Chapter Seven
Jenny's car was parked in the drive when Carol and Daryl got home from school. This didn't surprise either of them, since Jenny made it a point to be there any time the two of them were. Carol also wasn't allowed to have him in her room unless the door was open, she had a new nine o'clock curfew, she wasn't allowed to spend time t Daryl's unless Merle was home. Like that even mattered.
"You ready?" Daryl asked with a sly grin.
She nodded, staring out the windshield, worrying her lip. "I think so. I just don't know if this is gonna work."
His brows pulled together. "Why wouldn't it?"
Sighing heavily she finally looked at him. "I don't know how to be bad."
He stared at her for a few long moments and then he laughed right at her, causing her frown to turn into a deep scowl.
"It isn't that funny," she muttered, shouldering her door open and hopping down from the truck.
"It kind of is. Most people our age have a hard time playin' by the rules and here you are worried you won't know how to break them." His fingers slipped through hers, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Well, there isn't really anything wrong with being a good kid."
He nodded. "True enough. Just follow my lead in there. You'll only manage to mess it all up."
She rolled her eyes and pushed the door open, calling out to her sister as they stepped into the hall.
Jenny poked her head around the corner, her eyes bright and a smile on her face. "I'm glad you're home. I have amazing news," she gestured for them to follow her and then she pointed to a couple of envelopes sitting on the table.
"What's this?" Carol asked, sitting down and picking up the first one. "Oh!" she gasped, feeling her eyes widen. "This is from Emory. Why would they send me anything now?"
Jenny rolled her eyes. "Because you're brilliant and they want you. They wouldn't have sent anything at all if you hadn't been accepted."
Carol's mouth was dry, her eyes as wide as saucers but then she felt Daryl's knee bump into hers. She glanced at him and he winked at her. She wanted to open that envelope so bad that her hands were shaking but she had a point to prove here. She pushed it away and shrugged.
Jenny frowned, her gaze flicking between the two of them. "Open it!"
Carol sighed and drummed her nails on the table. "Well, I've actually been thinking and I don't even know if I really want to go to college, ya know? I mean, all I've ever done is study and study and stress about grades and attendance and all that."
Jenny was so stunned that it looked as though every muscle in her body had gone rigid. "What the hell are you talking about? This is your dream! This has been your dream since you were four years old!"
Daryl leaned back in his chair, feigning boredom. "Look, we've been doin' some serious talking about our future, Jen. What if we want kids within' the next couple of years? She can't take care of babies and go to school full time. Not a school like that. I can't sit at home and do it since I got a job at the shop."
Jenny still stared between them, looking like she may be sick. "What the hell are you talking about, kids! You're going to school!"
Carol nodded. "I'm really gonna think about it."
"No you aren't thinking about it! You're going!"
"I'll be an adult, Jen. I'll make my own decisions about my own future." Jesus, this was so hard. She wanted to rip open the damn letter and jump up and down like a lunatic.
"You will, and you'll make the right damn decision, the decision you made years ago!"
Carol and Daryl shared a look and he seemed to be enjoying himself so much that she almost wanted to laugh. But this was what her sister got for not trusting her. Jenny was luckier than most because Carol had always been such a good kid, and her sister needed a reminder.
"Carol, the other letter is from Vanderbilt for Christ sakes, you seriously need to stop the joke and get serious about this. You're actually scaring me."
Carol felt her heart leap in her chest and Daryl actually grabbed her hand to keep her from snatching the envelope and tearing into it. She cleared her throat. "We have homework to do," she said, standing up quickly and tugging Daryl out of his chair.
"Carol-"
"I told you that I'll think about, Jen. Just chill out. And I already know to keep my bedroom door open."
Again her sister's mouth dropped open and the look on her face was more suited for a woman that had just gotten slapped.
~H~
Daryl felt bad for Jenny and he even felt a little bad for Carol. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. At least not for the sisters. He planned on having as much fun as he wanted with his brother, he just wasn't exactly sure how he was gonna do it.
"Has she talked to you yet?" Daryl asked when Carol climbed up into the cab of the truck.
She slammed the door and shrugged. "She tried but I'm keeping this up. She needs to understand that she had it good. But Jesus Christ, Daryl, if I got into either one of these schools I swear I am gonna have a heart attack. You have no idea how hard it is to get a full ride to a school like either of those, and I'll need a full ride because Jenny doesn't have the money to pay and even the money I get once I turn eighteen that my parents left me wouldn't be enough."
"You didn't even open them yet?" he asked, his eyes widening.
She shook her head. "Nope and I want to so bad."
