Here is my second try at this story. For those who have read the first one: There aren't a ton of changes in the first couple of chapters, but I think by chapter 5, the bigger changes will become apparent. Have fun reading and as always, please tell me what you think. I loved reading and discussing your own experiences with these things.

Chapter 1

The atmosphere in the bar, which her friend had picked out for their get-together, was friendly and laid back. It was probably the reason why she wasn't sweating and nervously tapping her fingernails on the wooden surface of their table, yet. She kept squirming uncomfortably in her seat, though, wringing her hands repeatedly in her lap under the table. Why do I keep doing this? It never gets any better. Social phobia was a bitch. It made activities, like enjoying an evening out with your friends, impossible. Rainey kept trying though. She had kept trying for all her life, always motivated to have fun with her friends and to have a good time, but as soon as they would enter a restaurant or a bar, she felt like all eyes were automatically on her, studying and judging her. She barely ever dined out, because she just knew that people saw her fuller figure and immediately thought 'Great, Fatty needs to stuff her face with more meat, huh?' Not a pleasant feeling, but she was never able to shake it. Tonight was no different. Thankfully her friends were able to distract her from time to time and she was able to relax a little. Well, maybe tonight was a little different than usual, because Rainey had found another source of distraction. Unfortunately her girlfriend had noticed.

"What is it about that guy, Rainey?" Anna grinned with a shake of her head. "He's definitely not the type you usually find attractive, but yet you keep looking over there the whole time."

"I don't know." Rainey shrugged and wrung her hands again. "He looks interesting. There's something about him. He's interesting to look at." Anna had a point. He really wasn't the type of man Rainey usually felt herself drawn to. She liked tall guys with a broad built. She was 5'7" and with her dress size fluctuating between 12 and 14 (most of the time it tended to be 14), she liked guys who would be able to make her feel smaller when being wrapped in their arms. At least that's what she fantasized about. She had never been with a guy like that. Nobody had given her that feeling of being small and delicate yet, but oh, how she wished for someone who would. The guy at the bar didn't look like he would be the man for the job. He didn't look too much taller than her. Maybe about 5'9 or 5'10. He had broad shoulders and absolutely amazing arms, giving the impression that he was quite strong and agile, but overall, he was thin and lean. Next to him, she would feel even bigger. Not that it mattered... Guys with a built like him were never interested in women with a built like hers. Nothing ever came of her crushes, but she enjoyed them while they lasted, so right now, she enjoyed looking at him for a while.

Rainey bit her bottom lip in order to stifle a smile, when she saw him shake his head to the side once again. His dark hair was a long and wild mess, and it kept falling in his eyes. She liked his hair. She liked his looks. He wasn't good-looking in a conventional way, but like she had told Simone, there was something interesting about him and it made her look over there repeatedly.

"So, how was work, Rainey?" Anna asked her, knowing that Rainey had more trouble than not at the office she worked at.

"Next question." Rainey laughed a little and took a sip of her Coca Cola. She hated alcohol. She just didn't like the taste.

"Your boss is still being an ass to you?"

"Yeah." Rainey got stomach cramps just thinking about her boss. The way he looked at her, all authoritative and arrogant, letting her know with just a single gaze, that he was better than her. Then the snide remarks, belittling her and letting her know that he thought she was stupid. She didn't know how she always ended up in situations like that. It was like it was destined for people with social phobia to have those kind of people in their life. People that challenged them and tested how much an individual was able to take before they broke down. "Can we not talk about it? Bad enough I have to go back there in the morning. How's your little brother recovering?" Rainey turned her attention back on the beautiful Russian woman, knowing that her little brother had been bitten by a neighbor dog.

"He's fine. Just scared of dogs now." Anna explained, while Rainey caught glimpse of the interesting stranger moving, out of the corner of her eye. Her attention shifted, and she watched the guy walk towards the restroom. He had a nice strut going on. He seemed confident, but then again he didn't. His confidence didn't seem cocky, but it was more like he was moving around inside this bar, like he was familiar with it and its patrons. Rainey figured, that he had to be a regular. "Aaand I lost you." Anna laughed.

"Oh shut up!" Rainey blushed and held her clammy, cool hands up to her heated cheeks. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Anna smiled and put her hand on Rainey's knee for a moment in an affectionate gesture. "It's nice to see you enjoy yourself a little."

