Daryl was halfway under a SUV when he heard light footsteps coming in his direction across the cement floor of his workplace. He tilted his head to the side and watched as smaller cowboy boots made their way over to him, and then how small hands and knees placed themselves onto the dirty ground at the edge of the vehicle. Glimmering blonde hair that was hit by the rays of sunlight fell onto the floor when Beth's head peeked underneath the car, smiling wide at Daryl.
Damn, was she a sight for sore eyes.
"Having fun under there?"
He put down his tools, otherwise distracted by her. "What are ya doin' here?"
He was happy to see her, of course. But she had never dropped by unannounced before, so Daryl wondered if something was wrong, like he always thought when she called him or wanted to see him. It was ridiculous of him to always be so worried about that but he really couldn't help it. It was almost like it was an instinct now to make sure that this girl was okay.
"I had a horrible day and I don't' feel like goin' home," she explained, still smiling, which made him curious as to if she always looked happy even if she have a bad day.
He was about to ask what happened that day to make it so horrible because he guessed that was the normal thing to do when someone told him that, but his mind went elsewhere when he heard more tracks against the floor. It was an animal, he was sure of that. Daryl ears were in tune to pick up animal footprints anywhere.
His first thought and instinct told him that an animal must have wandered in from the woods nearby and got in because the garage door was open halfway, leaving enough space for it to get in. Daryl swiftly slid out from underneath the car, concerned about if it was some kind of crazy rabid animal—because once again, his main concern is for Beth and her safety.
Nothing new there.
Daryl stood up alerted, eyes scanning the room as Beth got to her feet as well. His eyes then settled on a dark furred dog that sat in the corner looking right at him.
He almost didn't believe it.
Daryl's gaze moved to Beth, questioning why the dog was there. He would have asked about it, only then he got a real glimpse of Beth. She appeared to be disheveled, hair thrown into a messy ponytail with strands of hair coming out, clothes slightly wrinkled with dog hair stuck to them, and some darker circles under her eyes that concealer had not been able to cover up due to the light color of her skin.
She was definitely disheveled.
Daryl liked it.
"Sorry to stop by like this, but I have important matters to attend to." The large dog trotted over to Beth's side when she waved her hand for him. Beth bent down to the floor to pet the animal. "This is Jack," she enthusiastically told him. "He's the one who my dad found on the side of the road. He got hit by a car. Me and him have a lot in common."
Beth said it a little bit too casually.
Daryl hated having to remember that night. Because as Beth had told him, she could have died. And that knowledge was not something that sat well with Daryl; it was a disturbing thought that he chose to try and forget about most of the time. He flinched whenever the idea passed through his mind.
"I need to find him a home…like today. He can't stay with me because my lease doesn't allowed pets in my apartment. And my mom's allergies are too much. She can barely see when dogs are around. And Glenn can't take him either because his roommate is afraid of dogs. Now I'm out of options because no one in my classes knows anyone who wants a dog either."
Beth looked up at him then, smiling brightly. He knew what was coming. "No way," he urged as he shook his head, before she could ask.
His refusal didn't faze Beth one bit. "Would you by any chance like to have a dog, Daryl?"
"Beth," he groaned. "Don't ask me that."
Daryl didn't know the first thing when it came to taking care of an animal. Hell, he could barely take care of himself. And now Beth asked him to take in this dog that would live with him. It was such a strange idea in his mind, having an animal live in his house. He had never had that before.
"Why not? You'd be doin' me a favor," she gracefully hinted at. "Please, please, please!"
He decided to be a smartass. "Saved your life. Ain't that the biggest favor I could ever do ya?"
Beth playfully swatted at him as she returned back to her normal stature. She put both hands on her hips (hips that he tried not to notice that she had but failed miserably because he was very much aware of how womanly she looked). "Oh. So now you choose to acknowledge that? I see what you're doing here."
"Ain't doin' nothin'."
"I swear, he's really sweet," she commented, stroking the dog's fur again. "Jack is no trouble at all. He doesn't need to be on a leash or anything. He'll be great. I promise." Beth pouted, and Daryl knew that he was about to cave and say yes, only because Beth seemed so distraught about giving the dog up.
He sighed loudly. "Fine."
Her face lit up, making it all worth it. "Really?"
"Yeah," he grumbled, staring at the dog that he was apparently now the owner of. How the fuck did he get himself into these situations?
Oh right, he wanted to make Beth happy. That was how it happened.
Beth took a few steps towards Daryl. He flinched for only a second by her sudden movements as she got close to him, but then Beth wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight, her body pressed against him. Needless to say, he had no fucking clue what to do. He stood there in shock and a little bit of confusion until she pulled away, bending back down to say something to Jack.
He tried not to miss the way her body had felt pressed up against him. And he also tried not to think too much about the outline of her figure as it had molded against his own.
Pure thoughts.
Pure thoughts.
Pure thoughts.
Yeah, that never worked. Not with Beth.
"Mind if I hang out here for a little while?" she asked, luckily distracting him from dirty inner scenarios that wanted to play out in his mind.
"Go ahead," he offered, also happy that she would be sticking around some more. "But I don't know why you'd want to. This place ain't that fun to be in."
"Well, you're here so that automatically makes it one of the top places I would want to be, and also I don't want to go home and read the first three chapters of my Anatomy and Physiology textbook. I can already tell I'm gonna have no social life because of that class," she sighed. "At least it's only for one semester."
