Beth was stunned. She almost felt like time was standing still as she stood in front of the passenger side door of Daryl's truck, his arms still wrapped around her waist, and his beautiful blue eyes looking down at her expectantly. She wasn't sure if he'd really said what she thought she heard, or if she'd somehow just imagined it.
"Maybe…" Daryl started to speak, but he was obviously a bit nervous and cut himself off. "Maybe… it'd be better to just stay up all night? You won't get much sleep now anyways, right?" He smirked at her, raising his eyebrows a little. He'd seemed to find quite a bit of confidence suddenly, Beth thought.
Was he asking her what she thought he was? No, certainly not, she thought. He wouldn't, right? He didn't think of her that way – and hadn't they just been playing a game all night anyway? Wasn't it just some big charade? She couldn't help but think that she should have been sure, but she wasn't. And now Daryl's suggestions meant that she couldn't be sure. She'd lost herself in everything that evening and now, under the dim lights of the bar parking lot, she realized Daryl had too. The look on his face was a bit mischievous and his eyes were filled with longing – and in that moment all she could think about was how much Daryl seemed to want her. Beth couldn't say that she didn't feel the exact same way. She had quite a bit to drink – but she wasn't even sure how much if she was honest. But she didn't feel drunk. She felt clearheaded and alive, like she knew exactly what she wanted.
Words escaped her – she couldn't think of anything cute or playful or sexy to say in response to Daryl. So she just kissed him again and when she pulled away finally, breathless, she simply nodded to him, resting their foreheads together; she smiled and he seemed to get the message.
She almost jumped into the car when he opened the door for her, and he seemed in a hurry too as he moved quickly to the driver's side of the truck. Daryl seemed intent on getting them home quickly, even though the drive usually took at least 30 minutes. For a few minutes, he seemed so focused that he was completely silent, keeping his eyes focused on the road ahead and seemingly paying little attention to Beth. Beth was glad that he wasn't speeding too badly, but she noticed that he was definitely driving faster than he had on their trip there. Eventually, she reached her hand over and put it tentatively on his thigh – his silence had made her afraid for a moment. Had she done something wrong? Did Daryl just need a little reassurance? Maybe he'd changed his mind? Maybe the gravity of the situation had caught up to him? Or maybe she was just reading the situation all wrong?
Beth wanted to let him know that everything was okay, at least from her end. She and Daryl had been touching each other a lot tonight, pretty much constantly, she thought, and she suddenly missed the contact between them. She realized that maybe she needed a little reassurance too. But as soon as Daryl felt Beth's touch, he looked over at her and smiled at her, maybe a bit nervously, indicating to her that nothing was wrong and that he really had just been focused on driving.
"Scoot over here" Daryl told her, nodding his head toward the window, indicating that he wanted her to come closer to him. Obviously he missed the contact between them too, she thought, a smile creeping onto her face as she thought about it. Beth realized she had never put her seatbelt on and so, it wasn't hard for her to immediately comply with Daryl's wishes, sliding over so that she was right next to him on the seat. She couldn't help but think that this was sweet, although she'd always thought it was incredibly cheesy when she'd seen others doing it. She never understood why people would ride in a truck like that, sitting so closely together, if they didn't have to. Or why two people would sit on the same side of a booth at a restaurant.
Until that moment in her life, though, Beth had never known what it was truly like to be with someone that you wanted to be touching all the time. Sure, she'd dated guys that she had physical relationships with, and she always enjoyed being around them. And she liked holding their hands in public, and sweet little displays of affection – but the real demonstrations were saved for private moments inside, away from the eyes of others. She had liked it that way. But now, with Daryl, everything seemed different. She didn't care if a million people saw them – and even though tonight she was supposed to be pretending, she now thought that maybe she really hadn't been and that she actually hadn't minded being that open with her physical relationship with Daryl. All those people that watched her at the bar didn't matter – all that mattered was her and Daryl. Everything else melted away into the background. And nothing compared to the need she had, at that moment, to be as close to Daryl as possible. And to not let go.
Daryl smiled contently at Beth's close proximity and he found her hand, still resting on his thigh, and squeezed it. He brought it up to his mouth and kissed it, just like he'd done back at the bar when they'd initially run into Andrea. Beth had thought it was all for show then, but now she was starting to realize that it hadn't been. At least she hoped not. He clutched her hand at his chest, right over his heart, again, just as he'd done earlier that night. For a few moments, Beth could feel his heart beating and she could tell that it was beating quickly. Good, she thought, she wasn't the only one who was experiencing that at the moment.
