(I'm exhausted and ready for my head to hit my pillow, but I said I was going to update tonight and I am trying to stick to my word. Here's the next one. Thanks for reading and reviewing. )
Daryl sipped the rest of his beer while Rick walked to the bar to grab some more drinks for everyone. Jessie and Rosita were a few feet away talking quietly to one another. The blond one was giggling to herself, and Daryl could tell she was already fast approaching her limit for the night. She'd grown quite touchy with Grimes. Running her hand up and down his arm any chance she got, leaning into him whenever she laughed, brushing her hand against his thigh a few times as they'd sat by one another while they were waiting on Daryl or Rosita to take their shot at the pool table.
And Rick seemed to be enjoying the attention from the woman. Daryl was surprised the man's jaw didn't hurt from how much he'd been grinning tonight. And much to Daryl's surprise, the man had even gotten a little flirty back with her. He actually didn't think that Rick would end up going home with anyone, but the way things looked right now it was pretty much a sure thing. He knew that look women gave when they'd made up their mind that they were going to sleep with a man, he'd seen it plenty of times, and Jessie was definitely giving Rick that look.
But he could tell that Rick was still a little nervous about it. He would twirl his thumbs when he was sitting still, or he'd shake his leg, and he'd moved on from drinking beer to taking shots of liquor about an hour ago. Daryl assumed it was to help take the edge off and push away any apprehensions the man might have about actually following through with this in the end.
Then there was Rosita, who'd pretty much done all of the things Jessie had been doing to garner Rick's attention and interest, except she was doing them to him. She'd ran her fingers across his muscled arms and commented on how impressed she was with them. When she'd gone to stand up at one point she'd used his leg to help push herself up, slowly running her hands up and down his thigh before pulling away. Then there was the fucking fact that every time talked to him she felt the need to lean in to him, basically trying to press her lips against his ears as she spoke. Not to mention that she had a low cut shirt on and she made sure anytime she bent over the table to take a shot she was exposing her cleavage to him.
"I got the drinks." Rick said, as he approached the others. Bringing Daryl from his current thoughts.
Jessie smiled and walked over to Rick, taking the mixed drink he'd brought her. She leaned into him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you for buying this for me."
Rosita walked up to Rick and grabbed the drink she wanted. She then turned and strutted towards Daryl, walking up to him with a smile and stopping in front of him. His bangs were hanging in his eyes and she reached up to brush them back. "Thanks for getting this for me." She leaned into him.
"I didn't." He muttered as he saw her start to lean in. "Rick did. Thank him."
She paused and shifted uncomfortably, straightening herself up and turning to look at Rick. She gave an awkward, forced smile. "Thanks for the drink. I just assumed Daryl would've taken care of mine for me."
"You're welcome. It was no problem. It's my pleasure to get to buy drinks for two pretty girls." He smiled at her and when she turned around he shot Daryl a hard look.
Daryl ignored Rick's look and walked up to his friend, taking the beer he'd asked him to grab for him. "You got my card?"
Rick slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled Daryl's card out, shoving it into his hand. He leaned in close to him as he passed the card back. "You couldn't have just acted like you paid for it?"
He just shrugged, reaching for his wallet so he could put the card up. "But I didn't pay for it. I ain't a liar."
"So." Jessie interrupted before Rick could mumbled something else only Daryl could hear. "Rosita and I were talking a few minutes ago and we think it'd be really fun to walk over to the club. We've had fun shooting pool, but uh, we'd like something where we could be a little closer to you two. Maybe do something a little more physical." She gave a suggestive smirk as she ran her lips over the straw of her drink and waited for the men's response.
"I think that's a great idea. Rick answered for them. "We'd love to do something…a little more physical." He returned the smirk Jessie was giving him, letting his eyes sweep over her as he tossed back his shot.
()()()
Carol, Maggie and Tara had just stepped out of the karaoke bar and onto the street in search of somewhere else to go. Carol had a few more drinks and she was feeling really good at this point. In fact she'd felt so good that she ended up singing Ice Ice Baby with Tara. They'd tried to pull Maggie on stage with them, but she'd chuckled and told them no way. When they got done the girls all had a seat and order a few more drinks. When Wannabe by Spice Girls was the song that was up Maggie finally caved and got on stage with the other two. They'd been her favorite band when she was in grade school and she couldn't resist by that point. Although, it probably didn't hurt that she'd taken some shots by that point and was starting to feel it a bit herself.
