"I'm not sure about this." Beth's voice sounded strained as she looked herself over in Hayley's full length mirror.

"Oh please!" Hayley remarked sassily. "You look fabulous and you know it."

"Seriously," Rosita added. "Would I steer you wrong?"

"It's just so not me."

"That's the point! Beth, older men are a whole different ball game. Trust me, I know from experience-"

"And I know from TV!" Hayley chimed in.

"Exactly." Rosita nodded seriously. "Listen to us. The cutesy, cowgirl thing works on guys our age but it's not gonna fly with Daryl. He's gonna want sexy, otherwise what's the point of dating a younger woman?"

"Sexy." Beth repeated, trying to change her view of herself to make room for that. The dress she wore definitely showed enough of her body off to be sexy. It was ridiculously tight and rode up a bit in the back every time she moved. Thankfully tonight was going to be a little chilly because Rosita had agreed to let her buy a small lace cover to wear over the otherwise strapless dress. And she had put up a fuss about wearing red, so at least the black was semi nondescript.

"Now heels," Rosita said as she and Hayley dove into Hayley's extensive shoe collection.

"No way!" Beth exclaimed. Heels were where she drew the line. The dark makeup, the dress, the straightened hair, all of that she had agreed to. But she had only ever worn heels to her senior prom, and if she was trying to be sexy then stumbling around all night was the last thing she should be doing.

"You have to wear heels." Hayley insisted. "Zach, tell her."

Zach, who had been lying on Hayley's bed, actively ignoring the three girls, grunted in response.

"Zach!" Hayley whined.

He closed his laptop exasperatedly. "Seriously, why am I here right now? When is Noah gonna be here?"

"You're here to give us a male's perspective. So give it to us and you're free to go."

Zach sighed and turned his eyes to Beth, surveying her up and down as she stood there awkwardly. "Well, for one, that's what she said. And two, you look hot, you all know she looks hot. She doesn't need to wear heels to make some old guy wanna bang her."

"Thank you!" Beth yelled triumphantly. "I think?"

He stood up, grabbing his laptop and phone. "You're welcome, have fun. If you guys need me I'll be in my room kicking ass at Assassin's Creed."

The three girls watched him leave before Hayley finally spoke.

"Well there you have it, if you can impress him then you're obviously doing something right." Hayley's eyes glazed over slightly as she continued to stare at the doorway where Zach had just been.

"Quit mooning!" Rosita snapped her fingers in front of Hayley's face. "Save it for when she leaves. We've only got a few more minutes."

"Yes ma'am!" Hayley saluted at Rosita and went back to digging through her shoes.

Rosita walked over to stand in front of Beth and squeezed her shoulders in support. "You look great, Beth. Just remember all of the stuff I told you and everything will be perfect."

Beth nodded, taking a shaky breath. "I don't understand why I'm so nervous, but I feel like I'm gonna barf."

"Well definitely don't do that." Rosita cracked up.

"These!" Hayley yelled out suddenly, holding up a pair of flats. They were cute, Beth could admit, black with a pointed toe and gold studs on the back. She wasn't sure they'd be comfortable but anything was better than heels.

Plopping down into the spot that Zach had just vacated, Beth caught the flats as Hayley tossed them to her. Beth slipped them on and laid her legs out on the bed. The shoes were slightly too big, but she'd rather have that then them be pinching her toes all night.

"Gah!" Rosita clapped as she surveyed Beth. "He is going to fucking die when he sees you!"

"If he even recognizes me…"

"Oh shush, you don't look that different! It's just a little bit of eyeliner and lipstick."

Beth stood up and walked back over to the mirror. "My mouth looks like a coin purse." She pouted as she poked at her lips.

Haley burst out laughing, "What does that even mean?"

"No idea," Beth shrugged. "I heard Shawn say that to Maggie once and I'm pretty sure it was meant to be an insult."

Rosita shook her head in exasperation. "You look fantastic. Now go or you'll be late. Plus, Hayley hasn't thought about Zach for a solid minute so we need to get back to that."

"Not true, I was thinking about him this entire time."

Beth laughed and hugged them both before she turned to leave. Rosita and Hayley followed her into the hallway, waving like she was their daughter off to her first dance. Taking a deep breath, Beth steeled herself as she walked down the dorm hallway.

"Don't throw up!" Rosita called down the hallway before she and Hayley closed the door to their room.

