AFRAID
chapter three, asshole
ALMOST THREE MONTHS HAD PASSED since Rosalie was taken in by Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon, and she couldn't have been happier that she had fallen into a ditch and severely injured herself. Now that she had a home, friends — like Beth and Liam — and a loving un-biological family, she was the happiest she had ever been. Her leg had finally healed, she could now walk around without any crutches, and Hershel had even allowed her to run around the prison yard now. She was almost as good as new, the only reminder being the large scar running down her leg, but she didn't care about scars, since she had multiple others.
Throughout the past three months, Rosalie had learned her way around the prison, no longer needing to ask anyone where anything was, she had also gained friendships with a couple of others, becoming especially close with Beth, and her baby companion Judith.
She had also formed an exceptionally unbreakable bond with Liam, who was Beth's boyfriend. He had a heart of gold and always had Rosalie's back whenever she needed him most.
Rosalie had managed to speak to Daryl, but he no longer responded with grunts, instead — he spoke with words, which heavily surprised Rosalie the first time. They weren't close, but they were friends — which was enough for Rosalie, all she wanted was to be friends with everyone.
Carl thought, he hadn't spoken to Rosalie in weeks, ever since they argued over Carl ignoring her, and he vowed to never speak to her again. Each time they were in a room together, he wouldn't speak to her, occasionally giving her a filthy look whenever they held eye contact for longer than a couple of seconds.
THE EARLY MORNING SUNLIGHT SHONE through the small window above her bed, shining directly into her eyes. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, a small yawn escaping her mouth as she sat up, rubbing her eyes. She groaned as she ran a hand through her orange hair, reaching for her hairbrush on the shelf opposite her bed. She managed to rag a brush through her ridiculously long hair, she promised herself that as soon as she got her hands on a pair of scissors she would cut it all off.
The dusty smell of the prison lingered in the air, attacking her nose each time she breathed in. Rosalie rubbed her face, in a failed attempt to try and wake herself up. She swung her feet over to the floor, the coldness of the stone floor shocking the redhead as soon as her feet touched the floor. Standing up, she reached for some cleaner clothes that Daryl had found for her on one of the supply runs, which Rosalie was very grateful for.
CARL WALKED DOWN TO THE mini farm that both he and his father had started, his feet crunching against the gravel on the path down to the corner of the field where the mini farm was.
"You didn't wake me up!" He called out to his working father, who stopped what he was doing to listen to Carl.
"Yeah, I knew you were up all night reading comics with a flashlight." Rick smiled, resting his hands against the fence as he looked over to Carl. Carl's smile faltered slightly at the mention of reading comics with a flashlight, because that's what he and Rosalie used to do... when they were friends. But they weren't anymore, that was all in the past and there was no point in crying over the past, right?
ROSALIE WANDERED OUT TO THE prison yard, her blood and dirt-covered Converse scuffing against the floor and she kicked rocks with the tips of her feet. Her feet crunched against the broken parts of the gravel path, making her way down to the fields, noticing the two Grimes' working in the mini farm the prison had going, Rosalie would sometimes contribute to the makeshift farm, but some other times she helped Beth with Judith, or she simply just babysat the younger children so they didn't feel so alone.
Carl looked over to Rosalie, their eyes meeting for a second before she turned on her heel, heading over to the other cell block, leaving Carl to stare after her.
The gravel crunched beneath her shoes, the wind blowing through her long red hair. She kept her head down, not in the mood to socialise with anyone. If she could, she would just stay in her cell, but she had things to do, so she pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind. She walked on, sighing before pushing the metal door open, hearing Judith babbling to Beth and a masculine voice which she recognised to be Liam's.
Rosalie closed the door behind her, hearing it clang as it closed, Rosalie made her way over to the older teenagers and the young baby.
"Hi Bethy! Liam." Rosalie waved, nodding to Liam as she greeted the two, her pink lips curled into a wide smile as she brushed Judith's thin fringe out of her face and eyes. Judith flashed her a toothless grin, Rosalie putting her finger up to her small nose as Judith let out a small giggle, "Hello Judi!" Rosalie spoke in a soft-spoken voice towards the young baby in the blonde's arms.
