Future Ghosts • TWD

126. American Spirits.

"Come on, blondie. Just try it. One sip isn't gonna do anything," Gage said, holding the glass bottle of clear liquid in front of Rosie's face. Rosie was looking at the liquid inside the bottle. It looked like water, but she knew it wasn't. Henry had already drunk some, and now he was acting all weird. His words were slurring together and he couldn't seem to keep his balance. He was drunk, or at least tipsy, just like everyone in that room except for Rosie. It was making her feel incredibly anxious. Her throat felt dry and she could feel her heart beating fast in her chest.

"She said she doesn't want any. Whatever, who cares?" Ian said, rolling his eyes at Gage. Rosie wished that Ian and Henry would have held off on drinking anything, too, because now she was the odd man out. She was backed into a corner, both literally and figuratively. Henry was playing a game with Addy while Rodney was sitting in a bean bag chair. Ian was a few feet away, leaning against the wall, and Rosie was in this corner, looking out the window until Gage came up to her and started trying to get her to try the vodka.

"One sip! One. Just one," Gage said, holding the bottle out to her with his head tilted to the side. He had a cigarette in his left hand and the bottle in his right, and both of the items were making her stomach churn. Everything about that day was already overwhelming enough, and this was just the icing on the cake.

"Fuck off," Rosie said, crossing her arms over her chest. She eyed the cigarette in his hand warily, as it rested loosely between his fingers.

"What, you wanna try the cigarette?" Gage said, following her eye line down the cigarette in his hand. Rosie quickly looked away and shook her head. "Come on. You have to try one of the two," Gage said.

"I don't want to," Rosie said again, getting more and more frustrated.

"Dude, back off. She said she doesn't want to," Ian said, getting a bit irritated. It wasn't only because he was bothering Rosie, but also because it was just plain annoying hearing him incessantly beg her to try one of the two things.

"Just try one of them. Have a little fun, Rose," Gage said, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Don't fuckin' call me that," Rosie said, glaring at him. This only seemed to give Gage more ideas.

"Ok, ok. Listen. If you try just one- the cigarette or the drink- I'll never call you Rose or blondie again. How about that?" Gage offered. He held both the cigarette and the drink up in front of her face.

"It's really not that bad, Rosie," Addy chimed in from across the room. Rosie wished she could just disappear. Being invisible would be a lot easier than this.

"Yeah. It's actually great," Rodney drawled from the bean bag chair.

"You shouldn't if you really don't want to, though," Addy said. She was nicer than Gage and Rodney, but Rosie still felt pressure from her, whether it was intentional or not.

"Yes, you should!" Rodney shouted, holding his cup up in the air.

"Come on! Rosie, come on! It's fun!" Gage said. Rosie didn't know what to do. She knew how to survive on her own, in the woods. She knew how to hunt, how to protect herself, how to kill a walker, how to kill a human, how to skin an animal, how to cook an animal, how to shoot a gun, how to shoot a crossbow, how to use a knife or a machete- she knew all of those things. But she didn't know what to do to get herself out of this situation, other than to just do what they were asking. "Rosie! You got this! It's fine!" Gage egged her on. "Rosie!"

Rosie could feel her skin heating up and her breaths getting quicker. Her throat felt like sandpaper and her brain felt like a balloon that was about to pop. She didn't want them to hate her, but she didn't want to do either of the things they were offering. But Daryl always said it was good for her to be around people her own age. Was this what he considered good?