AN: Here we go, a little chapter for you all!
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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"I'm proud of you," Andrea said as she helped Carol wash dishes.
If Carol was taking lunch off to spend the whole hour…or however much time was allowed to them…with Daryl, then she'd reasoned that she wouldn't take as many breaks throughout the day, since she normally ate whenever the mood struck her in between one job or another, shuffling around the duties of the café. She'd talked Andrea, then, into keeping her company while she worked during her little appearances between clients.
And luckily, Andrea didn't seem to mind as long as she was still allowed to gossip to her heart's content while they worked.
"You're proud of me for…" Carol glanced around and dropped her voice, still not as confident about her recent activities as Andrea was about some of her escapades, "for sleeping with him again?"
Andrea giggled.
"Yes…I am, actually," Andrea responded. "Is that so hard to believe?"
Carol only had to give her a facial expression to communicate her next thought to Andrea.
No, it wasn't hard to believe from Andrea, given that she was very much of the mentality that love…and by love she typically meant sex…should be given freely and regularly to anyone that you desired to give it to.
But it was hard for Carol to fully accept about herself. She was working, she felt, under a different set of rules than Andrea…a different code that she had for herself. She never faulted her friends for anything they did, believing wholeheartedly that everyone should live their lives the best way they saw fit, but for herself she often reverted, no matter how much they preached their various ways of life to her, back to some of the beliefs with which she was raised.
And one of those beliefs was that she shouldn't be proud of the way that she was behaving with Daryl.
But, apparently, Andrea did not see any problem with it at all.
"Listen…you like him, right? I mean you must…you keep going back," Andrea reasoned. Carol simply nodded her head. "And…it didn't even bother you that I told him a few little things…just little itty bitty things that he might want to know about you and what you like…it didn't bother you, right? You still like him?"
"What all did you tell him, anyway?" Carol asked, turning her head toward Andrea quickly and raising an eyebrow at her.
Andrea shook her head and took on her best appearance of innocence.
"Not much…I mean I told him that he should text you…because you would like to know that he was thinking of you when you weren't in front of his face…and I told him about the restaurant…really not much more than that…" Andrea said.
Carol sighed and kept at what she was doing. She caught Andrea glance at her watch.
"If you need to go…" Carol said.
"Not yet…" Andrea responded. "So…anyway…what are you going to talk about over lunch?"
"Why don't you tell me about his brother, huh? I think you know enough about the state of my life," Carol said.
Andrea snickered.
"I like Merle…" Andrea said. "I don't know what there is to tell about him…"
"Try me…anything will do," Carol said.
"OK, he says he's not interested in a relationship," Andrea said.
"And neither are you, right?" Carol challenged.
She had known Andrea for so long now that she knew the things that Andrea said simply because she thought they were the right answers to certain questions that people might have for her. Carol had learned that much of what Andrea said, she didn't entirely mean…but she wasn't going to call her out on it, not flat out, because it seemed to be important to Andrea to uphold certain images she had for herself.
"Not really," Andrea said. "But for a man who's not interested in a relationship…he worries a good deal about the next time he's going to see me…"
"And for a woman not interested in a relationship, you keep seeing him," Carol challenged.
Andrea smiled and hummed something for a response.
"He's sweet…but he doesn't think he is, or he doesn't want to be…it's hard to tell," Andrea said.
Carol thought that it sounded a little familiar. Someone who had a certain image to uphold…someone who had a certain way of being that they'd constructed for themselves, even if anyone who really knew them knew that it was quite the transparent façade.
"And…he's good in bed," Andrea said. "Very…eager to please…"
Carol could hear the smile in Andrea's voice before she ever even turned her head enough to see it. And she was happy to see that smile there. No matter what type of man Merle Dixon might be, he had to be something decent to bring a smile to Andrea's face…and it had been a good while since a man had done that.
"So it's a sex thing?" Carol teased, dropping her voice low enough that Andrea would only be able to barely hear it.
Andrea chuckled.
"You could say that…" Andrea said. "He…"
She stopped and took off the yellow gloves that she was wearing, laying them beside the sink and turned to lean against the counter, crossing her arms before she continued speaking.
"He makes me feel beautiful…desirable…" Andrea said with a shrug.
Carol smiled.
"But you are beautiful," Carol said.
Andrea made a face.
"But it's been a while since I've felt that way…despite what you girls like to say about it…and Merle, well, he makes me feel that way," Andrea said. She sighed and picked at the edge of the counter. "I'm going to hold onto that for a little while…you know? For as…long as I can."
Carol smiled.
"I think you should…when do I get to meet him?" Carol asked.
Andrea raised an eyebrow at Carol and Carol watched her over her shoulder as she ran the sink hose around, washing it out for the last time until the next load of dishes came through.
"Doesn't a lot of that depend on your boyfriend?" Andrea asked. "They are brothers…"
Carol laughed to herself.
That's right…they were brothers. She kept forgetting it. She was too used to having her friends relationships as something to talk about, but ultimately as something that was far removed from her life except for in the rare occasions when they managed to bring them all together. This time, though, they were beginning to create something of a tangled web.
"Maybe…if things keep going well…" Carol offered, "we could have a dinner or something at my house? All four of us?"
Andrea shrugged slightly and nodded.
"Sounds good to me…and I have a feeling I can get Merle to agree," Andrea said. "But…for now…I have to run. Tell me about lunch later?"
