It was ten to nine and Carol knew he would be in soon. Every night that she worked since she got this job at the gas station he came in five minutes before the store closed. She didn't know if he did this every night, she certainly hoped not, because that would be a lot of cigarettes he was smoking. Not that she cared, because she didn't.
Mr. Blake would not allow her to lock the doors until nine sharp and he had ways of knowing if you stepped out of line. Carol wasn't the first high school kid to have this job, and she really needed it, so she obeyed the rules.
It was annoying as hell though, because she was trying to close up and he interrupted that every time.
Every single time she worked, for the last three weeks.
She didn't think Daryl worked at night, so that meant he was coming in at closing to be a dick.
What she couldn't figure out was why, they didn't have any classes together at school and they didn't move in the same social circle. Why was he so dead set on messing up her night?
She didn't even think he knew her name. Except now she wore a nametag that said Carol on it so maybe he did now.
Carol knew his name though, all the girls did. He was a senior and the school resident bad boy, though she doubted all the rumors were true. The girls at her lunch table weaved tales of Daryl Dixon and his brother Merle, who was currently a guest of the state. People thought Daryl was not far behind him.
They were bad news and you should stay away.
She didn't really believe the things she heard, Carol believed what you could see with your eyes, not gossip.
And he was very easy on the eyes, as her best friend Andrea always said.
But why did he have to come in for his cigarettes when she was trying to get out of there? It was rude, and it fucked up her closing routine. But she supposed he didn't care. He seemed to be the type who did what he wanted and fuck everybody else who didn't like it.
She couldn't count the till and put it in the drop safe until after her last customer and he was always the last one. In at five to nine like clockwork. He was a pain in her ass.
Though she had to admit, when he came pulling up on that bike, every night, she secretly wished he'd ask her to go for a ride sometime. Sometimes she even imagined he was there to pick her up, to ride off into the night with her.
Carol's life was not easy, so she indulged herself in that little fantasy and told no one. Not Andrea or Lori or Tara. That was her secret.
So this night he came in and nodded to her, then walked back to the drink case and got a drink. Iced Tea, he always got Iced Tea. She put a big smile on her face, because he was a customer, she had to be nice. Even it pissed her off that he couldn't or wouldn't come earlier.
He walked back up to her, boots shuffling on the floor, hair hanging in his face, just like every other time. And sat the Iced Tea on the counter.
"Hey Daryl, need smokes too?"
He nodded as he was reaching in his pocket for his money, and she turned and got them. She knew his brand, of course she did, he had been here every night she worked for the last three weeks. Then she reached for the Iced Tea he got and looked up at him.
"Peach tea tonight huh?" She said.
"Yeah, that green tea on Monday was nasty." He replied as he paid for the items and she gave him his change. He nodded his head and said thank you to her. She said you're welcome to him too.
She smiled and as he was walking out, now she could start closing up, but then it occurred to her that he just said Monday. Today was Wednesday, it seemed like he didn't come in last night when Mr. Blake, who owned this fine establishment was working.
He was just torturing her apparently and she wanted to know why.
"Hey Daryl?"
He stopped at the door and turned to her, but then she lost her nerve to ask him if he only came in on her nights. Because why would he? She was nobody to him, just some girl a grade behind him in school.
"Yeah?" He looked over at her from under his bangs. Andrea was right, he was very easy on the eyes.
She couldn't do it, she didn't even know how or what she would ask anyway.
"Have a good night." She said and smiled.
He nodded and gave her a little smile. That was progress, from the first time when he came in and growled at her "Pack of Marlboro lights." They actually spoke to each other now, maybe someday she could ask him, but not tonight.
"You too Carol."
So he did know her name.
He sat on the bike in the shadows. He had been coming here for the last nine days that she worked. Ever since he heard her at school saying she worked Monday, Wednesday and Friday at her new job at the Phillips station out on the highway. She had been walking with that blonde girl she hung with all the time. They had walked past Daryl who was at his locker in the east hallway by the gym. She had blabbed it right there in the hallway like it was nothing, and he got to thinking, if he had heard, who else did?
He knew they only had one person work at a time there, because her boss Mr. Blake was a cheap bastard. But she was a seventeen year old girl and shouldn't be closing and walking to her car alone. Her boss was an asshole for not having two people at night. This was a fucked up world. Bad shit happened sometimes, especially to girls.
Merle actually had cased this place once because everyone in town knew only one person was on shift at a time. He was going to rob it before he got sent up to county. That's how Daryl knew there were cameras inside but none in the parking lot or by the gas pumps. Not cool at all. It was really just a matter of time before the place got robbed, by someone.
So he came and watched her get to her car safely every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. From the alley across the street. He would hear her talking to her father, home in his wheelchair, but still worried about his little girl, on the speaker phone.
Carol's father had Multiple Sclerosis and her mother was gone. Gone as in; I didn't sign up for this, when Carol's father lost his sight that first exacerbation of the MS, which lead to his diagnosis. It was just him and Carol now.
Daryl could hear her on the phone even across the street.
Reassuring him that she had looked outside carefully, before she locked up and made sure no one was hanging around. Telling him no one shady came in, and not to worry so much.
Carol never saw Daryl, not once, and that's the way he wanted it. If she did he was afraid she would think he was shady or stalking her. He wasn't, he just wanted to be there if anyone bothered her.
He drank his Iced Tea and smoked his cigarette tonight like always and watched her get to her car.
Maybe on day ten he would ask her to go out with him, like he wanted to all along. He thought to himself as he kick started the bike after she was gone; I'll ask her next time and headed off in the opposite direction.
There was always Friday night right?