A/N - Just in case any one is interested ad wants to follow me on tumblr, I'm the same there as I am here – bbjorgman. If you're not on tumblr then you should be – I think my shipper heart would fail if I didn't have all the beautiful ladies there to fangirl with. Also, there seems to be an awful lot of Reedus arm porn going around which is never a bad thing...

Chapter 13

Beth sighed as she inspected herself in the mirror. She was nervous. She wasn't entirely sure that Daryl was going to talk to her tonight but she knew she had to try. Her blonde hair was down and curled lightly around her shoulders, she hadn't wanted to get too dressed up for a night at the bar so had settled for denim shorts and a yellow tank top and a pair of Chucks. She was sure it was actually pretty casual for the bar at a weekend – Beth had seen the things that other women wore out to bars and it definitely wasn't shorts and a tank top – but Beth was hoping that her and Daryl could leave the bar to talk. She nodded at her reflection and took another deep breath. She wasn't even sure wasn't really sure what exactly she was going to say to Daryl, there wasn't really an easy way of telling the best friend that you hadn't seen for 8 years, who had posed as your boyfriend, that you had loved him for, how long?, possibly forever and that the kiss that he witnessed with your ex-boyfriend hadn't meant anything. Oh and that you had broken the deal of the pretend boyfriend arrangement before the rule about not falling in love with him had even been made. Beth couldn't even make it sound sensible in her head and no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't think of a way of telling Daryl without thinking she was completely crazy. She thought about what Merle had said and wondered if Daryl really did love her too. She couldn't have been imagining the way that he had looked at her this weekend in Atlanta when he thought she wasn't paying attention. Could she? Or the way his lingering touches and kisses had felt real, more real than anything she had ever had with Zach, or with any man for that matter. Beth hoped that Daryl was as much in love with her as she was with him. She knew that Daryl didn't really know much about loving someone, or at least he hadn't before, she realised now that she didn't know what he had been doing for the last 8 years. Had he been in love with someone? Had he been dating? The thought of Daryl with another woman, even while she would have been with Zach at the time, made her insanely jealous and Beth shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts. She had text Maggie to see if she would come to the bar for moral support but she had been called in to work and had told Beth that she would try and get to the bar later. Beth hoped that Maggie got there before she confessed her feelings to Daryl. She wasn't entirely sure she could do this without her sister. Beth wanted to get to the bar without any questioning from her parents so she waited until she heard the sound of the piano in the lounge, meaning her mother would be playing while her father read, before she crept down the stairs, calling out her farewell and running out to her car before her parents could respond.

Beth didn't think the drive to the bar in town had ever felt as long as it did tonight. When she pulled up outside the bar she could see Merle and Daryl's bikes standing in the parking lot outside. Merle stood beside his, smoking a cigarette and talking to a nerdy looking guy with a mullet who looked pretty out of place. Beth turned the engine off and took a few deeps breaths in and out. She looked over to where Merle stood and saw him squinting in the direction of her truck. He gave her a small wave and then whooped when she stepped out of the truck. Beth couldn't help but smirk. No one would every accuse Merle Dixon of being quiet. She walked over to Merle who flung an arm around her shoulder as he said goodbye to the guy he had been talking to and led Beth inside. Her palms felt sweaty and part of her wanted to turn around and go home. She scanned the bar for Daryl but couldn't see him immediately, the place was busier than she had thought it would be and she definitely felt under-dressed compared to the other women here. Merle pulled Beth over to the bar and ordered them both a drink, handing Beth hers when it arrived. She sipped at it and wrinkled her nose, not even sure what the hell Merle had ordered her. He indicated with a nod of his head to where he had seen Daryl last and Beth followed after the older Dixon. They were nearing the area where the jukebox was set up when Beth collided with Merle's back. She glanced up to see that he had stopped and heard a muttered curse from him, she was surprised she had heard it over the din in the bar. Beth pushed around Merle to see what had made him stop. And then she saw Daryl. He was leaning against the wall near the jukebox, one leg bent at the knee, foot flat on the wall. Beth took note of his sleeveless shirt and ripped jeans. Damn, he looked good. Then she realised what had made Merle curse. Standing in front of Daryl was a blonde woman, effectively sandwiching Daryl between herself and the wall. Beth had been so glad to see Daryl that she somehow hadn't even registered the woman at first. From behind, she looked like a trashy version of Beth, a skirt so short it barely covered her ass and a barely there cropped top. Her blonde hair looked ratty and Beth guessed that it was mostly fake. Daryl had a beer in one hand and the other hand was resting on the top of the woman's thigh, fingertips just under the bottom of her skirt. The woman was rubbing herself up against Daryl and he was smirking at her, obviously enjoying what she was doing. Beth blinked back the tears forming in her eyes and she barely registered Merle slipping past her and walking towards Daryl. She saw him grab his younger brother by the arm but it wasn't enough to pull Daryl away from the trashy blonde, just causing the woman to wind her arms around Daryl's neck. Beth felt sick. She was sure she was frozen to the spot, wanting to move, to look away, but unable to do anything but stare as Daryl tightened his hold on the woman. Merle leaned in and said something to Daryl, cocking his head in Beth's direction. Daryl's eyes flicked up and locked with Beth's. That was all Beth needed to unstick her from her spot and turn around and run. She pushed her way through the hoards of people until she was outside, sucking in breaths of fresh air. Beth ran to her truck and got in, starting the truck quickly. She took a few shaky breaths, willing the tears that were threatening to spill away when there was a knock on her window. Beth squeaked and turned to find a confused Daryl glaring at her. She stared at him for a few moments before she wound her window down.

"The hell're ya doing here, Beth?" Daryl sounded angry and Beth felt a surge of rage towards him. She hadn't wanted Zach to kiss her but he had been enjoying what was going on with that woman in the bar. "Thought you'd be in Atlanta with your boyfriend."

Beth growled, anger towards Daryl bubbling to the surface. He was always so damn unreasonable. "I came to talk to you, wanted you to know... " Beth trailed off. He was being rude now, like she didn't have a right to be here just the same as he did. "But it doesn't matter because you're being a dick."

"I'm being a dick? Ain't I the one who pretended to be your date for some damn wedding that I didn't even wanna go to? And then you didn't even have the decency to fuckin' tell me that your little college boy wanted you back and ya didn't need my services no more. Didn't need to use me no more to make it look like ya weren't just sad and pathetic and alone."

"I didn't... I don't..." Beth screamed in frustration, trying to make Daryl understand that Zach wasn't what she wanted.

"Yeah, ain't got much to say to that have ya, girl?" Daryl's voice was dripping with disdain and he looked smugly at her like he had won. Beth's emotions were all over the place as she looked at this stubborn ass of a man.

"Actually," she shouted at him, "I came here to tell you that I don't want Zach, that I didn't want him to kiss me and I didn't even kiss him back. I came here to tell you that I love you, you jackass. "

Daryl blinked at her and opened his mouth to speak but before he could, Beth put the car in drive and peeled away from the parking lot, leaving Daryl staring, open-mouthed, after her.

A/N - Sorrynotsorry