Andrea
If he were being honest, Daryl fully expected Beth to be in his way all summer. He imagined something like a bored teenager underfoot all day, constantly questioning him and expecting praise for small tasks. He was happy to find that the whole experience was turning out to be the total opposite. At first, he found himself nervous and feeling oddly scrutinized by this small, southern blonde. He wasn't sure he'd even be able to find enough work to keep her busy. But as the days continued, she proved to be a helpful companion of sorts.
He caught himself smiling inwardly when she appeared like clockwork every morning with his coffee just the way he liked it: black with one sugar. She always seemed to have something different in a clear plastic cup from the nearby coffee shop – some days it was a pink concoction loaded with whipped cream and sprinkles, others it was a chocolatey mocha swirl. He was actually beginning to mentally note each drink she showed up with because he was almost certain she had to have tried everything on their menu by now.
He also noticed how much easier his paperwork had become, no thanks to any new habits he'd formed. In fact, he was beginning to think he shouldn't get so used to having her around because he'd gotten even lazier with filing and sorting, knowing that all his notes and paperwork would end up neatly rewritten, stacked, and organized in perfect order on his desk by the end of the day. Sometimes he even found them sorted with color-coded tabs. He didn't vocalize it, but the pastel colors always seemed to brighten his mood a bit. And the way she wrote with elegant, swirly letters wasn't so bad to look at either.
And for the first time since he'd begun his office job, Daryl found himself looking forward to lunch time every day. Normally he'd bring a sandwich or order something to his office so he could continue working while he ate, but now he had someone he genuinely enjoyed eating with. The pair of them had tried nearly every restaurant and diner within a six block radius. Only a few of the establishments had proven a bad experience, but they still seemed to make the best of their hour of freedom in the middle of the work day. They had settled for food trucks a couple of times, and the other times, they gave up on lunch altogether and chose instead to go to a nearby bar and order beers until it was time to return to the office. Luckily for Beth, he knew the bars that wouldn't ID her, and she seemed to revel in the "bad girl" behavior. He noticed she could never finish a whole beer, though. Yet somehow it was kind of charming. He'd observed how smiley she had been on the drive back those times; the blue in her eyes seemed to sparkle even more after a few sips of beer.
Beth was, however, very inquisitive, and to his dismay, she chose to take interest in getting to know him on a personal level for some reason. He was perfectly fine with working together in silence and having their pleasant lunches – sharing a few jokes, reminiscing on good memories or complaining together. But he found it getting more difficult to give her simple answers and prevent any further questions. He could tell she felt more comfortable around him every day, and he appreciated her friendliness and attempts at being genuine, but that just wasn't him. He opened up to a few people, but they were always few and far between, and this innocent, college-aged, farm girl wasn't any type to hear his bullshit and give it an understanding nod. She didn't need to hear about things like that anyway. Whenever he met people who knew nothing of his past and didn't have to, they tended to respect him a lot more, and he wanted to keep it that way. Not to mention, he didn't want any more negative stories reaching Hershel's ears and threatening their deal. He'd already spent the last three weekends on his small piece of land and was growing quite attached to it. He had spent hours cleaning up the cabin, making repairs, and learning the surrounding land. He'd even taken all his hunting gear to the little place in preparation of weekends soon to come. Of course, she had been questioning him about that, too, but it seemed it was more for polite curiosity than the sake of her own personal reference.
He half-expected her to show up on his land during the weekends, just to see how it was coming along, but to his surprise (or was that disappointment?), she had been busy and barely even spent much time at home. Hershel usually mentioned that she was with her boyfriend, Zach, who she'd met at the beginning of the summer and recently been on several dates with. Daryl wasn't sure why he was surprised, he just always seemed to somehow forget she was even seeing anyone because she never mentioned him. Not that he wanted a teenaged girl sitting in his office and jabbering about her scrawny boyfriend, but with everything else she felt like sharing, he would've thought she'd at least throw his name out there every once in a while. He never thought to shoot any questions back at her when she asked him something because he was usually occupied with feeling awkward and out-of-place. Despite his expectations, he didn't feel 'constantly questioned' by Beth, but he certainly felt scrutinized. Far from his own preferences, she was the kind of girl who wanted to know the coworkers in her close proximity. If Daryl had his way, he wouldn't talk to anyone he worked with – not even her – except to discuss business matters. Beth, however, wanted to know them and be on a first-name basis. He'd even witnessed her making friendly small talk with some of the office staff in the break room, and every few days she'd tell him a fact about the girl who worked behind the desk, or the guy who worked in the office two doors down from Daryl's. He feigned interest, but always pushed her words right back out of his head – he felt that his mind had limited space available, and he didn't want it cluttered with the birthday of the guy he said 'hello' to every two weeks in passing.