Eventually, he let their hands drop, although their fingers were still intertwined together, and they both fell more into Beth's lap now than into Daryl's again. And Beth felt content. She really didn't know what to expect when they arrived back at her house; she was nervous about it if she was honest with herself. But at that exact moment, she just enjoyed being in the truck with Daryl, him clutching her hand with a small smile still on his face. Everything was so quiet and she was glad that they didn't feel the need to fill the air with awkward conversation. There was an easiness to this situation, Beth thought, although there was also a tension that only grew as they got closer to her house on the island.
Her mind wondered as she looked out the passenger side window of Daryl's truck. Beth thought about the past week she'd spent with Daryl. Had it only been a week? She could hardly believe that – they had grown so close in such a short amount of time. She'd very quickly grown to care a lot about this man, and it was obviously that those feelings were mutual. But as she thought more, she couldn't help but question what exactly those feelings were. They'd both agreed to be just friends, right? Hadn't they both insisted on it, actually? But what was happening now? More than anything Beth didn't want to jeopardize what they had – she was certain that they were currently overstepping the self-imposed boundaries of their friendship. She just wasn't sure if she could find it in herself to care. She wanted to be near Daryl so very much – and he obviously felt the same.
A few minutes passed as Beth was lost in her thoughts, pondering the questions that swirled in her mind and absent-mindedly rubbing her thumb in circles over the top, and then palm, of Daryl's hand. Slowly, she came out of her thoughts as she felt the back of Daryl's hand, still holding onto her's, but rubbing up and down her thigh. His movements were slight at first, barely detectable really. But as the moments passed his touch became bolder and more intense. She felt her eyes get big at first, and eventually, as his touch changed, she closed her eyes, tilting her head over slightly to rest on Daryl's shoulder. His touch felt so good, she didn't want it to ever stop. She wondered how he was able to read her so easily – he was so big and strong, but he knew exactly how to touch her in the gentlest way, a way that made her feel weak in the knees, wanting to beg for more, wanting him to never stop.
When Daryl had first touched her legs earlier in the evening, she'd thought she might come unglued. She'd tried to keep it together, acting like it was no big thing – they were only pretending in their overt affection towards each other, right? Beth knew Daryl loved her legs. She'd noticed it the day they met, and every day since – he always stared at her legs, maybe just a little too long for would be normal between friends. She'd never minded, for some reason though – maybe because they were her favorite feature on herself, but maybe because she liked that he seemed attracted to her. She realized then that she'd subconsciously spent all week prancing around in the tiniest and tightest shorts she had, in an attempt to give Daryl as big of an eye-full of her legs as possible. And she really hadn't noticed that she was doing it until now. A smile crossed her face as she thought about Daryl finally touching her legs – the legs he'd been eying all week. She wondered if he was relieved being able to touch her finally.
Instinctively she let go of his hand, and Daryl looked over with a devilish grin, cupping the inside of her thigh and continuing to rub slowly and softly. She moved her hand to hold onto the inside of his bicep, right below where her head lay on his shoulder, nestling her chest into his arm. The feel of his calloused fingers on her tender skin was so heavenly and she couldn't stop herself from imaging what it would feel like if he kept moving upward, going just a little bit higher.
That thought left Beth conflicted. On one hand she wanted to clamp her knees together, or cross her legs, stopping Daryl's fingers from moving too high up her thigh, stopping things from going farther than they should among two people who had labeled themselves as friends. But the other part of her felt the opposite – wanted to spread her legs a little farther apart, giving Daryl all the access that he wanted, for whatever he wanted. Beth's shorts were so unbelievably short that she knew it wouldn't take much effort on Daryl's part to run his fingers underneath their hemline and feel the barely there panties she wore beneath them.
Beth knew she was excited, too excited probably, but she couldn't help it and she wasn't about to stop Daryl – one look at his smug face told her that he knew exactly what he was doing to her. And he was loving every minute, every touch, and appeared to have no plan of stopping. As Daryl looked over at her, that little smile still registering at the corners of his mouth, he slowly and gently tugged at the thigh he was holding, pulling it just a little farther towards him, moving Beth's legs further apart from one another. And in that moment, Beth's internal conflict ended – her decision had been made. Suddenly her heart raced and she had to fight to control her breathing.
And for Beth, she couldn't help but think that they couldn't get home fast enough.