"Hiya, Carrot-Top." Liam joked, a large smile playing on his lips as he returned the nod to Rosalie, who giggled in return. Rosalie looked back over to the blonde teenager.
"Good mornin', Rose!" Beth smiled as she slowly rocked the giggling child in her arms, the same child reaching out for Rosalie. She looked over to Beth, who nodded before handing the slightly fussing baby to the redhead.
"Hello!" The redhead spoke to the fussing baby, bouncing her on her hip as she started to attempt to soothe Judith, "Judi, it's okay." She made sure to keep her voice soft and quiet, not wanting to possibly upset the crying baby more.
"I'll get her formula now." Liam smiled at the younger girl, reaching for the bag full of supplies just for Judith.
"C'mon Judi, don't cry." The Thompson girl whispered, Judith, curling her small fingers around Rosalie's pointer finger, trying to put it into her mouth, "Ah ah! We're sorting your formula now, there's no need to eat my finger." Rosalie giggled as Liam handed Beth the bottle of baby formula, who passed it on to Rosalie.
Rosalie tilted the bottle into Judith's mouth, the small baby wrapping her hands around the bottle instead of Rosalie's finger. Judith instantly stopped fussing in her arms, quickly growing sleepy after being fed. She looked down at the peaceful baby in her arms, the sound of footsteps approaching causing the redhead to look up from the small baby, seeing Hershel.
"Rosalie?" The older man called, as Rosalie started to rock the baby to sleep, "C'mon, I need to check your knee and see how well it's healed." He explained, that Rosalie, passed the sleeping baby to Beth, waving her goodbyes to the couple as she walked over to Hershel.
"You did it like — last week, why do you need to do it again?" Rosalie groaned, hating how she had to have 'special' treatment for her knee, yet she secretly loved it. Both Hershel and Rosalie would spend most of the time talking about whatever had happened recently — it gave them time to catch up with each other.
"Because, you know the drill, Rosalie. If it's healed wrong, we have to fix it before it gets worse and un-fixable. You should know this by now." The white-haired man lectured, but with a playful tone to his voice which caused Rosalie to giggle slightly, "We also both know how clumsy you are, remember when you were playing football with Carl? And you almost broke and sprained your ankle?" Hershel reminded Rosalie, causing her to laugh loudly.
Rosalie kicked the ball towards Patrick, trying to dodge Carl as he came running towards her, in an attempt to get the ball from her. He let out a loud groan as he missed the ball, moving his slightly sweaty hair out of his face.
Rosalie didn't pay much attention to where she was running, she was just watching the ball and running in any direction. One thing she didn't notice, was Carl running towards her as she was about to fall into a hole.
Carl stuck his foot out in front of her, causing her to fall to the floor, which made her land in a small hole, falling awkwardly on her ankle as it made a horrific grinding sound.
Panic rushed through her body as she crawled out of the small hole, unable to move her ankle without extreme pain sending sparks up her leg.
Rosalie felt as though she couldn't breathe, laughter accidentally leaving her mouth instead of yells of pain as she attempted to breathe properly. Carl looked over to Patrick with a confused and concerned look written on his face.
His eyes returned to Rosalie, starting to awkwardly and confusingly laugh with Rosalie, concerned as to why she was laughing. He assumed she thought it was funny until a scream tore from her throat.
Carl's face instantly dropped, a panicked look covering his face as he looked over to Patrick, who looked as though he wanted to cry.
"I'll be back," Carl spoke quickly, dropping the football from his hands as he ran away, the ball bouncing before slowly rolling down the slight hill in the field.
Rosalie still struggled to breathe through both the panic and the pain, watching as Carl returned shortly, with Hershel quickly following behind him.
Hershel looked confused and concerned — a similar look to how Carl felt when it first happened.
"What happened?" Hershel asked, grabbing the redhead by the arms, and pulling her up slowly so she didn't injure herself more.
