Katie watched in amusement from the hallway as her sister finished drying her freshly washed hair. The older girl was practically bouncing off the walls, her chipper mood radiated from her skin. Katie was pleasantly surprised to see it, her sister's struggle could be seen from a mile away. "What's got you all smiley this morning?" Katie could hardly contain a grin of her own.

     "Oh nothing..." Evelyn trailed off with a hazy, lovestruck look in her eyes. "It's just that me and Ethan kissed last night," she shrugged like it was no big deal. Katie's jaw dropped. It all started to make sense.

"No way! Tell me everything!" The way the sisters gossiped with each other felt juvenile, but it restored a slight sense of normalcy into Evelyn's life. With the whole being back on the ranch and distant father circumstances, normal was what Evelyn needed. Her and Ethan tried to pretend like things were the way they used to be whenever they spent time together, but they could never quite accomplish the full thing. They still tried, even though they both knew they never would. With Katie, things were different. Even the younger girl had a guy to gush over. He was apart of the militia, which at first made Evelyn gag, but Katie swore up and down that he was one of the few good ones. She also apparently told him that if she found out he or his friends had said one bad thing about her older sister, she would dump him in an instant. Evelyn smiled at that.

Evelyn leaned against the bathroom counter as she recounted everything she could remember about her moment with Ethan. She didn't forget to mention the old picture frame she found, how it made her sad for a moment, but neither of the sisters could dwell on that when Evelyn continued rambling on about Ethan. Katie was over the moon for her sister. Ethan obviously made Evelyn happy. He was her silver lining in this new world of uncertainty and fear.

Evelyn finally made her way to her bedroom and sighed, the enamored smile on her face never faltering in the slightest. This pleasant feeling had been the most genuine she'd felt since she arrived back at the ranch. She could've used every positive word in the book to describe her mood, until she realized that she had to take another shift in the field. She groaned. Knowing that was enough to take her cheerful contentment down quite a few notches.

Evelyn let out a frustrated sigh as she dropped to her knees in the dirt. She pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail and looked around. She hated being around all this people, she didn't like being on guard for so long, and it annoyed her knowing that she had to for her own well-being. Whatever. She was having a great day, she decided she didn't want to let this crummy chore to sour it any more than it already had.

     She palmed around the dirt for a while, handling the seeds the way Jake and Troy had shown her not long ago, or at least poorly attempting to. She barely had any idea what she was doing, and for a moment part of her was glad the ranchers didn't expect much from her. She spent most of her childhood basically on house arrest, she didn't have the time to learn how to garden.

     "We should stop meeting like this," Evelyn looked up and was greeted by her favorite of the two brothers. She typically would've been annoyed by the sudden presence of someone else, the southern heat never failed to spoil her mood and cause her to snap at anyone that crossed her, even if they were being polite.

"We've only met like this twice, Jake," she smiled softly at the older man and brushed the annoying flyaways out of her face.

     He didn't respond to that, he only naturally observed her for a moment before he made his offer out of courtesy. "Need help?" He gestured towards her hands.

     "Yes," Evelyn desperately answered. Her shoulders deflated.

Jake knelt beside her. "I wanted to apologize, Evelyn," she looked over at the man to study his complicated, almost unreadable expression.

     "What for?" She offered him a soft smile. Jake was caught off guard by her unusual easygoing energy. He could tell she was in a good mood, which was nice to see. He knew she wasn't going to have it easy at the ranch, and he was a bit ashamed to admit that she was carrying herself a lot better than he thought she would.

"For being so ignorant—last time we spoke. I was thinking and... I don't know. I don't know what you've experienced, Evelyn. I understand that being Otto's son has it's advantages, and it was stupid of me to say those things to you," the vague but well-thought-out apology confused Evelyn. She wasn't even really angry with him. Sure, she was ticked off in the moment, but she didn't think she did or said anything to warrant this out of the blue interaction. It made Evelyn feel nice though. Someone new cared about how she felt.

     "Well I didn't really think it was a huge deal," Evelyn didn't look at Jake as she admitted this, "but thanks for apologizing, Jake. You've been so kind to me since I've been here."

     Jake politely grinned and nodded at her. "Just wanted to make you feel as comfortable as possible," he kept his response short. He could've elaborated, but quickly decided that it would've been best not to.

     "Well, thank you. I really do appreciate that," her face held a genuine smile and Jake felt a bit guilty for where he was about to direct the conversation.

     "I know what Troy did to you, all those years ago," Jake winced when Evelyn tensed. "You've probably moved way past it, but it was still wrong and he was old enough to know much better. I always tried to change—whatever, it doesn't matter. I know my brother. If he gives you any problems just let me know."

     "Yeah. Thanks, Jake," Evelyn nodded, not knowing what else to say. She hated talking about Troy. She vowed she'd never give that boy the time of day ever again, and she did pretty good for a couple of days before she found that picture frame. But she was really done now.

     "Enough of that," Jake waved his hand, almost as if to rid the atmosphere of the negativity he'd brought to it. "No more serious talk, we can really be friends now." Evelyn softly chuckled and nodded. Jake took her soft smile as an invitation to keep going. "And if you or Ethan ever need some target practice, just come find me. I wouldn't want to interrupt you guys' date night or anything, but you might need it."

Evelyn playfully scoffed at Jake's teasing comment and pretended it didn't make her feel nice inside. She figured they needed the practice anyway, so she grinned and answered. "Got it, thanks."

