Daryl and I were getting ready for bed later that night, I was all smiles. "I'm so glad things are back to the way they were." I said.

"They ain't." Daryl said roughly.

I looked at him while changing out of my clothes. "Well, not completely but at least we made up. I'm happy."

"I'on know what yer so happy for." Daryl said with raised eyebrows. "Nothin' even changed."

I gave him a strange look. "My dad accepted us."

He snorted. "No, he didn't." I was about to say something but Daryl spoke first. "He basically said that he's okay with our relationship but not really."

I laughed. "Well, put yourself in his shoes. Imagine—

"Yeah, I know." Daryl cut me off. "Just forget it." He shook his head. I smiled at him, then we kissed.

"So…are we gonna…?" I smiled lasciviously at him.

"Hell yeah we are." He grabbed me and pulled me down onto the bed making me giggle.

I made breakfast for Daryl and I the next morning. We had pancakes and scrambled eggs. Usually, I would just make one or the other but I felt like having a nice breakfast today. I sat Daryl's plate in front of him, then got mine and sat down.

"So, I was thinking about hanging out with some friends tonight." I said. "I haven't seen them in a long time. Like to see what those dumbasses are up to." I let out a small laugh. I wanted to brag to them about being married.

"Alright." Daryl said without much thought. He looked up just then like he thought of something. "Wait, there gonna be other guys there?"

I kind of huffed with a laugh. "No. I mean…probably not. Unless one of them invites their boyfriend." I ate a piece of pancake, then had a thought. "You wanna come?"

"Hell nah." He said roughly. "I ain't sittin' around with a bunch 'a immature girls."

I laughed. I knew he would say no. "Wait, you think I'm immature?"

He took a gulp of his orange juice, then shrugged. "Sometimes."

My mouth gaped open but I still laughed. "Wow, okay." Daryl smirked. "Well, I shouldn't be too late or anything."

"Alright." He shrugged. "While yer out, I might go on a run or huntin' or somethin'."

"Oh okay." I said still chewing. "Try to find me a box of tampons, please."

"Ugh." Daryl said.

I gave him an annoyed look. "And you called me immature?"

"Yeah, well, we're prefect fer each other."

"…yeah, we are." I giggled. He leaned over and kissed me.

"Imma head out now, I thank. That way I don't gotta deal with it bein' dark." Daryl said. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"Oh okay." I stood up. "Well, you want a blow job before you go?"

He stopped with the door open and looked at me. "Yeah, sure, okay." He kind of side smiled, then closed the door and came back over to me. I smiled and got down on my knees while unbuckling his belt, then unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. I slid them down along with his boxers.

I looked at his cock, then up at him and smiled. I had to play with it a little bit to get him hard. "There he is." I said happily once his penis was erect. I giggled and traced his length with the tip of my finger. "Who's ready for some fun?" I licked the tip, then inserted his cock in my mouth. Daryl tensed up. I went back and forth, then licked and repeated. At one point, I used teeth, gently scraping as I pulled back. I figured that would be a fun, new thing.

I continued what I was doing. Lick, back/forth, then occasionally teeth. I heard Daryl making small noises, then he grabbed onto the counter. "If ya don't want my cum in yer mouth, then stop now." He said. That never bothered me so I kept going, actually I went a little faster. Then, I felt the liquid hit the back of my throat and I immediately swallowed. I smiled while looking up at him.

I stood up and went for a kiss but he stopped me. I gave him a surprised look. "Ya just had my dick in yer mouth." He said.

"So, it's your dick?" I didn't get the point.

He seemed to hesitate. "Whatever." He finally said and gave me a chaste kiss. "I'll be back later."

"Yeah, be careful please." I said.

"I will. And you too in case yer gone when I get back."

I gave him a look. "Daryl, we're not gonna be doing anything but staying at one of their houses."

"Well, still." He nodded.

"I'll be fine." I smiled sweetly.

"Good." He said. "Bye, baby." Then headed out the door.

"Bye, love." I said all breathy.

Nothing really went on the whole day. I took a shower after breakfast, then decided to clean up a little. I even took our clothes to the laundromat. That killed some time.