He figured, though, that if she was really studying him or trying to get to know him, she was going about it the old-fashioned way with inquisitive remarks every couple of days over a few weeks' time. Maybe she could tell that he wasn't exactly an open person, or maybe she feared overstepping boundaries but just couldn't satisfy her curiosity without asking. Her questions always seemed to come at casual times when she caught him off-guard, such as in the middle of a very delicious meal or in the midst of a frustrating moment in traffic.
"Have you ever worked a fast food job?" "Have you ever been married?" "When's the last time you had a girlfriend?" "Have you ever left Georgia?" "Are you named after anyone?" "Can you play any instruments?" "Who taught you how to hunt?" "Have you ever been arrested?" "How many siblings d'you have?" "Why don't you ever listen to music in the car?"
However, on this particular day in the office, she asked a question that startled him completely out of his computer screen trance.
"Who's that?"
His eyes shot up and looked to where Beth was facing, looking curiously out through the open blinds of his office window into the hallway outside. There he saw her – her back was turned to him as she spoke to a pair of men but he recognized her immediately. Her straight posture, long legs, shiny blonde hair curled and flowing down her back.
Andrea.
He was digging through drawers for something, batteries maybe, and in his mindless hunt, he slid open her nightstand drawer. To his confusion, he found a small white stick shoved into the back corner behind a disappointingly empty pack of batteries. It had a pink tip and the small window on one side displayed one dark pink line and another light but visible pink line. He stared at it for a moment, the sound of the running shower coming from the bathroom across the bedroom. He racked his brain for a minute before putting two and two together. His breath caught in his throat and his heart leapt upwards to join it. It suddenly felt like the room was falling away underneath him. He had to remind himself this was real, and then consciously ask himself for logical explanations. But he knew there could only really be one.
He heard the shower being turned off just as he began heading for the closed bathroom door. With the small white stick held carefully in one hand, he knocked before turning the knob and entering without waiting for a response first. His girlfriend of nearly three years stood before him, dripping wet from the shower and in the process of wrapping herself in a bath towel at the chest. She looked at him in questioning.
"What is it?" She asked, confused by his rushed entry and the pale shade of his face.
He held up the stick in his hand and stared at her, watching her reaction carefully. Her eyes darted to the object and he saw panic cross her face, then she looked at him and made full eye contact, her lips pursing and her features turning stony.
"Why didn't you tell me?" was all he could think to ask first. He was a very odd mixture of elated and panic-stricken, but had to restrain himself from sweeping her up in a giant hug right this moment.
She swallowed visibly, her eyes drifting downwards. She took a deep breath and steadied her shoulders, her hair dripping water onto her shoulders and down her arms. She raised her head again and looked into his eyes. He thought she was crying in joy, or from guilt of not telling him sooner. But when she spoke, he realized he was completely mistaken, and his heart plummeted down to his stomach.
"Daryl, I… it's not yours."
A shudder ran through him and he had to tear his eyes away from the sight of her. He gave a grunt in reply to Beth and was thankful when she accepted it as "I'm too busy" and went back to hunching over a pile of papers in silence. But he was suddenly very unfocused and finding it difficult to finish the email he'd been composing.
He stared at the screen blankly, his mind racing with a million thoughts while his fingers sat frozen on the keyboard. The final sentence of his email sat unfinished and the cursor blinked at him expectantly. He'd known she was coming, but seeing her again was still shocking. He hadn't really prepared for what would happen if he had to work in her proximity. To be completely honest, Beth had distracted him since his last unpleasant lunch with Gregory and two other coworkers. Somehow, he'd put it almost completely out of his mind that Andrea was expected back soon, and now here she was, and he didn't even know for how long. Had Jay said a few weeks…? He couldn't remember through all the recent memories of lunches with Beth.
