in my face's flashing signs;
Beth awoke Friday morning to the sound of police sirens loudly wailing down a nearby street outside. Her heart was racing and instinctively, she panicked for the first few seconds after opening her eyes, nausea rising in her throat. But once she'd sat up and looked around, she quickly remembered that she was safe. Or at least, for the moment.
Before even checking the clock, she reached over and grabbed her phone to check the news. A couple of minutes of searching later, though, she realized there were no new updates. And her story, or her face, hadn't gone national yet. There was also nothing new to be said for her family's court proceedings while they sat in prison and awaited their arraignments.
She managed to reassure herself enough to keep the panic at bay, and gradually relaxed as the police sirens faded away and she sat in the peaceful quiet of the empty apartment. But the anxious nausea wasn't subsiding, and she started to think it was a side effect of the night before – even though she hadn't ingested very much alcohol. She shook her head as if to clear away the paranoid thoughts of the police catching up to her or anyone recognizing her, and checked her text messages in an attempt to distract herself.
It was close to ten in the morning, but she had a text from Daryl that had arrived an hour ago. Beth saw that, below it, she also had a text from Clem – since they had exchanged numbers the day before. But she tapped on Daryl's message first and read:
Sorry about last night. I can be a real dick when I'm drunk. Won't happen again. Promise.
She felt a twinge in her stomach and grimaced. Beth didn't even want to think about what had happened last night. Not after lying in bed nearly all night, doing exactly that. So she tapped the screen to exit and opened Clem's text instead.
It had arrived not long ago, so Beth assumed she had just woken up, or maybe she was in class or something. The text said, "I feel like looking pretty for the party tomorrow. Want to get ready together?"
Beth typed out a response, agreeing to the meeting if it meant Clem would meet Beth at Daryl's apartment, and hit Send. She was also kind of hoping that this way, she could travel to the party with Clem and not have to get a ride from Daryl. And that was assuming he'd even be going at this point.
She couldn't say she was hoping he'd skip the party altogether, because she didn't want that either. Honestly, she wasn't totally sure what she really wanted. She just knew that it was likely to feel awkward being alone with Daryl now. But that didn't mean she didn't want to be around him anymore. In fact, she wanted the opposite of that. She just really, really didn't want to confront the way he made her feel, and how vulnerable she was becoming around him…
Beth tried to think about other things, but even with all the shit that was piled onto her plate over the last two weeks, she couldn't get Daryl's text out of her mind. She wanted to reply, but she didn't know how to explain it in simple terms, and she didn't want him to think she was crazy. She already felt guilty, but she didn't know what to say. He was trying to be mature and apologize so things wouldn't be weird, and she appreciated it, but at the same time, she didn't feel right knowing he felt that he'd made a mistake or done something wrong. It was just as much her own fault for leading him on. And it wasn't like a big part of her didn't want exactly what he'd been suggesting.
Clem texted back after less than half an hour and then Beth texted back and forth with her for a short time, planning what time to meet and discussing how Clem was waiting for her next class to start while Beth explained that she'd just woken up and was still lying in bed. Then, to her dismay, Clem asked, "So did Daryl come home from his date last night?"
Beth frowned to herself and texted back, "Yeah. It didn't go well."
A couple minutes passed and Beth knew it was nearing the time for Clem's next class to start. But then another text arrived: "Uh oh. Did I call it? Sucks tho. He say anything about it ?"
Beth hesitated for a second, then gave in and answered, "I'll tell you about it tomorrow."
She couldn't explain why, but she had the strong urge to confide in Clem about her kiss with Daryl. She didn't have anyone else that she could really tell, and after their time spent together the day before, Beth felt more and more comfortable with Clem. She also sensed that Clem noticed more than she was letting on, or maybe she knew more than she would say. Either way, Beth knew she wouldn't be able to hide it for long. And if anyone could help her understand it, it might be Clem.
Beth was afraid to think of how Carol might react if she found out. Especially right after she had tried to set Daryl up with someone who'd be right for him.