"I wish I had that on video." Tara snickered as they made their way down the sidewalk downtown. "Glenn would die laughing."
"I'd just play it over and over again at on the TV in the lobby." Carol chuckled.
"Yeah." Maggie snorted. "Greene Animal Clinic Girls Gone Wild. Daddy would love that."
"Oh, hush. That was tame and you know it. We were just singing and dancing. Nothing wrong with that."
Maggie stopped walking and raised her eyebrows at them. "Tara flipped the crowd off once the song was over and said do you like that bitches?"
Tara just snickered some more. "That one old guy told us to shut up. Fuck him. Okay, just fuck him."
"He said show us your boobs. Not shut up." Carol laughed.
"Oh." Tara shrugged. "Well, whatever. These are my boobs. Not his. My boobs. And Denise's. Hers too. But creepy old dudes definitely don't get to see them."
Maggie reached up and gave her own a squeeze. "Hey. I hear you. These are for Glenn's eyes only."
"I guess Carol could have taken one for the team." Tara joked, nudging her in the shoulder.
"Oh no. No way. My girls are staying in my bra right where they belong."
"Right. Until you get home tonight and show them to Daryl." Tara snorted.
Carol stopped walking and felt her blood run cold. She shot Maggie a stern look, wondering if she'd told Tara about her earlier admission when she'd stepped away to the bathroom. She'd opened up to her earlier because she felt like she could trust her. Well okay, because she was drunk mainly, but she still felt like Maggie would respect her confidence. "Why would think that?" She asked Tara, trying to keep her voice guarded, but letting her tone grow more serious.
"Because you live with him and you two had all this mad sexual tension. I mean, you guys practically stare at each other every chance you get at work. Then Rick went away for the weekend and you two were alone. I mean, something had to have happened then. And this is Daryl, so I'm assuming the rumors are true and he was really good. So why wouldn't you keep going to the same pond if the fish are biting good?"
Maggie's face grew apologetic as she looked over at Carol and mouthed out I didn't say anything, I swear.
Carol just nodded at Maggie and bit her bottom lip as she turned her attention back to Tara. "I wouldn't know how the fish are biting so I don't have any reason to go to that pond." She replied simply. "Daryl and I are friends. That's it."
"If you say so." Tara laughed.
"Hey, why don't we go to Oasis?" Maggie interrupted, trying to divert the attention off anything Carol and Daryl related. "Shawn's band is playing. I can get us in for free."
"Sounds good to me." Carol agreed.
"I'm down."
()()()
The club was pretty packed, but that wasn't surprising given the fact that it was a Friday night and being as late as it was. Daryl had always preferred bars to clubs when picking up women for the most part. There was usually enough space at a bar he didn't have to be next to anyone he wasn't interested in being next to. But at the club, well that wasn't the case at all. The floor was usually packed and the majority of people were usually drunk off of their asses and wound up accidently crashing into you at some point. Plus the lines to take a piss were usually ten minutes long.
He wasn't thrilled to be here to say the least. He hadn't wanted to come out tonight at all really, and he damn sure hadn't wanted to be dragged somewhere he'd have to be around an unlimited amount of people. But Rick had given him a look as they walked out of the pool hall. One that said seemed to say don't screw this up for me, I need this and you owe me. So he hadn't protested, he'd simply gone along with the plan. After all, how many times had Rick gone out with him so he could get laid? And didn't he kinda owe him more than Rick knew?
But right then he was wishing he'd have put up more of a fight. Because as much as he'd tried to ignore Rosita's efforts earlier. As much as he'd tried to brush off any touch she'd given him and not pay attention to it, it was currently damn near impossible. At the moment, she was currently grinding up against him as the DJ played what Merle would refer to as baby making music. And it was fucking hard to ignore an attractive woman moving against your dick. Especially one who knew how to move her hips.
He bit his bottom lip hard and scanned the dark room. He was trying to distract himself, trying hard to think about anything else and fight every natural instinct that was running through his body right now. His eyes landed a few feet away where he spotted Rick and Jessie. The two were in a heated make out session and their hands were exploring one another's bodies rapidly. If there was any doubt that Rick was going to sleep with her tonight, seeing that pretty much expelled that. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if Rick pulled a page out of his book and ended up fucking the bitch in the alley at this point.
