Haunted | Daryl Dixon

28. Not Alone

"It's just," She cleared her throat, "after everything..."

"You didn't want to see me again." Daryl finished, moving to look back at the road, not before Evelyn saw a flash of pain cross his features, though.

"I didn't think you wanted to see me again." Her voice was still soft.

"I gave you no reason not to believe that." From the sound of his voice, he sounded as though he was mentally kicking himself.

This time, she didn't know what to say.

'I still love you, Evelyn. I never stopped.'

His words from back at the prison, back from what felt like a lifetime ago, bounced through the woman's head.

He claimed to have loved her then and still loves her now.

And while he may, how was she supposed to feel about that- how was she supposed to deal with it?

Even if Evelyn wanted to love him again- even if she was ready to- would she be able to? Could she open her heart back up to him? After he had been the reason she spent so much time falling apart?

He had stayed true to his word though and didn't push her, didn't try to bring it back up again. He was giving her time.

But how could that not be the only thing she was thinking about?

"So, what did you do after- after graduation?" Daryl's voice was- dare she say- tentative, "I-uh, I always wondered."

He spared her a quick glance, a nervous and hesitant look.

Evelyn was taken aback by the question.

She couldn't deny that too many sleepless nights during her college years had been dedicated to thinking about what Daryl had been doing at that moment, but it had always been too much to hope that he had been wondering the same about her.

She cleared her throat, the least she could do was answer his questions, "I-uh, I still went to Penn State. Graduated pretty high in my class and I moved on to become an english teacher." A faint smile graced her lips at the thought.

"I never saw myself as being a teacher," She continued, "I always used to hate listening to them talk in class. But I think that's why I decided it would be good for me, I didn't want kids to dread school. I wanted to be the teacher that made learning fun. One of my friends helped me figure that out."

There was a stabbing pain in Evelyn's chest at the mention of Negan, but she forced herself to push it away. She hated dwelling on him, the unknowing for how he was doing- if he was even alive- always destroyed her.

Daryl was staring intensely at her now, "An' what about writing?" The tips of his ears turned red- the woman could see them in the moonlight- just like how they always used to when he was embarrassed, "I-uh, always kept a lookout for any published books of yers. But I never found any, figured I just wasn't looking hard enough."

"No, I actually never pursued writing. I decided part way through college that," She glanced down at her lap, "That it hurt too much to continue... it- it made me think of... the past."

It made me think of you.

Daryl's face twisted up, "You didn't write because... because it hurt too much?" There was pain in his voice, "I- I never wanted to take that away from you, Ev."

Despite the circumstances, a shiver ran down the woman's spine at the nickname.

Anytime anyone ever tried to call her that, she warned them against it immediately. She hadn't let a single person other than Daryl call her that.