He laughed, shaking his head as he backed out of the drive. "Damn, when you commit, you commit, huh?"
She nodded firmly. "Now it's your turn. What are you gonna do to your brother?"
"Not sure yet."
"I'm sure you'll think of something," she said with a grin. "We're pretty good at coming up with this stuff on the spot."
He nodded. "Yeah we are."
"You need to get to work on your brother soon and I have an idea what might work on him." She flashed him a wicked smile and he returned it. Once she explained her plan he stared at her incredulously. He couldn't believe it. She was downright diabolical. Sure, he would have to make a few sacrifices himself but it would be well worth it.
~H~
Merle slathered on another layer of mayo for good measure and then started piling the bacon on top of the burger he'd just grilled. The stove was broken so there wasn't a whole lot of options for cooking, but who the hell didn't want to eat bacon cheeseburgers and blackened hot dogs every day? He stuck his head in the back door, still chewing his first bite.
"Soup's on asshole!" He yelled into the house.
He hadn't seen a whole lot of Daryl lately. The kid spent every waking hour with that girl he had snagged at the beginning of summer, which didn't bother him any. The kid had needed to get out, stretch his muscles a bit. Especially the one he hadn't been using up until now. Merle chuckled.
He sat down on one of the mismatched lawn chairs to enjoy the rest of his meal in relative quiet. There was always something going on around here and it was rare he was able to just sit on his ass and relax. Of course, that was all his fault for the most part.
The quiet was broken when he heard the sound of tires crunching on the gravel driveway. He frowned, his eyes narrowing. He didn't know this car and it was rare for someone he didn't know to show up out here. He was about to stand up when the driver's side door opened up and a woman he had never met before stepped out. His brows went up when she turned, bending at the waist to retrieve something from the passenger seat and the short skirt rode up in the back. He was still staring at her as when she straightened, shouldered her purse and then turned.
She had long dark hair, long tanned legs and was wearing a halter top that had his mouth watering. She made her way to the porch, swinging her hips like a pro but when she got to the bottom step his smile faltered.
Fuck.
This was a girl, not a woman. From a distance he hadn't been so sure but now he could see it. She couldn't have been as old as his baby brother. She flashed him what she probably thought was a seductive smile.
"You must be Merle," she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
"You eighteen?" he asked.
The smile twitched and she cleared her throat. "No, but in a year I'll-"
"Come back in a year then, kid. I'm not going to jail for a piece of ass," he said bluntly, taking a bite of his burger and ignoring her. She wasn't even worth looking at now.
"I... er... I was here to see Daryl. Is he home?"
Merle stopped chewing, looking up sharply, ready to tell this chick to hit the road but then the back door opened up and he nearly choked. There stood his brother, shirtless, still dripping from a shower, and he was grinning at the girl.
"Hey," Daryl said, jerking his head towards the kitchen. "Last door on the right down the hall. I'll be a second, alright?"
The girl, all seductive smiles again, slipped past Daryl and disappeared into the gloom. The boy's eyes followed her for a few moments and then he looked at Merle.
"What in ten hells is goin' on here?" Merle asked, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Daryl shrugged and even though Merle would have sworn the kid was blushing like a school girl, he still flashed Merle a grin that matched his own. It was the kind of grin a man gave when he knew he was about to dive balls deep. Glancing over his shoulder again, checking to see if the girl really was out of ear shot, Daryl stepped out onto the porch.
"You were right," he said, eyeing the driveway.
"Course I was," Merle muttered. "But what was I right about this time?"
Daryl pushed his hair back from his forehead. "I needed to loosen up. All this time I've played the unassuming good guy. Fuck that, brother. You have any idea the kind of nasty shit that girl in there will do?"
Merle gaped at him, dropping his burger onto the plate and trying to reign in his eyeballs since they were about to pop right out of his skull. "Boy, have you lost your mind? Where the hell is Carol?"
Daryl scoffed. "Not here. Had some sort of doctors appointment or something. Hey, as fun as Amber is, the girl kind of gets around. It ain't like it is with Carol. I ain't gotta be careful with Carol, but Amber's a different story, so you got a condom?"
"Did you two break up? You havin' some kind of teenage crisis on me or somethin'?" he asked, unsure why he even cared.
Daryl frowned. "Nah, me and Carol's good."
"Then what the hell are you doin' with that little trollop waitin' for you in your room?" he asked, unable to believe he was having this conversation.
Daryl glanced towards the door. "Look, you were the one always houndin' me about bein' more like you. You always say I need to loosen up and I'm only young once. What's the problem? You gonna give me a damn condom or am I gonna have to risk the clap cause you wanna grow a conscience all of a sudden?"