He felt Rosita press herself further against him and his attention was suddenly diverted away from the sight in front of him and to the woman pressed against his crotch. He let out a frustrated groan. He should be enjoying this, he should be whipping her around at this point and shoving his tongue down her throat, his hands should be roaming all over her body. And there was a part of him that wanted to do that right now. Granted that part of him was located on the lower half of his body, but it was an important part, and the constant touching throughout the night and the current situation of her ass rubbing up against him was growing harder and harder to ignore. He felt his pants tighten and he was sure she could feel it as close as she was to him. As much as he liked Carol, as guilty as he knew he'd feel if anything happened, he was still a heterosexual man. And when an attractive woman is moving against you like that your body is naturally going to respond.
Rosita turned around and gave him a seductive grin as she felt his budding erection press against her. "You make a girl work pretty hard to get laid. You know that?" She reached down with one hand and ran her hand over the front of his pants. "But I'm sure the juice is gonna be worth the squeeze." She reached up with her other hand and pulled his face to hers, kissing him demandingly.
It was like his mind stopped working momentarily when she'd turned around and rubbed his dick. He'd been fighting this all night, he'd tried really hard to act like he wasn't interested in her. Hell, he'd refused to dance with her when they first got to the club, but Rick had shot him another one of those looks and he'd felt guilty and ended up on the dance floor anyway. The girl either couldn't take a hint or she'd just refused to give up. And Rick was going to go home with Jessie anyway at this point, wouldn't someone have to entertain her friend to make sure that happened?
And then she'd pulled his face to hers and she started kissing him. And he hadn't stopped her. He'd let her, and he'd kissed her back at first. Letting his body take control and give into impulse. But that was short lived, because as her tongue swirled with his and he felt her hands move under his shirt he started thinking about how different her touch felt. How different her kiss felt. He thought about Carol and how kissing her shot waves of electricity throughout his body. He thought about how the way his skin broke out in goosebumps at her touch. About how seeing her smile made his stomach do little flips. And then he thought about how awful he'd feel if she was with someone doing the same exact thing right now. How hurt she'd sounded at the idea of him with some other girl earlier, despite the fact that she'd told him he didn't owe her anything. That he didn't have to stop living his life for her. And maybe he didn't have to, but he wanted to. He wouldn't forgive himself if he let this happen. Hell, he wasn't sure he'd forgive himself for letting it get to this point.
He snatched his lips away from hers and moved his hands to her hips to push her off of him. "I gotta….I gotta go smoke." He stammered out, bolting for the exit. Once he reached the outside he pulled his cigarettes from his pocket and pulled one to his lips. He took a seat on the edge of the side walk and pulled his lighter out. Once it was lit and he pressed it to his lips he ran his hands through his hair and hung his head. Letting out a loud sigh as his chin connected with his chest.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Rick barked, walking up behind him.
"Ain't nothing fucking wrong with me. I just needed a cigarette." He snapped, picking his head up and turning to look at Rick.
"You were in the middle of making out with a hot girl and you just pushed her off of you for a cigarette. Who the fuck does that?"
He leapt to his feet, taking the cigarette in one hand and throwing them both in the air. "I can't fucking sleep with her, Rick. I just can't."
"Why the hell not?"
He thought back to how Rick had laughed at him earlier when he'd tried to tell him how he felt about Carol. He didn't wanna go through that again. "I just…I can't. Alright?"
"No. Not alright. I've got a real shot here with Jessie and she's gonna be too busy consoling her friend for anything to happen. So I wanna know a reason and it better be a damn good one."
"You wanna know? You really wanna fucking know?" He shouted.
"Yeah. I do."
He wasn't quite sure why he chose the next words to be the ones that left his mouth, but at the time it was the best thing that he could think of that would be a legitimate reason. "I….I…I've got fucking STD."
Rick's angry demeanor quickly changed to one of confusion and a look of slight disgust. "You have a what?"
"You heard me." He barked, unwilling to yell that out for anyone to hear again. He placed his hands on hips and let his head fall. He couldn't believe he'd lied about something this big. It was the second huge lie he'd told his best friend tonight.
"But….I thought…I thought you used condoms."