Another text from Clem came in, and she said, "Oooh :) ok sounds good. G2G to class, ttyl."
Beth read it and quickly replied, "K see you tomorrow."
She started to regret saying that. Maybe she should've acted ignorant of the situation entirely, or lied and said she'd fallen asleep and didn't know if Daryl came home or not. She decided she'd try not to let it completely torture her over the next day, and by the time she was face-to-face with Clem and having a discussion, she'd have decided whether she wanted to confide in her or not.
When she finally got tired of lying in bed, Beth got up and headed to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and ran a warm bath. While the tub filled with water, she went to the kitchen and found that Daryl had left her half a pot of coffee. It was cold by now, though, and she poured it down the drain before turning on the coffeemaker and preparing it to brew a fresh batch. Then she went back to the bathroom to strip down and submerge herself in the warm, bubbly water.
A few minutes in, as she was scrubbing her scalp and massaging shampoo into her hair, the smell of coffee began to drift through the apartment. She finished washing and lay back in the tub for a short while, thinking of all the possible things she could text back in reply to Daryl. Then the image of his hooded, blue eyes and shaggy, dark hair getting closer to her face flashed in her mind, and she slid down in the tub until her head was fully submerged.
With damp hair and clean clothes over her clean skin, Beth wandered back into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. She walked to one of the windows in the living room, finding them all to still be open a crack to let in the cool, fresh air from outside. The humidity was mild and the rain had stopped, but there were still passing clouds and a particularly cold breeze blowing in from the Atlantic. The sun shone brightly nonetheless, and Beth opened the window just a little wider to feel the temperate weather. A light draft blew in and through her damp hair, sending a chill down her spine. She watched the street outside, trying to avoid looking at Daryl's face in the many photos on the walls around her.
She was nearly done with her cup of coffee when she finally admitted to herself that the nausea wasn't subsiding. With each sip, her stomach was gurgling more and more angrily, and told herself it had to be brought on by all the anxiety. She took the rest of her coffee to the kitchen and left the mug sitting on the counter, then poured herself a glass of ginger ale and went back to her bedroom.
Beth sipped the beverage slowly and relaxed into bed, leaving her bedroom door open and breathing in the fresh air that was circulating through the apartment. Her phone was silent while Clem attended college and Daryl's text remained unanswered. From what she'd read in Irma's text the day before, she and Dale were halfway across the country right now, probably stopping in Branson, Missouri to do some elderly tourist things. And as always, Carol was right across the hall with Malachi – or maybe she'd taken him to the park to enjoy the nice weather. Either way, Beth had solitude to enjoy for a while.
As she lay on her bed, eyes closed and hands folded across her tummy, she started daydreaming. Her body was relaxed and she was breathing steadily, and she thought if she lay like this much longer, she'd probably start dozing off. Not that it mattered, because she wanted to keep the impending caffeine headache at bay anyway.
Beth couldn't hear anything except the faint city noises drifting in from the open windows, and her own breathing. Her mind wandered from the constant nagging worry of the news and police, to the self-defense class, to the girls she'd met there, which made her think back on her conversations with Clem the day before. And then it brought her right back to thinking about Daryl and that text sitting in her messages inbox…
And if she were being totally honest with herself – everything aside for just a second – she was going to have to admit that there was something between them.
Then her mind was back on the kiss the night before, and the whirlwind of emotions that had turned her stomach to mush, and she started to wonder if that was the reason for her nausea today. He had… at the risk of sounding cliché, quite literally taken her breath away. And even if she didn't want to admit it to herself, she was secretly admitting it to herself. She just couldn't seem to explain why she'd jolted away so quickly, and why it had made her physically sick.
If she could explain it (which she probably could, honestly), she wasn't going to admit that one to herself. Instead, she lingered on the vivid memory of Daryl's soft lips against hers, his prickly mustache and goatee, and the musky scent that she could now only attribute to his presence. In that brief moment (had it lasted two seconds or two hours? She still couldn't tell), everything had fled her mind and her body had taken over, and she'd felt that natural high that was only attainable through inimitable firsts – like a first kiss with someone you were secretly (and unwillingly) attracted to.