A soft knock at his office door made him jump just slightly. He looked up to see Andrea's high heels clad feet visible through the window in the opening of the blinds just above the floor, the rest of her hidden behind the door. His heart leapt into his throat and he suddenly felt all the coffee and donuts in his stomach threatening to come back up. He cleared his throat and stood up from his desk, straightening his tie and trying to compose himself. He glanced at Beth. She was watching him with those big, blue eyes, her mouth frozen in an O of question. But when she saw the grave look on his face, she snapped her lips shut and turned in her seat to watch the door. He reached it in three short strides and opened it slowly. There she stood, all blonde hair and black clothes, intimidating as ever but still deceptively beautiful. He swallowed the knot in his throat.
"Can I help you?" he asked, using his well-rehearsed professional voice.
Andrea smiled warmly. He noticed she'd developed more lines around her eyes and her mouth since he'd last seen her, showing her age and stress. But her blue eyes still held the determined spark they always had, and he couldn't seem to slow his racing heart. He tried to tell himself it had been over five years, that he shouldn't be feeling this panicked in her presence, but his body wouldn't listen.
"Hi, Daryl. Just wanted to see how you've been doing," she said, her voice almost too nice. He could hear the effort she was putting into sounding formal.
He shrugged, glancing sideways to see Beth watching their exchange with curiosity. "I'm good. Yerself?"
She nodded, warm smile plastered across her lips, and glanced to Beth as well. She nodded in greeting before looking back into Daryl's eyes. "I'm doing well, thank you. I'll be helping out with the case for a few weeks so I suppose we'll be in close proximity again for a bit."
Daryl only nodded. "Yep."
Andrea's lips pursed and she suddenly looked awkward. What had she been expecting from him? Did she really think he'd be happy to see her again, under these circumstances? Or was she trying to put on a show for Gregory and the others – who were standing mere feet away in the hall, talking amongst themselves - to prove that she could be professional with her ex despite prior evidence of the contrary? Either way, Daryl knew he wanted no part of it. And now he was irritated because he knew her presence would throw him off of his work routine for days, possibly weeks.
"Well," she said, trying and failing to hide her loss for words. "Um, it's nice to see you again – "
Daryl cut her off, unable to hold back his own question that had been sitting in his mouth indecisively, "How's the baby?"
Her eyes shone with surprise, but her lips turned up in a proud smile – genuinely this time. "She's great. We've been working on her reading and writing. She starts school this fall. I can't keep her inside for the life of me, she's just like me and Amy when we were little."
He nodded and pushed down the fire in his belly that was trying to push its way up to his throat.
Don't care, don't care, don't care, he silently repeated to himself inside his own head, like a personal mantra to remind himself not to become vulnerable around this soul-sucking woman.
"And how's Shane? Y'all married yet?" He continued. He hadn't even checked her ring finger, but he didn't really want to either. The question was more out of posed formality rather than actual interest. If anything, he knew she could hear the bitter bite to his words.
She smiled as if he'd made a joke and shook her head, a small chuckle coming from her throat. "No, um – we broke up. I believe he's seeing someone else right now, but we don't really talk except when it's about Amelia."
Fuckin' asshole knocked her up and didn't even stay with her. Selfish prick, Daryl thought to himself angrily. He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd had his favorite toy taken from him by a playground bully just to watch the bully play with it for a few minutes before tossing it aside, broken and dirty. He had to remind himself that his feelings were changed now, and that he wasn't the chump his brother had claimed he was during the weeks after Andrea had left. He was no longer a mess, broken down and dejected and constantly on the edge of a mental breakdown. No, he was better now, self-sufficient, and he already promised himself he'd never let a woman like Andrea get close enough to hurt him again. She'd solidified his lifelong belief that showing vulnerability to others would do nothing but get him screwed over.
