It had been five days since she last saw Daryl, and Beth was practically crawling out of her skin to see him again.

She had never felt that way before. Never felt like she would collapse onto the floor and not be able to get up for half a century if she did not see a certain person.

Daryl was that person.

Beth held onto her new phone in hands, the one that replaced the damaged one. Daryl's number was loaded into the contact numbers, and she was looking down at the nine digits and his name that displayed on the bright screen of her phone. She could call him and say hello, right? Or maybe that would be too much and she would be pestering him. Or maybe he was one of those people who kept their phone on silent all the time and he would not see that she was calling.

Should she wait for him to call her? Would he do that? Or was he the one waiting for her to call him?

Beth audibly sighed as she continued to stare at the phone. Too many damn questions were going through her head all at once.

And, of course, never any clear answers.

Unfortunately, she could not make a decision because her mother's voice from downstairs called out Beth's name. She plopped the phone onto her bed and traveled down the staircase and into the dining room where her mom was looking at some of the good plates in the dark wood china cabinet that was up against the wall.

"Beth, honey, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure. What?"

She handed over a long list to her. "Could you go to the grocery store and pick this stuff up. We are having the neighbors over for dinner along with Otis and Patricia tomorrow but I can't go pick up the food for dinner and for the rest of the week because I need to be here. Your dad called and said he found a stray dog that had been hit by a car on the side of the road. He is bringing it back here because he needs to stitch the poor thing up."

"Oh, my. A dog?" she asked, worried about the condition it might be in, and horrified by how someone could hit an animal like that and leave in on the side of the road with injuries.

"Yes. Apparently it's in pretty bad condition. So I need set your father's tools up for when he gets back and help him since Patricia can't get here in time." She when over to her purse that was on a hook on the far dining room wall, getting out her car keys and her wallet. "Here is my credit card. If you need to stop and get gas, use that card for that too."

Beth pouted, jokingly. "You want me to shop for food and fill your tank? Parents are gettin' really demanding these days."

"Oh!" her mother expressed, waving her hand at Beth while trying to hold back an amused grin. "I would have done anything my parents asked of me when I was your age. You know, when I was growing up—"

Not again.

That first part of the statement had been and always would be a sign to get away before she heard something like, when I was growing up I cleaned the whole house from top to bottom on my hands and knees with a toothbrush because my mother asked me to clean, or when I was growing up I took care of my seven brothers and sisters, went to school full time, and then cooked dinner for everyone, got them showered and then wrestled them all into bed for the night. There was a new story every time, some of them contradicting the other. Her mom would often immensely exaggerate anything to prove a point, which just so happened to be one of the things that Beth loved most about her mother.

"Bye, mom," Beth quickly interrupted, practically running to the door to escape hearing another one of those crazy stories that she found hard to believe most of the time. "Love you. I'll see you when I get back."

"Be careful, sweetheart!"

It did not occur to Beth until she was strapped in and pulling out of the driveway that this was the first time since the accident that she had been alone in a car. Her heart raced for a moment, but then returned to its normal pace, thankfully.

It's okay, she thought, everything will be fine.

—

Beth was in her own world, the usual thing that happened, as she went through the many store aisles with her cart. She giggled to herself as she perused through the list that her mom gave her before she left. Beth was convinced that her mom was using Beth's own doctor's recommendations for healthy eating to force everyone in the house to get on the program too.

She was almost done her shopping when she turned down the aisle of what Beth would consider to be completely random items all throw into one. Seriously, who would put the bread in the same aisle as the cleaning products and the variety of pasta sauces and then jars of canned fruit?

Beth ignored the strange layout of the store she was in and decided to just get the bread and the canned tomatoes and the other last few things on the list so she could get out of there and stop listening to the horrible grocery store music that was played over the intercom.

"Are you stalking me?"

The voice startled her so much that she almost dropped the glass jar of diced tomatoes she had picked off the shelf and had been examining. She almost turned to rush in the other direction, but then her brain made the connection that she knew that voice very well. A stunned Beth turned to her left, eyebrows raised, and blinked twice over at Daryl who stood there looking back at her.

It took a moment for her brain to register that, in fact, it was him.

"Yes," she quipped, once she met his dark blue eyes. "I've been taking hundreds of photos of you with my camera all day long. Everywhere you go! I came in here to get a closer look. Me and my refined stalking abilities are doin' such a good job."

"Very funny," he commented, taking a loaf of bread off the shelf.

