A/N: Aw, thank you for your reviews and favoriting guys! I'm so nervous about this story but as long as you're enjoying it! Yes, there was a Frozen reference in chapter one. I love how awkward Anna is and that line is one I could see drunk Beth saying so I had to put it in the chapter.
Lyrics in this chapter are from Emily Kinney's song Expired Lover.
Chapter 2 –
Beth groaned as the sunlight streamed through the blinds hanging on her balcony door. Her head was throbbing and her mouth felt gross. My first hangover…That's what I get for letting Maggie buy the drinks last night, she though dryly. Normally when she drank, it was only enough to get a buzz and feel good. Last night had been full blown drunken stupor. She forced herself to sit up and frowned when a blanket fell off her shoulders and onto her legs. When did I grab a blanket? She asked herself before remembering the night before. She groaned and blushed with embarrassment as she remembered blurting to her new neighbor that she thought he was attractive. She was pulled from her thoughts when she heard her phone ding from somewhere in the couch and began digging in the cushions for the offending object.
One New Text Message From: Glenn she smiled slightly as she remembered her awkward outburst about him needing to propose to Maggie. The two had been dating for two, maybe even three years. They were practically living together, only keeping separate apartments so that their father wouldn't lose it. It was a necessary thing to tell him. To plant the seed of marriage in his brain.
How are you feeling? Maggie's nursing one hell of a hangover. I feel cruel but I really want to make as much noise as possible right now for both of you. Beth frowned. Another loud ding came from her phone and she winced as her head throbbed painfully in return.
So I'm just going to keep sending you texts…Ding!
So that you become aware of how jealous I am…Ding!
That y'all decided to drink and make me be the DD.
Beth growled and typed an angry message with colorful words she rarely used and sent it to him. Ding!
I'm sorry, what was that? Your head hurts? Beth threw her phone back under the couch cushions and pushed herself to stand up and find her pain relievers. Her phone continued to ding under the couch cushion and she sighed angrily. She loved Glenn, she really did. But sometimes he took his teasing of her a little too far. Or maybe she was just really grumpy from her hangover? She'd never had one before but had been around Maggie when she had one to know that the grumpiness was part of the package. Beth popped two pain relievers and guzzled a bottle of water.
A phone call rang from under the cushion, but Beth decided to ignore it for now and focus on food and what happened with her neighbor last night. Daryl she recalled his name being. She remembered shaking his hand, his grip soft on hers but his skin had been rough and calloused. He obviously used his hands a lot, probably for manual labor. Daryl had been incredibly amused by her being drunk last night but he had seemed friendly. Guarded, but friendly. His voice had been deep and gravelly and she remembered the shiver she had felt hearing it. Or maybe it was the cool breeze of the evening. That's what she was going to blame it on. The breeze. Though she was fairly certain there hadn't been one at that time in their conversation.
Things got a little fuzzy from there. She recalled them standing in awkward silence for a moment before she stuttered something about going to sleep on her couch. She remembered stumbling again and his hand on her elbow to keep her from falling. The look on his face told her he was just as surprised by the action as she was and as soon as she was upright, he let go of her. He had acted like she had burned him. She remembered getting this feeling like it had been a rejection and the blush on her face burned anew. Beth remembered feeling mortified.
She remembered stumbling into her apartment and collapsing on her couch, not even bothering to close her balcony door. Daryl had followed her to the doorway and watched. She remembered his face showing amusement and something else. It was fuzzy but she thought it might have been concern. She had watched from her place on the couch as he glanced around her living room. The place was cluttered but organized in her mind. It probably looked like a disaster to anyone else. Sheet music, writing utensils, books, headphones, and CDs lay in stacks around her living room and on top of her laptop. Her guitar was on its stand next to the couch and his eyes lingered on that for longer than everything else. He shook his head and glanced back at her, his eyes a light with curiosity. He also looked incredibly uncomfortable.
"Are you okay? Do you…uh…need anything?" she remembered visibly shivering with his voice and knew she couldn't argue that it was the chill for that one. He seemed to think it was the chill as he offered to find her a blanket. Beth remembered nodding and directing him to get one off her bed from the next room. He walked stiffly and uncertainly around her couch and into her room, coming back quickly with a blanket which he draped awkwardly over her before bidding her a happy birthday and leaving, closing the door behind him.
