(I can't sleep. I'm not looking forward to where I have to go in the morning, nor am I looking forward to where I'll spend the majority of my time the next four months. So, to deal with this, I'm just going to sit in bed and write instead of sleeping. I find it very therapeutic. Excuse all the venting. I just like to bitch sometimes, lol. I had an idea for this story that came across me tonight, but I'm not sure if I want to do it or not. Anyway, I'm rambling. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy.)
Andrea sat at the bar, stirring her Martini and watching the olive swirl around in the glass. "Are you going to tell me why you really invited me here?" She asked, turning her attention away from her drink and to the person sitting next to her.
"We're friends." "We can't just go out and have a drink?" Carol innocently mused, taking a sip from the fruity iced margarite in front of her.
Andrea tilted her head and smiled. "Honey, I'm a lawyer. Bullshit is my game, not yours. So are bars, by the way." "Since when you do you go out for drinks?" "House parties are more your thing."
"Hey, I went to bars in college with my roommates."
"That was college. We all experiment a little during that time of our lives." She smirked. "Come on though, we both know you didn't come here to pick up guys. You're obviously still smitten with the younger Dixon."
Carol rolled her eyes and took a long sip of her drink. "Why do you act like I have some ulterior motive for wanting to come out with you tonight?"
"Because I know you. If you didn't have something you wanted to talk to just me about we could have met up at my place and had some wine. Michonne lives there too, though. So it has to be something you didn't want to discuss in front of her. Plus, you ordered a drink with liquor in it. Tequila, specifically. You needed hard liquor. So, it's something you aren't exactly sure you want to talk about." She crossed her legs and placed her hands over her chest, flashing a smug look at her friend.
"You're pretty good." Carol admitted. She was impressed that Andrea picked apart the situation so well.
"Seven years of college and thousands of dollars in debt weren't all for nothing." She said, clicking her tongue. "So, tell me what's up?"
"This stays between us okay?" She said, scanning her eyes around the bar for anyone they might know.
"Yeah…okay."
"I mean it, Andrea. I'm talking to you about this because you'll understand."
"It's between us….I promise." Andrea placed her hands on her lap and prepared to give her full attention. This was obviously something important and something Carol needed advice on. It wasn't that they weren't close friends. Everyone in the group was close, but they also cliqued off with each other and had some things they'd share with certain people before others. Andrea and Michonne were always the go to for one another first. They'd gone to the same elementary school and she was her first best friend. Carol was always closest with Rick and Daryl, but if she needed girl talk she usually went to Lori or Maggie first. It was nothing personal, they all loved each other deeply.
Carol nodded. She felt a little relieved, but she was still a little nervous about bringing this up. She felt like Andrea would understand the most out of everyone, but she could be wrong. "Back in high school, you and Shane fooled around a lot and managed to keep your friendship…..normal…" "How'd you keep things from being….weird?"
"You wanna fool around with Daryl?" She shouted.
"Good job, Andrea. It'll be just between you, me and the entire bar." She snapped.
"Sorry." She replied, taking her tone down to barely above a whisper. "Are you sure you wanna do that?" "I mean, with your history and all?"
"Well, I've almost done it twice in the last three weeks…"
"What?" She shouted again.
"Seriously, Andrea?" She glared at her. "I would have been better off talking to Glenn. He knows how to whisper."
"Again sorry….I just wasn't expecting that." How did it happen?" "When?" "Which one of you stopped it?"
"The first time was when my dad was in the hospital. He started it and I stopped it. The second time I started it…and my mom stopped it." Her face crinkled up and she cringed thinking about her mom seeing that.
"Ew to your mom walking in…and he made a move while your dad was in the hospital…that's low, even for a Dixon."
"It wasn't like that…it's complicated."
"How so?"
"It just is."
"I can't give you proper counsel if you don't give me the whole story."
"Don't you lawyer me."
"Tell me what happened.."
"Fine." She grumbled. "My dad told him I was engaged. He got mad so then I got mad that he was mad. I told him how bad he hurt me when he left, he told me he was in love with me and was scared. That's why he left. He felt bad about taking my virginity, I told him not to and that I loved him to. He kissed me. Things got heated. I may have hit him when we were fighting and when I took off his shirt I saw the bruises, got upset and totally shut down."
Andrea turned her drink up and took a long sip. "First off, go Daryl, who knew he had it in him to make a move, and second somehow you think sleeping with him is going to make this whole confusing situation better?"
"He isn't as awkward as you all think he is and I'll have you that he knows what he's doing…..but that's not the point…..I came to talk to you about this because you do stuff like this all the time. I figured you'd understand."
"I do not do stuff like this all of the time." She corrected. "I have casual sex with people I have no emotional attachment to all the time. I don't sleep with guys I have feelings for."
"You sleep with Merle."
