Okay, so I'm sorry if this AN seems a little long, I just wanted to explain the reasoning that I have for the way I've written this chapter.
I've given it quite a bit of a time jump, skipping over the holidays and landing straight on NYE. I hope this doesn't disappoint anyone, but I just think that in this story, these two are definitely not at a stage in their friendship where they would spend Thanksgiving/Christmas together. I was going to write all of that but I just kind of felt like it was all filler stuff, and I can always do flashbacks if need be.
Secondly, Beth has still not be round to Daryl's apartment, so I've not missed that out since I know a few of you were saying you were excited to read that. I know it probably seems a bit weird since Daryl basically invited her last chapter but you know, it's Daryl, and she's not just going to invite herself round whenever she wants just because he suggested it and he's not said much about it since. Daryl has been to the farm a couple more times with Ella and the pair of them have spoken over text/phone etc, so they are getting more and more comfortable around each other, but up until now they're (still) both using Ella as a bit of an excuse to talk to each other and see each other, so they've not done much without her there.
Oh, he's yet to meet the parents, too. I wanted to write that and have a bit of an idea about how it could happen, so that's why I didn't want to just assume that he had done.
So basically nothing much has really happened except I've sped it up a couple more weeks and jumped to NYE. There's some info in the chapter anyway to fill in anything that I might have missed, but I hope that this AN answers all of the questions that this time jump might have for you. After reading this, if there's anything you think that I've missed or that is vague, please mention it in a review and I'll answer it next chapter.
"I might seem so strong, I might speak so long, I've never been so wrong.
Excuse me for a while, while I'm wide eyed and so damn caught in the middle."
- 'Strong', London Grammar
"Beth," Amy smiled. "You look amazing. Stop fretting."
Beth gave her friend a pointed look, but Amy didn't back down. Instead, she just cocked her brow at the younger blonde and stood her ground. Beth sighed audibly and flopped into a sitting position on the bed, giving in the urge to change out of her outfit and just put her pajamas back on.
Amy seemed please that Beth had submitted to her and crawled over towards her, a curling iron in her hands. Amy was ready to tackle Beth's hair - which desperately needed at least a trim, because it's length and thickness were growing much faster than she could keep up with - and positioned herself behind her friend, combing through it with a big brush before taking a strand and beginning the long process of curling it.
"Aren't you excited to see Daryl?" Amy asked, and Beth rolled her eyes, even though her friend couldn't see her.
"No," Beth lied.
Amy laughed.
"Can't fool me that easily, Bethy," Amy said in a sing-song voice. "Don't worry, I'll do your hair all nice and pretty for him. He likes it curly, right?"
Beth shrugged her shoulders, honestly unsure. Daryl never really gave her many compliments, but he did always seem to look at her a little differently when she wore her hair down; especially when she had it in waves, so she supposed that had to mean something.
"He's never really said," Beth admitted, feeling a little deflated. Most of the boys that she had been out with before were openly flirtatious and there was usually a lot of things for her to discuss with her friends about them. But Daryl was different.
Daryl gave her so much and yet so little all at the same time. He was incredibly confusing and Beth was still getting there in terms of reading him. They were gradually becoming closer and she would definitely class him as a friend now, even if she did desperately want him to be something more.
It was only by chance that Beth even knew that he was going out tonight. Amy's older sister Andrea always picked up Ella from the elementary school along with her own two children and would watch her for an hour or two until Daryl picked her up straight after he finished work. Andrea had mentioned in passing to her younger sibling that she was watching Ella tonight and that Daryl was going to one of the bar's in town with Cesar Martinez, Andrea's ex-husband and Daryl's boss.
Amy had come straight to Beth with the information, knowing more than enough about her crush on the older man and had insisted that they were going to celebrate New Years Eve at that bar whether she liked it or not. Beth didn't really put up much of a fight since the idea of spending some time with just Daryl without Ella being there (as much as she loved having her around) was too good of an opportunity to turn down.
But she had been more confident then because New Year had seemed so far away. Now that it was actually here, Beth wasn't so sure of herself.