"I'm trying." Rainey gave her friend a brave smile.

"I know. And we all appreciate it every time you come with us. Now... we should get him over here." Anna grinned as Rainey gaped at her in shock and terror.

"Are you insane? No!"

"Oh come on, Rainey. What's it gonna hurt?"

"Well, it's gonna hurt because he will be interested in you." Rainey said it without reproach. She was used to men being more interested in her girlfriends than they were in her. The man, that was with the one she found interesting, had been eying Anna for an hour. She was sure that his companion would find the Russian beauty more attractive as well. For Rainey, her experience with men had always been one of two extremes. They either made fun of her or they really dug her curves so much, that they made tasteless and lewd remarks. No one had ever had any genuine interest in her. She wasn't ugly, people often told her that she had such a pretty face... but unfortunately she had that body which caused people to either ridicule or objectify her. There hadn't been an in between so far.

"Here's how I see it, Rainey. You want a boyfriend. You want someone to sweep you off your feet, but you never ever want to meet someone new. Prince Charming isn't gonna show up on your doorstep one day."

"You sound like my grandmother." Rainey groaned. She had heard that line a lot in the past ten years. Her mother and grandmother had both been married with a kid at age 20. Rainey being single, with no man in sight, at age 32 was just unacceptable to them.

"But she is right. How do you wanna meet someone, if you keep closing yourself off to men? Come on, just for fun... Let's just see if we can engage him in a conversation or something. As soon as he turns out to be an ass we can just leave."

"No. I don't feel ready for something like that at all. I need to feel really good for that, and I don't. Not today." Rainey told her friend while looking at her imploringly. "I just wanna sit here and look at him a little."

"Fine." Anna sighed. "Even if you don't have any faith in men, I think that there are men out there who do realize how beautiful you really are. They are probably too intimidated by your beauty to talk to you."

"Stop." Rainey blushed furiously at the compliment and quickly took another sip of her ice-cold beverage. Some people told her she was pretty, her friends told her that she was beautiful, and even though she didn't think of herself as ugly, she still didn't believe them. Never has, never will.

Rainey and Anna kept talking for a while, making Rainey temporarily relax and forget about other people, but then... it happened... one of her worst nightmares popped up. No, no, no! Come on! Please no! Ugh, why me? This time she started sweating slightly and her squirming got more intense. It was like she was going through the five stages of grief within 5 seconds. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. She accepted that there was no way around it... She had to go pee.

Yep, it truly was one of her worst personal nightmares. She always peed before leaving the house and only ever sipped her drinks very, very slowly, because drinking too much meant having to pee for sure, and that, in turn, meant, having to get up in front of all the other people in that bar and walk to the bathroom, which was at the other end of the bar. She always felt like a bull in a china shop. No, scratch that... Like an elephant in a china shop. All shaky legs, squeezing by the tables, trying not to bump into anything with her too wide hips, and look like a fool. She kept staring towards the restroom, mapping out the best and fastest route inside her head. The fact that she would have to pass by the bar, right by the interesting stranger, only added to her nervousness. It meant that he might see her. He might see her and give her a judgmental or disgusted look, telling her with just his eyes, what he thought of her, just like a lot of other people Rainey met in her day-to-day life. She was able to take it from people she wasn't interested in, mostly because she was used to it, but from someone she thought of as attractive? That always stung.

"Damn it..." Rainey sighed. "I gotta pee."

"Alright. I'll stay and watch our stuff." Anna gave her friend a gentle smile. She knew things other people wouldn't think twice about were tough on Rainey due to her anxiety issues. She knew it, but she didn't quite understand it. However, she thought that Rainey was brave for trying to overcome her fears day after day after day. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah... It'll be alright." Rainey smiled bravely, then she took a deep breath and got up from her chair. She swallowed hard and tried to keep her gaze straight ahead, not wanting to see the looks other people were giving her as she went on her way.