The thing that stuck out most in his mind was the, you're here so that automatically makes it one of the top places I would want to be. He didn't know exactly how to feel about that but he did know that he liked the way it sounded when she said it (almost like he was important).
Daryl's brain actively searched for the right thing to say next, knowing that he was shit at the whole talking without being awkward thing.
"Do you, uh, like your other classes?"
"Yes," she quickly responded. "They're good and I like all of my professors. But you know what? We always talk about me. What about you?"
"Me?"
"Yes. Tell me about yourself," she sweetly requested, genuinely wanting to know about him.
Tell me about yourself.
It was one of the most terrifying things Daryl had ever heard in his life.
"Ain't much to tell," he grumbled.
And there really wasn't. Daryl thought of himself as a fairly boring person and he chose to keep it that way for a reason. His life was not all exciting, and not once did he ever wish that it was. He wanted to blend in with the rest as much as possible. Beth was the interesting one, the one will all the good stories. And it was not until then that he realized that she turned out to be the only exciting thing in his life.
"Tell me somethin', one thing that I don't know about you," she further pressed, trying to get him to open up more.
His eyes traveled over to the dog that was by Beth's side, picking at an easy subject. "Never had a pet before."
Beth cocked her head, smiling at him with sparkling white teeth—a smile that could stop anyone in their tracks and make them forget what the hell there were saying or thinking. "You do now," she sang in a nice voice.
"Stop," he grumbled through a smirk, drawing out the syllables. Daryl questionably looked over at the well behaved dog who was staring right back at him, making Daryl feel like he was in over his head with this.
He was in over his head with a lot of things, actually, and that mainly applied to when it came to the blonde girl who now sat on the floor as the German Shepherd laid down next to her and put its head into her lap, lazily closing its eyes as Beth's gentle hands stroked the fur on his back.
Daryl then scratched his head. "What am I supposed to do with it?"
"Daryl, his name is Jack," Beth corrected him. "He won't reply to it. But if you want to rename him It then I guess—"
"I'm not renaming him," he replied to Beth's sarcastic joke. "What am I supposed to do with a dog?"
He could tell that Beth was trying really hard to hold back her smile. It had been a strange question to ask, but he really did not know what to do with this dog.
"There's not much to do. Just feed him and let him out and make sure you pet him a lot. That reminds me that I have his dog food in my trunk. I'll go get it."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, so you assumed that I was gonna say yes, huh?"
Beth widely grinned again. "Let's just say that I was hoping that you would."
Daryl rolled his eyes and went back to work. When Beth came back in she dropped a huge bag of dog food on the ground, one that he was surprised that she was able to carry. Also with her were a few notebooks that Beth said contained some lecture notes that she received. Daryl watched as he opened the hood of an old car of how Beth sat on the ground and opened up the notebooks, venturing deep into thought as she looked them over.
As the minutes passed, Daryl came to the realization that he really liked having her here, even when she said nothing and he was busy working. At first, he resisted it, knowing that he should not let himself get used to something like this. She would get tired of him, she had to.
Right?
After a half hour of that running through his head, Daryl gave up on the inner thoughts. He should really stop finding reasons for Beth to stop coming by or reasons why she would all of a sudden hate him and not want to be around him. There had been no indication from her that it would be something that she would do. And quite frankly, the shit storm that had been brewing in his head ever since he met Beth was getting to be tiresome and mentally draining.
Martinez came in to work an hour later right as Beth was getting ready to leave, her explaining to Martinez about Daryl's new houseguest, gushing over how Daryl was so sweet to take Jack in.
"How old is she?" Martinez questioned once Beth was out the door and headed towards her car after saying goodbye, Martinez watching her as she went, which annoyed the hell out of Daryl so he threw an oiled rag at him to make him stop.
To be honest though, Daryl didn't want to be reminded how young Beth was.
"Eighteen."
Martinez smirked in the opposite direction as he turned away. "Daryl Dixon and the cute, blonde college girl," she said in a suggestive tone, just loud enough for Daryl to hear the words.
"It ain't like that," he retorted in a mumble.
No, it was not like that. Couldn't be.
"You think she's just coming by here for no reason at all? Don't be blind. A girl like her choosing to come all the way over here? I think she likes you. A lot. Spending all her precious free time hanging around this place with you," Martinez said as he raised his eyebrows and pointed over at Daryl. "And I mean, come on, man. You took her dog. I've seen you give the death stare to people who want to give you a drink at the bar and you refuse to take a beer. Beth offers up a dog and you take it. Just like that. That right there tells me a lot."
"That doesn't tell you shit," he retorted. "Now get back to work."
"Oh, someone is touchy. Did I say the wrong thing? Have I struck a chord? Perhaps I'm so close to the truth that you don't want to admit it."
Daryl ignored Martinez, throwing a glance over to Jack who was laying down in the corner watching what was happening.
He knew that this wasn't normal for him. But he couldn't say no to Beth. She had somehow worked her way into his life, which left him dumfounded as to why she would want to be around him, but he liked her presence so he didn't directly question her on it. She was different and he wanted to keep her there in his life, that was clear to him.
So now he had a dog.
A/N: I don't know if it's just me who feels this way, but I agree with what Norman says and I think that Daryl really needs a dog in the show. Someone give him a dog!