"Don't throw up." She quietly repeated to herself.

Daryl blew out a long puff of air as he stood outside of Beth's building. He'd gotten here way too early so all he'd had to do for the past fifteen minutes was pace nervously. That, and imagine every single thing that could go wrong on this date tonight. He felt like an idiot, dressed all fancy in his new clothes. Carol had even forced him to put some sort of hair product in his hair to keep it out of his face.

Merle had given him a look as he had walked out the door, making sure that Daryl knew exactly what his big brother thought of his appearance. Not that Merle's judgment meant too much to him regarding this subject. Daryl was hardly trying to impress the type of women that his brother brought home on a regular basis. If putting goddamn gel in his hair was what it took to impress Beth, then he would do it.

This meant something to him.

"Daryl?" He heard Beth's soft voice behind him, feeling slightly relieved to hear the nervousness in her tone.

The correct response upon seeing her would have been to smile and say a polite 'hello'. Instead, he turned around and his mouth dropped open. All he could get out was a shocked "Whoa".

Clearly that was a mistake though because Beth turned bright red and stopped a few feet from him.

"What does that mean?" She blurted out.

"I just think you look nice, is all." Daryl tried to explain calmly, but he could hear his voice crack as he spoke.

"Oh." Beth visibly relaxed at his answer. She had clearly been expecting him to say something completely different. How could she seriously think that he'd think she was anything except beautiful.

Beautiful, he cringed at his brain's choice of words. Merle would beat the shit out of him if he ever heard Daryl speak that word out loud.

"Well," Daryl cleared his throat. "Do you wanna go?"

"Sure. Where did you park?" Beth craned her head to look into the parking lot.

It was Daryl's turn to go bright red. "I walked… Uh, I've only got my bike and I wasn't sure if you'd be comfortable with riding on the back of it." He gestured to her outfit, "Probably the right call."

Beth tugged at the bottom of her dress nervously. "Alright, it's just this way." She gestured down the street in the direction that he'd just come from.

The pair set off, walking side by side in silence. For a few minutes an awkward tension filled the air. Daryl couldn't figure it out. They had kissed twice, spent hours alone together, and it was awkward now? All he could focus on was the occasional bump of his hand against Beth's. That and the uncomfortable material of this damn shirt Carol had picked out.

"You meant a motorcycle, right? When you said 'bike'?" Beth finally spoke.

"Yeah! Christ, you seriously think I'm a grown man who doesn't have my life together enough to own an actual vehicle?"

Beth looked mortified, until she saw the smirk across Daryl's face.

"Damn, Daryl!" She laughed, swatting his arm. "I'm just trying to make conversation and you gotta go and scare me half to death."

He nudged her playfully, "I'm a grown man who lives with his brother, sleeps on a mattress on the floor, and bartends. Assuming that I don't have it together enough to own a vehicle is a normal conclusion to jump to."

Beth nudged him back. "You know, I really like that grown man who lives with his brother and sleeps on a mattress on the floor, so you should try being nicer to him." She interlaced her fingers with his own, "Plus not owning a car is all the rage nowadays. It would just make you seem environmentally conscious."

Daryl felt his heartbeat pick up as she squeezed his hand and continued to hold it as they walked. Her hand felt unbelievably small in his as her fingers brushed his knuckles softly. Forcing himself to relax and just let himself enjoy this, Daryl returned the pressure.

"So is this place close by?" He asked after they had walked another half mile. "We actually ain't too far from my apartment."

"Oh really? Is that an invitation, Mr. Dixon?" Beth smiled and raised her eyebrows at him.

Daryl felt his skin burn but he couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment, or something else entirely. Maybe it was best if he didn't know.

Unsure of what to say, he simply turned his face away so that she couldn't see his expression.

Beth laughed, probably knowing exactly what he was thinking, and mercifully changed the subject. "I am so damn glad that I didn't wear heels. My feet are already killing me, it would have been brutal."

He wasted no time in jumping on the new topic. "Never got why women wore shoes if they weren't comfortable. You all spend so much money on 'em too."

"It's 'cause they look so cute." Beth stated matter of factly, pointing down to her feet.

Daryl just shrugged. They were nice looking but he still didn't understand it. "I'll take your word for it."

