Beth spent the next hour getting ready for her first weapons lesson with the gruff redneck. Although there wasn't much she could do physically to ready herself, most of the hour was spent giving herself an encouraging pep talk.
Do NOT be awkward. Be yourself…except for the clumsy part. Don't do that. But damn it, you can do this! It's for the improvement of the group. Plus, I'll get to show Daryl that I'm NOT a "kiddo." He'll see. And maybe I'll eventually get to tell him how I feel!
She combed her messy blonde hair into her usual long ponytail, using her fingers in lieu of an actual comb. Her long, side swept bangs loosely framed her face, covering up most of the features on the right side. She tucked the section of hair behind her ear, and took a deep breath before heading outside to start her first lesson.
As she walked out of the north entrance toward the gate, Beth looked in every direction to see if her trainer had been waiting for her. But Daryl was nowhere in sight. She continued walking toward the main entrance—the fenced in area where the group would leave and return from supply runs. She waited right outside the gravely entryway for Daryl's arrival.
Beth stood silently, observing the walkers as they headed toward the perimeter with an awkward, unsteady gait. She shifted her weight to her left leg, folded and crossed her arms under her bust, and smirked at the disgusting creatures who were obviously unaffected by her body language.
"Hey!" a deep, southern voice shouted. Beth turned around to see Daryl jogging toward her, knapsack of weapons slung across his back. "Sorry I'm late. Glenn stopped me on my way out to talk to me. And you know me and my love for chit-chat and all that bullshit." He slowed down to a stop in front of the girl, pulling a half cigarette out of the pack in his shirt pocket.
Beth chuckled at Daryl's obvious facetious tone. "Yeah well, someone's bound to get something out of you someday." She replied sardonically, half smiling as she watched him light his cigarette. "You know those are bad for you, right?" Daryl sighed and rolled his eyes. It was obvious that she wasn't the first one to warn him of the dangers of smoking.
"Alright, let's get started." Daryl said as he opened the first gate. "This'll be our practice area for right now. Walkers right by us, but on the other side of the fence. Perfect for stabbin' 'em right in the skull. Here, you'll need this." He handed her a large knife. "Now, what you wanna do, is grab the knife like this." He wrapped her right hand around the knife handle, with her thumb closest to the end, and the blade protruding down from the bottom of her clenched fist. "It gives you more leverage for hitting your target than if you were to try to hold it like you're chopping onions. See how easy it is to stab downward? Why don't you try it out on this little fella right here?" He motioned toward a walker that was a few inches shorter than Beth.
Beth, still sidetracked by the touch of Daryl's previous hands-on demonstration, swung the knife toward the walker's head, but barely nicked the creature, grazing the fence instead. She paused, composed herself, and took a deep breath. She turned to Daryl and shrugged, as if asking permission to try again. He nodded in agreement and motioned for her to turn around and try again.
C'mon, Beth! This is easy. You've done this a few times. Concentrate. You need to do this.
She continued giving herself a pep talk for just a moment. Once she was ready, she took another deep breath, raised her knife, and smashed the blade into the walker's cranium without a second thought. She then yanked the knife out of the skull, forcing the creature to immediately fall to the ground. Beth repeated these steps with about twenty more walkers before Daryl finally told her she could stop.
"That was SO FUN! Oddly exhilarating, even." Beth exclaimed between short, heavy breaths.
Daryl stepped closer to her, dropping his second finished cigarette along the way. "Ya did good, hun." He said, as he playfully ruffled her hair, then patted her on the back. "Keep that up and you'll be better than me before you know it!"
Beth shot Daryl a half smile, trying to contain the excitement of receiving praise. "I'm not so sure about that, Dixon. But thanks for the encouragement. And thanks for the lesson! Same time tomorrow?"
"Same time, same place. Just make sure you bring your 'A' game tomorrow. You keep getting distracted and it's affecting your performance." Daryl and the girl then shared a quick hug before he walked off.
Not wanting to part ways, but not wanting to sound too desperate, she trailed behind him. She wanted to catch his attention, but was unsure of what she wanted to say.
Jesus fucking Christ, Beth! She thought to herself. Get it together! Just talk to him about something. ANYTHING.
After a few seconds, she finally mustered up the courage to strike up a conversation with Daryl.
"So umm…Daryl? How exactly did you get into the whole crossbow wielding thing? I remember you talking to my daddy before about how you've owned that thing since you were in junior high." She noted, motioning at the crossbow slung across his right shoulder.
"I don't really want to talk about it. Not today." he mumbled. There was no way that the young, innocent, church girl was going to understand or empathize with his traumatic childhood. He didn't want her sympathy. He didn't want pity. Daryl just wanted more than anything to be accepted for who he is now, rather than who he was twenty-something years ago.