But as the memory played over and over in her head, her eyelashes fluttering as a familiar warmth tingled outwards to her limbs, she wasn't picturing Jimmy's terrifying face, nor was she reliving the fear and helplessness she'd felt on August Eleventh.
Instead, Beth felt that warmth balling up inside her, and the tension reached the spot between her thighs. And then her lips were parting instinctively in wordless gasps, and her hand was wandering down below her tummy, slipping beneath her waistband and down her panties to the soft patch of curls. And without really thinking about what she was doing, her fingers drifted farther down and touched that spot where all the built-up tension seemed to be residing.
The world around her faded away and soon, Beth was living in the memory from last night while her fingers moved on their own accord. Her breathing quickened and her face grew hot. She finally imagined the second after the kiss – the feeling of his rough fingers inching their way up, over the thin material of her pants and across her inner thigh…
This time, she didn't jerk away. She didn't start the kiss over, or pretend he hadn't touched her anywhere except her face. No – she imagined his hand there, and she imagined herself staying still and allowing him to wander. She tried to picture how it would feel if his fingers touched her bare skin, or simply slipped between her thighs to rest there for a few seconds. She imagined his calloused fingers on the soft skin under her shirt, inching their way up and up…
Her hand was moving vigorously now, but she wasn't paying any attention. Her body was in control, as well as her imagination, and her nausea wasn't even an afterthought for the time being.
Beth tried to imagine herself working up enough courage to reach her own hand out and touch Daryl's bare, warm chest. Or to let it rest in his lap, lingering inches away from a discreetly growing bulge. But she couldn't get past the taste of his mouth and the way her skin prickled with goosebumps at the mere thought of his fingers touching her there.
Then she felt it mounting inside her, and the pressure built and built until she thought she might explode. Her hand didn't stop, but neither did her imagination. She could still feel his tongue on hers, if she focused hard enough…
And then it was rushing through her, completely wiping her mind blank for a fleeting moment. She breathed out in relief, her muscles relaxing into the bed and her lips dry. She pulled her hand back and sighed deeply, lying motionless and drained for a few minutes.
After a trip to the bathroom and another long sip of ginger ale, Beth found the nausea rising back up in her throat, and she lay back down in bed. She drifted in and out of sleep for hours. She kept telling herself that she would figure out the right thing to say in response to Daryl – something casual and polite, so he would know she wasn't upset but that she also wasn't trying to make their relationship more complicated than it needed to be.
But sleep overtook her before she could find the motivation to grab her phone and type out any kind of an apology.
When Beth's eyes fluttered open again, the apartment was dark. She could hear the front door rattling and knew that Daryl was just getting home. She came to and managed to get out of bed and move to shut her bedroom door before he and Malachi had fully entered the apartment. Then she lay back down and listened to their muffled voices move through the living room, the hall, and back to the bedroom.
She didn't glance at the clock until she got uncomfortable and rolled over. Then she realized it was 7:26.
A bit later than he usually gets home, Beth thought. But maybe he had extra work to finish.
She tried to put it out of her mind and closed her eyes again.
About half an hour passed before there was a knock at her bedroom door. All her lights were off and she'd been dozing, so she lay still and kept her eyes closed. Another knock came, still soft but loud enough to wake someone up, and she ignored it as well. She could hear Malachi's voice from somewhere in the living room, but she didn't feel like having dinner with them right now, or trying to talk to a chatty toddler while his dad stood awkwardly aside and pretended he wasn't holding in a million words. Plus, her appetite was nonexistent today, and she felt exhausted for no particular reason.
She heard Daryl grumble something from outside her door, but she couldn't make out what it was. She didn't hear another knock for the rest of the night, though.
