A/N; This is Daryl/OFC. Let me know what you think. I love you all.
He remembered her from the store at the gas station where he worked that summer before senior year, even though that was a long time ago. She always came in and put ten dollars of gas in the black Jetta she drove, and bought the mint M&M's. No one ever bought those and Daryl asked he once if they were stale. She said, with a shrug of her shoulders, that sometimes they were but they always tasted ok to her anyway.
Even if it was stale, your favorite candy always tasted good. That's what she had told him.
He told her she was crazy and grinned at her as she walked out the door every time. They saw each other from time to time, when she came in for gas and candy. She was a smoker too Newport 100's, hardcore for a girl in the south. Sometimes they saw each other at school, but they ran in different crowds and it was a big school. But he remembered her even after she was gone right after graduation.
Her mother had named her after Harley Quinn and that guaranteed that people would remember her name, always even if they didn't want to. She enjoyed telling people exactly that too. She wasn't named after the motorcycle, like most who had the same name as she, Harley was named after a DC heroine/villain.
Her father had indulged his wife's love of this comic book character in a way that her first husband would never tolerate. She had two older sisters who had mainstream names, because their father knew how to say no.
Not her father though he never said no to any of them, not just her mother. He adopted her sisters when their father ran off and all of the girls were raised together. He was a man surrounded by four women, no was not an option.
But Harley liked being different, she was unique and reveled in that fact about herself. She marched to a different drummer and always would and she was glad her father loved her mother that much to let her choose the name that made her stand out.
Photo credits by Harley Quinn Baker. She never got tired of seeing that printed in the paper she worked at.
She went away to college and after that to chase her dreams in New York. She left Georgia thinking she would never return, except to visit her sisters. But the funny thing was, they always wanted to visit her. She had a job as a photographer in New York and three roommates in the village on 14th avenue.
Her sisters much preferred to visit her in the city and she hadn't seen the peach tree state in over thirteen years. There was so much to do there, shows and concerts, and she didn't blame her sisters at all.
She adored her city and everything it had to offer and she enjoyed showing her sisters around.
Life was good, it was exciting but when she turned thirty it all changed, subtly at first, and then, like a tidal wave that hit you when you weren't looking. She hadn't been looking for a life change at all and she was happy in New York.
But that was how it happened sometimes.
It started when her half-sister, Andrea called from home, to say she was getting married.
Andrea was over the moon, so in love and wanted Harley to come home and help her for a few weeks before the wedding. Harley would never say no to either of her sisters and she had plenty of vacation time. So she was going to Georgia.
Their other sister Amy was already there, having not left Georgia at all. Harley's father and their mother had been killed in a car accident when Harley was in college. Amy had stayed in Georgia with Andrea while Harley continued college at New York University.
They missed their parents, but it brought them closer when they lost them.
It was just the three girls now. They were tight though, and kept in touch with each other constantly thanks to modern technology.
It was going to be a three week visit and she had not been back home in a long time. She was praying that Andrea chose halfway decent dresses for her and Amy to wear in the wedding, the pictures of dresses she sent to their group chat were questionable at best, and scary, if she was going to be honest.
Andrea and Amy were blonde and Harley was brunette, Andrea had been searching for months for dresses that would look good on both of her sisters. Whatever dress Andrea chose for herself would look slamming, that was a given. She was the most beautiful of the sisters in Harley's opinion and she was going to be a beautiful bride.
Andrea said to meet her at the Restaurant on Main St so she sat outside with her camera and cigarette. Andrea and Amy worked at the same law firm, Andrea was a partner and Amy a paralegal and they were going to walk over after work.
Harley was dressed in jeans and a button down blue cotton shirt and her black Doc Martin boots, her usual attire, even at work she was a jeans and t-shirt girl. She had pulled her hair back with barrettes and was looking around in the view of her old fashioned 35mm camera.
The restaurant was casual and they were just having dinner because she had just arrived that afternoon. Andrea had left her the key under the matt so she had dropped her bags off, carrying just her back pack and her camera.
Her work camera was digital, because that's what everyone used now, they were convenient but boring. Harley preferred the old way and she even developed and printed her own pictures. Her work camera was back in New York, she had her original one with her now.
It was a warm June night and she was enjoying watching the people walk down the street of the small town. She took a few candid pictures and some of the tree that lined the street where she was standing.
It was quiet, not at all like New York City and it was calming after being in a busy city for so long. She took a drag of her cigarette and breathed in the clean air. Something else she didn't have too much of New York.
Next to her, someone came out of the restaurant, and she wasn't paying attention until a voice next to her said. "You got a light?"
She turned and recognized the man standing there, but she couldn't remember his name. He smiled at her and his blue eyes twinkled.
"Hey, stale M&M's." And then she knew exactly who he was.