𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚'𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐱. carl grimes

FORTY - ONE: stargazing

i run my hand over the cool ground, the grass tickling my palm. the dew left on the lawn wets my bare feet as i wiggle them up and down. my eyes stay focused on the sky above, feeling the twinkling stars and bright moon been down onto us. the cool night breeze runs through alexandria like a ghost, sending goosebumps up my bare legs. i take a deep breath in, the air seemingly crisper than usual, savoring the sparse moment of peacefulness you rarely get these days. the things i would do to stay in this moment forever.

"right there" carl whispers, pointing up at a cluster of stars, "that's cassiopeia" he moves his finger a little more, "and that's andromeda"

i squint my eyes trying to make out what he was pointing at only to be unsuccessful, "i cant see shit"

i turn my head to see carl laugh, my heart swelling. he soon notices my gaze trained on him and slowly turns his head to face me, his smile still bright. i lock eyes with him, the butterflies returning. for what seems like an eternity we sit there in each other's company, our eyes melting together.

i feel his fingertips brush mine, breaking my trance. i take his hand and intertwine out fingers. i feel myself blush once again so i turn away to look back up at the stars. "you see that?" i ask, my pointer finger motioning towards the sky.

"see what?"

"the moon" i smile earning a snort from carl, "it's a full moon and you know what that means"

"what?"

"werewolves!" i yell as a roll over onto carl. he flinches as i straddle my legs on his torso and fake claw at him. i give him a growl sending us both into a fit of laughter.

the laughter slowly dies down and i look down at carl. i quickly realize my position over him and freeze. carl doesn't seem too uncomfortable considering his decision to place both his hands on my waist. i smile down at him as i slowly start to feel more and more comfortable. i start to lean down for a kiss when i hear, "what the fuck!"

carl quickly sits up, throwing me off of him and into the grass. i whip my head up to see ron, mikey, and enid who had her hand in jenna's come out the door. the voices from inside are muffled as mikey slammed the door. "god damn! in the backyard?" ron yells, failing his arms around but sporting a smile.

my cheeks grow bright red, "wait no it wasn't like that we were-" i look over at carl, begging him to come up with some better explanation.

"we weren't going to actually- we were just, ya know?" carl explains poorly.

"mhmmm sure" jenna scoffs, her smile big.

"i think i'm gonna need to gauge my eyes out after that god damn" mikey teases.

"and i'll gladly do that for you" i smirk.

mikey throws his hand up in surrender, "woah no thank you. i like my eyes"

carl laughs, "yeah of course you do you pretentious green eyed motherfucker" oddly, my heart warms as carl insults mikey; i taught him well.

"sheesh not you too" he exclaims as he takes a seat on the grass across from us. i twist my legs around to sit cross cross facing the circle the group had made.

ron's eyes are trained on jenna, her arms wrapped lightly wrapped around enid who is resting in her lap. "you good ron?" i ask.

ron jolts up to look at me, "oh uh yeah" he blurts, "i was just thinking about how there's two couples in the group now which leave mikey and i to fifth and sixth wheel"

"you and mikey could always get together you know" jenna laughs.

i smile, "yeah you all would be the cutest couple in all of alexandria"