Daryl had come into the bar for his daily after-work drink and to meet up with his brother, Merle. It had become a habit for him in the past three months, ever since he had started working as a mechanic at a motorcycle dealership. He had used to drift around with Merle for years, spending money Merle had made with the help of some illegal activities, but when shit had hit the fan and Merle had come close to getting arrested yet again, Daryl had decided that it was time to bite the bullet and get a real job. Merle wasn't opposed to working, but as a convicted felon with a long, long record, finding a needle in a haystack was easier for him than finding a job. That's why Daryl had overcome some of his insecurities and had gone in for an interview. He had the skills, but he had lacked the experience, which was why they had resorted to one last, kind of illegal, act, and had lied on his resume. Thankfully his new employer had been happy enough with Daryl's talents, that he hadn't checked with Daryl's fake former employer.

As it had turned out, Daryl actually enjoyed the daily routine of going to work and doing something productive, something he actually liked, and getting paid good money for that on top of it. Him and Merle had a decent life right now, where money was concerned. And all completely legal. It was nice, for a change. The only thing regretted, was his decision to come to the bar today, instead of going straight home, but habits were hard to break. Merle was being his delightful self, talking shit and provoking other guys at the bar. If they weren't careful, it would end up in another bar fight. It had been a while since the last one, maybe Merle was getting bored, Daryl thought. However, Daryl himself, very much wanted to avoid a fight, so he decided to intervene before Merle would be able to rile the other men up even more.

"Come on, let's go to that table over there. Tired of sittin' on these shitty bar stools." he mumbled and grabbed his half-full beer bottle. He got off the shitty bar stool and then swung around to go in the other direction, only to be stopped again when he full on collided with something. Well,... someone...

Rainey gasped in shock for two reasons. Number one being the shock of suddenly slamming into a very solid body, and number two being the shock of feeling a lot of very cold liquid soaking through the thin material of her top and chilling her skin, causing her to shiver involuntarily. "Oh my God. I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry. I'm such a klutz... Sorry. Did I hurt you?" she started apologizing profusely right away.

Daryl looked down into the face of a visibly shaken, wide-eyed young woman. He was confused. Why's she apologizin'? I ran into her. Shit,I spilled ma damn beer all over her. "Stop." he told her. His gruff town made her freeze and she looked at him at a loss for words. Daryl noticed a strong blush creeping into her cheeks, and he noticed her opening and closing her mouth several times, guessing that she was probably trying to think of something to say. She seemed extremely flustered and he had no idea why. Their collision hadn't been that bad.

"I'm sorry." she all but whispered, then she bit her lip and let her eyes dart around them nervously, before they landed back on his.

"Nah... wasn't your fault." he said, while he let his eyes travel up and down her body. "You alright? Fuck... I'm sorry about that." he pointed towards her beer-soaked chest area.

Meanwhile, Merle walked past his back and let out a big guffawing laugh. "Whoa, whoa, whoa... careful, little brother... They got them big tanks rollin' in here tonight. Good thing she didn't step on your toes. Might'a crushed 'em."

Daryl cringed internally at Merle's remark. He hated his brother's way of treating women. He was able to see the hurt pass over the woman's expression. She suddenly seemed a million times more uncomfortable than before, which Daryl hadn't thought possible. He couldn't blame her, though. "Hold on... gonna get ya a towel or something." he told the freaked out girl, while he carefully let his hand hover next to the woman's arm. "Hey Wally..." he called out to the bartender, but he got interrupted, before he was able to ask for a towel.

"It's okay... I'm sorry..." she stammered and suddenly spurred back into action and walked past him towards the restroom at a brisk pace. People were looking and she was not able to handle all the attention. Also, having that interesting looking guy look at her like that, was making her so nervous that she felt like she was about to faint. Daryl watched her until she had vanished behind the door to the restroom, chewing on the inside of his bottom lip and feeling like an ass. He was sure him and Merle had just ruined the poor girl's night.

Seems to be a Dixon's trait. Damn. Nothin' I can do about it now. He turned back towards the bar and had Wally get him another beer, then he joined the Merle at the table, but he kept an eye on the door to the restroom, wanting to make sure that he hadn't somehow harmed the woman.

Rainey stayed in the bathroom for a while. She needed to dry her top and also, she needed to work up the nerve to go back out there. She was sure that everybody was laughing at her and was pitying the poor fellow from the bar, who'd gotten steamrolled by the elephant that she was. Once she felt dry enough, she took another deep breath and left the restroom. She was clenching and unclenching her fists repeatedly at a fast pace on her way back to the table.

"Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?" Anna asked when Rainey was back.

"I'm fine. Just embarrassed, as usual." she muttered as she remained standing and started digging through her purse. "I need a smoke. I'm going outside for a moment. Is that okay?"

"That you're smoking? No. Going outside? Yes, sure. Go ahead."

"Thanks." Rainey released a breath of relief. They were sitting right next to the exit, so she grabbed her pack of cigarettes and her lighter, and quickly slipped out the door.

As soon as the cool night air hit her, she immediately felt better. She took long and deep breaths, trying to let go of some tension with every exhale. After two minutes she finally lit a cigarette and leaned back against the building as the smoke filled her lungs. Even though studies showed that smoking supposedly made people more nervous, to her, it felt relaxing and soothing. She shoved her lighter into the right side pocket of her jeans, and the bigger pack of smokes in the right back pocket. She watched the cars go by and let her mind wander back to a couple of minutes ago. Once again she wondered, how she always ended up making a fool of herself when she tried so hard not to. Maybe that was it. Maybe she tried too hard, but she wasn't able to turn that off. She had to try hard. It was like it was coded in her genes. It was definitely something her parents had always expected her to do. And she had. She had always given everything, but no matter what she had done and what she had achieved, it had never been enough for them. So she still kept trying. She kept trying to be perfect, even though she knew that she would never be, and that stressed her out beyond belief.

Her head turned towards the entrance of the bar when she heard the noise from inside get louder for a moment, indicating that someone was exiting the building. Her eyes widened and she stood up straighter, her pose becoming more rigid, when she saw the unconventionally handsome stranger come out and walk towards the spot where she stood. She started fidgeting right away, not being able to stop herself from doing it, but hoping he wouldn't notice. He stopped walking about five feet away from her, but her breath hitched when he looked directly at her, looking like he was pondering saying something to her before settling on giving her the slightest of nods. She returned the nod awkwardly, mentally slapping herself upside the head for not being better at this, but she had never understood this whole nodding thing men had going on. Women were different. Woman gave each other these close-mouthed little smiles in these kind of situations. Damn, why didn't I just do that? No, you had to nod like an imbecile, looking like someone was sloooowly pulling on your hair from behind. No wonder nobody likes you... You act like a three year old.

Daryl was unaware of the inner turmoil of the woman next to him, while he pulled out his own pack of cigarettes. Once he had his lips wrapped around one of the smokes, he put the pack back and patted down his pockets, looking for his lighter. "Damn..." he cursed when it was nowhere to be found. Must'a left it in my damn coveralls at the shop. He looked over to the woman who he'd smacked into earlier. She was staring at the ground like it was the most interesting thing ever, making it harder for him to get her attention. He wasn't the type of guy to just chat up random people he didn't know. He was okay jumping in in the middle of a conversation, but he hated taking the first step. He cleared his throat awkwardly and took a step towards her. He swung his left arm out in front of him, not even sure why, but probably to get her attention. Unfortunately it didn't do anything to make her look up, much to his chagrin. He was still hoping she would notice his predicament and just offer up her lighter. No such luck, though. "Got a light?" he finally spoke up, sounding much gruffer than he wanted to.

The young woman looked up at him at last. She nodded hastily and dug her hand into her pocket. She pulled out her lighter and handed it over. "H-here..." Rainey hoped that he wouldn't notice that her hand was trembling while she did it. She was so nervous, it was ridiculous. It was the first time in more than ten years that she had interacted with a man she had found attractive. She was a wreck.

Daryl took the lighter, not noticing the woman's trembling hand, but noticing her overall nervous demeanor. He sighed internally, thinking that they had truly succeeded in making another woman scared of a Dixon. He wondered if maybe she had gotten hurt after all, and had just been to scared of him to admit it. He opened the silver zippo lighter and held the flame to his cigarette. While he did it, his eyes fell on the letters which had been engraved into the metal.

Rainey

*01/25/1982

┼ Probably way too soon.

Stop smoking, sweetie!

S., A. and D.

"Hm..." Daryl scoffed out an involuntary little laugh at reading that, surprising the woman, who he assumed was called Rainey, since she owned the lighter. "Gift from your friends?" he surprised himself by asking, while he handed back the lighter, but somehow the inscription hit his funny bone, making him forget about his own social awkwardness for a moment.

