Sneaky

Chapter 138

Note to self, hurricane is surprisingly inspiring weather.

It's past midnight so it's technically Monday now.

My zone is on standby for evacuation as of yesterday but mark my words I will not miss an update. Not even the 2nd biggest Atlantic coastal hurricane in history will break my streak (almost 3 years now) of never missing an update!

I wanted to post asap because it's almost a guarantee that I won't have power today, so enjoy this extra long juicy chp~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Of course Daryl was in the last room she checked, pacing a hole in the floor with his thumbnail in his mouth.

Daryl noticed her almost straight away and halted. "Ey."

Eve gave him an awkward smile as she closed the door. "Hey."

That threw him off. A verbal reply. It's just as jarring as the first time he ever heard her speak. He just assumes she's not going to so often that sometimes it really throws him.

Eve swallowed hard, feeling her throat muscles almost grind as she moved farther into the room despite wanting to do anything but press her back against the door and be ready to fling it open and take off. But that wouldn't be fair. One look at Daryl and she knows she's not the only one who wants to run from this and would rather just not deal with it, but a bigger part knows — and wants — to get the water clear again so they can get back to being comfortable. And this is the fastest way to do that.

"We — I thought it'd be ok if we just let it go and let bygones be bygones but I was wrong. We should talk about..." Eve made an out of character shaky gesture with her hand towards the wall.

"Yeah." Daryl looked at his shoes, folding his arms across his chest. His voice a tad gruffer than usual.

Eve wiped her palms on her thighs, an uncomfortable sweat beginning to collect in all sorts of places, like she's been cornered by something she can't fight and she's so close to making a run for it she might jump out that window just for a shortcut.

Thank all of creation she's the type of person to just get the hard part over with when there's no way around it.

So she sighed, using it to brace herself, deciding to lay all her cards on the table.

She's not gonna feel any less awkward or any less uncomfortable no matter how this conversation goes or how tactful she — or either of them try to be, so she might as well adjust and get it over with.

"Let's just— let's start with how you— we both feel about it."

'Off to a great start here' Eve could do without her own inner commentary right now but that would be boring for the universe.

Daryl nodded, his lips pinched tight together like he's put a sour in his mouth. He looks like he's being spoon-fed salt with a little lemon juice to wash it down.

A long silence passed, neither speaking up, both waiting for someone else to say it first.

They both sort of knew who would crack first. If there's no anger involved, Daryl's a lock box for things he doesn't wanna talk about. Eve's lip-zip in a tense atmosphere only breaks out when there's physical danger.

"I don't ..." Eve wracked her brain for words, for the right way to put this to try and diffuse the tension a little. Cracking a joke probably isn't the best idea, Daryl would likely scoff but that won't help loosen his lips — ... Or will it? No no no— if she tries to come up with a joke right now it'll completely miss and make things worse.