" I ask. Wait, ask? Did I seriously ask hello? I stop my train of thought when he looks up. Bloody hell he's hot.

"What ya want?" He asks and goes back to what he was doing.

"Are you busy?" He freezes and looks back at me.

"Why?"

"Well, I um." I take my bow out from behind me, he looks at it and raises his eyebrow. I clear my throat. "I was wondering if you could teach me how to use this. I see you have a crossbow and know how to use it correctly." I chuckle nervously.

He looks down. "Can't. Going hunting later." My smile falls.

"Exactly, later. Right now you're not." I smile. He glares at me and huffs.

"Fine, come on. I ain't got all day." He walks off into the woods chasing after him.

We walk in silence for a few minutes until I break it. "So, how's your day been?" Seriously, that's what I ask?! He grunts as a response. "My days have been alright, thanks for asking." I look off into the distance.

"You know..not too shabby...not too exciting..." He doesn't say anything, just keeps walking. "You're not much of a talker, why is that?" 

"Here." He says and stops walking. "You're gonna shoot right there." He points to a tree that is an about 30 feet away. I look at him then at the tree and back at him. 

"Don't you think it's too far?" 

"Nah." 

"Okay." I breathe out and bring my bow up. I don't where my left hand is supposed to go so I just hold to pole part and put the arrow inside the hole. Which I think it goes in there, I bring it to what I thought was my eye level and slowly pull the string thingy back with my thumb and index finger. Daryl grunts. 

 "Ya holdin it wrong." He says, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Well, I don't exactly know how to hold this bloody thing. I've never used a bow before which is why I ask you to teach me. You're the one supposed to be telling me how to use it, smart one." I responded. He rolls his eyes and comes up behind me.

"Like this." He says as he lifts my right arm a little higher...His warm breath fanning my ear. "Make sure this line" He points to line on top of the hole. "Is at ya eye lever and is aimed at where you want the arrow to go...This hand" He grabs left hand and puts it on the bottom of the pole, facing my fingers away from my face. "Goes here. Gives ya a more balanced and smoother aim... Then you gently pull ya arm back." He pulls my right arm back softly with his hand. "Then ya just let it go." I let it go and saw it hit the tree where I wanted it. I nod my head in understanding. 

"Now ya try." He tells me, backing away from me. I breathe out and shake my arms back a little. I lift the bow holding it in the position he told me to before and follow his instructions. I aim the bow to the tree, wanting it to be thrown right next to the previous arrow. I pull back and let go, faster than it did the other one, it hit the tree. Right in the spot I wanted it too. 

I gasp and smile big, clapping my hands together. I look at him, jumping up and down.

"I did it!" I laugh and turn to him. I throw my arms around him hugging him and as soon as I did that I let go, my eyes widening. "Sh*t! I-Im sorry." I back up and step away from him... "I-I guess I got a little too excited there...sorry." Daryl doesn't say a word and just stares at me. Did I just make him uncomfortable? Oh god. Now I've just made myself look like a bloody lunatic! 

"English!" I hear a voice calling me. Snapping us out of our trance. "English where are you?" We break away from each other, taking longer steps back and I clear my throat.

"COMING!" I yell back. I look at Daryl to see him avoiding eye contact. "Um. Thanks for the lesson. I'll see you around. Bye," I speak fast, picking up my bow from the ground and walk away back to camp.

"English there you are. I've been looking for you everywhere. Where've you been?" Carl comes up to me looking back  to see what I was doing.

"Sorry, Champ. Was just target practicing." I show him my bow. "So what's up?"

" I can't find mom anywhere." He says.

"What?" I look at him confused. I look around the camp and I see no sign of her.

"Yeah, she said she needed to go to the bathroom earlier. But she's been gone for a while. I can't find Uncle Shane either. Do you think they're okay?" I sigh and nod.

"I'm sure they're fine, champ. Probably just looking for pecans..." Over these past couple of months, I've realized that that's code to go have sex. I know they're trying to be discreet, not wanting anyone to know. And believe me, they have been, but I'm not blind. I know there's something going on between them.  It's completely obvious. And I'm not even mad about it, I'm just.. disappointed. I mean Shane's supposed to be dad's best friend and he's screwing his wife? I mean come on really?

And just like that mum and Shane come from the woods and head in our direction. "Mom!" Carl yells and hugs her. "I thought something bad happened to you." Mom looks at me confused.

"What why?"

"Because you said you were going to the bathroom and didn't come back for a long time."

"She's fine, bud. We just went looking out for pecans. Sorry, we didn't tell you." Carl sighs.

"It's cool. I was just worried that's all. Anyways, I finished my homework. Do you want to check it out?" He asks my mother. She smiles and nods. They walk off. I was about to leave when Shane stopped.

"Hey, haven't talked to you in a while. How've you been?" He asks, taking a step closer to me. I shrug.

"As good as I can be I guess. You?" With each word I said he takes a step closer making me feel uncomfortable.

"I've been good. Miss talking to you." He touches my arms. I take a step back and give him a fake smile.

"Yeah, I've sort of been busy. Speaking of which I should really get back to Amy. She needs my help." he nods and I take that as my cue to leave.

If I'm being honest Shane has been different lately. When we're talking he always stands so close to me or whenever he puts his hand on my lower back. Lower than I'm comfortable with or he's always looking at my lips. Which is why I've been avoiding him lately. And I don't tell mum because she's known the man a lot longer than I've been around and I don't want to cause problems between them.

They've been through enough of already. And to bring more problems into the chaos is just unnecessary...I just don't like the fact that he seems to be trying to replace my father... trying to be a father figure to Carl and being protective of me. I mean yeah he's my uncle and he's always been protective of me and Carl, but I don't know. Something about him now...seems to have changed. Like, it's ten times worse than what it was before the fall. I-I don't know. I can't really explain it. 

 I sigh as I reach my tent, just wanting to take a fat nap. I get in and just go straight to my sleeping bac. I think back to when Daryl and I were in the woods. How he just looked straight into my eyes as if he was trying to figure me out. How he looked nervous or scared or whatever it was he was feeling when I accidentally hugged him. And why would I do that? I mean what would've happened if Carl wasn't looking for me? 

 Sadly, I will never. I let the almost "moment" he and I could have possibly shared be the last thought on my mind before I let the darkness take over me.