It is a scorching summer day in Georgia. The thermometer her mother keeps in the kitchen says it is ninety-five degrees, but it really feels like it is a hundred and five out there. Beth has been awake for over an hour, has not stepped outside, and her shirt is already stuck to her skin. She sure is ready for the cold shower she is going to try to take, at the end of the day, once she is done with her farm chores.
Her mother hands her a plate of scrambled eggs and sausages, and she almost devours them. Her mother reprimanding her and telling her to eat like a lady though, annoys her more than anything, and makes her eyes stay on her fork so she does not roll them. Shawn is more than allowed to eat like a pig because he is a boy. The double standards are unfair, she thinks. She wonders if her mother has ever been hungry, or if she forgets that she is a growing girl, and food is necessary to grow.
Beth still goes on to devour her food when her daddy enters the kitchen. Her daddy always goes to the feed store every Tuesday morning, and Beth is about to ask him how everything went, after she swallows her orange juice, when she notices her daddy is not alone. Behind her daddy is Daryl Dixon.
She knows him from school. He is known as the school's bad boy. She heard a rumor once that he ate a live duck, or was that about Patrick Verona from 10 Things I Hate About You? She does not remember, but still she wonders why her daddy has brought Daryl Dixon home with him.
"Morning," Hershel greets to his family before going to Annette and giving her a kiss on the cheek. After getting a reply from Beth, Shawn, and her mother, Hershel smiles and turns to Daryl who is still standing under the kitchen's doorway.
"You can come in, son," Hershel tells Daryl, sending him a kind smile as he takes a seat on his chair ready to eat breakfast.
Daryl does not move immediately. Beth notices he twitches a little, as if debating if he should come in, before moving slowly into the kitchen, and sweeping his eyes through them all. When his eyes meet hers she suppresses a gasp. His eyes are incredibly blue. They are beautiful.
"Hello, honey," her mother then says as she stands a couple of feet from Daryl. Extending her hand Annette introduces herself to the boy who she can clearly tell is wearing a guarding mask, that in her opinion no child should wear.
"I'm Annette, Hershel's wife, and mother to these lunatics," Annette adds pointing to her nineteen year old son, and her sixteen year old daughter, who tries not to blush. "Are you hungry, sweetie? Would you like some breakfast?"
Taking Annette's extended hand, Beth notices that Daryl's lips twitch a little when he hears her mother call them lunatics. That sight almost makes her smile as well.
Daryl then answers her mother very politely, "Uhm, if it's no inconvenience."
"Oh no, honey," Annette says shaking her head, ushering Daryl to Maggie's seat, placing her hand on his back causing Daryl to flinch, and Annette withdraw her hand quickly. She briefly turns to Hershel then asking him a question with her eyes.
"Here take Maggie's seat," Annette says to Daryl, trying to hide her concern as she spots, once Daryl steps in front of her, the blood stains on his shirt. "Maggie is backpacking in Europe so she doesn't need the seat," she then informs Daryl to distract herself.
"Thank you," Daryl responds after Annette serves him a good helping of eggs and sausages. Her mother never does learn to not cook for an army.
Beth takes her eyes from Daryl then. Everyone but her daddy had been staring at him since he arrived, and he probably feels self-conscious. She knows she would if she was in his place, and especially if she was about to start eating. Turning to her food, she continues eating but this time not as frantically, feeling self-conscious now with handsome Daryl Dixon sitting on the other side of the table from her.
"So," her daddy begins after everyone finishes eating. Speaking in his authoritative tone, that no one dares to defy, her daddy says, "Daryl here is going to stay with us for the summer. I have hired him as a farm hand. The Lord knows we are going to need help with Maggie's chores, and soon Shawn's once he leaves for college."
The whole family nods to that. They do need help with the farm that is for sure, Beth inwardly agrees. She has had to add about five extra chores to her usual ones, and she always ends exhausted at the end of the day. Her daddy hiring Daryl was a great idea. She cannot help to turn to Daryl and smile at him at that. Daryl, however, only has eyes for the table, or her daddy when he speaks. He must not like her. She tries not to be disappointed about that.
"Beth," her daddy addresses her making her turn from Daryl to him, ready to hear her daddy's game plan. He usually gives them one each morning when the day does not start like a usual one. "Doddlebug, I would like you to show Daryl the inner workings of the farm today. He's going to be doing Maggie's chores but I want him to know how to do all the chores like everyone else."
"Is that okay with you, Daryl?" Hershel asks the boy who was chewing his thumbnail while Hershel spoke to her. She wonders what that tick was about. Was he nervous about something? Probably his new job and chores.
"Yeah," Daryl answers her daddy, clearing his throat, and sitting a little straighter on his seat. "That's fair to me, sir."
"Call me Hershel, son," Daryl nods.
"Alright," Hershel then says rising from his seat, and grabbing his dishes. "Remember to place your dishes on the sink so I can wash them, and go to work, please."
Doing what Hershel prompted them to do; they place the dishes on the sink for her daddy to wash -since one of his jobs was to clean the kitchen after breakfast since her mother cooked- and then headed on to their chores.
Before joining Daryl, who was outside speaking to Shawn, Beth grabs two water bottles, fills them with ice and water for her and Daryl, knowing they had to have them.
When she exits the kitchen Daryl is waiting for her with is hands in his pockets looking almost shy. Weird for the bad boy of West High, she thinks.
"Here," Beth smiles at him, handing him his water bottle. "We're definitely going to need these."
"Yeah," Daryl responds with a grunt, taking the bottle from her, but not before slightly grazing her hand and sending an electric tingle through her body. She looks at Daryl and wonders if he felt that too, or if it was just her crazy romantic heart that did. It was probably her crazy romantic heart that felt that.
"So," Beth begins to say, trying to get back on track, and leading Daryl to the stables for their first chore. "My first chore is to feed, and give water to the horses."
"Okay," Daryl says as he follows her, more than ready to learn. He cannot screw this opportunity to be away from his father, and make money. He has to escape so he has to work.
"So everything is relatively easy, it is just a lot of work," Beth adds as they continue their trek, trying to be teacher Beth, not Beth with a crush Beth.
"You'll get the hang of it, though," Beth adds being positive and encouraging. She knows that those are two factors important to motive anyone who is new to something.
"Thanks," Daryl answers in short again, kind of annoying Beth then. She wished Daryl spoke more. She knew a lot of people preferred to keep their mouths shut, and maybe Daryl is one of those people, but she also knows he has a lot to say, everyone does.
Observing Daryl then, Beth notices, truly notices, that he is not at all like he is described to be at school. Everyone said he only wears black, and leather, and had a nose ring to match is bad boy persona, but here he is with a white under shirt, under a red flannel that even though did have the sleeves cut off, showcasing his impressive arms, did not fit a bad rebel boy. Maybe those are his summer clothes? Maybe, but also the nose ring was not there, and the fact that he politely answered to her and her parents made her think twice about Daryl Dixon. After all, everyone at school said he always talked back to teachers, and could not utter a sentence that did not have an expletive on it.
Perhaps Daryl Dixon is not what he is painted to be. There is something more to this boy, who as they neared the stable doors hurried his steps to hold the door for her. She smiles at him for that, a smile, though, he does not really catch because he is looking at the ground instead of her. She swears, as Daryl readily waits for her lead to begin their chores, she is going to not just show Daryl the inner working of the farm. She is going to learn all the inner working about him, she is certain it is going to be more than worth it.