Merle honestly didn't know what the problem was. The boy was right and he knew it. For years now Merle had pushed and pushed and now Daryl was finally cutting loose. What was wrong with that? "I guess I can't have your dick rottin' off," he muttered, reaching into his pocket for his wallet. He tossed Daryl the condom he'd stashed in there earlier in the week.
"Hey, if Carol shows up, tell her I'm at the garage and I'll call her later, alright?"
Merle grunted and waved him away, that uneasy feeling still gnawing at his gut. The problem was, he actually liked Carol. She was good for his brother and now here Daryl was, about to bang some snatch that Merle didn't even know. It wasn't like Daryl to do some shady shit like this. He was out of his mind for Carol and Merle knew it. Maybe he shouldn't have pushed Daryl so hard to be more like him.
The thought of going inside while Daryl was probably indulging in some reverse cowgirl shit wasn't something he wanted to do so he tossed the rest of his dinner into the waste basket by the door and settled back into his chair, rolling a can of beer in his hand. He kept trying to tell himself that Daryl was just doing what any other guy his age should be doing, but that weird feeling in Merle's gut just wouldn't go away.
It felt a whole lot like guilt and it made him feel a little sick.
~H~
Carol's hands were nearly shaking as they gripped the steering wheel hard. Remembering the look on her sister's face after finally opening the letters, and then realizing that both schools were interested in her would be something she would never forget. Maybe she really should blow off college, move out to L.A. and become a movie star because her acting was Emmy worthy. She had tossed the letters down, shrugged and still refused to let Jenny know that inside she was freaking out so bad she was near the passing out on the floor point.
Jenny had blown her top, yelling, throwing her arms in the air like a mad woman and accusing Carol of letting some infatuation with a boy ruin her whole life.
That had been the hardest thing she had ever done, standing there and defending her relationship and trying to convince her sister that marrying Daryl and starting a family was the best thing that she could do.
Of course she wasn't going to marry Daryl and start a family. Not until after she finished school, if that was even something that was in the cards. They were together and neither of them had any intentions of changing that, but she was going to college and as far as she knew, he was going to trade school and they were going to make it all work.
But Jenny deserved this. Jenny had been the one constantly pushing her to be more outgoing, meet boys, go to parties, have fun. And now her older sister watched her like a hawk, even though carol wasn't doing anything wrong. Most girls her age were already having sex and Daryl hadn't even managed to round third base and still Jenny treated her like she was some sort of tainted lady.
And now it was Merle's turn.
She grinned when she pulled into Daryl's driveway and saw Amber's car. She was interested in seeing how Merle was going to react to her showing up while he thought his brother was in his room sleeping with another girl. Even the thought had Carol shaking her head. It had taken her hours to convince Daryl that this was the way to handle his obnoxious brother.
She parked the car, blinking rapidly and then holding her eyes open until they watered horribly. Taking a deep breath she got out and glanced up at the porch. Merle stood up so fast that his lawn chair folded up on itself and crashed to the porch floor with a clatter. He ran a hand over his face, glanced at the front door with wide eyes and then looked back down at her.
"Hey there, Carol. Daryl, he had to go over to the shop and... He. He ain't here."
Carol slowly approached the porch her eyes on Amber's car before she stopped and looked up at Merle. The man actually flinched at the tears in her eyes and she silently cheered herself on.
"Why is Amber's car here if Daryl is at work?" she asked, forcing her voice to crack at just the right moments. "Please, Merle, don't lie to me."
He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I done told you that he's uh... he's at the shop. This car belongs to..." his voice trailed off as he made his slow way down the steps towards her, obviously wishing he were anywhere else right now.
Her face crumpled and she covered it with both hands, hoping that the sobbing wasn't going overboard. Merle wasn't a stupid man and if she overacted he would know it.
"Shit, girl, come on. Suck it up, would ya? I'm serious, okay, he ain't here. I ain't seen him in hours. This girl brought her car here and asked me if I could work on it, okay?"
Damn, Merle was good too. She looked up, her wet eyes locking onto Merle's. "He's in there with her. I know he is," she whispered.
Just then the door opened up and Amber stepped out, her high heels dangling from her fingers. Daryl followed her and then they both stopped in their tracks when they looked up at Carol. Merle spun around and then a string of curses tumbled from his lips before he looked back down at Carol. As soon as Merle's back was turned Daryl and Amber shared a look and they both grinned. Amber met Carol's eyes and winked as she walked down the steps.
