Luckily, Beth didn't wake up with a headache the next morning. But, she wasn't entirely sure of the time. There was already light shining through the window, but really, that could be mean anything. She knew she'd fallen asleep sometime between nine and eleven o'clock, after a very long, and embarrassing time arguing with Daryl that she wasn't tired. Eventually, he had just corralled her toward her room and closed the door behind her. Which, thankfully, seemed to be enough for her to admit defeat and finally go to bed. But during that time, she hadn't actually told him once that she had to be at work by seven.

Quickly, Beth changed in to a mildly cleaner uniform and went see if she had time to guzzle down some coffee before she drove herself to work. Her internal alarm clock never really let her sleep in anyway. Or, at least that's what she thought. It was an honest-to-god almost shit herself moment when she saw she had fifteen minutes until her shift started. Daryl was nowhere to be seen, yet again, but she'd hope he'd put the keys to the truck where they were easy to find.

The truck. Beth realized that she'd been acting like she believed what Daryl said about the truck being there in the morning, but hadn't actually checked it herself. As soon as that thought popped into her head, she tore onto the front porch to confirm it was there, as promised. However, her spot remained barren.

Dread filled Beth immediately. She prided herself o not being tardy, because at least that was something she could do right. She usually accounted for the time it took get there, and it was good good chunk even if she ran full speed. She couldn't be late. But, that seemed to be the case, all because of goddamn Merle and goddamn Daryl. Which was a thought that replaced her dread with anger.

"DARYL! DARYL DIXON!" Beth screamed as she ran back into the house. "GET YOUR ASS UP RIGHT NOW! WHERE IS MY TRUCK!"

Beth took at his door, banging on it until he opened up. He was shirtless, and I looked as though he had half hazardously thrown on a pair of pants. "Beth, what the hell?"

"EXACTLY! WHAT THE HELL, DARYL?" Beth couldn't find it in herself to lower her voice even one octave. "WHERE. IS. MY. TRUCK?"

"It's not outside?" Daryl asked groggily.

"NO. IT'S NOT!"

"Okay, okay, then I guess you have to walk…"

"Oh yeah, cause I'm gonna make it to work in…" Beth glanced at the clock, "…ten minutes, Daryl!"

"Fine, I'll get my keys." Daryl said as he shut the door in her face before she could get her excuse me out. The door reopened seconds later with Daryl now fully clothed and keys in his hands as Beth still stood there, fuming and confused. "Well, come on!"

"There's no way," Beth started, finally cluing in, "that I'm getting on the back of that thing!"

"It's the bike or be late." Daryl replied. "You decide."

Beth stood there for another moment, contemplating her choices. But she knew with every moment she contemplated, time was dwindling away. "If I so much a feel like I'm going to die, you pull over, got it?"

"Sure." Daryl rolled his eyes and walked off, with Beth trailing on his heels.

. . .

He knew he should have insisted on giving Merle his bike, but for whatever reason, Merle was dead set on taking that damn truck, and now there they were. Daryl couldn't remember the last time he had someone on the back on the motorcycle, and he sure as hell never imagined having to take Beth on it. But Daryl didn't like to see her angry and if he hadn't offered, they'd still be standing there with her yelling at him. He didn't know what else to do.

He'd been keeping his distance from her, obviously not entirely, seeing that they lived together, but in other ways. Although, he couldn't decide on his reasoning why. But he'd tried to stopped waking up so early to have coffee in the morning with her and didn't make it a habit to be so close to her all the time. At Lori's bar, they'd usually sit shoulder to shoulder, just be the stools being so close together, but not he made himself well aware of her presence, and always another stool buffering the space in between them.

A lot of good that was going to do now.

"Okay, all you have to do is hold on tight, and not fucking scream." Daryl said as he swung his leg over the side. Beth stared the seat hesitantly before doing the same. As he started up the engine he heard her let out a tiny yip.

"Sorry." She mumbled, as she carefully wrapped her arms around his waist.

Daryl immediately tensed up at her touch, although he could always blame it on the motorcycle. After all, there was never supposed to be a relaxing moment on a bike. As he hit the throttle and sped off from the cabin, she did what she was told and held on tight. To him, it was the same old same old. He knew how to ride a motorcycle before he knew how to drive a car. He knew the roads of the town like the back of his hand, every twist and turn and the unavoidable bumps. But to her, the sensation of the wind and the exhilaration of flying full speed was an entirely new experience. With every twist and turn, Beth's grip got tighter. Every time they hit a bump, she buried her face into his back; which he believed was a tactic to hide her tiny cries of surprise.

Thankfully, it was a short tip on the bike, and almost as soon as it had started it was over. As they came to a halt in front of the diner Daryl cut the engine to let her know that the ride was over. If he had calculated it properly, he would guess that she even had three minutes to spare. Which she was probably going to need, given that it took her a while to let go. When she did finally unravel her arms from around him, she took a deep breath of air and stood up. The girl looked completely disheveled, with her already unbrushed hair now wind blown and even more tangled than before; and she had some seriously shaky legs that weren't very well hidden by her short uniform shirt.

"That was…" Beth breathed.

"…Horrible?" Daryl guessed her next words, thinking that she was probably still on the war path.

"…Not as bad as I thought…" Beth laughed, one of her realm full bellied laughs, taking him off guard. "Is it always like that?"

Dary shrugged, "You get used to it."

"That was such a rush!" Beth exclaimed.

"Like I said, you get used to it."

Beth looked back at the diner, knowing her shift started at any moment, but had one more question to ask before she ran off. "Do you – do you think you could pick me up from work?"

AN: lol I should be studying for my finals