Way later, I got ready and went out. Daryl was still not back yet. I wasn't worried though. Sometimes we're gone a long time when we go out. I headed to Carrie's house.

"Oh my God." Carrie said when she opened her door. "Look who it is. Long time no see."

"Yeah." Was all I said with a smile. I went inside. Everyone said hey to me and stuff.

"Oh my God, Abby! We haven't seen you in forever!" Bridget said. I was hoping she and Paige wouldn't be here.

"Yeah, sorry about that." I spotted a bottle of wine just then. "Don't mind if I do." I poured myself a glass, then sat down in the living room.

"We thought maybe you were dead or something." Paige said with a smirk, then looked at her nails. Yeah, I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?

I sighed. "So, what are we doing tonight?" I wanted to change the subject.

"We're playing— Paige started to say but Brittany cut her off.

"It's just a stupid game." Brittany said and waved. "But now that you're here, we could just talk." She shrugged.

"Stupid game?" Paige asked. She sounded offended. "I brought this game and I like it."

"Well…we were almost done anyway." Brittany said. I heard Paige kind of huff. "So, Abby…what's up? Where have you been?" Brittany asked me.

"Yeah, we haven't seen you in like a month." Bridget said.

"Yeah, well…" I smirked. "I was on my honeymoon." I took a sip of wine with my eyebrows raised, waiting for the questions.

"What?" Dana said.

"Bullshit." Paige looked at me.

I held my hand up and showed them the ring. "I'm a married woman now."

Bridget's mouth gaped open in disbelief. "Whoa." Tess and Carrie also looked shocked.

"Well, that's awesome." Dana said. "Welcome to the club, sista."

"Thanks." I said. Dana, Brittany and me clinked glasses. Out of all of us, Dana and Brittany were the only ones that are married and now me. I think a couple of the other girls have boyfriends but I know for a fact that Paige is single.

"Wait a minute." Paige said. "How come we've never seen this guy around before?"

I was in mid sip when she asked, I swallowed before answering. "Well," I sighed, "As I said before, he's a lot older than me so we were trying to keep our relationship a secret, but then my dad found out and stuff happened so we just said the hell with it and got married." I laughed.

There was a brief pause. "When you say older, how much older?" Carrie asked.

I hesitated. "…like my dad's age." I looked over at Bridget, who's eyes were practically popping out of her head.

"Are you serious?" Dana asked. "That old?"

"I think that's sexy." Tess said.

"Oh, me too!" Bridget said. I think she was just trying to "fit in." Paige, on the other hand, looked pissed.

"Well, congratulations." Carrie said with a big smile.

"Thanks." I smiled back.

"This causes for a celebration." Brittany said. She pulled out a bottle of vodka. "Drink up. Get drunk like last time." She laughed.

"Oh no." I said. "I can't."

They all gave me a weird look. "Why?" Brittany said.

I hesitated. "…well…"

Dana gasped after that. "Oh my God, you're pregnant!"

"No." I said quickly shaking my head. "No, I'm not pregnant." I let out a small laugh. "Although, I did have a pregnancy scare. That's why we came back." I looked at them more seriously. "I'm not though."

"Oh." Dana almost sounded disappointed.

"So, why can't you drink then?" Tess said.

"Because…" I trailed off trying to think of something. "I promised Daryl I wouldn't drink too much." I lied. The real reason why is because…I think I'm an alcoholic.

"Fuck that." Brittany said. "What, is he your dad?" She laughed after that. "I mean…he's old enough to be but…"

I sighed. "It's okay. Really. I'm good." I shook my head. "Besides…I don't like clear liquor anymore anyway."

"Well, I brought some whiskey." Dana suggested.

"No, whiskey makes me sick." I said.

There was a brief pause. "Well, you're no fun." Paige said.

"I don't see you drinking." I cocked an eyebrow at her.

She lifted her glass and finished what was in it. "See." She said, she couldn't hide the disgusted look on her face.

I scoffed. "Whatever. I'm just going to stick to wine for right now."

"Suit yourself." Dana said.

I sighed in relief and took a sip of my wine. At least I got them off my back…for now.

We started playing drinking and other question games. I wasn't having fun at all, I realized that I missed Daryl and like didn't care about this stuff anymore. I would so much rather be at home with him cuddling or…something else. I smiled.

