He'd already walked to the end of the driveway by the time he realized he didn't grab his keys. Screw it. Carol's house isn't that far, anyway. The walk would help clear his head. [non-italic]e
He couldn't believe his mom didn't tell him about Caleb getting out sooner or that she had gone to the parole hearing. He would have gone and made sure to tell those people to never let him out. They didn't understand how dangerous he was, all they did was read a piece of paper. They didn't know him.
Once, when Daryl was ten years old, Caleb had taken him to collect some money from someone. When the man told Caleb that he didn't have it, Daryl watched his father beat the man until his face was a bloody mess. The man was lying on the ground begging and Caleb just didn't care.
When he made it to Carol's he walked around to the back of the house where her room was. He could see the light shining through the open window. He shook his head. Her room was on the ground floor. He told her she shouldn't leave the window open at night. Any weirdo could just crawl right through…like he was getting ready to do.
Carol was lying propped up in bed reading over her notes; she had a test tomorrow in her child development class. She hadn't been able to go to sleep, she was worrying about what Daryl's mom had said to her about him. She was going to tell him something that would hurt him, and Daryl had told her he thought she was keeping something from him. She was beginning to think he was right.
"Ahhh!" She jumped up nearly a foot and dropped her notebook off the side of the bed when she heard a sharp banging against her window. She threw off the covers and went to the window, she could barely make out Daryl's silhouette in the pale moonlight. She opened the screen and leaned out. "What are you doing?"
"Can I come in?" he was already pulling himself in the window as he asked. Carol grabbed hold of his forearms to help him the rest of the way given that her window was at least a couple feet from the ground.
"What are you doing?" She tried to keep her voice down since everyone else in the house had gone to bed. She let go of him long enough to shut the door connecting her room to Sophia's, turning on the monitor so she would be able to hear her if she woke up. "What's wrong?" She had just gotten a look at his face. He looked a little pale and his eyes were slightly red.
Instead of answering her question, he asked one of his own, taking in what she was wearing. "Do you sleep in that?" She was wearing a pair of dark colored boxer shorts and tank top with a picture of a cartoon frog on it. She looked really cute.
She glanced down at herself. Was there something wrong with what she was wearing? She shook her head. "Daryl, what's wrong?" She took his hand, pulled him down to sit next to her on the bed, and gave his hand a squeeze.
He began tracing small patterns on her hand with his finger. "I was right. She was keeping something from me and Merle knew about it, too."
"Was it about your dad?" She laid her head on his shoulder and he laid his against hers.
He chuckled ironically. "Caleb's out jail."
"What did you say when she told you?" She moved behind him and began rubbing his neck trying to help relieve some tension.
He buried his face in his hands. "Fuck," he groaned and rubbed his hands against his face. "I yelled at her. I didn't mean to do that. I think I scared her."
Carol pulled his hands away from his face. "I'm sure you didn't scare her." He looked like he was about to argue with her. She covered his mouth with her hand to stop anything he would say. "And she knows you didn't mean it when you yelled. She knows you were just upset."
"I guess. I don't want her think I hate her. I'm mad her for lying but I don't hate her."
"She doesn't think that. Trust me."
He nodded his head. He still wasn't sure he believed her but Carol was usually right about these things.
"You can apologize to her tomorrow. Then you two can talk about this when you both have had some rest. Come on." She pulled him down to lie on the bed. "Take off your shoes."
"Huh?" Surely, she didn't want them to sleep in the same bed.
"You're not sleeping in my bed with your shoes on."
"I can't sleep in here." He sat up and tried to stand. "I'll sleep on the floor."
She tugged him back down. "Don't be ridiculous. The floor is cold and uncomfortable. There's plenty of room for both of us." She gestured to the bed. He still looked reluctant. "Come on." She pulled on his arm to get him to lie back down. "I promise not to try anything," she teased, grinning at him.
"Wasn't you I was worried about," he mumbled. How was he supposed to keep his hands off her if they were sleeping in the same bed?
"What?"
"Nothing." He kicked off his shoes and tossed his jacket on the floor. "Let's go to sleep." He pulled the covers up over them and she turned off the bedside lamp.
She snuggled into his chest and laid her head on his shoulder. "Is this okay?"
"It's nice." It really was. It felt good having her close. "Just don't move around too much okay."
"Okay," she giggled.
"What?" he raised his head slightly to look at her.
"Nothing, I was just thinking that you're the first guy to climb through my bedroom window."
He chuckled and laid his head back down. "Good. Because you're the first girl whose window I crawled through."
"Good."
She snuggled deeper into his chest and soon they were both asleep.
Daryl woke up the next morning to find Carol draped across him like blanket, her face buried in his neck. He had to smile when he looked at her. Her hair was sticking up in every direction and her shirt had ridden up her stomach in her sleep to reveal her creamy white skin. He wanted to reach out and run his hand over it, but he couldn't do that. It was only going to make his little morning problem worse. He needed to get her off him before she woke up and realized. He shifted and tried to roll her off him.
Her eyes slowly opened and she smiled up at him. "Morning."
"Morning. Sleep good?"
She nodded. "The best." She scooted so she was sitting up in the bed. "How about you?"
"Yeah. I like waking up next to you. Should do it more often."
"I'd like that," she said as she blushed. "Did you walk here?" she asked suddenly.
"Yeah, speaking of that. I better get out of here so I can get ready for school. And I don't want your uncle catching me in here. He won't ever let me come over again."