He shrugged. "I do. Ain't nothing a 100% in this world. It even says something on the label about not being 100% reliable.
Rick's face dropped. "Really?"
Daryl just nodded. He wasn't even really sure it did, but why the fuck not keep going with the lies at this point.
"So that's why you haven't been going out lately? That's why you didn't really pay her any attention tonight?"
"Yep. That's why."
"Well…what is it?" He asked curiously.
"Huh?"
"You know? Which one is it?"
Daryl racked his brain, remembering his own brother had actually had one during high school. "The clap."
"Gonorrhea?" Rick yelled.
Daryl watched as a few people walking down the street stopped to stare at him and he wanted to go crawl in fucking hole. After punching Rick in the face first of course. "Say it louder why don't you?"
"Sorry." Rick whispered. He looked at the ground and was silent for a minute. "Did you get it from those two exchange students you had the three way with? Or was it the girl in the alley?"
Oh fuck. Only Rick would sit here and ask a million questions while there was a girl ready and willing to fuck him inside. "I don't know." He replied, sounding annoyed. "It can be asymptomatic for a while in guys. And I don't exactly keep in contact with the people I fuck around with. Ain't no way for me to know really."
Rick just nodded. "What were your symptoms?"
"Dude. Shut up. Please. I don't wanna talk about this anymore"
Just then Jessie walked up and touched Rick's shoulder. Rosita was beside her looking quite upset. "I think I'm gonna go to the house."
Rick's brow furrowed as frown creased his face. "Oh. Okay. I uh. I had a nice time tonight."
She gave him a small smile. "I did, too. And uh, you're more than welcome to come back to my place if you want. I'm gonna walk Rosita home, but I don't live far from her place."
Rick looked back to Daryl.
He just nodded at Rick, letting him know he didn't need some type of moral support for his non-existent STD. "I'll see you tomorrow. Y'all uh, have a good night." He offered to Jessie and Rosita. He locked eyes with Rosita. "I'm sorry tonight didn't go how you wanted. I just can't. Ain't nothing against you." She glared at him, and he was sure his apology wasn't exactly what she'd wanted to hear, but he didn't care. He just wanted to get home. He hoped Carol was still awake when he got there. Or that she'd come home at all since she'd mentioned staying with Maggie.
()()()
As he made the short trek home he found himself glad he'd stuck to beer. He never got as drunk off beer as he did liquor and he was sure he'd have been stumbling at this point if he'd been mixing liquor with it. He noticed the front door wasn't unlocked as he went to open it, which he found slightly odd. He was almost sure he'd locked it on the way out.
He looked around the living room, searching for a sign that Carol had made it home already. He didn't see her anywhere and he wondered if she was still out or if she'd even make it home. He was about to pull out his phone and call her, but then he heard the toilet flush. The corner of his lip turned up as he headed for the hallway that lead to their bedrooms and the bathroom. The smile playing at the edge of his lips quickly turned into a frown as he saw who stepped out from behind the bathroom door. "The fuck are you doing here?" He growled, staring Shawn up and down and looking at him like a tiger that was about to pounce on his prey.
Shawn cocked an eyebrow at him, noticing how angry Daryl's voice sounded. "Carol, Maggie and Tara came to watch the band play.
"Yeah, I don't see Maggie or Tara here." He barked.
"Yeah. They went home." He laughed. "Maggie wanted to leave when Glenn got off work and Tara had left before that when her girlfriend came to pick her up. Carol didn't wanna go and Maggie asked me to make sure she got home safe. She'd been drinking a lot and Maggie said she seemed a little upset about something." He watched Daryl closely, not sure why the dude seemed so pissy with him. "What's your problem?"
"Nothing." He mumbled, guilt suddenly consuming him. His first though was that Shawn had come back here and something had happened between the two of them. Especially after the comment she'd made earlier. But he didn't have a right to be mad if he did. Fuck, some girl had been feeling all over him earlier and he'd let her. He'd even let her kiss him and he'd kissed her back. "Where's she at?" He asked, softly this time.
"She's on the porch. She went to your room and grabbed a pack of cigarettes. I was just leaving." He pointed to the door. "I just had to take a piss first."
Daryl nodded, looking down and chewing the side of his thumb. "Thanks for making sure she got home safe."
"Yeah. No problem. I'll uh. I'll see you later." He gave a small wave and headed for the front door.