"What are you thinking about?" Tess asked me.

I looked up a little embarrassed. "Oh my bad." I said. "I was just…thinking about Daryl."

"Is he good in the sack?" Brittany asked me.

I hesitated for a moment. "…I'm not gonna talk about my relationship to you guys." I shook my head and sipped my wine.

"Why not?" Paige said smartly. "We'd love to hear."

I sighed. "We have fun, yeah." I nodded.

"So…what do you do?" Tess asked. "Are you like a freak in the sheets?"

I let out a small laugh." Shut up, bitch." I finished my wine.

"That wasn't a no!" Tess said. They all laughed.

"Oh, I just thought of a great game!" Bridget said. I rolled my eyes. Of course you did, bitch. "We should all come up with some questions and pass them around and vote on them."

"What do you mean?" Dana asked.

"Like you pick someone for each question. For example, if the question is prettiest eyes, then we all write down who we think has the prettiest eyes and whoever has the most for that category wins the title." Bridget said. I noticed Paige perked up a little.

"Sounds dumb." Tess said.

"I'm in." Paige said.

"Let's leave it up to Carrie since it's her house." Dana said.

"Sure, yeah, let's do that." Carrie said. "We're not really doing anything else."

"I'm gonna sit this one out." I said.

"No, come one, Abby, play." Bridget complained.

"I have a good idea." Paige said. "How about we come up with the questions and answer them, and Abby reads them out loud?"

They all looked at me. "Would you do that at least?" Carrie asked me.

"Sure." I shrugged. I didn't really want to but I didn't want to be a complete party pooper.

So, everybody got a piece of notebook paper and had to write down at least five questions. I watched them all while they were thinking. Try to be involved. I told myself. It's not fun unless everybody is involved. I nodded and sipped my wine.

Once they got all of their questions done, they passed their papers around until it got back to the original owners.

"Is everyone done?" Brittany asked.

"Looks like it." I said when no one answered.

"I'm so excited!" Bridget said. "Oh, can we start with mine since I thought of it?"

"Yeah, girl." I said. I grabbed her paper. "Alright, so…I'm supposed to read the category and then see who has the most votes for that one, right?" I looked up from the paper. Bridget nodded rapidly. Someone's excited. I thought. "Okay, so first, we have prettiest eyes." I said. "And the winner is…Carrie." I looked at her and smiled. I was second on the list.

"Yay!" Bridget said. The other girls clapped in support of their friend. Carrie just smiled and put her head down.

"Next, we have nicest legs. That one goes to…Brittany." I announced. Brittany showed her legs and the other girls laughed. "Third we have cutest and…looks like it's a tie between Bridget and Tess."

"Aw." Everyone said and Bridget giggled.

"See, that's why you should have played, Abby, then we wouldn't have ties." Brittany said.

"Well, I didn't want to, sorry."

"Now, now." Paige said. "It's good Abby didn't play because now we have our good announcer." She looked at me and kind of smiled. I eyed her suspiciously. Why would she stick up for me? She's up to something.

"Okay." I looked back down at the paper. "Prettiest hair goes to…" My name was on there the most. "Aw, thanks guys." I said and smiled. I flipped my hair to be stupid like them. They all laughed except Paige. "And last on Bridget's list is…best dressed and that goes to Paige."

"Of course." Paige said. I noticed that Brittany rolled her eyes.

"Alright, who's next?" I asked.

"You can do mine." Carrie said.

"Okay." I reached for her paper. I accidentally sighed while looking down at it.

"What's wrong?" Paige said. "Not fun enough for you?"

I looked up at her and stared at her for a minute. Really, bitch? I shrugged. "No, this is fine." I said seriously. I looked back down at the paper and cleared my throat before speaking. I saw that her first question was a repeat. "If the question is the same as one of the previous ones, should I just skip it?"

"Yeah." Carrie answered first.

"Okay, so, we'll skip to number two then. Sweetest smile." I said. "And that goes to…me." I said and looked up smiling. "You guys are so sweet." I got four votes, Dana got two. "So next, we have cutest nose…and that goes to Bridget." I announced. "And last we have nicest lips and that goes to Paige." Paige did her bitch smile again. "Okay, next." I sat the paper aside. "Let's just go down the line." I looked at Brittany who was next. "Brittany?"

