𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 | 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘰𝘯 ¹

𝑬𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏

Chapter Eleven,
Repercussions

THE NEXT MORNING, Chloe awoke with a pounding headache, feeling disoriented. She scanned her surroundings, but Daryl was conspicuously absent. 

Daryl?

As memories of the previous night trickled back, the reality hit her. Had she really kissed him? The mere thought made her blood boil, her face flush, her breath quicken.

Pushing herself up from the bed, her head throbbing, Chloe realized it had been quite some time since she had experienced a hangover. The last time she swore off alcohol entirely. But in a world on the brink, she had questioned what harm a little indulgence could do.

Kissing Daryl. 

That was the harm.

Now, she faced a day of evading him out of sheer embarrassment. And then there was Shane, the wild card. What had transpired? The thought of facing him made her nervous. Perhaps he, too, was battling a hangover, regretting the events, or maybe he remembered nothing at all.

She could only hope.

Walking into the cadet she heard Dale laughing at Glenn's misery and T-Dog's teasing. At least someone was as miserable as her. Jacqui was rubbing Glenn's shoulders who was obviously suffering from hungover himself while T-Dog was dishing out the eggs to all, including Glenn. Her eyes roamed the room hoping the two people she was worried about most weren't here. Shane wasn't. But Daryl was. He didn't see her, yet her face turned red.

"Protein helps the hangover," T-Dog told Glenn who was rubbing at his face.

"Where'd all this come from?" Rick asked Lori looking at the Aspirin bottle.

"Jenner."

"Could you help me, please?" Rick said as he reached for the bottle.

"He thought we could use it," Lori told him her fingers fidgeting with the bottle before handing out a pill to her husband.

"Thank you."

"Some of us, at least," Lori continued.

"Don't ever ever ever let me drink again," Glenn said and Chloe couldn't help but agree silently.

Chloe was walking slowly towards the group when Lori suddenly acknowledged her presence, her eyes darkened, probably remembering that Chloe had witnessed what happened last time between her and Shane.

Chloe looked away instantly. She had enough on her mind to deal with. She had her own incidents.

"Morning," she said.

"Morning," some replied.

Daryl looked up at her for the first time. She didn't dare to look back, but she could see him from the corner of her eyes. He watched her intently as she served herself some eggs and sat down next to Glenn.

"Ugh, tell me you feel the way I feel," Glenn told her.

"Yeah, maybe a little worse," she said with a forced smile.

Lori glared at her. Maybe she was hoping Chloe wouldn't remember a thing but unfortunately, Chloe wasn't drunk back then.

"Here's some aspirin you guys," Rick said placing the bottle in front of Chloe.

Chloe took it and shared it with Glenn. Daryl was still watching her which made her control herself. She didn't want her face to turn red in front of them, embarrassing her further.

His eyes were averted from her when a familiar voice was heard. She didn't dare to look up, knowing who it was.

"Hey," Shane said.