Amy had tried to encourage her to wear some fake tan on her pale skin but Beth had briefly remembered a conversation she'd had with Daryl where he had been teasing her about her skin tone and ended up complimenting her, so she quickly declined Amy's offer.
"Sure ya won't burn out here without any cream on?" Daryl asked, and Beth shot him a questioning look.
"What?" she said, laughing a little. "Daryl, it's the middle of November."
Daryl nodded confidently and it was only then that Beth noticed the look on his face. There was almost a gleam in his eye that was different to the way he usually was, and it was only then that realisation dawned upon her.
Daryl was teasing her.
"An' you're the palest thing I've ever seen," he pointed out.
Although he was joking and just winding her up, he was probably being pretty serious, too. After all, she was so pale compared to his tanned colouring. She supposed it had something to do with her Irish genes, although she wasn't really sure. At least she had something to blame it on, though.
She laughed at his statement and shook her head, looking out towards Ella who was running along the field with the sheepdog that her daddy had adopted a few weeks before. The dog was well behaved and easy enough to train, and Hershel had guessed him at being around eighteen months old. The dog didn't have a collar and hadn't been chipped, either, so they had no clue as to who the owner was.
Beth had made an effort to put out posters and advertisements stating that the dog had been found around town because she couldn't cope with the idea of someone missing their pet, but so far, nobody had come forward to claim him. Hershel had said that he could stay with them until someone did come for him, and if they never did, then he would never leave.
"Next thing, you'll be tellin' me that you're surprised I don't sparkle in the sunlight."
She was teasing him now, but Daryl was frowning in confusion and squinting at her from where he was walking beside her and Beth couldn't hold in her little laugh at the sight of him.
"Sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I guess I didn't think that one through. I didn't peg you for being the Twilight type."
Daryl smirked a little at that and looked away from her, Ella's laughter in the distance catching both of their attention. Beth smiled at the sight of the girl throwing something that looked very much like a stick out ahead of her and the dog running to catch it.
"You're right, I ain't," he said, and Beth smiled again. There was just something about the thought of Daryl Dixon watching Twilight that made her want to laugh out loud. "'Sides, I'm only teasin'. You ain't that pale."
Beth snorted.
"I am," she said. "I know I'm whiter than white. I've tried tannin' before, but I just burn somethin' awful. Figured I'd rather live with havin' pale skin instead of burnt skin."
Daryl nodded at that and didn't say anything for a few moments.
"I like the colour 'f your skin," he said.
It was more of a mumble than anything and Beth only just heard what he said, but his words still caused a faint blush to appear across her cheeks. Beth turned to face him and smiled brightly. He wasn't facing her but she knew that he would be able to see her out of the corner of his eye.
"Thanks, Daryl," she said, her tone kind as she reached out her hand between them and put it in his.
Daryl looked down at where she had intertwined their fingers for a moment before looking back up at her, a skeptical expression on his face. Beth just smiled at him and began humming a tune.
Daryl relaxed after a moment and gave her hand a little bit of a squeeze as a comfortable silence fell between them.
"Beth," Amy said, moving the curling iron away from Beth's hair and moving her head round her friends shoulder so that she could see her face better. "Are you even there?"
Beth blinked a few times and looked at her friend in confusion, her blue eyes wide and her lips parted. Amy looked frustrated at first, but her expression quickly turned as she smirked at Beth.
"What?" Beth asked, wincing a little as she spoke.
She wasn't sure that she wanted to know exactly what was running through Amy's mind. Her friend had a habit of getting carried away with herself.
But Amy didn't say anything and moved back to her original position, taking another strand of her long hair and wrapping it around the curling iron.
"Nothing," Amy said quickly. A few beats of silence passed between them until Beth spoke again. "You've got it bad, Beth Greene."
Beth groaned but didn't say anything more. This was taking her back to the conversation that she'd had with her mother the first time that Daryl and Ella had come to visit the farm, and Beth didn't want to go down that route again. Tonight was New Year's Eve and she wasn't going to ruin it by getting way too emotional.
"Don't worry," Amy said as she brushed through Beth's hair. "I already know that he's going to be all over you when he sees you. And so do you. You just won't let yourself admit it."