"That's okay, Daryl. I can't say I understand, but we all have our secrets, I guess." She patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.
Daryl put his right arm around her shoulders as they walked into the main entrance of their shelter. Beth nonchalantly grabbed his right hand with her own, fitting each of his calloused, dirty fingers in the spaces between hers. She quickly realized what she had done, and pulled her hand away.
"Why'd you pull away like that? I thought it was kinda cute." Daryl whispered as he gave his charming crooked smile. Beth shrugged, then extended both arms out to offer a hug. Daryl couldn't resist her cheerful expression, and accepted the offer, lifting the petite girl off of the floor just enough to make her giggle.
"Put me down!" she joked. "I'm scared of heights!"
"Scared of minimal heights, but you can take down a good sized herd of walkers out without batting an eye? Makes sense." he chuckled as he lowered Beth back on her feet. "Well, I'd better go get some shut-eye. I've got night watch up in the tower tonight."
"Mind if I join you?" she asked.
"For the nap, or night watch?" Daryl replied.
Beth paused for a moment, realizing how obvious her fondness of him was. "Both, maybe? I could use a little sleep myself, and I imagine Carl's in my cell with Judith since her crib is in there. Plus, I think it'd be pretty cool to see what goes on during the graveyard shift."
Daryl pondered the question for a minute, then agreed. "Yeah, you worked hard today, so I guess you've earned yourself a nap. C'mon."
When they reached the cell, Beth laid the bag of weapons on the small wooden table in the corner of the room.
"I call the top bunk!" She yelled.
"Uhh….top bunk's broken. Don't believe me? Check this out." Daryl nudged the top bed frame, and sure enough, the railing began to fall apart. "See? I ain't having you fall off and hurt yourself."
In her mind, Beth could hardly contain her excitement, but managed to fake an unamused outward expression.
"Fine." She retorted, rolling her eyes. "But I get to sleep by the wall."
She crawled into the bed, which was not unlike her own. Small, highly uncomfortable—not that comfort was an option in this world, much less in a prison cell—but it was bearable. Daryl followed suit, cautiously checking to make sure he left ample room for his bunk mate. He kissed Beth on the forehead and motioned for her to lift her head up so he could put his arm around her. The girl laid her head on Daryl's shoulder, wrapping her left arm around his torso.
This is heaven. She thought to herself. I don't think I ever want to leave from this spot. She glanced up to see if Daryl had fallen asleep, only to have her eyes meet his. They exchanged crooked smiles as he gently ran his hand down her back.
Beth knew then that she wanted to tell him everything. She wanted him to know that she couldn't stop thinking about finding a potential partner in Daryl. She began shaking at the thought of actually telling him. What if he thinks of me as some kid? But then surely he wouldn't have offered to let me sleep in his bed with him. God damn it, just tell him!
Daryl felt her sudden nervousness, and wrapped his free arm around her waist, reassuring her that in that moment, everything was okay.
"Hey, umm…Daryl, can I tell you somethin'?" she whispered, as the nervous feeling fell to the pit of her stomach.
Daryl smiled, and ran his fingers through her ponytail. "Yeah, sure thing. What's up?"
Beth let out a heavy sigh, deciding to throw caution to the wind and just tell him how she has been feeling. "I—I think…well, I know—I haven't been able to get you off my mind for some time now, and I think I might actually have feelings for you. It's crazy, I know. We rarely ever talk to each other, and until yesterday, it seemed like we barely noticed each other's presence in the group. But there's just something—" Beth trailed off when she realized she may have said too much.
"Huh. I never would've guessed," Daryl responded. "I mean, I really just thought you might have been this cute, shy girl with a staring problem. I'm not used to people feeling that way about me, so I never even gave it a second thought. But for the record, I've been thinkin' about you a lot lately, too. 'Member this morning when I was talkin' to Maggie?"
Beth nodded, replaying the morning's events in her head.
"Well, I was tellin' her I wanted to teach you how to use weapons, 'cause I wanted to spend time alone with you. I want to get to know you without everyone else up our ass. Maggie's okay with it, by the way. We'll have to get Hershel on board before too long, though."
Oh shit. What would daddy say? What would he even think? Beth thought as nervousness crept up through her body again. Sure, he likes Daryl and all, but as a suitor? I don't think he'd be okay with that. Oh well, he'll have to find out sooner or later.
"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there." Beth whispered. "Let's get some sleep. We've got a long night ahead of us." She looked up at Daryl and kissed his thin, dry lips. He enthusiastically returned the favor.
"Yeah. Sleep tight, hun."