"Uh…wait." Brittany said. "I wanna change one of mine actually."

"While you're waiting for hers," Paige said, "you can do mine." She smiled.

I sighed inside. "Yeah, okay." I grabbed her paper. "So, first…we have tannest, which is Carrie." I smiled at her. I root for her out of any of them because she's the nicest, and it seems the quietest. "Then we have biggest boobs…Dana." I looked up at her. The other girls cheered as she did a dance. "Then we have nicest butt…" I trailed off. "I won." I said.

"Girl, you got that nice booty!" Dana yelled. We all laughed…except Paige. I kind of took pride in that and began to perk up a little. I started taking bigger gulps of my wine trying to have more fun. It was working.

"Okay, so next we have prettiest in general…and that goes to Tess." I smiled at her. "Congrats."

"Thanks." Tess grinned from ear to ear. "It's not all me, I got some of it from my sister." She looked at Carrie.

"Aw, how sweet." Dana said, I guess to be corny. The other girls giggled.

I smiled and looked down at the last question on Paige's list. She may be a bitch but her list was definitely the funnest so far. "Okay…oddest couple?" That's different. I read that with a weird look on my face but still smiled. However, my smile soon faded once I saw that they all picked me for that one. I looked up at Paige and she was grinning evilly at me. She looked pretty satiated with herself, she knew exactly what she did.

"Well, who won?" Tess asked.

"Uh…" I trailed off still looking at the results.

"It's you, isn't it?" Tess said with a laugh.

"It definitely is!" Bridget said. "That's why she isn't saying anything." They laughed.

I was still looking at the paper but finally snapped out of it. I began shaking my head and opened my mouth to speak. "Is…is this supposed to be some kind of joke?" I said. They all looked at me and slowly became silent. "Seriously? What the hell? Why am I the weirdest couple? What, because Daryl's so much older than me?" I was getting fired up.

"Abby, it's just supposed to be for fun." Brittany said shaking her head.

"Well, I don't think it's funny at all." I said. I may have been making a bigger deal about it than was necessary but that's only because of what I went through with our relationship already. With my dad and hiding it and all that. It was frustrating and none of them have any idea. "I mean…first of all, none of you have even met Daryl before. So…how can say that?" I threw the paper down.

"I've seen that guy before." Paige said with a smirk. "And he's a frickin' hillbilly."

I stared at her, something snapped in me. "How about you don't talk about my husband and you won't get your face punched?" I looked at her dead serious. I swear that whole room got so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Paige looked taken aback, almost like she got scared of me. It felt like forever that someone said something.

"Jeez, can't you take a joke?" Paige finally said and broke the silence.

"Yeah, I can take a joke, but that wasn't a joke." I looked at her. "You did that on purpose, you had it planned because you don't like me for some reason."

"What are you talking about?" Paige tried to play dumb. "I love everyone here."

"Yeah." I said sarcastically.

"Bitch, quit lying." Tess chimed in.

Paige gave her a look. "What? You're gonna start on me too?"

"No one started on you!" I snapped back. "You brought it on yourself."

"Okay." Paige said and stood up. "Alright, I'm leaving then." She started putting her jacket on, then headed towards the door, she stopped. "Is anyone gonna defend me?" No one said anything. "Alright, fine." She began walking out the door. "Bitches." The door slammed shut.

I looked back at everyone. I didn't mean to ruin their fun. I was about to apologize to them, especially Carrie since we were at her house, but to my surprise, Brittany busted out laughing. Followed by Tess and Dana. Then, Bridget started because she has to be like everyone else. I finally smiled and said, "sorry." Then, I shrugged. It had to be done.

"That was great." Tess said.

"At least she's gone." Brittany said.

"For real." Bridget then said still laughing. "That bitch is so fake."

"No, bitch, you're fake." I said only half joking. She looked at me.

"Got that right." Said Brittany.

"What? You guys think I'm fake?" Bridget asked more serious.

"We don't think, we know." Tess said and rolled her eyes.

Bridget huffed. "What?"