"And yer sister?" He continued, checking off the final thing on his list of conversational topics with Andrea. He just wanted to get past the niceties so she'd walk away and he could try to ignore her for the next few weeks and go back to pretending she didn't exist.
Her face fell, however, when his question came out, and she looked down to the floor for a moment before looking back up at him, taking a deep breath and composing herself. She spoke with difficulty, as if the words were touching a wound that was still healing, "She, um… passed away. Two years ago."
Daryl's heart dropped and he couldn't hide his expression of disappointment. He had liked Andrea's sister, Amy. She was sweet and real and she'd always told Daryl exactly what she felt, even when she felt that her own sister was in the wrong. He remembered how she'd been the only one to sympathize with Daryl when Andrea had left him and begun dating Shane, and the only one who'd told her sister exactly how selfish she was being.
"What – I had no idea. I'm sorry to hear that… What happened?" He asked, his voice lower and more serious. As much as he disliked this woman, he wasn't going to demean her for her loss. He personally couldn't imagine how he'd react if his own brother were to die.
Andrea sighed and looked away from his eyes as she briefly explained, "Car accident. She was hit by a drunk driver on her way home from work. Thankfully she died on impact, so she didn't suffer. I'm, uh… sorry I never contacted you. I should've invited you to the funeral. I know you always liked her."
He nodded awkwardly and looked down to the floor, resorting to mumbling like he usually did when he was confronted with emotional moments. "That's alrigh' – I understand why ya didn't. I did like her, though. She was a good girl. Damn shame she had to go like that. Hope they locked the fucker up."
She shrugged as if she were shaking off the negative feelings and memories, "Thirty-six months in jail. He only had one prior so they let him off easy."
Daryl grunted in disdain, the only response he could think to say, "Shitty."
They were silent for a few seconds while Andrea seemed to relocate her professionalism and pull herself out of her own memories. When she spoke again, her voice was back to the false politeness it'd held at the beginning of the conversation, "Well, I'm staying at the Sheraton just a few blocks away. Would you like to get some drinks together this weekend? Catch up and maybe talk a little business?"
The proposal caught Daryl off-guard, and he stared at her, perplexed. Talk what business? he thought. They had no business to discuss – he had no part in this case, and she was supposed to be working on the floor above him with everyone who was higher up in the company than he was. His eyes shot over to Beth, who was indiscreetly watching and listening to their entire conversation, apparently so mesmerized that she hadn't thought about whether or not she was being rude. She looked back at him and seemed to remember where she was, quickly turning around in her chair and hunching over her paperwork to appear busy. She'd interpreted his look as "can you mind your own business for a minute," but he had actually intended quite the opposite. He met Andrea's eyes again and gave her the first response he could come up with.
"Actually, me an' Beth here were gonna do some fishin' this weekend," he gestured to the young blonde sitting feet from him, as if it were just another weekend and they'd had it planned forever. "Got a nice little piece of her daddy's land and there's a real nice pond near it. Figured I could teach 'er how to catch catfish."
Andrea's eyebrows rose in surprise and her mouth nearly dropped open before she pursed her lips tightly and glaringly side-eyed Beth, who had swiveled her head back toward them at the mention of her name. Her face held the look of cluelessness Daryl had expected as she looked first at Andrea, intimidation obvious in her eyes, and then to him, where the intimidation quickly turned to questioning. He could read her expression: she was silently asking him what part she was supposed to be playing right now. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and drew Andrea's eyes away from the young blonde and back to him, where he feigned a small smirk and kept his gaze locked on with hers. She tried to give him a fake smile and hide the spite that was creeping across her face, but he could still read her like a book. Sickeningly, it gave him a little pleasure to see her as close to jealousy as he probably ever had, but he secretly reveled in it. The older blonde straightened her back and appeared to shrug off his rejection.
"Oh, that's alright, maybe next weekend. That sounds fun, though! I haven't been fishing in years. No time with this work schedule," she said, voice cheerful but veiling disappointment. She was overcompensating, Daryl could tell. "And how rude of me – Beth, I'm Andrea. It's nice to meet you. Are you his – "
"Intern. For the summer. Nice to meet you, ma'am."