"I fell in a hole!" Rosalie smiled, as though she was proud of what she managed to achieve. Carl looked at Rosalie with annoyance in his eyes, how was this funny? He rolled his eyes at her before turning around and going to retrieve his ball from the bottom of the hill.
Rosalie let out another small laugh as she remembered the incident, "It was funny." She shrugged as Hershel raised his eyes at the girl in a playful way.
Rosalie sat down on the bed of the cell that was mainly used as the medic cell. She knew the drill by now, so she started to roll up her trouser leg.
"Alright." Hershel clapped his hands, pulling the medical box in the corner closer to the chair that was facing the bed in the cell.
Hershel began the check-up on her knee, making sure her wound healed correctly, checking to see if her knee was still in the correct position, seeing if she could move it properly and looking to see if there was any pain.
Everything seemed to be fine, and her knee seemed to be healing correctly — which was a good thing, it meant that soon enough there was more of a chance that Rick and Daryl might let her go on a supply run.
Each time she asked to go on a supply run, Daryl instantly shot her suggestion down, telling her it was "too dangerous" and that "she could damage her knee."
ROSALIE WALKED FROM THE MEDICAL cell, giving a small smile and wave to Beth and Liam before leaving the cell block. She walked outside, her arms swinging beside her torso as she walked down the gravel path, the only sound being the slight breeze in her ears and the crunch of the gravel beneath her weight.
As he heard the new sound of Rosalie's feet hitting the floor, Rick looked up from what he was doing. He gave her a close-lipped smile, resting his left hand on the end of the rake, using the other one to wave at her — signalling her to come over.
As Rosalie hastily made her way further down the gravel path, she looked out to the makeshift farm, trying to look for Carl, who was currently trying to look as though he was extremely busy, although he wasn't.
"Hey, Rick!" She waved, rolling up her sleeves as she prepared herself to do some dirty work, already slightly regretting putting on a pair of clean clothes instead of some that were already dirty.
"Hey, Kid!" Rick greeted, flashing her another smile as he looked over to Carl with a teasing look on his face. Rick knew how much Carl didn't want to be with Rosalie, as he had heard him complain about her before. Despite knowing how much Carl disliked Rosalie now, he longed for them to be friends again like they used to be. Remembering how they used to play football together, listen to music and read comics together.
Carl's eyes quickly fell on the redhead standing in front of him, and he swallowed thickly before mumbling a shitty excuse to his father about having to do something else as he quickly tried to escape from the farm.
"Uh, no." Rick spoke, looking as though he was about to give Carl an hour-long lecture, "You're staying right here, you're helping Rosalie. She can't do it on her own, you know!" Rick licked his lip, blighting it slightly to hide the smile that was threatening to show.
"Do I have to?" Carl let out a groan, rolling his eyes at his father as he threw down the shovel in his hands in a fit of annoyance, "Really?"
"Yes, it's a two-person task, and Rosalie's a hardworking girl." Rick raised his eyebrow warningly as he spoke, "You could learn a thing or two from her." Rick shrugged, giving his son yet another teasing smile whilst Rosalie looked in the opposite direction.
Rick stepped closer to Rosalie, telling her what chores needed to be done today to help out the farm, and which tasks Carl would help with — which seemed to be most tasks. Carl knew that this was on purpose, set up by his dad to try and get them to talk again, Rosalie was clueless though. Carl was determined to not let his dad win.
"Carl, are you gonna help me or what?" The girl sneered, giving him an annoying smile as she handed him the rake that Rick was previously using, "There you go." She spoke, her smile dropping as she continued her farm work.
Carl had purposely been doing everything wrong, just in spite so he could try and piss off Rosalie more as if his presence wasn't enough.
"Carl you don't do it like that, I'll show you—" Rosalie tried to help him in the nicest way possible, even though she was pissed off, she didn't want to make it worse. Things quickly escalated between the two, Carl not listening and purposely trying to piss her off even more than he already had.
