This chapter went in a different direction than what I had intended it go and I like it better than what I had planned. I think you all will, too. ;)
This chapter has been rewritten.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Daryl felt terrible as he drove his truck with a silently sniffling Carol in the passenger's seat. For the second time in only a few days, he had made her cry and he had vowed, back when they had first started to become friends, that he would never do that to her. Making Carol cry was one of the worst things he could do. So, what kind of friend did that make him, now?
Feeling bold, he reached over the space between them and placed a hand on one of hers. The one that had been resting on her thigh. He tried not to wince at his bloody knuckles. "'m sorry," he mumbled, hoping that it would make things better. At least, a little bit.
Carol turned her hand under his and linked her fingers through his. They held hands before, but only as a means to help one another up or a quick squeeze for comfort, which Carol usually initiated. This was different. Carol looked at their interlocked hands and then, looked at him the same smile still in place.
"Don't be sorry for beating that bastard's ass, Daryl," she said and moved until her side was pressed against his, their hands remained together in her lap. She buried her face into his shoulder and her words were muffled, "He deserved it and he deserves everything Merle is doing to him, too."
Daryl turned his head slightly to the right and was surprised to feel her hair tickle his jaw and her breath hitting the skin of his neck. They had sat close before, but this felt more...intimate. Especially with his hand still grasped in her soft one. Daryl had always been afraid of touch because of his father and wondered how he could ever be in a relationship. However, he wasn't afraid of being touched by Carol. In fact, he craved it. Right now, he wished her house was hours away from town, instead of the few minutes. He would be reluctant to let her scoot away from him.
"So why were you cryin', then?" He asked, forcing himself from his thoughts before Carol got suspicious of his silence. "I thought you didn't want me to beat his ass."
She sniffled and Daryl hoped that the tears wouldn't start anew. "At first, when you punched him in the house, I was cheering you on. He deserved it, like I said, and I wanted you to hurt him more." She looked up at him and he saw that her eyes were shining with tears, again. "But then, I started to worry that someone would call the cops and take you away. I was more afraid of that than you getting hurt because I knew they wouldn't have taken Ed away. Just you."
It wasn't fair, since Ed had instigated the fight, but Carol was right. The Dixons weren't loved by anyone in town and the police would jump at the chance to put any one of them behind bars. Daryl, so far, had been the only one to not see the inside of the local jail and he planned to keep it that way.
"Yeah, it's cuz he's the perfect example of a do-gooder pretty boy," he growled. "No one would want to put his 'pretty' face behind bars. I just hope Merle doesn't do anythin' too crazy and gets himself in jail, again. I ain't got the money to bail him out." He pulled into Carol's driveway and once he turned his truck off, they stayed in the cab for a few more minutes.
"Hopefully he hides the body well, then," Carol said and laughed.
"If anyone could hide a body that could never be found, it would be Merle. "He squeezed her hand, playfully. "Not that I'm sayin' he would kill someone."
Carol laughed, softly. "I think Merle, out of everyone else I know, is the most capable of killing someone." She detached herself from his side, somewhat reluctantly Daryl noticed. "But that doesn't make me like him any less." She moved until she was by the door and opened it to hop out. "Come on," she said through the open door. "I have supper to make."
Daryl smiled and shook his head before following her inside the house.
Merle watched as Ed sprinted away with smug grin on his face. With how fast he was running, one could almost think that Satan, himself, was chasing him.
Merle had barely even touched the boy and he had him running away, scared shitless. Daryl had already done enough damage on Ed's pretty boy face, so the fucker should consider himself lucky that Merle hadn't roughened it up, even more. Even though, he really wanted to. It seemed Milton had some kind of influence on him.
Still watching Ed as he got smaller and smaller, Merle couldn't help but feel proud of his little brother. It was clear Daryl had been sticking up for Carol. Maybe later, she would give Daryl a little token of her appreciation.
He was still smirking to himself when he walked back onto the clothing store where Milton was hopefully done shopping.
He was and he walked up to Merle with a garment bag in his hand and a curious look on his face. "Is everything all right? And was that Ed I just saw running away from you?" His face fell. "Don't tell me you beat him up. You do realize he'll probably press charges and you could go to jail."
"Relax," he said and slung an arm across his uptight friend's shoulders as they made their way to his silver car. "The only time I touched the boy was to scrap him off the street after Daryl was done with him."
"Daryl hit him?" Milton's eyes grew wide.
"Actually, he hit him more than once. That boy's face ain't goin' to be lookin' too pretty, tomorrow. Hell, from the looks of all that blood, he probably has a broken nose, too."
When they reached the car, Milton unlocked the doors, placed his purchase in the back carefully and the two of them climbed in. Milton made sure he was seat belted and safely backed out onto the street before he spoke, again, "Do you know why he did it? I mean, I know Ed has been giving him a hard time at school and seems to have a thing for Carol, but Daryl was doing a good job ignoring him."
"The little shithead probably said somethin' undesirable about Carol." Merle rolled down the window. "I've only ever seen him get that mad when someone says shit about her...and I speak from experience."
"Do you think Ed will press charges against Daryl?" Milton sounded worried. "He is eighteen, after all."
"Fuck if I know. But there is one thing I do know. If that piece of shit coward squeals to the cops about my brother, Daryl ain't goin' to be the only Dixon he'll have to look out for." Merle sounded extremely serious.
Milton knew that if he were in Ed's shoes, he'd probably pee his pants. He almost felt sorry for the other guy... but then, stopped. Ed deserved whatever was coming for him and Milton would stand there and smile whenever he got it. Heck, he almost wished he could have been there to throw in a punch or two for all the times Ed had tried to shove him into his locker.
Well, he would have punched him if doing any kind of violent act didn't terrify him so much. It was a good thing that he was friends with Daryl and Merle, who relished in violent acts and who were fiercely protective of their friends.