Daryl watched him walk away and then went and locked the door behind him. He slowly made his way to the back porch. "Hey." He said quietly as he stepped on the porch.
"Daryl?" Carol asked, almost as if she didn't believe it was really him. She practically jumped to her feet and when she did she swayed.
He watched her as she almost fell and quickly leapt forward and grabbed her hips to steady her. "You alright?" He kept his hands on her, worried she'd fall if he let go. He looked at her eyes, they were glassy and slightly more squinted than normal.
She brought the cigarette to her lips and nodded. "I'm a little drunk." She laughed.
"I can see that." He replied with a small laugh of his own. "Why don't we go inside?"
She nodded again and dropped the cigarette, trying to stomp it out, but stumbling in the process. If he wasn't still holding her she'd have probably fallen down the steps.
"I got it." He moved his foot to stomp it out and then he carefully led her inside, keeping a hand around her waist to make sure she stayed steady.
He walked them both over to the couch and when they were both sitting down she looked up at him curiously. Her speech slightly slurred. "Where's Rick?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn't sure how she was going to feel about this. "He uh. He went home with some girl."
Her mouth dropped and her squinted eyes grew wide. "No he didn't."
"Yeah. He kinda did."
She covered her mouth and shook her head. "Oh no. Michonne. Poor Michonne."
"What?" He asked confused.
She shook her head again. This time when she spoke she sounded more sober. "Michonne likes Rick. I mean, she hasn't come out and said it. But I know she does. Maggie thinks so, too. This is gonna hurt her. I didn't think he'd actually do it. I didn't think he'd be able to go home with someone he didn't know."
"Me either." He admitted. And as far as the Michonne thing went, he thought she liked him, too. He had for a while. "Maybe it won't be so bad." He offered. "They ain't dating."
"Maybe not. But it's still gonna hurt her. She cares a lot about him, Daryl. I'm telling you, she really does. When you like someone like that, it hurts to think of them with someone else. Even if you aren't with them." She admitted quietly.
He swallowed hard. "Yeah. It does."
She'd been looking down, but quickly popped her head up to look at him. "So what? You already got yours and left?"
Her voice was calm, but there was a resentfulness in it. One that told him she'd have been really upset if he'd actually done more than he did. And he was pretty sure she was still gonna be upset about what he had done. "I didn't sleep with no one." He replied truthfully.
She scoffed at him. "Yeah. Okay."
He moved his hand to her face, gently rubbing her chin with his thumb. "I didn't have sex with anyone." He repeated, slower and softer this time, looking her square in the eyes as he said it.
She held his gaze, searching for any hint that he was lying. But he sounded so sincere and she wanted to believe it was true. Because she damn sure didn't wanna think about it not being true.
He swallowed hard again as her eyes bore into his. He wanted to be completely honest with her. He wanted her to never have a reason to doubt what he said. "There was a girl." He cleared his throat. "She uh, she was friends with the girl Rick got with. And I got a class with her. I know her. Not well, but I know who she is."
She watched him carefully as he spoke, her stomach slowly sinking with each word as she waited for him to make a confession. One she was sure was going to hurt her far more than it should.
"I could've slept with her." He admitted, not moving his hand from her chin as he spoke. "She tried to get with me all night. And I ignored her most the night. Then we, uh, we went to the club…and she was dancing on me. Moving against me….and uh, she kissed me….I kissed her back"
She felt her eyes start to sting at that admission and blinked back tears. She tugged at her bottom lip and pulled away from him.
"Let me finish." He took reached out and turned her face to his. "Please?"
She nodded, but looked down, refusing to look at him.
"I only kissed her back for a second. I swear. Then I stopped. I couldn't do it. I didn't want to. Not really."
She pursed her lips and looked up at him again. "Why?"
He moved his hand from the side of her face to her neck, brushing his thumb against her skin as it traveled. He held her gaze, looking deep into her eyes as he thought about his next move. He slowly leaned in, waiting for her to stop him, to pull away from him, to slap him. But she didn't. And he slowly moved his lips to hers, feeling that spark that he always felt when he kissed her. No matter how small the kiss was. And when he pulled away, he met her eyes again. "Because she ain't who I want."
(I'm pretty sure I slightly hate me for having him kiss Rosita. I've got my reasons, though.)