𝙵𝙻𝙴𝚂𝙷 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙱𝙾𝙽𝙴 | 𝚃. 𝙾𝚃𝚃𝙾 𐂃

Chapter 8

"What happened?" She wore a puzzled look at the mess that didn’t seem to be man made.

Troy raised his head again, twisting the wire around with his hand. "A boar keeps digging up the fence posts to get to the cabbage. You here to help with the clean up?"

"Hailey was supposed to, but she had to help Mike, so she asked if I could do it," Cristine answered with a scowl that Troy hadn't seen in a while and crossed over the patch. "They're acting as if no one knows what they're doing," Cristine grumbled and started to dig up the half eaten vegetable and paused, "well, maybe my dad doesn't, but that's because he'll have Mike's head if he does."

"I'll tell him to stay low for a bit," Troy said as closely watched her excavate the ruined cabbages and place them in the bucket, "make sure to take them out from the roots, we'll reuse the patches and they need to be sterile. Can't attract any cabbage flies or give them the chance to lay their eggs."

"Got it." Cristine diligently cleaned the messy and hollowed out chunks and threw the munched leaves and plant into a separate bin. A little extra for the pigs later. She repeatedly dug into the earth to search for the remains of the very shallow roots. It had been a while since she worked the crops on the Ranch. It was a nice distraction and while she would never admit it, she liked doing this work. It was calming and such a normal task in such an abnormal world. She didn't know how long she was busy with the repetitive task of unrooting, cleaning and separating the soil, vegetable and its remains.That was until something cold touched the tip of her ear, startling her. Cristine turned and lifted her head to see the outstretched bottle in front of her face. Behind her, she saw that she had gone several feet from where she started near the fence. Cristine wiped the tip of her damp nose with the top of her shoulders, "thanks." She accepted the bottle and twisted the cap open and relished in the cool liquid that slid down her dancing throat. "How's that fence coming along?"

Troy glanced over his shoulders, his frown deep before he rolled his neck from the strain of keeping his head low to focus on cutting and rearranging the wires. Sighing he rubbed his forehead and dropped to his knees next to her, putting his task aside for now. "Have to keep fixing it, since that boar will keep coming back."

Cristine arched a brow when he helped her with cleaning the roots, ignoring how his arm brushed against hers each time he leaned forward to either shovel up the earth or discard a cabbage in the bucket that was almost filled to the brim.

Troy glanced at her from the corner of his eyes the moment Cristine restarted her work and pensively chewed on the inside of his mouth. Some of her corkscrew shaped curls bounced past the curve of her upturned cheek, down to her chin. Cristine usually kept her hair shorter than that and Troy absently wondered why she hadn’t cut it. She told the women in their militia to keep theirs either secure or short from the hands of the dead. Swallowing, his stare was as unsettled as the suggestion that tumbled from his lips, "me and the guys are planning on hunting tonight, if you want to come-" but before Troy could finish his innocent request, his brother arrived and served as an interruption.

“Cristine,” Jake nodded at the woman who he hadn't seen or talked to for a while. His brows faintly rose as he stared at his little brother's close proximity to her. Cristine didn't seem to mind or wasn't as cautious to it as he was. Troy, quick to react, rose to his feet. Cristine mirrored Troy's movement and dusted off her knees. With a tight lipped smile, she offered him her condolences with a mellow expression. Jake and Charlene were close, so it must've hurt him on a different level than the rest. Jake forced a smile, thanking her for her silent consolation before he glanced at his baby brother and politely asked for a moment with him, "I need to speak to my brother."

Cristine looked between the siblings, there was an uncomfortable tension more so on Jake's side that settled the mood for the conversation. It didn't bode well and she wondered if it had anything to do with what Luciana and Nick had warned her about. Whatever it was, their familial discussions weren't any of her business. "I'll go and take a look at the fence."

The conversation between the brothers lasted about five minutes. Cristine saw Jake drive off with the quad. Stern look on his pale features. Glancing over her shoulders she watched Troy waltz back in her direction, his gait stiff and angry. She didn't say a thing when Troy plopped next to her again and grabbed the spare set of pliers. The manner in which he roughly moved them between the wires made Cristine gnash her teeth. She jabbed him in the side at his actions when she couldn't stand it anymore, scolding him, "don't be wasteful."

"Shut up, it's mine to waste," Troy hissed back childishly, jerking at the pliers against the wire and glared at the incredulous Cristine, the latter still registering that, yes, Troy snapped at her. A look of vexation quickly washed over her features and she struck out her elbow to jab him in the ribs harder this time.

"I don't care why the two of you were arguing, but don't vent it on me." Cristine watched him part his lips to retort, but couldn't get a word out with her still admonishing him, "don't let whatever Jake said get to you and channel whatever it is you're feeling into something useful. Hunt that boar, go for a run or clean the Ranch's perimeter. There are more than enough outlets." Cristine lifted her eyes and scoffed, "try to send all that's going on in here to here." She tapped on his chest and the pointed at his temple as final a piece of advice.

"You're smarter than that nature boy."

Expecting an irritated and unrestrained response, Troy surprised her by thinking over her words, face shifting to a form of appreciation. Since it never took his emotions to flip around so quickly or positively to her criticism, since she clearly expected an outburst, Troy nodded. His eyes were alight with renewed fervor and Troy smiled out of the blue before resuming with the task he was complaining about a few minutes ago.

"Actually, I don't want to know. At least he's not being an ass." Cristine thought to herself and ignored the bizarre militia leader.

It was quiet again, but the shimmering anger of Troy seemed to have vanished after her short, but effective lecture. Cristine helped him with fixing the ruined fence. The two were fastening the new sheet of metal onto the medium sized hole forcibly bend over from the ground. Cristine grunted as she tried to fasten the ends together. She used a lot of her strength to pull the wires taut. "Damn it," she breathed out and blew some of limp curls from her face and battled with holding the metal in place.

"Here- let me." Cristine tensed when large, gloved hands reached out from her right and grasped the wires and put them in place. "You cut them a bit too short, but they'll fit." Troy exerted a bit more force to pull them together and used the pliers to twist the metal together. This time, his left arm pressed into her right arm and whilst trying to ignore the way his hands squeezed hers, Cristine felt his intense gaze. Lifting her chin, her line of sight was halfway covered by his turned face. He stared at her oddly, as if he was waiting for her to scowl at him or shove him away. No words were spoken and Cristine detected a strange gleam inside his bright eyes. The blue hue glistened in the light. As she stared, Cristine found those irises quickly flitting down her face before settling for her eyes again. His breath fluttered over her face when he breathed a smiled and specks of light danced in his eyes until the baby blue swallowed it whole. "You just need to add some strength," he muttered under his breath before pulling back ever so slightly.

Cristine finally narrowed her eyes and pulled her hands back and awkwardly coughed. "Got it. Thanks." She dusted her hands and rose to her feet. "I'll be going back to those cabbages." She ignored the strange look Troy gave her and quickly finished cleaning the waste littering the ruined fields.

What the hell?

Your opinions about the Troy x Cristine moments? I have fun writing their (sometimes) awkward moments. Especially Troy 😅