Beth giggled, also taking a loaf, going specifically the whole wheat bread, and tossed it into her cart along with the rest of the items she had picked out. "I'd be a really bad stalker if I openly admitted it to you," she pointed out. "And also a really bad one if I was spotted so easily. So, no. I promise I'm not stalking you. But, maybe you are the one stalking me. You do hunt so stalking would probably be pretty easy for you since you already have trackin' skills. Just switch up your game from animals to humans."

"Yeah, I work all day fixin' cars and then I shift into stalker mode for on the side," Daryl smirked, walking past her. "That's what I do in my spare time."

Beth turned the cart around to follow him down the aisle, enjoying his humor, and also not knowing how they had gotten so far into the topic of their conversation. "Wait a minute! I can't believe I actually ran into you again. In a grocery store, of all places. Y'know, twice could be a coincidence. Three times is something else."

He twisted his head over to look at her once she strolled up next to him, Daryl's deep blue eyes narrowing in the slightest amount, and the very nature of them making Beth's heart flutter momentarily. "Somethin' else?"

Beth shrugged a shoulder, not knowing what the something else was exactly. "Yes. Like the universe tryin' to tell you that we shouldn't go five days without talkin'," she hinted at.

"You been countin'?"

Beth dropped her smile and turned her face the other way, pretending to be fascinated by some items at the end of the shelf as they moved into another aisle. "No. I just happen to have a good memory."

It was lie. She had been counting.

"You could have called me, y'know," Daryl nonchalantly added. "If you really wanted to."

Beth reached over and grabbed a bottle of salad dressing, which was the last thing that was on the list that her mother gave to her. "True," she acknowledged. She paused for a second, biting her lower lip. "But would you have wanted me to?"

Daryl took some time to respond with, "Wouldn't have minded."

Beth easily hid the smile that crept up on her face and widened as she neared the cash register. "Well, now I know." Beth knew she wanted to get more information out of Daryl while she had him there with her, a view into his life, so she asked, "It's Friday. Are you doing anything interesting tonight?"

"Goin' huntin'."

"Oh, really? For how long?"

"Only the weekend. Don't worry. I'll be back workin' on your car Monday. It's almost done."

Beth shook her head, smiling. "I wasn't worried about the car."

Beth was then suddenly preoccupied by what all Daryl was going to be buying from the store. "Do you always buy that much food?" she questioned as she pointed her finger at his items, eyes examining what all he had in his cart.

Then it dawned on her that he might be buying for more than one person. Her heart felt like it was going to fall out of her chest at the thought of Daryl going home to a girlfriend. She knew he was not married because there was no wedding band on his finger, but that didn't mean that he wasn't with someone. And honestly, Beth was taken aback by the abrupt sensation of disappointment and…jealousy?

Was that what she felt?

Was she actually jealous of the thought that Daryl might be taken?

Beth shifted her position, captivated by the thoughts that ran through her head. She then blurted out without thinking, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Oh no.

She had actually asked the question. Out loud. The exact question that every girl asked a guy who they were interested in. Daryl would surely see right through her. At that moment, Beth wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there for a while until her face no longer felt as if it were going to burst into flames at any second. If the feeling in her cheeks was any indication, then she must look as red as a tomato.

How wonderful.

Daryl chuckled to himself as they pulled into a checkout line with one person ahead of them. "No. Nothin' like that."

Beth tried to ignore the relief that washed over her, telling herself that she would sort it all out later when she was home and could think better of it. But she would be lying if she said that her sister's earlier comment about Beth having a crush was not in the back of her mind, sitting there, and not allowing any thought to look past it.

And if Beth had somehow miraculously been subtle the first time, she most definitely was not when she added, "I'm not seein' anyone, either."

Her eyes widened at herself as soon as she vocalized the words. She was going to need to duct tape her mouth shut for the remainder of the time she was with Daryl. It would be the only solution. Who knew what else would come out of her mouth if she didn't.

Daryl had turned around, about to say something, but stopped. At first, Beth was not paying much attention to him because of her whole embarrassment over her previous question. But when she grew tired of glancing over the trashy magazine covers that were filled with lies of how to lose weight fast and how to make wrinkles instantly go away with pictures of not real, photoshopped people plastered all over them with too much exposed flesh, she finally drifted back to her reality to become aware of how Daryl had not moved from facing her direction.