Carol was barely able to keep from laughing at poor Merle when she saw the look on his face. She blinked until more tears were running down her face and she gave Merle the most heartbroken pathetic look she could muster. "I knew you were lying," she said, her voice full of anguish. "Why didn't you at least try to talk him out of it? You have no idea what you've let happen."
Merle's face reddened and he watched in silence as Amber sauntered to her car. The girl turned, giving Carol a mean grin. "Looks like the joke's on you, dork." She got in her car and wasted no time hauling ass out of the drive.
Merle's jaw hardened and his eyes took on a dangerous glint and for a beat Carol was actually worried about Daryl.
"Hey," Daryl called, hurrying down the steps. "She just stopped by to borrow a Math book."
Merle gaped at him and then eyed Carol, probably wanting to see if she would believe such a pathetic excuse.
"You're lying," Carol whispered, shaking her head.
Daryl shrugged. "Believe what you want."
"Did you sleep with her?" she asked, a little breathlessly, her hand going to her stomach. Merle's eyes followed the movement and Daryl bit his lip hard to keep from laughing.
"Look, Carol, I like you, okay? You know that. I just think we're too damn young to be too serious, you know? Come on, we're fuckin' teenagers. There's nothin' wrong with havin' some fun." Daryl's gaze flicked from her to Merle and she could tell that he was ready to take off if Merle tried to snatch him up and hit him, which the man looked like he was ready to do.
She kept her hand pressed to her stomach as she shook her head. "Then you should have thought of that before you had your fun with me, Daryl Dixon. Because after this I swear to God you're never gonna see this baby."
Merle made a strangled sound in the back of his throat and the color drained from his face. Before he could say a word Daryl delivered his line.
"Whatever. That kid ain't mine."
Carol shook her head, tears flowing. "How could you say that? You're the only person I've ever been with!"
"How do I know that?" Daryl asked, his voice cold. He was impressive considering that he wasn't sure if he would be able to pull this off.
"You know it's yours!" she yelled.
"Wait just a goddamn minute here!" Merle bellowed, his eyes wide, his face the color of chalk. "You... No," he shook his head like he could dislodge all the information he had just received. "You're not... knocked up. You're too smart to let somethin' like that happen!"
"If she is then somebody else got the job done," Daryl snapped.
Merle spun around, poking his brother in the shoulder so hard Daryl winced. "You shut your stupid mouth! How in the fuck could you let somethin' like this happen!"
Daryl shook his head. "I didn't. You know how girls are, you've been tellin' me all my life. They're only out for themselves and we've got a duty to use'em for whatever we can get out of them. So I got what I wanted and now I'm movin' on and she's tryin' to pin this kid on me cause she's desperate."
Merle actually did take a swing but Daryl was expecting it and was able to dance out of the way. Thankfully Merle didn't pursue him.
"Forget it," Carol snapped. "I can take care of this on my own. I don't want anything to do with either of you ever again."
She turned on her heel and hurried to the car.
"Go after her you fuckin' idiot! You better fix this shit right now," Merle yelled.
"Fuck her. You heard her. She'll handle it on her own," Daryl said, his voice still cold.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Daryl was heading back up the steps, Merle hot on his heels. She got in and heard her phone go off. Glancing at the name she grinned.
"Yeah," she said by way of greeting.
"How was it?" Amber asked.
"You did great. His brother is freaking out," Carol said, pushing the button for the speaker phone as she pulled out.
"It was fun. Well, it was until I had to sit in Daryl's room with him for that last forty five minutes. Your boyfriend isn't very friendly."
Carol laughed. "Yeah, well, it just takes a while for him to warm up to people."
"Right," Amber laughed. "Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow and don't worry about paying me. I mean it, it was fun. You and Daryl are a trip."
"You sure? I don't mind."
"No, I really had a great time. We should all hang out more often."
Carol's brows went up. "That's unexpected."
There was beat of silence before the other girl spoke again. "Look, I know that I haven't been the nicest person, okay? But you and Daryl are pretty awesome, coming up with such a dirty scheme. I don't know anyone else that could have done it so I'm apologizing for being a bitch and I want the slate wiped clean."
Carol smiled at that. "I'm not one to hold grudges. See you tomorrow."
"Don't forget to take your prenatal vitamins," Amber sing songed, laughing before she hung up.
Carol snorted, wishing she could hear the fit that Merle was surely throwing at the moment. Hopefully Daryl wouldn't show up in her room tonight with a black eye. But the look on Merle's face today told her that he'd learned his lesson. Totally worth it.