Before he could turn his gaze back to Beth to see her reaction to Andrea's impromptu introduction, she was standing up beside him and responding with her high-pitched professional voice, reaching a hand out to meet Andrea's in a loose handshake. The two women quickly withdrew their hands and gave the same polite nod and tight-lipped smile. Daryl almost laughed at the exchange. Andrea was even older than him, had nearly two decades on Beth, and had been living in the business world for years; yet right now, she appeared to be just as young and awkward and misplaced as Beth was looking. His amusement quickly disappeared, though, as he began to wonder what else these two women had in common that he hadn't discovered yet.
"Daryl, I was waiting for you to introduce us," Andrea turned her attention back to him, and he returned her plastic smile with a look of indignation that he didn't even attempt to disguise.
"Yeah, well now ya met, I really gotta get back to m'work," he muttered, his voice back to being low and defensive. He nodded in the direction of Gregory's back, just feet away from them in the hall, and added, "Jus' ask him – I'm way behind. Never gettin' shit done on time. Good luck on yer case."
He reached for the door before Andrea could form another sentence. She noticed the gesture and nodded, quickly backing out across the threshold as he slowly swung the door shut.
"I'll see you around, Daryl," she added before turning and walking away, still as prideful as ever, to join the other men once again, and the door closed across the gap and clicked shut, finally obscuring her from vision.
With his head down and eyes set on his desk, Daryl spun around and crossed the office to return to his seat. He could feel Beth's eyes on him, and for some reason, it bothered him. He was suddenly very embarrassed of his spontaneous lie to Andrea. And even worse, he'd just made Beth a part of his personal problems, which he'd never normally do, and without her consent. He was silently hoping she hadn't read the situation incorrectly – he didn't want her getting the wrong idea. They still had to work together for two more months.
He returned to how he'd been positioned before the knock at the door had come, finding himself staring at the same unfinished email on his computer screen with his fingers hovered over the same keys on the keyboard. He was trying to think straight, but he couldn't think at all. There were a million thoughts running through his head, but he couldn't focus on a single one. And it didn't help that he could feel Beth's eyes boring into him from where she sat at her own desk across the office. He tried to wait it out until she got bored and looked away, but that didn't seem to be happening.
He finally whipped his head to face her and spat, "What?!"
Her eyebrows were raised high above her big, blue eyes, and her lips were pursed, as if she were expecting some sort of explanation, but she didn't flinch at his reaction. He figured he owed her at least an explanation, if he was being honest – and an apology for earning her a glare from a woman she'd never even met before.
But before he could try to stumble over a sorry, she was asking him, "So we're goin' fishing this weekend?"
Daryl's face immediately softened and he mumbled in reply, "Nah. Ya pro'ly can't even bait a hook."
Beth looked confused for a split-second before she understood and saw the smirk appear on his face. A small smile of her own grew on her lips, and even from his desk, Daryl could see the spark in her blue eyes.
"Just makin' sure it's this weekend – so I can clear my schedule," she said mischievously.
Daryl couldn't help but chuckle. Maybe it was all his nerves finally building up to the point that he had to laugh at himself, or just the way that Beth was always snapping back at his quips at any given moment – even in tense situations like this. The girl was sharp, he had to give her that, and she wasn't soft and dainty either. He could be his own, rough, "unapproachable" self while he was around her and she didn't find anything wrong with it. Most people would give him a glare – similar to Andrea's - at some of his off-handed remarks and frustrated grumblings. But not Beth. It seemed that understanding and tolerance came easy for her. He didn't have to put on his fake business mask when they were together. It was like a breath of fresh air in his workplace, for once.
"Hope ya got yer own pole. I ain't lettin' ya borrow one," he said, still smirking and unable to hide it.
Beth rolled her eyes in his direction playfully before looking back down to her paperwork and returning to writing. "Don't wanna borrow yer sucky pole anyway."
A couple of moments passed as they both appeared to return to work, but she soon raised her head again and looked in Daryl's direction. "Is it okay if I bring Zach?"
There was a tiny jab inside of Daryl, and it felt somewhat recognizable, but he shoved it away just as soon as it appeared. He had no time for whatever it was.
"'Course. Better have his own pole."
to be continued…
