They sat for another couple of minutes, neither speaking. The sound of Daryl's cigarette tap tapping into an ashtray and Beth's occasional swig of beer were the only sounds.
She puffed out a breath. "Ok, so now what?"
Daryl didn't look at her as he crushed the cigarette butt into a heaping mess of cigarette butts. "Now what, what?"
Beth got up, empty beer bottle in her hand. She made her way into the kitchenette and looked around her. "Now what, like, so what do we do now?" She looked over her shoulder at him, "where's your recyclin'?"
He grunted at her. Of course she would ask something ridiculous like that. "Aint none. Just put it in the sink."
She scrunched her nose up and placed the bottle gingerly on top of a pile of dishes. The sink was already clogged with dirty water, and she didn't fail to notice how discarded, waterlogged cigarette ends were floating at the top. She turned to look at him, "What're we gonna do, I mean. How much does Merle owe?"
Daryl finished his beer and sighed. "There aint no we. Your brother owes shit, my brother owes shit, s'all there is to it." He should tell her to leave right then and there, simply for the invasion of his privacy.
It wasn't his though; it was Merle's privacy.
Same thing. It was Merle's secrets and schemes he protected. Just like it was her brother's schemes she protected.
Beth rolled her eyes and grabbed the phone off of the countertop and shoved it into the back pocket of her jeans. "You always this stubborn? What's gonna happen to Merle? 'Cause whatever it is, it doesn't sound good. We can work together, you know."
"Work together how?" he squinted at her.
She made her way back over to the chair and sat down. Daryl watched as she stared at her feet in concentration. Despite her enthusiasm, it was clear she was just as much at a loss as he was. He tried to come up with something, but his thoughts seemed disjointed as he was staring at her. Thinking of what an odd contrast a pretty, clean Beth was to the filthy broken chair she sat in. The chair his father once occupied, sitting in his underwear drinking Evan Williams out of the bottle.
She looked at him, helplessly shrugging her shoulders. "What about, you know, other people that owe him money? We could go around and collect it." She ignored the scoff he made as she said 'we.'
"Nah. Merle gets it right there and then. You brother was an exception. Plus, can't sell much when you keep usin' the product." He leaned back and crossed his arms.
"Why'd he let Shawn do it?"
"'Cause of who he was. Didn't know he'd be such a douchebag." The word left his mouth before he could stop himself. She flinched at the ease in which the insult tumbled out and scowled at him. "Don't call him that. What do you mean 'who he is'?"
He stared up at the ceiling, unwilling to meet her eyes. Truth be told, he had began to feel a small hint of embarrassment for the assumptions he had made about her family. Her blue eyes never showed a hint of judgment. She didn't say anything about his house, or the mess, or the company his brother kept. Matter of fact, she drank his beer and made herself right at home, like they knew each other for ages.
Know all about judgment, huh? People been calling me white trash since before I even knew what that meant.
"Who ya'lls dad is," he admitted. "Figured he had plenty of money and you guys do too."
Beth was looking at him quizzically until she smiled. "My dad does, yeah. Doesn't mean he, like, just gives it to us." She huffed out a small laugh before adding; "It would make things a lot easier now if he did." He chanced a look at her and she was still smiling at him. "What about a garage sale?"
His eyes narrowed at her. "Girl, you drunk?" He rubbed his hand over his face, and without looking at her said, "Anyways, I was thinking bake sale." He turned to her as she laughed.
"You know, my dad is a member of the Elks Lodge. Bet we can hold our bake sale there."
His mouth twitched up into a crooked smile. "Shit. We could invite Grimes and Walsh. Maybe raise money for all the disadvantaged tweakers in the county." Beth was laughing louder and the sound made his chest involuntarily heave in his own low chuckle.
Once Beth's laugh died down she sighed and looked at him. "Hey, so I haven't eatin' breakfast yet…" She took a deep breath before continuing, "I was wonderin' if you wanna join me at Ty's." Beth tried to gauge his reaction to her invitation, but he was hard to read.
"Didn't you just drink your breakfast?"
That wasn't a no, she thought. She smiled wide, hoping he wouldn't be offended by the offer. He didn't answer her, but instead kept staring at her. "Because somebody came to my house super early when I was going to make breakfast. I also thought we could hatch our master plan."
"Master plan?" He repeated sarcastically. "You plannin' on stealin' the Hope diamond, too?"
She beamed at him when she saw him search his vest pocket for keys. Jingling in his hand, he stood up. Bouncing out of the recliner, she waited for him lead them to the door. "We should steal the Hope diamond," she proclaimed as she followed him outside. "There'd be more than enough money for everyone's debts."
She watched him shake his head as they made their way to his truck.
A/N: Thanks for those of you still stickin' around!