sweet caroline | n.

xii. reckless decisions.

sweet caroline. chapter eleven.
SUMMARY ; negan decides what he's going to do.

❝ cause there is no guarantee
that this life is easy
yeah when my world is falling apart
and there's no light to break up the dark
that's when i, i look at you ❝
——

CAROLINE KNOWS that negan was acting strange. since the minute she woke up laying on his chest and he was staring off into nothingness, simply lost in his own thoughts, she knew something was wrong. though he doesn't tell her what he was thinking about nor would he even admit that something was bothering him, caroline knew. shes starting to know him, she was able to recognize certain facial expressions, she could pick up on his sudden mood changes, too.

"you feeling any better?" negan questions the girl as one of his hands continued softly rubbing up and down her back. caroline nods twice, her sore throat had gotten a little better, it still hurt but not nearly as bad as the previous day, her headache had thankfully went away, and the urge to vomit wasn't present any longer.

"you sure everything is okay?" caroline asks negan in a questioning voice for the second time, as she picked her head up to lay her chin down on his chest, gazing up at him. negan met her eyes, quickly plastering on a fake grin that he hoped seemed at least a little genuine to the girl. it didn't, and caroline frowned, wondering why he wasn't telling her what was wrong.

"of course, why wouldn't it be?" negan responds, chuckling some when caroline rolled her eyes before dropping her head back down to lay on his chest. "you'd tell me if something was wrong.. right?" caroline muffled voice asks, due to her mouth pressed against his jacket. negan brushes a hand down over the back of her messy hair, before he laid his head down on the ground of the tent, staring up at the top of it.

negan knows he needs to get this over with, but he had to be careful with it, if he got caught before it was over everything would be ruined— and he'd most likely be killed. that couldn't happen, caroline would be left alone with these people, forced to fend for her herself once again, and negan wouldn't have that. he knew the steps he had to take to get to the end where he could go back to the others, claim his spot within the group since he got rid of the person they hated most. his only worry was them not accepting caroline, then this all would've been for nothing.

"trust me, everything is fine, sunshine."

|

caroline wasn't too sure how it happened, or why it even happened in the first place. the blonde was seated at her usual place, one of the fallen trees, her gaze switching back and forth from simply watching the other whisperers around her, to staring at one of the many leaves covering the ground. negan was directly across from her, leaned back against a tall tree with his legs straightened out in front of him, his arms crossed over his chest.

the two kept making eye contact at least twice every minute, rather it was on purpose or not, they couldn't refrain themselves from looking at one another. caroline would break it first, mostly because of the smile that would threaten to stretch across her face, negan sometimes let out a quiet chuckle to himself at this. he grinned at her whenever he could, and caroline would sink her teeth into her bottom lip to stop her smile from growing any larger.

"i'm bored." caroline mouths to the man, though he was already aware of that. there wasn't much to do around camp, it was plastered all over her facial expression and body language that she was indeed bored, at least when they traveled on foot for supplies — even for just a small amount of things — it was something to do, it kept them busy. unlike on the days they stayed put, caroline spent most of her time observing the others, getting lost in thought, and waiting impatiently for night fall.