Daryl sat at the kitchen table and watched as Carol stood by the stove, cooking. He had offered to help, but she had shot him down, much to his relief. He didn't know a thing about making a good meal and he was perfectly content with just watching her work. He could watch her all fuckin' day, which made him sound creepy. So, he focused his attention to the calluses on his hands and the nails he had bitten to the skin whenever he was nervous.
"So," he said, keeping his gaze down. "You ever goin' to show me that dress of yours?" He noticed a hang nail on his thumb and put it in his mouth to tear off the skin.
"Nope!" She sing-songed and flashed him a smile over her shoulder before she turned back to the stove and lifted a lid on one of the pots. "You'll just have to wait until the day of prom to see it, like everyone else."
"And who said I would even be over here, then?" He rested his elbows on the table and looked at Carol's back, waiting for her to turn around.
"Well," she said and turned to him with a wooden spoon in hand. "If you didn't show up, I was planning on paying a visit to Chateau Dixon and drag your ass here. With my heels and all." She winked at him and turned back to the stove.
Several minutes after Carol told Daryl she would have dragged his butt to her house if he hadn't shown up Friday, she stirred the pot of noodles and saw that they were almost done. The sauce, in the pain beside the pot, was simmering.
"What are you makin'?" His voice startled her as it came from right behind her shoulder. She turned and saw him standing there, looking past her shoulder and to the food cooking on the stove. He was so close. Quickly, she averted her eyes.
"S-Spaghetti," she said, hoping he didn't notice the way she stuttered. Why was he making her so nervous now? They had been even closer in the truck and she had been fine. But, then again, she had been the one to initiate the closeness.
He must have noticed her shaking hand because he grabbed it and pulled her closer. Carol wondered if Daryl was aware of what he was doing. She definitely knew that he wasn't aware of what his proximity was doing to her. The beat in her heart had quickened and she was sure Daryl would be able to hear it beating wildly in her chest.
"'m sorry if I scared you. I know I said it already. I just, y'know, wanted to tell you, again." Daryl must have thought her hand was shaking from what had happened earlier. Carol didn't know what to think about that. She thought he had grabbed her hand because he wanted to be close to her.
Her cheeks still heated up, though, and the color on them deepened when she felt him brush her knuckles with his thumb. "It's all right, Daryl," she said, her voice only a tad bit squeaky. "Really."
"Are you sure?" His blue eyes searched hers and she saw so much concern for her in them that she just wanted to wrap her arms around Daryl and pull him close. But she could never to do that. He was just her friend and one who didn't do to much, at that.
She nodded. "I just wish that it hadn't happened in such a public place, you know? Anyone could have seen and called the cops. But I would have been all up for it if you had jumped him in an alley." She tried to smile, but it wobbled when she realized at how close Daryl could have been to getting into serious trouble.
"If it had been just been me Ed insulted, I would have ignored his ass. But when he said that shit about you, I couldn't. I should have killed him for calling you a prostitute."
She jumped again when his other hand came up and cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing the smooth skin under her eye. Daryl had never touched her like this. It was intimate...and she liked it.
Carol leaned into his touch and smiled. "Well, I should have beaten his ass for having him think you needed to pay someone to have se- to sleep with you." She blushed even more at the subject.
His thumb stopped moving on her cheek and he gave her a look of shocked disbelief. "Are you sayin' there's women out there who would want to have sex with me?" Obviously, he had no problems saying the word like she had.
No longer could she keep eye contact with him and looked down as she nodded. Daryl was very attractive and she was surprised he hadn't noticed. She certainly had. "I take it you haven't seen the way some of the girls at school look at you." And if it wasn't for the Dixon reputation, more than a few of them would have gone up to talk with Daryl, by now.
He shook his head.
"Yeah," she continued, still not looking up. "You could have any girl you wanted." It was true, he could have any girl he wanted and it probably wouldn't be her.
"Any girl I wanted?" He let go of her hand and it fell limply to her side. The hand on her cheek disappeared, too. She hated the tears that sprung to her eyes at the loss of contact. Hadn't she cried enough today? But the thought of Daryl being with another girl, even thinking about being with another girl that wasn't her, saddened Carol.
Daryl could have anyone. Andrea. Jessica. Angelica. The whole cheerleading team. They were all beautiful. She was just plain Carol, the girl who he had been friends with since the seventh grade. The girl he probably thought of like a sister.
Just then, he was tilting her chin up, forcing Carol too look at him as much as she wanted to still keep her gaze averted.
"You said any girl?" He repeated.
Anger surged through her. Was he just rubbing it now? "Yes," she snapped, eyes flashing. The hands at her sides clenched into fists and she wanted to tear her chin from his grasp. His words had felt like a punch in the gut.
"Well, there's only one girl I want." Daryl's eyes never left hers and he began to lean closer. His breath hit her lips and her gaze locked on his as he wet his lips with his tongue. "And that is..."
The last word was drowned out as he blood running through her veins pounded in her ears and she wasn't even aware that she had closed her eyes until she felt his lips brushed against hers. It was just like that day in his arms, but this time, they had made contact.
They both froze at the feel of one another's lips...but not for long. Carol reached up to grab his shirt and Daryl tilted his head, so that he could kiss her properly. However, before he could move, a loud banging on the door had them jumping apart.
Both of them looked very annoyed at being interrupted.
"I should probably get that," she sighed and stepped away from him to walk towards the front door. She opened to find Merle and Milton there. She stepped aside and let them in.
As they walked to the kitchen, Daryl looked ready to kill someone and Carol didn't blame him. She was in the mood for murder, as well.
So...what did you think? ;) Did that satisfy you? At least a little bit?
Thanks for reading.