Beth groaned and put her forehead against her cabinets as she leaned against the counter top. Way to be the most awkward person ever, Beth Greene. Beth began to feel her headache dissipate and she sighed, already feeling a lot better. She quickly pulled her hair into a pony tail and braided one small section of it before she made herself a sandwich, dug her phone out from under the cushions and took her meal out on to her balcony. She was relieved to see she was alone and happily sat down in one of the chairs by her door. She immediately ignored any of Glenn's messages and frowned when she saw the missed call had been from one of the singers she was currently writing new music for. They even left me a voicemail…great, she thought before playing the voicemail.
"Hey, Beth! I've been kind of thinking about some of the new songs you wrote for me. I'm really not so sure I like them anymore. Do you think you could tweak a couple of things in each one? Like, okay in song…" Beth hung up on the voicemail and sighed.
"Once again, you don't like the songs. But here's the kicker, I didn't write them for you." Beth focused on finishing her meal and decided that she would deal with the music conundrum from work later. Hearing silence in her neighbor's apartment, she hoped that they weren't home so that she could work on one of her newest songs. It was a breakup song based on her ending it with her previous boyfriend, Zach. They hadn't dated long before she ended it. The spark never came for her and she hadn't seen the relationship going anywhere after the three months they dated.
Beth stood up and walked back into her apartment, picking up her guitar and walking back to her seat on her balcony. She gave a cautious glance to her neighbor's balcony door as she strummed a couple of notes on the instrument. She waited a couple of minutes before playing anything else, to see if Daryl or his roommate were going to come and tell her to shut up. It was after noon, so she hoped that that would mean they weren't still sleeping but she didn't know their schedule or anything about them for that matter. When no one came to stop her, she began playing what she had written for her song. When nobody came after a little while longer, she began to sing the words she had written while playing.
I don't want you anymore
Summer's gone, and now I'm sure
The box behind my bed I've saved
I took out with the trash today
Daryl sat on the couch in his apartment feeling incredibly bored. Merle had up and left to do god knows what with god knows who, leaving Daryl to attempt to find something to do. He was about to turn on the TV when he heard a guitar being played, cautiously at first, as if she was afraid he'd come out and stop her. He sat in silence to see if she would play anymore and was rewarded when she played a few more notes of a song. He didn't recognize any part of the song so far but it had been a while since he had listened to the radio. When she stopped playing, Daryl was surprised to feel disappointed. Beth Greene was an excellent guitar player. And an amusing drunk, he added remembering how awkward and clumsy she had been.
He thought back to how soft her voice had been, how quickly she blushed and how it had only look more beautiful to his eyes. He shook his head to clear the thought. We won't be here that long, no point in making friends or anything like that with her, he thought bitterly. Daryl was brought out of his thoughts again when the guitar playing started again but this time, a soft sweet voice flowed with the notes. She only sang a couple of lines before stopping and Daryl found himself standing up and going to his balcony door. He could see Beth sitting next to her door with her guitar looking around as if she had lost something. Then her eyes flew to his door and she smiled, biting on her lower lip.
Oh, the truth is: I've met someone new
The truth is: you probably have, too
The truth is: I can't stand your face
When I think of all the love we made
Daryl opened his balcony door, the loud clicking sound making Beth jump and mess up the note she was playing. Her wide eyes met his and she immediately stood, her cheeks turning pink from embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were home. I didn't mean to disturb you, I'll stop playing," she said hurriedly as she stood to go inside.
"No, it's fine. You…sing and play really well," Daryl told her. He felt extremely awkward but he didn't want her to think he didn't like it. Truth was she sang beautifully. It had been a while since he had heard anything live that sounded decent, let alone something as beautiful as her singing. The blush on Beth's face darkened and she smiled softly.
"Thank you." She replied and he grunted in return. An awkward silence filled the space between them before Beth sat back down, laying her guitar on her lap and watching him openly. Daryl shifted slightly, feeling uncomfortable under her stare. She smiled and he felt his discomfort lessen slightly.
"I'm really sorry about last night. I was pretty lit," she laughed softly as her blush returned. Daryl smirked and nodded.
"That's alright. It was your birthday; you're supposed to celebrate it. What better way then going out with your…sister?" he asked and Beth nodded.
"Yes, my sister Maggie and her boyfriend Glenn came and picked me up for dinner with our dad and then it was a spur of the moment to go get drinks afterwards," she answered and Daryl nodded.
"That song you were playing…I don't think I've ever heard it before," Daryl started as he pulled out a cigarette and his lighter. "Do you mind if I…?" he gestured to the cigarette. Normally he didn't give a rat's ass about whether or not the people around him minded if he smoked but something about the quiet girl in front of him made him want to ask.
