Future Ghosts • TWD

131. A Waste of Time.

Rosie was on her way to check up on Daryl and Lydia, just to make sure he wasn't scaring her too bad, when she found Henry sitting outside and listening in on them. She furrowed her eyebrows, walking quickly over to him. "What the hell are you doin'?" she asked, clearly annoyed by the whole thing.

Henry stood up quickly.  "Daryl was listening in on us. What makes this any different?" he asked, holding his hands out to his sides.

"It's completely different. Daryl was listenin' in on us 'cause he was tryin' to get answers on how to find Luke and Alden. You're listenin' in 'cause you're nosy as hell. What they're talkin' 'bout is none of your business," Rosie said, glaring at him with her arms crossed. Maybe she was being overly sensitive about this topic, but it wasn't her fault. She wouldn't want Henry listening in on her talking to Daryl about that, so what made it right for Henry to listen in on Lydia talking to Daryl about that? Nothing. It was just wrong.

"Her mom hurts her. That's messed up, and Daryl's just scaring her more. Why shouldn't I know?" Henry asked, scoffing.

"'Cause it's none a' your damn business! If she wanted you to know, she woulda' told ya herself," Rosie said, getting more and more irritated by the second. It was Lydia's business. It was her vulnerability, her fear, and her story. It wasn't Henry's. He shouldn't've known unless Lydia wanted him to know.

"You told Daryl," Henry argued, raising his eyebrows and gesturing wildly to the cellar, where Daryl and Lydia were talking that very second.

"You don't understand. I had to tell Daryl because he knows what to do and he can help her," Rosie reasoned, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. Why wouldn't Henry just listen? He knew Rosie had more of an idea of what it was like to be in Lydia's shoes than he did, so why wouldn't he just listen?

Henry scoffed, shaking his head. "What makes you think that?" he asked, sarcasm laced in his voice.

"He helped me, didn't he?" Rosie said, her eyes wide and her voice tense.

"As far as I've heard, Daryl didn't do anything until after his brother killed your dad," Henry said.

Where the fuck had he heard that? Rosie definitely didn't tell him. Maybe he'd eavesdropped on someone else talking about it. That would make sense, because apparently, he couldn't mind his own fucking business. Rosie could feel her face burning, and she really, really wanted to punch him. She held back, though, because that would only cause more trouble. "Shut up!" she shouted, instead of punching him. And just as she did, the doors to the cellar swung open, and out walked Daryl.

"The hell you yellin' for?" he asked, pausing his walking for just a moment. "Let's go," he said, nodding his head towards Barrington House.

Rosie sent Henry a glare before following Daryl. "He's bein' a dick," she muttered to Daryl.

"Hey, you could've just asked me to help, Daryl," Henry said, following after the two.

"Fuck off, Henry," Rosie said, tossing her head back in complaint.

"No. Hey! Daryl!" Henry shouted, running to catch up with him. Daryl ignored him and kept walking. "Where you going?!" Henry asked, clearly irritated.

Daryl finally stopped, sighing. He glanced at Rosie, then turned away, not wanting to keep eye contact with her as he spoke his next words. "Girl's too messed up. She's a waste a' time. She's Tara's problem," he said, continuing up the stairs.

Her eyes going wide, Rosie stared at Daryl, pausing at the bottom of the stairs. "What the hell are you talkin' about?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows. He was supposed to help Lydia. What had gone wrong? What suddenly made her a waste of time? What made her any different from Rosie herself? Rosie liked to think that if David were still alive, she would've come to her senses and realized that he was bad to her, and gotten away. But the truth was, she was pretty sure that if David were still around, she'd still be following him blindly, because that's how she was raised. If David ended up like Lydia's mom- wearing the dead's skin- then Rosie would be Lydia. She'd be in that cell and Daryl would be calling her a waste of time who was too messed up.