Past and Present

Fun and Frenzy

Days passed by and Carl and I were civil to each other. In fact, we were more than civil.

There was no possible way that we could dated for more than a year and then just not been friends anymore.

Every time we walked past one of the adults in the house, they would give us a small smile. I guess they knew how much we cared for each other, but at this point, I've never felt so close to Carl.

There was no romantic tension between us . I knew that I could say anything without worrying about us breaking up because we weren't even together.

At this very moment, Carl and I were in the backyard, working on the small garden.

"You know," Carl started, "The family is looking out the window and they're staring."

I pulled a weed out of the tomato plant and threw it behind me, unnoticeably looking back at the house and seeing Rick, Daryl, Lori, Beth, Maggie, Glenn, and my mother smashed into the window.

"Let them stare." I said with a small smirk.

"Can we mess with them?" Carl asked with a smile.

I stood up and brushed the dirt from my hands on my pants, "Like how?"

He shrugged, "Like give me a small kiss on the cheek and a hug and then they can take it from there."

I nodded and we got back to work. I couldn't help but think that he was trying to get me back, but we agreed on friendship so I pushed that thought to the back of my mind.

Suddenly, I felt a cool feeling on my back.

I jumped up from the shock and my mouth was left wide open. I turned around to see Carl standing with the hose in his hands and laughing.

"Oh, you think that's funny," I asked.

He sprayed me again, "Yeah, yes I do."

I lunged at him and pulled him to the ground. I pulled the sheriff hat off of his head and placed it on my own.

I straddled him with my legs and grabbed the hose out of his hands.

"Ride it, cowboy." I said as I sprayed him. (OMG that sounded so wrong, but its okay... ☺☺☺It was supposed to be a reference to surfers.)

I slowly stood up, not allowing him to escape the turrent of water coming from the hose.

Eventually, I stooped pressing the button and allowed him to breath. I dropped the hose and stuck out my hand for him to grab.

He lifted his own hand and met mine. When he took my hand, he pulled me down onto him.

I just stared into his beautiful blue eyes and he looked into my ordinary brown ones. I laughed at how his long, brown hair was soaked and plastered to his forehead.

Reaching up, I moved the hair and he smiled.

I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

I heard the slam of the window and I pushed off of Carl. He quickly followed.

"Do you think they believed it? "I asked.

Carl looked somewhat sad,"Yeah. I think they did."

I smiled and we got back to work at weeding the garden. By the time that we finished, it was beginning to get dark. Both Carl and I were dripping sweat.

As we walked back to the house, Carl lifted his arm and put it around me.

He then lifted his other arm and pulled the hat off of my head and placed it on his own.

When we walked into the house, we were met by the whole family, grinning like idiots.

"What?" Carl asked.

"We found out about the secret." Lori said.

Carl removed his arm from my shoulders and looked at them, "What secret?"

My mom came towards us and pulled us into a hug,"That you guys put your troubles behind you and got back together."

I heard a snort come from the back of the crowd. My mom let us go and turned around. We looked and saw Beth.

"You guys are ridiculous," she said looking at the family, "They're not back together."

Lori frowned, "Yes they are. We saw them in the garden-"

"If they were back together, Joce wouldn't have kissed his cheek."

Carl and I looked at each other and then at Beth. Then the three of us started laughing.

The rest of the family just put their heads down in shame.

"Yup, " I said, pulling my hair out of the ponytail and shaking it out, "We saw you guys staring and decided to teach y'all a lesson."

"You guys were way too-"

Everyone had turned away from Beth and we had all heard her speak, yet no one knew why she stopped.

I heard a shriek and then Maggie fell into Glenn's arms. Everyone moved as a unit more towards me and Carl.

I pushed towards the back of the crowd hoping that what I had thought had happened didn't.

I was right.

Beth lay on the ground, a walker nibbling on her arm. She was unconscious.

"No," I screamed as I pulled out my gun and shot the creature.

I fell to the ground in a heap of tears and watched as one of my best friends bleed out.

I lifted her head onto my lap and placed my own forehead on hers.

"Bethy," I sobbed into her hair.

Carl came up behind me and put his hand under my arms to lift me up.

"No," I shrieked.

He ignored me and lifted me to my feet.

I was pulled into his chest and I continued to sob as I watched Daryl lift Beth's body and walk towards the back door.

Glenn was sitting on the floor, fanning a passed out Maggie.

"How did it get in here?" Rick asked as Daryl came back.

"The back door was open."

Lori looked confused, "Who went out the back door?"

Rick shrugged and I snuggled deeper into Carl's chest as I felt the wetness of his tears fall down his face.