"Yeah..." she blushed again and quickly looked down to hide her smile. The man had smiled at her the teeniest bit, and as ridiculous as it might sound to other people, it kind of made her night.

"Ain't exactly subtle, are they?"

"No." she said and wracked her brain for something clever to say, but as usual, nothing came out, except for some stammering. "No... they're not. No... they hate it... yeah..." She was facepalming inside her head. She sounded like she was uttering her very first words ever. Every toddler was more articulate than her.

"Guess they care, though." Daryl said and wondered why she was so fidgety. He no longer thought that she was scared of him, because she was smiling, and it didn't seem like one of those 'I-better-smile-so-he-doesn't-kill-me-right-away' smiles. It seemed genuine to him, but she still seemed quite nervous. It puzzled him.

"They do. They're good friends." Rainey smiled, her eyes lighting up when she thought about her girlfriends. Unfortunately it was just a momentary distraction. Soon enough the nervousness crept back into her system, reminding her that she was absolutely out of her element by talking to a guy she didn't know. "Uhhmm... I-I'm real sorry about earlier."

"Ain't got to be sorry. Wasn't you. I wasn't looking where I was going. I'm sorry 'bout getting' ya wet."

"Oh..." Rainey blushed furiously at the double entendre. She had an overactive imagination and some not so harmless images of how he would make her wet, made their way into her head. "D-don't worry about it... "

"Daryl." he provided when Rainey trailed off, thinking that she was kind of asking for his name, which she actually wasn't. She just hadn't known what else to say.

She looked at him in surprise when he told her his name. This was a new experience for her. Usually men didn't introduce themselves to her. She was the fifth wheel, just getting a handshake because she was in a group of beautiful woman. Nobody had ever introduced themselves just to her. Not outside of work and not without a creepy smile and a weird handshake that lasted way too long, and which usually got followed by suggestive remarks. It was either that or getting ignored. Daryl was being kind of nice, though. But maybe that was just because he felt he had to make up for spilling his beer on her? She wasn't sure, but even though she doubted his motives for being decent to her, it still felt nice for a change. "I'm Rainey... Behr. Oh, but not Behr as in B-E-A-R... I know my name sounds like a Care Bear, like it could be the name of Cloudy Bear's wife, but it's actually B-E-H-R."

Daryl wasn't able to fight the smirk that broke out on his face at her rambling. The name was kind of ridiculous, but in a positive way. If a Dixon would ever use such a word, he would call it cute. Kinda suits her, he thought, when he studied her more closely for a moment. He thought that she was quite pretty, which caused him to be even more confused by her behavior. He thought pretty people had it together and were confident most of the time. The woman in front of him seemed to be anything but confident. She was pretty flustered and he wasn't able to figure out why. He watched her flick her cigarette to the ground and put it out by stepping on it.

"Gonna go back in, I guess..." she smiled nervously and pointed towards the door.

"Alright." Daryl nodded. "Thanks for the light."

"You're welcome, Daryl."

"Hey, sorry 'bout my brother."

That guy is his brother? Huh... "I-it's okay. It was... uhm... nice meeting you." she told him while she walked past him. He gave her another nod and watched her disappear behind a door for the second time that night. It was weird, but for a split-second, when she had said his name, he had thought that it had sounded pretty good coming from her lips. It left him with his spirits slightly lifted. He had never been the most socially apt person, but encounters like these showed him, that making an effort sometimes paid off. It might not have been the best conversation ever, but it had been pleasant enough for him. When he walked back inside, his gaze automatically traveled to the table that Rainey was occupying with her friend, and when she looked at him, he send her third slight nod, before he returned to his table. He didn't see how Rainey wore a face-splitting smile while she looked back at her friend, and actually held her cool hands up to her glowing cheeks.

"Oh my God, Rainey! See, this is what happens when you open yourself up to opportunities." Anna's grin was knowing as well as happy. "Maybe we should come here more often."

"Yeah, maybe we should." Rainey giggled with excitement. It might have meant nothing to Daryl, but he had truly made her day. Actually, her entire year. She could safely say that, because the year was almost over and Daryl being nice to her had been the best thing to happen to her in 2014.

Thank you for reading!