𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐎𝐌 ➳ 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬

Chapter 15 ~ Spied On By A Grimes

I lifted up the hem of my loose maternity t-shirt, making my growing baby bump that much more noticeable as I stared at myself in the mirror. A frustrated sigh emitted from my lips before I was interrupted by masculine chuckling. Pulling my shirt back down quickly, I shot a glare towards the open doorway.

"Come to mock my weight gain, Grimes?" I grumbled, smoothing out the wrinkles in my shirt.

Carl cocked his head to the side, smirking. The familiar Sheriff's hat perched atop his head slid slightly as he did. His blue eye sparkled mischievously as he watched me.

"You know that's just from the pregnancy, Angel. Besides...you'd still be beautiful even if you did gain weight," he said, a playful tone in his voice.

A scarlet blush threatened to tint my cheeks so I immediately looked away from him.

"Sure, sure... Maggie's fairing so much better than I am though," I sighed, shrugging before walking over to the dresser to grab my hairbrush.

I pulled it through the strands, forcing it to untangle my messy mane of dark hair. Carl's forehead wrinkled in confusion.

"That's not true. Maggie's about as-" he started and I raised an eyebrow at him, awaiting his next words.

"-far along as you are," he finished with a tentative smile.

I snorted, letting the hairbrush drop to the dresser's wooden surface once I finished with my hair.

"Nice save," I told him, "It doesn't matter though cause she has advantages I don't have,"

Carl pursed his lips, "Such as?"

I placed my hands on my small hips briefly and shot him a challenging look before crossing the room once more.

"Such as the fact that she started out skinny," I replied simply.

The poor boy was still confused.

"But you were skinny before too," he retorted.

An irritated huff left my lips whilst I tugged on my Converse sneakers, my dark brown eyes meeting Carl's electric-blue orb.

"Yes but Maggie was raised on a farm," I shrugged.

Carl threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"Okay, now you've lost me. Where in the world is this conversation heading?!" he asked in obvious defeat.

I quit what I was doing and got up to cross the room to stand in front of him.

"People raised on farms are very thin, healthy people! It's just a fact, Carl!" I bit out in agitation.

Carl rolled his blue eye, crossing his arms over his muscular chest.

"You're ridiculous, you know that? Why are we even having this conversation?" he said in slight frustration but I could hear the teasing tone beneath it.

A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth as I brushed past him. The light filtering through hallway windows lit up strands of my dark hair, making it appear lighter in color.

"I think you started it, Grimes!" I called over my shoulder, chuckling as I skipped down the stairs two at a time.

It had been three weeks since I'd first had that conversation with Daryl in the church. Things were strained at first but slowly, he was starting to make an effort to spend more time with me and I with him. And right now, I was late meeting up with him. Supposedly, he had a 'surprise' for me. I bounded through the house and shoved open the front door.

"That's what you always say, Angel! Hey, can you bring me back some puddi-" Carl started, his voice faint in the background.

But he was cut off by the door slamming shut behind me with a bang! A warm breeze blew through my hair, making strands of it fall in my face. I pushed it back roughly behind my ear before striding through the small town. A few people milled about around their respective houses and I smiled when one of them waved at me. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I made my way over to the large rusty gate in the wall. With a curt nod to Spencer, he slid the gate back with a resounding clang.

Quickly, I walked through the opening to the other side. The familiar debris of abandoned cars, trash littering the road, and dried blood from random walker encounters greeted me. But my eyes were on the angel wings vest in front of me.