Beth noticed that Daryl had his eyes locked on something on her. She looked down, expecting to see that there was a clothing sticker still on her or a pen stain on the white tank top, but there was nothing. Then Beth realized that he was staring at the light pink scar that started at where her arm met her shoulder, it running diagonally towards the middle of her body, two inches below her collarbone that had resulted from the crash. It was not a big scar, only about four inches in length, but it was evident to Daryl at this distance. The other tops that she had worn in Daryl's presence that not revealed the mark on her skin, and she guessed he was surprised to see that it was there.

Daryl's eyes then snapped up to hers, embarrassed that he had been caught staring for so long. "Sorry," he quickly apologized, turning halfway in the other direction. "Didn't mean to look."

"That's okay. You don't need to apologize." Beth rubbed her fingers against the pink line. "It's just a scar."

Daryl met her eyes for a moment, seemingly lost in what to say. He blinked a few times before he dropped his gaze to the ground, then started to load his items onto the belt so the cashier could ring them up.

Beth was confused by this. Daryl looked as if he had more to say, like he was holding something back from her. But, like always, she would not hound him for answers or make him tell her what was on his mind. If he wanted to tell her something or ask her something, then he had to do it on his own time and when he wanted to.

Daryl waited for her as Beth paid for her things and directed her cart outside to her mom's car. To her surprise, Daryl offered to help her put all of her bags in the trunk. Well, he actually started loading them in without asking, which Beth thought was sweet since he took the initiative. She also thought that it was funny how he could pick up four bags in each hand and load them into the car, and she smiled because she would never be strong enough to lift them all in one shot.

"We're havin' neighbors over for dinner tomorrow," Beth explained, not realizing how much food she had in the car once it was all grouped together in the reusable eco-friendly grocery bags that her mom carried around in the car, insisting that they all use them instead of the regular plastic ones that the stores offered.

"Oh, yeah?"

Beth nodded. "Yes. Do you wanna swing by before you go huntin'?" she asked, already knowing what his answer would be, but wanted to put the offer out there if she caught him by the rare chance that he would say yes.

Daryl sighed. "I, uh, got other stuff to do."

"That's okay," she told him. "It's not that much fun anyways. A bunch of adults talkin' about real world stuff. And then some farming business. About as exciting as listening to a political debate during campaign season."

Daryl half smirked, appreciating that she had not made him feel bad for declining the generous offer to come over for dinner. She understood being in a place filled with strangers and talking was not his forte.

He bent down and picked up the bag of dog food that was underneath the cart, also placing it securely into the trunk. "Didn't know you had a dog."

"Technically we don't," she told him. "My dad found one that had been hit today by the side of the road. Probably a stray. He's got to be fixin' the dog all up by now. Said it was pretty bad. So now there's a dog at my house."

"Sounds interestin'."

"I'll let you know how it goes once I'm back home."

The two of them lingered for a moment with nothing to do, trying to put off the inevitable goodbyes and the leaving part. Beth really hate that part. Having to go separate ways disappointed her more than it should.

She watched as Daryl glanced over at the car and then to her with a suspicious expression on his face. "You okay drivin'?"

She knew what he meant by it. "I'm good. No panic attacks or anythin'. It feels fine to be behind the wheel, I promise."

He gave her a nod, accepting the answer. "Alright. I'll see you later," said Daryl.

She nodded, smiling. "Yeah, of course."

Daryl turned around and started walking to his truck that was further down the parking lot. "Have fun huntin' this weekend!" she called after him, realizing that she had not mentioned that yet. She thought about it for a second, closing the trunk of the car, then added with a smile, "You'll have to take me sometime."

Even though Beth had been a vegetarian for years now, she would not mind going into the woods with Daryl, alone, just the two of them. Even if it was to hunt animals. She would do anything in the world for it to be exclusively just them.

That idea of a crush popped back into her head as Beth realized that she had stolen a glance of Daryl's backside as he walked away. She decided that what Maggie had said must be true. Beth definitely had a crush on Daryl Dixon. And she hadn't a clue about what to do about that.

Daryl smirked back at her, halfway in the middle of the parking lot. "Oh, yeah? We'll see about that."

—

A/N: Something about Daryl in a grocery store makes me almost laugh so I really wanted to write this chapter. I don't know why it seems so funny. Maybe because it would have been such a normal thing to do in a world without walkers.

In other news, it's beginning to get painful waiting for October 12th. *loudly sighs because it's not fair to have to wait this long*