Beth shook her head and tried not to pout, feeling a little bit like a silly schoolgirl being all worked up like this over a guy. It was something that she had always told herself that she would never be, especially after seeing her sister get worked up over plenty of men in her time of dating - a time that seemed so long ago now that Glenn was on the scene.
But this wasn't just any guy. This was Daryl.
"He's not like that, Amy," Beth said. "I already told you. He's kind of..."
"Shy? Mysterious? Complex?" Amy interrupted when Beth trailed off, her tone slightly teasing. Beth couldn't help but smirk at her friend's words. "Don't worry Beth, I know. I get it. But you're forgetting one thing that's going to make tonight different."
Beth frowned and turned around so that she was looking straight at Amy.
"What's that?" she asked when Amy didn't say anything.
"Alcohol."
The bar was crammed.
It seemed like everyone in town had decided to come here for New Year and Beth and Amy had spent the first forty minutes of their evening waiting in a line outside. That in itself had surprised Beth - she wasn't sure that she had ever had to wait like that to get into a bar in town. She would have probably expected it to be so busy in the city, but not here in the middle of nowhere.
Still, waiting didn't put a damper on their evening. Beth was wearing a light blue playsuit with a sweetheart neckline and lace arms that cut off just above her elbows. Beth kept tugging down on the baggy shorts of the playsuit, paranoid that she was was completely overdressed in the outfit, which she had matched with a pair of wedged white sandals and a white clutch.
Realistically, Beth had little reason to worry about looking out of place. Amy's outfit of choice was much more daring than her own; her friend deciding to wear a tight bodycon dress in a bright red colour that amplified her cleavage and showed off her long legs. Matched with a pair of black heels and a black bag, Beth wasn't so sure that she would ever be able to feel comfortable in something quite so revealing.
Even so, Amy pulled it off and didn't even look trashy like some of the other women in the line who were wearing similar style dressed did. The girls had to show their ID to get into the bar, but Beth wasn't the least bit surprised about that. After all, everyone always told her that she had a baby face.
When the girls had been waiting outside, Beth had regretted not bringing a jacket with her because it was freezing. But now that she was inside, she was relieved that she hadn't - she had only been inside for what had to be less than five minutes, and Beth was already sweltering.
As soon as they were inside, Amy dragged Beth over towards the bar where she had spotted someone that she knew from college. The man didn't look like the kind of person that Amy would usually associate with; rather on the large side and sporting a mullet, but Beth had never been one to judge, so she smiled at him and introduced herself as Beth whilst he introduced himself as Eugene.
Amy ordered them a round of shots from the bartender, Carol, before Beth could even get a word in as to what she wanted to drink; and Eugene was adamant that he would be paying for whatever it was that they were buying. At his insistence, Amy shot Beth a smirk that made her feel more than a little bit uncomfortable, but Beth decided not to think anything of it. If Eugene was going to let Amy treat him like that, then that was his decision.
Besides, the alcohol that she was drinking was quickly causing more of a buzz than usual, and Beth decided that it probably had something to do with the fact that she skipped dinner that evening so that she could get ready with Amy instead. Soon, both of the girls were giggling and slurring their words as they made their way to a booth that was surprisingly free, and Eugene settled himself in first before Amy slid in next to him.
Beth squeezed in next to her friend and smiled when Amy took a picture of them both, but just a few seconds later Amy's smile had been wiped off her face and she suddenly looked a lot more sober.
"Shit," Amy cursed, and Beth frowned at her, her blue eyes scanning the busy bar in search for whatever it was that had caught Amy's attention.
But she didn't need Amy to say anything else to her, because her eyes locked on who it was that her friend had just seen. Beth's whole body went tense and she gripped tightly to the glass of green liquid that she had in both of her hands.
"What is it?" Eugene asked, frowning at both of the girls. Amy turned to face him, but Beth felt as though she was frozen in place and couldn't move.
"See that guy over there?" Amy asked, pointing towards him. "That's Zach. Beth's ex-boyfriend."
All we need now is Daryl to come and save the day. *Swoons*
Please review and let me know what you think!
