AN: Here we go, another little chapter. So we still have another actual "show" chapter left…but we're also getting the "date night" chapter after this one that breaks up the show a little bit.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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After Carol and her friends had gone on for their performance, Daryl had stopped paying attention. It wasn't too long after that that he, Merle, and Axel were joined by Tyreese, their boss, and T, another man that worked sometimes with Tyreese.
And come to find out, the world was a lot smaller than he had even imagined before…because he was right when he suspected that the woman in bright yellow was Tyreese's wife…and apparently the woman dressed in the bright orange…the one that Daryl thought he recognized from Carol's café, was the same woman who had been living with T longer than Tyreese and his wife had been married.
They found extra chairs for the men, a task that would have been easier any other night but was a little bit of stretch this night, and crowded them around the table.
None of them really knew what to expect, but they knew they were parking it there and holding until further notice. Eventually they'd find out if the women were going on again or not…but first there were a couple more groups that had to perform and then they were announcing some kind of break that was going to take place to give them time to make their way to the bar and vote if they hadn't done so already.
The first person that Daryl saw and recognized, though it was difficult to miss any of them since they looked like street walking Skittles making their way through the crowd, was Andrea. Daryl glanced, trying to look around her, until he found Carol bringing up the rear of the pack.
Andrea led them almost directly to the table, getting stopped once or twice by people that were either congratulating them on a job well done, or more than likely, trying to offer a phone number here and there to the women who had made jaws drop with their choices in costumes.
Andrea didn't speak to Daryl or anyone else at the table. She went directly to Merle and then loudly started to pelt them all with questions.
How had it been? How were the other groups? What did they think? Did they have a chance to go on to the second round? But did they really have a chance? Had they gone to vote? How many people had been voting? What had the jars looked like?
Daryl's head was spinning with her stream of questions that he doubted were getting answered by anyone because no one at the table had the mental stamina to keep up with the speed at which the questions were dispensed.
Daryl turned his attention away from Andrea and her overwhelming questions…she turned his attention away from all of them when Carol finally made her way through the crowd and approached.
Except he was looking for something great to say…something that would capture everything he was thinking about how damn good she looked in that dress…something that would say that the performance had been wonderful…even if he really couldn't remember much of what they'd done during the dance….and for all that he was looking to say, he found nothing. Not one single word. It was worse than the one and only time he'd tried to give some kind of speech for Tyreese at a city council meeting and he'd suddenly been struck dumb and apparently unable to even read the note cards that he had.
He couldn't say anything great to Carol because all of a sudden he couldn't say anything. His only defense…it seemed…was to grin at her and hope that somehow it translated over into some kind of wowing conversation.
Carol didn't seem to notice, though, or she didn't seem to hold it against him. She walked over to him and rested her arms on his shoulder.
"You came!" She said with a smile.
And luckily the warmth of the smile that she offered did a little something to loosen up his tongue. He nodded his head.
"You said ya wanted me ta come," he said. "So here I am…"
Carol smiled and he thought she blushed a little…or else she was still hot and flustered from the dance.
"What did you think?" She asked, lowering her voice. "Be honest…"
Daryl hated to admit that honest was about all that he could be right now. He was having a hard enough time speaking with her leaning on him, obviously using him to hold her up while she rested a little, so he knew he couldn't muster up the energy and the brain capacity needed to come up with a convincing lie.
"I don't like ABBA," he admitted. "But'cha did good…I…uh…"
Daryl stopped and cleared his throat.
"I like ya costumes…" he offered.
He was sure of it then that Carol's face changed hues.
"They're terrible!" She said, shaking her head. "They're the showiest ones we have, though…Andrea wanted us to come out with everything…well…she said everything we had to offer to get into the next round."
Daryl leaned a little, accidentally bumping Merle, but he didn't know if his brother even noticed because he was busy smarming Andrea and the lesbians…further proof that Merle did not understand the concept of lesbianism.
Daryl looked Carol up and down in the dress and chewed at his lip.
"Terrible weren't the word I was thinkin'…" he offered.
And Carol's face went a little redder, but she didn't say anything to him about the comment. He hoped, though he wasn't going to say it there at the table with everyone listening, that she was holding onto the dress…and that she might be looking for someone to escort her home tonight, no matter how the second round of this thing went.
Daryl figured he was up for cheering her up if that's what she needed or for celebrating with her if that was more where the night was headed.
He was, after all, flexible.
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"All I'm sayin' is that if Carol's a dyke…Andrea might be too…an' I ain't too damn old ta cross shit off my bucket list," Merle declared, cramming his mouth full of nachos at the end of his statement.
The women had made it into the second round and now Daryl was waiting with the other men to see what their second performance might be. Some of them were paying attention, in the meantime, to what was going on…and Axel was off in the corner with some woman he was trying to get to know better who looked like she was trying to decide if there was anything more interesting to find around the place…but Daryl didn't really care about the competition at all.
The only thing that he was thinking about was the fact that Carol had asked him if he was interested in taking her home. She'd rode over to the place with Andrea, and since Andrea was going with Merle, she'd have to scare up a ride if she didn't want to be stranded at Salty's after tonight's little shindig.
And Daryl didn't have a single problem in the world with driving her home.