"Don't be ridiculous, Dale loves you. But if you're really worried about it you just wait in here and when he goes to work I'll drive you home."
"Carol, you don't have to-" he began, but she raised an eyebrow at him. "Fine, I'll wait in here."
Before he could sit up he felt something tug on his foot. He turned to see a pair of blue-green eyes peering at him from the end of the bed. "Hey," said Sophia.
"Morning 'Phia," said Daryl, reaching down to help her onto the bed when he saw her struggling to pull herself up.
"I'm hungry." She crawled into Daryl lap and flopped down, puting her hands on either side of his face. "I want oatmeal."
Carol giggled at the serious look on her face. "Come on, Sophia. Let's go get some oatmeal." She stood and picked up Sophia.
When they reached the door Sophia called out. "Come on, Darwol. Oatmeal." She reached for him.
"I'll be in there in few minutes, sweetheart." He walked over to her and kissed the top of her head. "You go with your Mama."
She nodded as Carol slipped out the door, shutting it behind her.
When she got to the kitchen, Andrea was already there sipping a glass of juice. She was staring at Carol as if she knew something Carol didn't. Carol sat Sophia down in her chair with the booster seat. They had gotten it last month when Sophia refused to sit in her high chair anymore. She had even figured out how to climb out of it.
She gave Sophia a piece of string cheese to hold her until she could fix the oatmeal. Andrea was still staring at her.
"What?" she said, exasperated.
Andrea smirked. "Did you have fun last night?"
"At dinner?" she pulled the can of oatmeal from the cabinet and put some water on to boil. "It was okay."
"I'm talking about after dinner," said Andrea.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Pass me the sugar and the cinnamon."
She handed them to Carol. "So you're telling me that Daryl didn't spend last night in your room?"
"Andrea," Carol gasped and looked around. What if Dale heard that?
"Relax, he's in the bathroom. He can't hear us." She poured another glass of juice and handed it to Carol. "So, what happened?"
Carol took a sip of the juice and stirred the oatmeal. "Nothing. We just talked and then we went to sleep."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. He was upset about something and needed to talk."
"What's going on?"
Before she could answer, Amy came into the room, threw her backpack on the floor and sat down. "What are you guys talking about?" She reached for the milk and cereal that was sitting on the table.
Andrea passed her a bowl and a spoon. "Daryl spent last night in Carol's room."
Amy's mouth dropped open. "Oh my god. Did you guys do it?"
"Amy," Carol and Andrea yelled at the same time.
Before anything else could be said, Dale walked into the room. "Morning, girls," he said. He pulled a large thermos from the cabinet to poor some coffee. "Did everyone sleep alright?"
"Good," said Andrea.
"Fine," said Carol.
Amy had a mouth full of cereal so she nodded her head.
Dale didn't miss the fact that they were all avoiding eye contact. They were hiding something.
"Amy, if you hurry and brush your teeth I'll take you school."
"Okay," she said, getting up and running down the hall to the bathroom.
"Did you want some oatmeal?" asked Carol as she fixed Sophia a bowl and set it in front her. She gave her a spoon. She liked to feed herself even though half of it always ended up on her or the floor.
"No thanks, I'll grab something in town. But I'll bet Daryl would like some."
Carol nearly spit out the juice she had just taken a sip of. "What?" There was no way he knew.
Dale smiled at her and walked down the hall. "Hey, Daryl?" he called. "Come on out and get some breakfast while it's still hot."
Daryl walked out of the room carrying his shoes. "Hey, Dale," he said, his face red all the way up to his hairline.
"Morning, son. Did you have a good sleep?"
"I'm real sorry about this. We didn't…I didn't…I'm sorry, it won't happen again."
Dale put his hand up to stop him. "Daryl, it's okay. I trust you and I trust Carol."
Daryl nodded. He was relieved Dale wasn't mad at him. He was worried he might tell him he couldn't come over anymore or see Carol.
"But next time you need a place to stay you can just use the front door, okay?"
"Okay, thanks." He was feeling a lot better about this whole thing now.
Dale nodded. "Come on, Amy. We gotta go," he called down the hall.
Amy came out of the bathroom, grabbed her backpack and headed out the door. Dale followed behind her but stopped just before he went outside. "Oh, and Daryl?" Daryl looked up at him from where he had been chewing on his nail. "Just so you know, the couch is pretty comfortable." He shut the door behind him.
After he left Carol walked over to Daryl and wrapped her arms around him. "I can't believe that happened," she giggled into his chest.
"Don't laugh. That was embarrassing."
"It wasn't that bad. It could have been worse. He could have been mad."
"Yeah I guess." He pulled her against him and buried his face in her neck.
"Hey," called Andrea. "I'll see you guys at school. Don't be late and don't do anything I wouldn't do," she said as she walked out the door.
They kept holding each other for a minute before Daryl pulled back. "Hey," he said and waited until she was looking at him. "Do you have to work after school on Friday?"
Carol leaned back so she could get a better look at him. "No, why?"
"I was thinking we could go down to the fair and take Sophia. Remember I told her the three of us could go somewhere. We could ride the rides and play some games. What do you think?"
"That sounds fun. She's never been there before. She'll love it."
"Good." He kissed her forehead. "We better hurry or we're going to be late."
"Why don't you eat something while I get Sophia cleaned up and then I'll take you home," she said, pulling away from him.
"Alright." He watched as Carol picked up Sophia and carried her to the bathroom.