"Yes, it is!" Carl bickered, turning his back from the redhead beside him, looking back over his shoulder with a scowl covering his face, "I'm doing it!" Carl spoke, acting like a two-year-old. The thought made Rosalie laugh out loud at the fluffy-haired brunette.
"What's so funny?" Carl glowered, the scowl still on his face as he turned back around to face the slightly taller girl.
"Oh, nothing... Just the fact that you're acting like a two-year-old." Rosalie giggled, flicking the Sheriff's hat on top of his head with her finger, the force knocking the hat from his head. Though, Rosalie quickly grabbed it before it landed in the mud.
"What was that for?!" Carl questioned, anger bubbling up inside him as he snatched the hat from her hands, placing it back on his head as he gave Rosalie a filthy look.
"Thought it would be funny," She answered, yet another laugh leaving her throat as she crossed her arms with another laugh, "And it was." She leant back on her right leg, watching Carl's face attentively as a look of hurt quickly flashed across his angered face. He tried to play it off as he turned around with a scoff, but Rosalie's perceptiveness noticed it quickly enough.
Rosalie felt some sort of pity for what she had done, but part of her knew that it was his fault for being so arrogant and ignorant towards her lately — and she had enough. It wasn't like her to act like this to anyone, but Carl had irritated her too much.
Rosalie couldn't think of anything that she had done wrong in the first place to make him so mad at her and for him to stop speaking to her, and every time she thought about it — it made her feel worthless. And during these harsh and unforgiving times, she needed someone to be there for her, and the one person she wanted, wasn't there for her anymore.
Each time she thought about the happy things they did together, it made her heart ache. Especially, when she thought about the times when they would sneak into each other's cells, staying up all night reading comics and listening to music on an old Walkman Daryl had found for her on a supply run.
"Asshole," Carl muttered under his breath, trying to be quiet enough so that Rosalie didn't hear, but his attempt failed. As those words left his mouth and entered her ears, it snapped her from her daydream and she could already feel the rage building up inside of her.
"I'm the asshole?!" Rosalie raised her voice slightly, a venomous tone lacing her voice as she glared daggers into the back of Carl's head, waiting for him to turn around, "Are you serious? After everything you've done to me, I'm the asshole?!" Carl turned around, shocked by her angry outburst, and to be honest — Rosalie was shocked with herself too, but Carl didn't need to know that.
"You just took the piss out of me... for fun!" Carl shouted back at the redhead, a malicious glint in his eyes as he glared at the girl in front of him.
"I'm not the asshole, you are," Rosalie yelled through gritted teeth, not wanting Rick to realise they were arguing. In a fit of anger, she threw her shovel onto the floor, feeling both Rick and Carl's eyes on her. Without a second thought, she stormed off from Carl, raising her middle finger in his direction, in hopes of telling him how much of an asshole he was without having to say much to the boy.
Rosalie could practically feel his anger from the other side of the field, which for some reason made her feel better about the situation. Getting all of her stress, and heartache out in one go, yelling at him instead of keeping it all bottled in oddly helped her feel better. She knew she would have to apologise to Carl at some point, but she made a promise to herself that she wouldn't apologise until he did to her, not wanting him to walk all over her again.
ROSALIE STALKED THROUGH THE PRISON, her head down, her eyes fixated on the ground as she walked. She ignored everyone who attempted to communicate, shrugging at anyone who spoke to her as she made her way to her cell.
She pulled the door shut angrily, snatching her walkman from her shelf, putting the headphones over her ears and clicking the play button — music filling her ears. She turned up the volume, the music helped to calm her down, it was a welcome distraction from the sorry world.
Despite the musical distraction, Rosalie couldn't help but replay the angry interaction with Carl over and over in her head. Each time it made her more and more angry. Rosalie couldn't shake off the thought that he was right, maybe she was the asshole after all.
Overthinking was one of Rosalie's main problems, she would always think things over after it had happened, making it all 1000 times worse than it was.
A knot started to form in her stomach and her chest felt tight, causing her to feel nauseated as she bit at the inside of her cheek — a bad habit she had developed since she was young.
