Haunted | Daryl Dixon

13. Ups and Downs

"Come on, kid," Negan sighed, shaking Evelyn's shoulder slightly, "You need to get up."

The girl groaned, turning her face into her pillow even more, "I don't wanna," Her words came out muffled.

"Eva," He said softly, sitting down at the edge of her bed and rubbing her shoulder, "Look at me,"

Finally, Evelyn turned a tear-stained face his way, eyes bloodshot and hair messed up. Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked up at him. She sniffled slightly and Negan felt another pang of sadness go straight to his heart.

"Okay, come on," He stood up and extended his hand to her, an invitation, "You and I are going out. We're going to get you some breakfast and coffee, both of which you desperately need."

Despite the teasing tone, Evelyn couldn't bring herself to smile. Not even a little bit. Though she wanted to, if only to wipe the worry off the man's features.

She finally relented, allowing Negan to drag her out of bed and throw some clothes from her closet at her for her to get changed into.

Negan stepped out of her room for a moment to give her some privacy, and she found him leaned up against the wall opposite of her door when she emerged.

He smiled softly, "Let's go," He said gently.

So the two of them set off, falling into step with one another.

It had been a few months since the first night that the pair met. After that original encounter at the party, the two were practically inseparable.

Negan had been quick to take Evelyn under his wing, show her the ropes of Penn State, and tried to have her stay on track with her classes.

As they walked to the breakfast place, snow was falling down lightly all around them, covering all surfaces in a soft, white blanket.

It wasn't until they got there and were seated at a booth with coffee until the silence was broken.

"It's Daryl's birthday," She whispered, staring down at the mug in her hands as she spoke.

"I know," Though, it didn't stop Negan from frowning, "You told me at the party the other night."

Ever since the two of them met, Evelyn dialed it down with the amount of parties she went to and how much she had to drink at them.

When she did go to parties though, Negan was there with her, watching over and monitoring her so that there were never any repeats of the first night they met.

It would seem though, that she had had a little more to drink than normal the other night, and had begun drunkenly rambling about how Daryl's birthday was coming up.

She had made so much progress moving on from that piece of trash that Negan's heart had almost shattered when he saw her getting upset over the day.

Had his birthday not come along, she would still be doing fine, hardly ever thinking about Daryl. To Negan's knowledge, at least.

"Hey," He said softly, reaching over and gently squeezing her hand, "I'm here for you if you want to talk. You know that, right?"

Blinking away tears, Evelyn looked up at him and nodded with a tight smile, "Yeah," She choked out, "I know. Thank you, Negan." She squeezed his hand back.

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"Are you excited?" Evelyn asked, skillfully moving her hands to fix his tie.