Carol nodded and offered Andrea a quick hug in exchange for the dishes she'd done on her break instead of sitting somewhere and relaxing like she was supposed to be doing on the time she scheduled for herself throughout her day.
"I'll call you tonight," Carol said. "Tell you all about it."
"Don't forget," Andrea said. "Tomorrow we have dinner with Alice…she doesn't get a two day leave for like another week and a half…so we shouldn't miss it."
Carol nodded her head.
"Already in my phone," she said. "I'm not going to miss Sadie's welcoming party."
Andrea smiled again, nodded, and disappeared from the back of the café without saying anything else, moving at the normal half jog that she assumed whenever she'd lingered a little too long and was going to risk upsetting a client because they had to wait three whole minutes for her arrival.
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"She's gonna fuckin' kill me…I swear," Merle declared to Daryl.
They were working on a "small plumbing problem." At least that's how the woman who owned the house had described the issue…and that's what they'd believed it to be…right up until they found out that her water pipes in the basement had busted and they were wading through knee deep water.
Daryl was supposed to be on the job with just Axel…but neither of them were nearly as good at plumbing as Merle was, so Merle had traded places with Axel and Axel had gone to look into a small handyman job putting up some molding in another house.
And now Daryl was getting to hear all about Merle's new girlfriend…who Merle wouldn't call a girlfriend, but Daryl could see that he was fonder of her than he'd ever been of anything he'd ever had in his life…and Merle wasn't quick to let go of things that he liked.
"But whoo…whatta way ta go…boy…" Merle declared.
Daryl was mostly keeping quiet. He was there, because he didn't know what else to do, to hand Merle tools and do whatever the man told him to do. This was Merle's show right now because if he'd been left to do the job on his own, he might have simply told the woman that she was wrong for calling them and should have called the straight up plumbers…and maybe an exorcist for whatever had possessed her pipes.
Daryl stood off to the side, waiting for his directions and keeping a check on the clock. Busted pipes or not…he wasn't missing lunch today. Any other day he might have offered to work right through it, but from the looks of this mess, the woman owning the house had put off calling them a pretty decent amount of time…so she couldn't bitch too damn much about him going to eat, and today wasn't a day that he was missing.
"What about your lil' muffin?" Merle asked, coming down from his position and wiping at his face, which was disgusting.
Daryl grunted his response.
"Don't reckon she's gon' kill me…" Daryl said.
Merle chuckled.
"But you ain't come home last night…" Merle said.
Daryl shook his head.
"Ya ever find out how damn old she is?" Merle asked.
Daryl shook his head, again not offering a verbal response for the moment.
"Ya care?" Merle asked with a chuckle.
Daryl echoed the chuckle that time.
"Don't think I do…what about Andrea? She ain't quite the under forty variety, is she?" Daryl asked.
Merle laughed and shook his head emphatically.
"Nah…she ain't that…but hell she's hangin' with the big damn dogs either way…hell…I'ma have ta fuckin' get myself one a' them there Viagra prescriptions ta keep up with her ass," Merle said. "I think more'n her turnin' me down…it's me turnin' her down 'cause I ain't got the stamina I once had."
Daryl laughed.
"Hell…all that runnin' 'round with young girls you done an' you gon' up an' tell my ass that Andrea's gonna put'cha up on blocks?" Daryl asked.
Merle, his breather apparently over, sloshed through the water and went through his toolbox that was resting on one of the steps that led down to the basement.
"That was the ticket, though," Merle mused while he looked for whatever the hell it was he was searching for. "Keep 'em just a night…it's a one-time deal. An' I ain't got half the stamina I had when I was twenty…but I'm good for sprints. They ain't knowed no damn difference ya get they asses out the door fast enough…"
"So you sayin' you got no damn plans ta boot this Andrea woman out the door?" Daryl asked. "Don't sound like you, Merle…"
Merle laughed.
"Experimentation's a good damn thing…Daryl," Merle said. "Keeps ya brain from gettin' old…"
He headed back to the ladder that he was working from.
"We still talkin' 'bout'cha relationship?" Daryl asked, laughing at Merle.
Merle hummed at him.
"Best call Axel," Merle said. "See if he can't get his skinny ass over here…I'ma need some damn back up an' you can't be goin' ta meet'cha woman lookin' like ya do. Knock the fuck off early an' take a damn quick shower…we won't say nothin' ta Ty…"
Daryl chuckled and nodded his head, though Merle wasn't looking at him for the moment.
"That s'posed ta be like ya damn blessin' or somethin'?" Daryl asked.
"Get the fuck outta here boy…" Merle snapped back at him. "Get on my damn nerves…I got shit ta do…"
Daryl shook his head, but took it for what it was worth.
"I'ma call Axel soon as I get ta the truck," Daryl offered. "Want me ta tell him ta bring ya somethin'?"
"Tell him I want me one a' them salad things with the pecans in it…he'll know what the fuck I'm talkin' 'bout," Merle said.
"A salad, Merle?" Daryl asked.
"I done told ya ass…Andrea's gonna fuckin' kill me…gotta make some damn sacrifices…now get the fuck outta here…I don't wanta hear ya ass whinin' if ya late ta ya damn date…" Merle threw back.
Daryl went up the stairs to the upper level of the house, not saying anything else to Merle and informed the woman that Merle and another man would keep working…but he was supposed to be somewhere else for the time being.
And then he called Axel and headed to his house to make himself at least a little more presentable before he showed up at the fancy little café that Carol ran.