Rosalie felt like she wanted to scream, yell, and cry, but she knew that none of that would solve anything at all. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and attempted to blink them away, not wanting to give Carl any possible satisfaction of knowing that he had managed to upset her, yet again. Despite her attempts to blink away the forming tears, they kept coming and eventually — she gave up trying, allowing the tears to flow down her face. She felt enraged and miserable all at the same time like she was caught in a storm with no shelter.
She felt alone and isolated from the world, having no one to turn to and no one to ask for help. Just her, on her own, with her thoughts.
Her music continued to play loudly, slightly making her feel better as her favourite songs played into her ears. She lay down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling as the thoughts continued to race through her mind. She tried to forget about the argument, trying to ignore everything else apart from her music.
CARL LOOKED DOWN TO HIS boots, kicking a pebble on the ground with the tip of his shoe. He couldn't explain the way he was feeling, anger, regret, infuriated by the interaction only moments before between himself and Rosalie.
"Carl!" Rick shouted, repeating his name again and again — Carl did not listen as he thought over the interaction over and over in his head, regretting everything he had said. Rick's loud voice struck him from his thoughts, causing him to flinch slightly at the voice.
"Mhm.." Carl spoke, still distant from the conversation as Rick rested his hand on his son's shoulder.
"I called your name 3 times, are you okay?" Rick asked his son, tightening the grip on his shoulder slightly, causing him to look up, "I heard what happened."
"You did?!" Carl looked at his father with wide eyes, a shameful expression written in them.
"You need to apologise." Rick raised his eyebrows, looking as though he was about to lecture Carl, a warning look on his face.
"Do I have to?" Carl protested, a flash of frustration in his eyes as Rick started to rub his thumb against his shoulder.
"Yes." Rick answered with no hesitation, "She's a part of the group, and she was your best friend, so the least you could do was apologise." Carl stepped back from his dad, sucking his teeth with annoyance before shaking his head.
"We weren't friends. I hate her." Carl grumbled, folding his arms with an angered groan, glaring daggers at his father.
"Friends or not, you're apologising." Rick raised his eyebrows, sending Carl yet another warning glare before nodding in the direction of the prison. Carl turned around, noticing the redhead slowly making her way up the gravel path, her red hair blowing away from her face in the light wind.
"Fine. I will." Carl rolled his eyes at his father, dreading the moment when he would have to apologise, he had always struggled with apologies and admitting he was wrong, which was why he never did it. And he especially didn't apologise to people he hated.
ROSALIE'S 'PEACE' WAS SOON INTERRUPTED, a loud banging at her cell door striking her from her bitter daydream. With a groan of annoyance, she switched her music off, pulling the headphones from her head and leaving them around her neck as she swung her legs from the bed, standing up with another sigh. Rosalie opened the door, groaning as she soon noticed who was at the door.
"No," Rosalie muttered, rolling her eyes at the sight of the fluffy-haired brunette in front of her. She was already furious with the Grimes boy, and she didn't want to speak to him any more than needed.
She attempted to slam the door in his face, but she hadn't noticed his foot in place between the door frame and the door. He placed his hand on the door and pushed it open, Rosalie stepping back with confusion written all over her face.
"Rosalie," Carl spoke, his voice barely even a whisper as he took a step into her cell, causing Rosalie to grow even more confused.
"Carl." She spoke, "Whoa, what are you doing?" She raised her voice slightly as he stepped into her room, the door closing behind him as she cautiously took a step backwards.
"Apologising." He spoke quickly, almost too fast for Rosalie to make out, "Or is that not okay with you?"
"Would've been nice to know before you stormed into my room, but..." She mumbled under her breath, "Sure." She spoke out loud to Carl, her voice cold and emotionless as she sat down on her roughly made bed.
"Look —" Carl paused, biting his lip awkwardly as he thought of the correct thing to say, "Uh..." He mumbled, hoping Rosalie didn't hear — but she heard it, which caused her to start giggling like a child at his speechlessness.