"Merle…ya missin' the damn point a' what a dyke is," Daryl said finally. "Means they don't want no damn part a' ya dick comin' no damn where near 'em…they like women…"
"I do too," Merle commented. "Right there…we got a whole lotta shit in common…already lookin' like a damn story book if ya ask me…"
Daryl shook his head.
"Listen…Carol ain't no dyke…Andrea…I don't reckon she's no dyke…an' the dykes? They don't want'cha ass naked 'round 'em…don't wanna fuck ya…you get it?" Daryl insisted.
Tyreese laughed and shook his head.
"I don't know Sadie well," Tyreese offered, "but I've known Alice for a long time. She's a bonafide lesbian, Merle. No men…none at all."
Merle chuckled.
"Sounds like a good damn challenge…" he growled.
Daryl shook his head and took a swallow of the beer that he'd been nursing so long it tasted like warm piss. He could tell that at this point Merle was more than likely just looking to keep the conversation going…and he wasn't going to humor him.
Salty's was starting to clear out a little bit. It was still far more packed than it would normally be on a Friday night, but it had thinned a good deal when they'd announced who had made it to the second round of dancing. Apparently those that didn't make it didn't think they ought to stay to support the others.
Daryl watched the people for a little while and only turned his head when he heard Merle let out one of the shrill whistles that he was an expert at producing and then he heard Andrea's voice come over the speakers.
"Hi everyone!" Andrea announced.
She was dressed much differently this time than before, though Daryl couldn't say that the costumes were terrible…judging from hers they were just different. She was still wearing a tight, short skirt…it was just black instead of colored like she was part of a puddle of unicorn vomit. She was wearing a white button down shirt that looked like a man's dress shirt…but it obviously wasn't one she'd stolen from Merle because the damn thing looked clean.
"I'm Andrea Harrison and on behalf of my group I'd like to thank everyone who voted for us. We're number seventeen, that's one, seven, and we hope that you'll vote for us in this round so we get to see y'all tomorrow night too. We're um…"
Daryl felt sorry for her when she stopped and looked a little blank, the broad smile she was wearing fading from her lips. She'd obviously forgotten the rest of what she had to say.
A moment later, though, she smiled again and nodded her head.
"Sorry…we're doing "Does You Mother Know?" and that's ABBA…and we're group seventeen, so vote for us when we're done!"
She laughed at herself and it echoed as she put the microphone down and disappeared through the shower curtain that was hanging on by a thread on one end of the little stage…they'd have to do some repairs before the next night if they didn't want the whole thing crashing down to the floor.
When they moved the little curtain out of the way and then the music started, Daryl was sorely disappointed in the outfits that they were wearing…which admittedly was the real reason he'd been somewhat tapping his foot and waiting for the thing to start.
It took him a minute to even find Carol, even though she was front and center, because he hadn't really expected her to be dressed like she was.
She was dressed like a man. She and one of the dykes that Merle had been talking up…the brunette that had stolen his redhead right out from under his nose, were both dressed in black pants instead of the short black skirts that everyone else wore, and both wore black ties hung loose around their necks to go over the white dress shirts.
He hadn't felt more disappointed since he was a kid and realized that no matter what the hell everyone at school talked about, he wasn't getting shit for Christmas.
Merle chuckled.
"You gonna tell me know she ain't no dyke?" Merle growled in Daryl's ear, leaning over so that Daryl crinkled his nose at his brother's sour breath.
"Shut up, Merle," Daryl muttered. "She ain't no dyke…reckon…hell…s' parta the dance. They just dressin' like that for they story…"
Merle chuckled.
"It's alright, lil' brother," Merle teased. "You mighta got you a dyke…but she still looks pretty damn hot…an' you one step closer ta crossin' shit off ya bucket list…"
Daryl looked at Merle, finding it easier to look away from his disappointment than it had been to look away from the purple dress of before and rolled his eyes.
"She ain't no damn dyke an' I ain't got shit on my bucket list 'bout tryin' ta do somethin' I prob'ly couldn't do any damn way. You tried ta fuck three women…hell…you tried ta fuck two…an' I bet'cha that'cha ass'd die of a damn heart attack…bigger'n shit," Daryl spat at his brother.
He didn't realize his voice had carried until he heard Tyreese snort and then break into laughter.
"You couldn't pay me to give it a go with any two of those women at one time…Sadie's kind of quiet…but if she's tangled up with Alice? I don't want to try win that fight. Besides…I kind of like this dance…" Tyreese commented.
"You just like it because they rubbin' up on each other like that," Axel said.
"You're superior enough over there you don't like it?" T asked.
Axel laughed.
"Didn't say that shit…I was just pointin' out why it's so appealin' to the senses…Daryl…you the one goin' to the jar next," Axel commented.
When everyone started to pile their money in the center of the table as the song was ending, Daryl looked at Axel.
"Why you worried 'bout 'em winnin'? You ain't gettin' shit outta this," Daryl commented.
"I want 'em to win because I wanna see what they're going to do tomorrow night," Axel said with a laugh. "Got a better way to kill a Saturday?"
Daryl shook his head and gathered up the bills on the table. He didn't know how long they had to hang around the place waiting on the results from the second round, especially considering that they weren't the last group to go, but at least he knew that it wouldn't be that much longer that he could get the hell out of Salty's and start trying to talk Carol into slipping into something a little more…appealing.