"This is not about me and Merle….and I do not have feelings for him." She scoffed.
"I'm going to humor you and pretend you're right for now." She smiled.
"Whatever…anyway, back to you and Daryl. I just don't think hooking up with him is the best idea. You should talk to him, see if he wants to date. You love him."
"He does wanna date. He told me at the hotel that he still loves me and he wants to be with me."
"Then why are we even here talking about it right now?" "You could be at home banging your boyfriend." She laughed.
"It's not that easy." She replied, sadly.
"He loves you, Carol. He screwed up when we were kids, you can't hold that against him forever." She placed a hand on her friends shoulder.
"Like you're holding something against Merle for something some other guy did?" She countered.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You hang out with him a lot. The two of you go out for drinks, he stays late at your house, you spent the night at his place, he came bowling with us…Merle doesn't go bowling."
"I'm not holding anything against Merle…and no other guy did anything." She tried to keep her voice clear and confident, but her defenses were cracking.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of….having your heart broken. It happens to everyone. Unless you're freaks of nature like Rick and Lori and Glenn and Maggie." She scowled.
"No one broke my heart." She protested.
***Flashback***
Andrea was standing in the hallway talking to Carol between classes. It was junior year of high school and prom was right around the corner. Andrea was going on and on about the dress she wanted to wear and how she couldn't wait for Shane to ask her to prom. The two of them weren't officially dating or anything, but they'd been hanging out a lot the last few months and they'd even been sleeping together. Andrea felt sure that he'd ask her to prom and that they'd end up being an official couple. She saw Shane walk by and quickly turned her attention away from the conversation with Carol.
"Can I catch up with you later?" "I'm gonna see if Shane wants to hang out after school." Andrea told her.
"Yeah, no problem. I'm gonna go meet up with Daryl anyway before class. I'm about to begin operation convince him it's a good idea to go to prom and take me."
"Good luck with that." Andrea laughed. "You're so not getting his redneck ass dressed up you know it."
Carol laughed too at the thought. "You're probably right, but I'm gonna try anyway."
"See you later." Andrea called out as she jogged to catch up with Shane. "Hey, you." She said, as leaned into him and pressed a kiss against his lips.
He recoiled back a bit. "Hey, Andrea."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing… nothing."
"Okay." She said, eyeing him cautiously due to his strange behavior. "So, what do you wanna do after school?" "I was thinking you could to my place. My parents won't be home."
"Nah. I got plans today."
"What about tomorrow then?" "My mom's working late all week."
"I don't think so." He shook his head and tried to walk off.
"Well, why not?" She asked annoyed, crossing her arms over her chest.
He spun back around to face her. "I'm hanging out with Jessi after school. We're kind of talking right now."
"I thought we were talking." She snapped.
"We were…I mean we are…look we never said we were exclusive. I told you I wasn't looking for anything serious. You said you weren't either."
She swallowed hard and forced herself to gain her composer. "No…no I wasn't…it's not a big deal….in fact Phillip Blake was asking me to hang out with him on Friday. I just figured I'd try and make some time for you before then."
"Maybe we can get together sometime next week then?"
"Yeah...maybe."
***End of Flashback***
"Maybe I'm wrong." She said throwing her hands up. She realized she probably had a better chance of hell freezing over than getting Andrea to admit that she'd ever had feelings for anyone. "But I still think you like Merle and the two of you would make sense together."
"Yeah, well I still think you're being ridiculous for not jumping at the chance to be with Daryl when it's all you've ever wanted." She countered. She didn't like that the topic of conversation had shifted over to her and Merle and that she was trying to dissect what they were.
"I told you, it's complicated."
"Not really…..You don't trust him again. Not completely."
"I trust him…" She tried convince herself it was the 100% truth as she said it.
She shook her head. "To an extent….but he's Daryl. His top two emotional response are to run or fight. When he's mad he chooses to fight. When he's scared, he runs. You think he'll get scared again and run. Not after sex this time maybe, but when things get tough."
She placed her mouth on the straw of her drink and took several more long sips. Whoever had made this drink went heavy on the tequila and she was thankful. She needed a little liquid comfort right now. "I know that's not fair…I know he's grown up a lot since then. I know he regrets it."
"I get it. You don't have to explain it to me, trust me….he loves you though. He always has, it's just in his own little screwed up way. I mean hell, the poor boy has only slept with one girl since you and he felt guilty after. Like he was cheating on you."
"What?" "Who told you that?"
"Shit." Andrea groaned. "See, this is why I don't like talking about important things when I drink."
"Did Merle tell you that?" "Do the two of you talk about us?" Carol demanded
"We don't talk about the two of you….I just asked him what he meant that morning after he said that Daryl hadn't slept with anyone in years….Don't tell him I told you that….Merle told me not to say anything."