Jake's suggestion made the gears in Evelyn's head start turning. He'd left a bit ago, and since her shift was now over, it gave her time to think with no distractions. If it came to it, god forbid, Evelyn would have no idea how to defend herself. That thought led her down a rabbit hole. She had no idea what was left out there, if anything. She'd heard the whispers from the others on the ranch. They all had their own theories to share but there was one thing they had in common; there was nothing left. This was the end. Evelyn sighed, and before she knew it, her legs were taking her elsewhere.

     Evelyn was unable to control the slight bounce in her step caused by the uneven ground. She reached the edge of the ranch, the fence in front of her preventing her from going any further. She slowed to a stop. She didn't know what she was looking at, but she knew it gave her an uneasy feeling. It sucked, knowing that the world was once so lively and normal. Now it was quiet and danger could be found around any corner. Evelyn had been lucky enough to not experience the worst of the worst, though.

    She didn't keep track of how long was standing there, and she didn't turn around when she heard the approaching footsteps. She stared out at the ever-stretching land in front of her, zoning in and out as she waited for the person to speak up. She figured it was one of her siblings, or maybe it was Ethan. She really hoped it was Ethan. The person took a few steps closer to her. "What are we looking at?" The mystery person finally spoke up. All of Evelyn's suspense was worth nothing. She fought the urge to groan out loud.

     "I thought you said you were going to keep your distance, Troy," Evelyn's tranquil expression immediately turned into a scowl and she crossed her arms. She was doing so good without him around. Of course, she still thought about him, but anyone would if they were forced to be neighbors with their ex. Evelyn hated calling him that word. Troy wasn't her ex. He wasn't anything to her.

     "I did say that," Troy stepped close enough where Evelyn could see him through her peripheral vision. Things were going way too well for her. Of course Troy had to step in and be the one to ruin her day. "I saw you over here, pondering, and it made me wonder."

     "Wonder what, Troy?" Evelyn couldn't keep the exasperated tone from leaving her mouth. All she wanted was for him to go away, she wasn't even thinking before the words spilled out. She never once looked over at him.

     He took a moment to respond, and in the silence Evelyn could practically hear the stupid smirk on his face. "You thinking of taking off?" Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Come on, don't roll your eyes at me. You're standing by the fence, staring at... nothing. It's just what it looks like."

     Evelyn bit the inside of her cheek in an attempt to make sure she wasn't going to go insane. "Well it isn't what it looks like," she started. "I know me leaving is probably what you want but I don't care. My family is here, and I'm not leaving them just to try and survive by myself out there," she finally looked over at Troy, and he couldn't help but notice what her eyes were telling him. She was looking at him like he had three heads.

     "Can't blame me for wondering," he shrugged. It was annoying how Troy could just act like there was nothing up between him and Evelyn. No bad blood, no nothing. "And I don't want you to leave, Evelyn. Not with all our history," he flashed her an innocent smile. It made Evelyn's blood boil.

     Evelyn fought to keep herself composed. An over the top reaction was what he was trying to fish out of her. She refused to give him what he wanted. She held back what she was initially going to say, instead choosing to simply shake her head and look away.

     "I'm only joking, Ev," the familiar nickname made her scowl deepen. Troy's lips twitched upwards. He knew that would tick her off. "I kind of assumed you wouldn't leave though. Wouldn't want to upset your boyfriend, huh?" Evelyn turned her head quicker than she should have. She hated when he talked about Ethan. Ethan was innocent, Ethan was good. Troy was the farthest thing from that. It annoyed her, the way he spoke about her best friend. "You should keep him on a tighter leash, by the way. You know he stopped by my house to leave a little message. He hit me first and everything. I respect it though. He'd make a pretty good addition to my militia..." he trailed off, and Evelyn couldn't tell what he was thinking or if he was even thinking at all.

"I doubt Ethan would join your militia, Troy, so quit dreaming," Evelyn almost turned to walk away but Troy's voice stopped her.

"He, uh, he told me to stay away from you but," Troy shrugged, his face showing no care for what Evelyn's best friend had said to him, "I don't really care. I've known you for practically forever anyways. A friendly meet up now and then won't hurt."

"Stop it, Troy," Evelyn's posture deflated and she looked at Troy with tired, pleading eyes. "It's real strange that you always go to these lengths to annoy me. You don't even like me. Even back then, you said you barely learned to tolerate me. Just leave me alone."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the look on Troy's face felt condescending and patronizing in every sense of the words. Evelyn was fuming. "I'll see you around, friend."

A gross wave of nostalgia hit Evelyn head-on. This was how he got her back then. He talked her ear off, insisted they were best friends when she denied time and time again, and he never left her alone. She knew what he was trying to do now. She wasn't going to let him hurt her again.

a/n
new chapter finallyyy sorry
for the wait! i added like three
different conversations into
one chapter i know it's like weird
but it didn't feel right putting them
into different chapters since they all
happened in like one day and they're
all pretty short on their own so just
ignore that please! anyways more troy
and evelyn... how do we feel? from here
on out im going to try and focus more
on apocalypse things more than the
whole ethan/ev romance thing we
have going on so stay tuned for that!
or maybe im lying i don't know we'll
see when the time comes. hope you enjoyed!
sorry for mistakes
wc: 2357
06.10.23