"No, I don't mind. Though I hear this rumor about those things killing people," Beth teased and Daryl snorted, grinning at her.
"I recall hearing such a rumor," he replied making Beth laugh.
"And the song…you don't recognize it because its not on the radio…yet. Maybe it will be if it ever gets finished…I've been writing it for a while now," Beth said before sighing heavily. Daryl nodded slightly, taking a deep inhale of his cigarette and turning his head when he exhaled to make sure the smoke didn't blow in her face.
"Is it a hobby of yours? Writing songs?" Beth smiled at his gesture and question.
"Sort of. I write songs for singers on the radio today but the songs they want aren't really my type. They want songs about sex, hooking up, drugs, partying…I just have a hard time writing those kinds of songs. So, I've started writing songs of my own and maybe one day, they can be heard on the radio too…It's a ridiculous dream. I should be happy anything of mine has become well known anywhere…" Beth tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear and fiddled with the strings on her guitar.
"I'm sure it is different, though," Daryl replied. Beth looked at him strangely and he gestured to her guitar. "It's gotta be different to hear something of yours, with your voice and your meaning behind it, on the radio, right? Other singers probably take credit for your work, don't they? And I can only imagine what they must be like to write stuff for." Beth snorted and nodded.
"A bunch of divas, even the men. Just today I got a phone call from one of them wanting me to change the lyrics of several of the songs I wrote for her."
Daryl snorted and shook his head. Unbelievable, he thought. If the songs Beth wrote for those other singers were half as good as what she wrote for herself, he couldn't imagine why anyone would want to change them.
"Enough about me, tell me something about you," Beth said excitedly. Daryl tensed slightly before taking one last inhale from his cigarette and putting it out in the ashtray.
"Like what?" he grumbled. Beth smiled and seemed unbothered by his mood change.
"Like…who is your roommate?" Daryl flinched slightly at the question and Beth's smile dropped slightly.
"M' brother, Merle. Sorry 'bout him yesterday. He can get…loud."
"It's alright," Beth replied. Silence fell between the two again but Daryl noticed that this time, it didn't feel as awkward. Beth hummed to herself softly, occasionally playing a note on her guitar. She bit her lip before her eyes widened slightly and she bolted into her apartment, surprising Daryl. He was about to stand up to make sure she was okay when he heard what sounded like a stack of paper falling to the floor in her apartment followed by an "oh, shoot!"
Beth returned seconds later with a notebook and a pen, having put her guitar on its stand inside. She quickly opened the notebook and jotted something down. When she was finished writing she looked up and met Daryl's stare. He had one eyebrow quirked at her and she blushed slightly.
"Sorry. I have music in my head all the time and sometimes if I don't get it written down, I forget it in a jumble of other music ideas," she explained. He nodded slightly and silence fell again. Daryl heard footsteps approaching through his door and closed his eyes. Merle, he realized. The door opened and Merle stepped out with a big grin on his face.
"There ya are, Darylina, I was lookin' for ya." Merle's eyes traveled to Beth's and his grin grew. "Well, well, meeting the neighbor, eh brother? What's your name, Sugartits?" Daryl put his face in his hand as Beth blushed brightly at the name.
"Ex…excuse me?" Beth stammered out as Daryl pushed himself out of his seat and put his hand on Merle's shoulder.
"Are ya deaf or somethin'? Your name, Sugartits. What is it?"
"Leave her alone…" Daryl started as he watched Beth stand up, her cheeks an endearing red color.
"My name is Beth. You must be Merle," she replied. Daryl noticed she didn't offer her hand out for Merle to shake.
"Has my Darylina here been talkin' about me? Or does my reputation precede me? Ya know, Pretty Girl, if you wanna come on in, I can show ya a better time than my brother here," Merle flirted as he took a stepper to Beth. Daryl glared at his brother but was surprised to see Beth stand taller.
"My name is Beth, Merle. Not "Pretty Girl" or Sugartits or any other vulgar name you wanna use and your brother's name is Daryl. I don't think he appreciates you callin him a feminine version of his name," Beth spat out, surprising the two brothers. Merle let out a laugh and turned to Daryl, who leveled his glare on Beth.
"You gotta girly girl pickin your battles for ya now, Daryl. You're a feisty one, Sugartits. I like that," Merle laughed before going inside. Daryl continued glaring at the blonde in front of him as he turned to go inside.
"Daryl, I'm sorry," she tried but he shook his head and went into his apartment, his door closing tightly behind him.