"Dude…you talk about everyone behind their back." Brittany gave her a serious look. "You've talked about every single person in this room, including Paige. Don't even try to defend it."

"But…guys…" Bridget sounded sad and maybe a little confused.

"I liked you from the very start." Carrie actually chimed in. We all looked at her. "But when I found out you talked about me, it hurt me really bad. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?" She almost sounded like she could start crying. What the hell is going on?

Bridget took a few deep breaths, then put her face in her hands. "I'm sorry guys." She started crying really hard. I kind of felt bad. I mean…I started this whole thing.

"It's okay." Brittany finally said and hugged Bridget. "We still love you, but you gotta do better, okay?"

Bridget nodded and started to calm down. It's not all her either, though, Brittany talks about people too. I decided to keep my mouth shut. "I'm gonna head out, though." Bridget said. She gathered up her stuff and we all said our goodbyes, then she left.

"Gosh, I feel bad." I said once she was gone. "I hope that wasn't because of me. Who's next?"

"Hopefully, no one." Carrie said.

"Well, what do we do now?" Dana said. "I guess we're done with this game?"

"Let's just forget about everything and get drunk." Carrie, to my surprise, said. The other girls agreed. I actually wanted to leave but I was afraid to after what I did. So, I stayed.

"I wish you would get drunk, Abby." Dana said. "You're so fun when you're drunk."

So, does that mean I'm not fun when I'm sober? "Really?" I gave her a weird look. "I don't even really remember anything."

"That's because you always get drunk!" Tess said.

"I don't always get drunk." I said. They all laughed. What's so funny?

"Uh, yeah, ya do." Brittany said with wide-eyes.

I started to feel a little awkward and uncomfortable, almost like I was left out. I looked down at the bottle. "Okay, I'll drink." I said. I picked the bottle up and just started going into it. The other girls cheered.

It was almost three in the morning when I stumbled home. I closed and locked the door, then tripped and had to grab onto the counter to hold myself up. I laughed loudly at how stupid I probably looked.

Just then, a light came on. "Abby?" Daryl was standing there in the doorway of our bedroom. He looked concerned.

"Oh, hey, Darry Berry." I said sweetly. "Did you get back okay?"

His concern turned to a more angry look. "Yer drunk?" He nodded.

"No." I said. "Well, maybe a little." I slurred and laughed.

"Ya said you weren't gonna be out late." He sounded angry. "And what the…"

I heard him talking but I couldn't pay attention, I was blacking out. "Uh, I need to sleep." I walked over to the couch and collapsed onto it.

I woke up to the sound of sizzling. I was in the living room, I must have passed out on the couch. I'm surprised Daryl didn't carry me to bed. I sat up and saw him cooking breakfast. I didn't feel sick, but my throat was extremely dry.

I slowly got up and got myself a glass of water. Daryl didn't say anything when I passed him. I quickly drank my water, then sighed. That's a little better. But…my best medicine is my man. I smiled at him and put my glass on the table. "Morning." I said. I reached up wrapping my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. I thought it was odd because he didn't turn to me like he usually does. "Daryl?" I said. "Yoohoo. Daryl?" I teased him and kind of laughed.

"That all yer gonna say to me?" He finally turned to me. He sounded angry. I was taken aback.

"What?" I let out a small laugh. "What do you want me to say?"

"How 'bout, sorry?" He looked at me. "Fer comin' in so late when ya said ya wouldn't. Or maybe gettin' drunk off yer ass and passin' out on the couch."

I stared at him. "D-Daryl, what's wrong?" I shook my head. "I didn't mean for it to get so late. I just…"

"You what? Huh? Too busy partyin' like some dumb college bitch?" He looked even more angry than he sounded. "What the hell's wrong with you? It's a good thang ya weren't pregnant. Ya cain't have a baby, all you do is drank."

That cut deep. "I could quit drinking like that." I snapped my fingers. "I would never drink if I was pregnant."

"Why don'tcha then?" He snapped and gave me a scary look. I just stared at him, I had no idea what to say. "Ya know," he turned back to me, "I thought you were smarter than this, I thought you were different. That's one of the reasons why I always liked you, but maybe I wasted my time. Maybe yer too immature fer me. Maybe we wasted our time and you'd rather be with some younger guy who likes to party and mess around."