Silence fell over the pair again, except this time it was a comfortable one. Their hands still intertwined, Daryl let himself continue to just give into the moment. Her hand fit well in his and the way their elbows kept bumping together made his heart jump. All of the nerves and self doubt didn't matter anymore.

They were here and it was good.

After a minute or so, Beth began humming. Whatever it was, he could tell she was in tune. He was willing to bet that this small girl who stood so close to him could sing like an angel. It didn't take him long to figure out the song, either.

"Are you humming Let It Snow?" He asked, looking around as if he'd see snow suddenly appear on the ground.

Beth seemed confused at his question at first, then burst into laughter after a moment of thought. "Oh yeah, I guess I was."

Daryl tugged lightly at the sheer lace sleeves of her dress. "Hate to break it to ya, but it's September. And only in the fifties."

"Yeah yeah, I know. It's just a catchy song."

"Actually," a long forgotten memory flickered through Daryl's thoughts. "I had to sing that at my second grade Christmas concert."

Beth's mouth dropped open. "I need to hear about that."

Before he could say anything, though, she slowed to a stop in front of a restaurant with a giant neon sign that read 'Yang's Dragon'.

"Here we are!" She announced.

The place looked pretty shady, but Daryl wasn't about to shoot down Beth's idea. Letting go of her hand, Daryl stepped around Beth to open the door. She smiled at the gesture as she walked inside. He followed her in and couldn't help but notice that her dress had ridden up in the back so that her ass was slightly exposed.

Fuck, Daryl quickly averted his gaze toward the ceiling. Was she not wearing panties?

"How many?" The hostess greeted them brightly, distracting him.

"Two." He answered them quickly and made sure to walk in front of Beth on the way to their booth.

The girl filled up their glasses with water and left two menus on the table before walking away. Daryl didn't even have a chance to reach for a menu before Beth spoke.

"So," she said excitedly, "Tell me about this Christmas recital."

Daryl chuckled and shook his head. "Nah, that's not a story I'm ever gonna tell ya. I didn't even mean to bring it up."

Beth leaned toward him, a serious look in her eyes. "Daryl Dixon, I am not one for blackmail but I swear to god if you don't tell me about you singin' in a Christmas recital I will never forgive you."

"You mean that?"

"Oh, I definitely mean it."

Daryl put his hands up, "Alright, I'll surrender. There ain't much to tell though. The kid who was supposed to sing it got the flu and my teacher forced me to take his place. Said I needed to participate more, and that was how I was gonna start."

"Please tell me there's video of it!"

"Doubt it." Daryl shrugged. "My parents weren't exactly the kind of people who went to those things and Merle was in juvie by that point so there wasn't really anyone to record it. My teacher probably got a video, wanna go track down? Tell her that was bullshit that she made me sing up in front of all of 'em." He laughed at his own, bad joke, but he could tell she wasn't buying it.

"Hey," her tone was serious now and she bumped his leg under the table. "That sucks, I'm sorry."

He shrugged again, feeling like an asshole. It felt like he was constantly doing this with her- taking a good time and bringing it down.

"It ain't nothin'." He mumbled as he rapped the table with his knuckles.

"You're right, it ain't. It's not on you, at least." Beth assured and before Daryl knew what was happening she had reached over the table for him.

Tugging at his shirt's collar, she brought his lips to hers in a firm kiss. Even though he'd been caught off guard, it didn't take him long to react. Scooting forward in his seat, Daryl rose slightly to give himself a better angle of her mouth. Her lips parted slightly at his movement and he felt her grip onto his shirt tighter.

It wasn't long, and it was as chaste as their first kiss, but Daryl felt dizzy as he sat back down. Beth took a deep breath in as she plopped back into her seat and smiled shyly at him from across the booth.

"Well shit, if I knew that shitty parents got you all hot and bothered I would've started talking about my childhood ages ago."

"Stop." Beth's voice grew quiet and serious at his joke. "I don't want you to think that's why I kissed you. Why I like you."

"I know," he nodded. "It's my charm and the table manners you know you'll probably see from me tonight."

"Yeah, I can only imagine." Beth didn't say why she had kissed him, and he was glad about that. It would have led to deeper topics than he wanted to get into on a first date, maybe ever. Not that they hadn't gotten into deep topics before, because really they seemed to be doing this thing backwards.

Not tonight, though. Tonight he wanted to buy Beth Greene dinner, make lame small talk, and just keep on giving in to the good.