Carl sent her a dirty look before looking down at his shoes, fumbling with his fingers as he tried to find the words to say, "I'm sorry, I gue—" Carl was cut off by Rosalie's laughter, her hand clamping onto her mouth to try and muffle her laughter, "What?!" Carl snapped at the girl, causing her to snort as she tried to stop.
"Your dad made you apologise, didn't he?" Rosalie managed between fits of laughter, Carl's offended but pissed-off expression causing her to laugh even more.
"No..." Carl mumbled, his voice dying down in his throat as he attempted to mislead the girl.
"Sure!!" Rosalie teased, still giggling.
"Shut up!" Carl yelled, the girl's laughter quietening down almost instantly. The sudden angry yell caused her to be reminded of her father, a wave of sadness overcoming her as she thought about her now dead father.
"I'm sorry for calling you an asshole," Carl spoke in a dull monotone, ignoring the redhead's sad expression, his blank and his face expressionless.
"Sure you are." She mocked his monotone voice, shaking her head as she hid her smile that was tugging on the corners of her pink lips.
"I am!" Carl defended himself, throwing his arms up with an angry huff as he looked into the redhead girl's eyes.
"Totally. Now get out." She smiled 'innocently', which only annoyed Carl even more.
Carl turned to leave, but before he reached the door he turned on his heel, "I'm sorry, okay? You aren't an asshole, I was just annoyed that you thought I was immature." This time, his apology was half genuine, the other half of him just wanted to please his dad.
"I think you're even more immature now." Rosalie shrugged with a laugh, Carl scoffing and rolling his eyes before leaving the room, not bothering to close the door behind him.
"Asshole," Rosalie muttered as she stood back up, slamming the door shut and throwing herself back down onto her bed. She put her headphones back on and continued to listen to her favourite songs.
Rosalie stared back at the ceiling, a deep sigh coming from her mouth as she rested on her bed. Yet another knock at her door sounded, which caused her to groan with annoyance. If Carl was back, she felt like she would stab him in the eye.
"Carl — go away!" She yelled from her bed, pausing her music to listen to his response, the longer the pause was, the more annoyed she grew.
"I'm... not Carl." Michonne's voice sounded from behind the closed door, a wave of relief flooding over Rosalie, she couldn't be bothered with Carl and his bullshit anymore.
"Oh." She spoke, slightly embarrassed at the thought she had told Michonne to go away by assuming it was Carl, "Come in."
"Hey, what did Carl do this time?" She asked as she poked her head past the door, taking a step in as she saw the ginger girl lying on her bed.
"Being a dick, like usual." Rosalie scoffed, slight humour lacing her tone as she looked up at Michonne from her current position on the bed, her legs crossed over each other and her hands locked together with arms rested behind her head.
"He's a teenage boy, they're all like that." Michonne replied to the girl, a downward smile on her face as she shrugged, "Anyways, this might make you feel better." Michonne reached into the brown leather bag on her hip, grabbing two things from it.
"What will?" Rosalie asked, her head perking up as she tried to take a look into Michonne's hands. A large smile spread onto their faces, lightening up the room as Michonne started to laugh.
"Here." Michonne looked down at the girl, passing her a tape for her Walkman and a comic book, "They reminded me of you. I got them the other day whilst I was on a run."
As the Thompson girl graciously took the items from her hand, she looked at them in her hands, an even larger smile plastered on her face.
"Whoa..." The redhead spoke, practically speechless, the thought of Michonne thinking of her and grabbing those things whilst she was out made her feel so much more appreciated, "Thank you so much!!" Rosalie jumped from her bed, embracing the other woman in a hug quickly as her jaw fell open.
"You're welcome, Rosalie!" Michonne smiled at the younger girl again, feeling a warmness in her heart upon seeing the happiness of the girl.
"You're amazing!"
"Yeah, I know." Michonne laughed, causing the girl to giggle in response.
— FREYA SPEAKS
This chapter was slightly longer, lmk if you prefer the shorter chapters or longer!! (next chapter will be sm longer)
I love rosalie, liam and beth's friendship sm they're too precious 💔