Merle wouldn't let up on him as he followed Daryl around the kitchen that morning. Everywhere Daryl was, there was Merle in his face, asking questions, with his new camera, it was unsettling and Daryl had enough. He wasn't the same as his brother, they just didn't think alike when it came to women.
Daryl just wanted to eat some breakfast and digest what had happened last night, both at the drive-in and after. They had almost kissed and she had wanted to, he was almost sure of it. He would have gone for it had the light not come on, but also, she had been attacked.
He didn't want to take advantage of her emotional state, although she had seemed fine, relieved even that Ray was out of her life.
Merle was forever on the prowl, looking for his next conquest, and he would have loved to have his brother by his side breaking hearts all over Georgia, but Daryl wasn't having it. Sometimes Merle hung out with Shane and they were a deadly duo when it came to women, but lately, Shane had been hanging with Andrea Harrison exclusively and there was talk about the prom.
That was a big deal in their social circle. Outsiders like Merle and Daryl didn't exactly understand that whole way of thinking but they accepted it. If you took a girl to the prom it was serious business.
So Shane was practically off the market now, and not like when he was with Lori, that had been a casual thing. This thing with Andrea was anything but casual.
It left Merle with very few homies to go out looking for pussy with lately. If Daryl was spoken for now, that was all well and good, but if not, maybe it was time for him to get over this crush.
Shelly just wasn't the right girl for the job or Darlene, but he would find one, the right girl was out there somewhere. Merle would not give up until this girl was off Daryl's mind if she wasn't interested in him.
"She with you now?" Merle said as Daryl tried to leave the room.
"I don't know," Daryl replied turning around in the hallway.
"What do ya mean you don't know."
Daryl shrugged, "What can I say, I don't got your moves, I don't know where I stand with her."
"I told ya I can help you out with that."
"No thanks," Daryl shuddered, "I'm good."
"Alright, but what are you gonna do with her if you are with her now, you even know what to do?" Merle teased.
"We ain't even together."
"I heard you on the phone till three am with her last night."
"Don't mean anything."
"Sure, keep telling yourself that," Merle laughed and pointed at him, "I'll be checking you for hickeys from now on."
Daryl just groaned because Merle was never going to let it go now.
"You let me know if you need any pointers OK?" Merle cackled his signature cackle.
"No thanks man," Daryl groaned, "I'm good."
33333333333333333333333333333333333333
********And we're leaving, never looking back again,
You found somebody who does it better than he can,
No more makin you cry, no more them gray skies.
Girl we flyin on the G5, G5.*******
Leavin By Jesse McCartney
/
Gina opened her locker and he was standing there, she gave him the silly smile that she always did and he imagined that smile was for him. He knew that was crazy to think that, she smiled at everyone, but still that smile took his breath away.
The past two weeks had been the best of his life, they saw each other often at school, and worked on the project both with their friends and alone sometimes at the library. She flirted with him sometimes and he flirted back, but his father's words still resonated in his mind and made him unable to move forward, no matter how much he wanted to.
Useless, piece of shit, worthless. Those were his father's words, but they still echoed through his mind. Even though they talked on the phone every night, he still thought he didn't stand a chance with her
"I know maybe you don't want to be seen with me," Daryl said, "It's ok, I get it."
"What are you talking about Daryl?" Gina said as she shut her locker and looked over at him, "You're my hero."
Daryl blushed, he hated when people made a big deal out of him for any reason, it embarrassed him. When she did it, a fire burned in the pit of his stomach that was more than embarrassment.
"I helped you cause I wanted to, not to get anything from you."
"I know that."
"But you don't have to hang out with me if you don't want to..."
"Oh, for God's sake," Gina laughed and then she put her hands on his cheeks and got on her tiptoes to kiss him softly on the lips. She did it in front of everyone in the hallway including most of her friends and Merle and his crew, Abe, Eugene, Shane, and Glenn.
Daryl put his arms around her and kissed her back as much that was decent in the public hallway.
Merle, of course, gave a nice slow clap that resonated down the hallway.
For the first time in his life, Daryl didn't care who was looking at him, and he felt like he could rule the world that day.
From that day forward, they were together, ever since Daryl had punched Ray out really, he and Gina had been spending more and more time together. But now it was clear in his mind what they were.
He made it clear to her that they could go as slow as she wanted and that she was in charge of it.
The group project had earned them all an A for the AP English midterm exam. Daryl got his learner's permit at Christmas time and Merle was helping him fix up an old truck they had found. Merle, Shane Rick, Maggie, Andrea, and Eugene were going to graduate and that fall Daryl and the rest of the group were going to be juniors.
This was the time that they all needed to be concentrating on their grades and they did. But they still found time for fun.
The book they were reading now in AP English was "Catcher in the Rye" and there was much debate over that book. Merle had read it the year before and promptly told Gina that Holden Caufield was an asshole.
She laughed for what seemed like hours in their kitchen over a dinner of pizza with them as she and Daryl waded their way through that book. Merle had started taking pictures of everyone and following everyone around with his video camera.
"Tell the world, Miss. Gallagher," Merle would say, "What do you really think about the fact that five murderers have been found to have copies of The Catcher in the Rye in their possession?"
He wouldn't be driving the truck until he was 17, so in the meantime, he drove the motorcycle, and now he picked Gina up every day for school and took her home. It thrilled her to put her arms around him as they flew down the road every day and one day, just after Christmas she had invited him to meet Jenny and her father.
Jenny had cooked dinner for everyone and they all ate outside around her deck table and chairs.
"It's so nice to finally meet you, Daryl," Jenny said with a smile as they all waited for Gina's father to show up.
"Thank you, ma'am."
Jenny shook her head then, "Please call me Jenny, Daryl, let's do your cards while we wait for Gina's father, hm?"
Her parents both loved him and Jenny did his cards that night, promising him a long happy life with abundant joy.
What more could a guy want?
/
The following Saturday night was New Year's Eve and Merle was banging on his bedroom door, Daryl did not give a fuck, he was kissing his dream girl, and he still could not believe it. Gina was his first girlfriend, first real kiss, which he winged, but she seemed to like it. She was his first everything really, but he was in no rush.
Gina had told him that Ray had been pressuring her to go farther than kissing for a long time. He wouldn't do that to her, they could take it as slow as she wanted. They had only kissed a few times since that time in the hall at school, she had been traumatized, even if she wasn't aware of it at the time.
He was aware that he shouldn't pressure her.
If she never wanted to do anything but kissing, he would be alright with that.
It was something new for both of them, the kiss in the hallway had been soft and sweet, and others after that but this one ended up with his tongue in her mouth and with Gina straddled across his lap facing him..
Merle could forget him opening the door, he'd been smart enough to lock it before they sat down on the bed.
"Come on Andrea's having a party tonight, don't y'all wanna go?"
No answer.
"Fine stay home and play with your new toy, whatever." Merle laughed and shut out the hall light as he left and smiled, he was happy for his brother.