"No." I said immediately. "No no no." I stood in front of Daryl shaking my head rapidly. "I don't want anyone besides you ever. I love you, Daryl. You're the only man for me." I was close to tears.

Daryl stared at me for a moment. "Listen, I never looked at you and saw a kid before." He spoke softer but I could tell he was still mad. "But after last night," he snorted, "well, I already said it, ya acted like a dumb college bitch." He nodded. "You need to stop drankin'. Ya gotta problem."

I tried to hide behind humor like I always do. I let out a small laugh. "Okay, maybe that's what it seems like to you and everyone else but…" I trailed off and stopped once I looked at how serious Daryl was looking at me. It honestly scared me. It made me think about myself too. I didn't have to lie to Daryl, he's my husband after all. I decided it was time to drop the act and just say it. "Okay." I nodded. "You're right. I have a problem. I can't be around alcohol."

"Yeah, I'll say." Daryl said. Now he was just being mean. "And I waited fer you last night. I was worried." He snapped. "You said you wouldn't be out late but ya did. Do I do that to you? Huh?" He shouted.

"Daryl." I was shaking my head. "I know and I'm—" I stopped when I saw his face again. He was looking at me so angrily that it scared me. "I'm sorry." I breathed. "It won't happen again." I looked up at him sadly.

We stared at each other for a minute, he looking angry and me sad, then Daryl finally turned away and went back to making breakfast. I took my escape and went into the bathroom to have a shower.

I held it together the whole time I turned the shower on and then waited for it to get hot enough. Even a little once I was in. I tried not to think, not to let it get to me. I blinked a few times, then slowly leaned my head on the wall in the bathroom. I stayed like that for a while. I hated myself right then, I didn't even want to drink last night but I gave in to my stupid "friends." I do have a problem though, and I need to knock it off before Daryl gets tired of my shit and leaves me. He deserves better. I thought sadly. The thought of Daryl with someone else made me sick to my stomach. I slowly dropped down to the floor and just sat there with my head down, letting the water cascade over me.

I stayed in the shower for a long time and in the bathroom afterwards for even longer. I guess I wanted to avoid Daryl. After that, I went into our bedroom to get dressed and then I laid on the bed in there for a long time. Daryl never came in, he stayed out in the living room. I was thankful because I wanted to be alone.

I stayed in there for a long time, hours, and it gave me time to think. I was sad, very sad, but I had to pull myself up and continue with things. So, I walked out of our bedroom and into the kitchen. Daryl and I made eye contact, for a moment neither of us saying anything.

I turned away and stood in front of the stove looking around in the cabinets to see what there was to eat. "What do you want for dinner?" I said. "We have soup, ramen noodles, ravioli." I stopped and became a little nervous because he wasn't answering me. "I could make spaghetti? Oh, and I think there's still some left over stew in the fridge."

"Yeah, just heat the stew." Daryl finally said. I silently exhaled in relief that he answered me.

I got the pot of stew out and sat it on the stove to heat. Once that was taken care of, I leaned forward a little with my hands on the counter and took a deep breath. I wasn't feeling too great. I don't know what's wrong.

I finally turned around to face Daryl. I felt dead inside and probably looked it too, so I looked at the floor. "I know I fucked up but…I hope you're still not mad at me."

Daryl didn't answer right away, just kind of stood there. He sighed and cleared his throat. "I'm more mad at myself." He finally said. I looked up at him then. "You know why?" He came closer and wrapped his arms around me. I shook my head. "It was because of how you looked at me." He finally said. "You looked scared. Of me." Daryl looked at me in the eyes. "I don't ever want to see that again. And I'm not sorry fer the thangs I said, but I am fer the way I said them…and acted. I'm yer husband, not yer dad." We just looked at each other. "You were right when ya said I got pent up anger." He nodded. "I do."

We were both quiet for a minute. "Well," I finally said, "looks like we got some stuff to work on. Both of us."

We stared at each other again. "Yeah." Daryl finally said and nodded. "We do."

I finally smiled. "We're perfect for each other."

"…yeah, we are." He leaned in and kissed me.