Beth slept through the sounds of Malachi's bath and bedtime routine, and then she slept through most of the night, too. The only other thing she remembered was opening her eyes to see 2:17 displayed on the clock, and then hearing familiar sounds that resembled Daryl's footsteps padding across the floor from the living room to his bedroom before she heard a door firmly clicking shut.
Beth awoke early the next morning, even before the sun was up. She tried to force herself to go back to sleep, at least until it was time to get ready for the class, but her body had suddenly decided it was fully recharged today. When she sat up, she waited for the nausea to hit as the familiar feeling was rising in her throat. But then a couple of minutes passed and she found herself feeling fine, albeit a tad thirsty.
She got up and quietly tiptoed into the kitchen for a glass of water, since she'd already finished all her ginger ale. The apartment was dark and silent, just like always, and the stove light was on in the kitchen – again, just like always. Beth got herself a glass of water, then opened the fridge and glanced inside to see a covered plate that hadn't been there the night before.
She reached in and carefully uncovered one of the corners, finding a pre-portioned plate of steak, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. The realization hit her that Daryl had made her a plate for dinner and all she'd done was ignore his knocks at her door. Not only that, but Malachi had probably anticipated some reading time.
Did they read the next chapter without me? She thought.
The guilt came back full-force, and she retreated to her bedroom to lie back down until the sun was up.
Based on the previous Saturday, Beth predicted about what time Daryl and Malachi would be getting up to start getting ready for class, and she made sure to get into the bathroom and back out before they'd even opened their bedroom door. So by the time she could hear their voices drifting into the kitchen, she was already brewing a pot of coffee.
She went to her bedroom and shut the door to get dressed while the aroma of coffee slowly filled the small apartment. She put on a similar outfit to the week before – black leggings, a loose-fitting tank over a sports bra, and sneakers. She grimaced when she slipped the sports bra over her breasts, finding them unexpectedly sore. She brushed it off as a PMS symptom, knowing she must be due for her period any day now, and continued getting ready for class.
Beth could hear Daryl and Malachi's voices getting closer, and she noticed they sounded agitated. It seemed Malachi was feeling particularly whiny this morning, and Daryl's voice was all grunts and tired, frustrated groans.
She gathered up the Beretta, pocket watch, and photo from beneath her pillow and shoved them into the bag amongst the wads of cash. She pulled out a few bills to keep on her, tucking them into the bottom of her shoe. Then, after having idly thought about it for most of the night, she placed the bag carefully in the back corner of one of her dresser drawers, covering it with clothes. She shut the drawer tightly and walked away to join the boys in the kitchen, telling herself it was safer to keep all that money and evidence stashed here than to be carrying it around everywhere she went. Besides, by now, she was pretty sure there wouldn't be any reason for her to have to make an escape from Daryl's self-defense class.
When Beth emerged from her bedroom and crossed the hall to enter the kitchen, she passed Daryl, heading straight for the freshly brewed pot of coffee. As she passed him, she caught his scent, even over the strong smell of coffee. It made her knees quiver for a split-second, and she turned away so as not to make eye contact while she retrieved a mug and filled it with the hot, dark liquid. From her peripherals, she saw him glance at her and hesitate, as though he was going to speak, but then decide against it and turn back to preparing Malachi's breakfast.
Her appetite hadn't fully returned just yet, so Beth grabbed a package of Pop-Tarts from the cabinet and put them in the toaster while she sipped her coffee. The silence was suddenly heavy, and even Malachi's whining wasn't hiding the palpable tension that had formed between them. Beth jumped when the toaster popped up, startled. But she tried to play it off and hoped Daryl hadn't noticed while she grabbed her pastries and a paper towel and took her breakfast to the table.
"Da-ad, I want waffles!" Malachi whined, tugging on Daryl's pant leg and hovering around him as he tried to mix up batter in tense silence. "I'm hungwy, Dad! Dad! Da-a-ad, I need waffles – "
"Mal!" Daryl finally snapped, his voice raised but not close to yelling as he tried to channel his patience and turned his head to talk to his small son directly. "I know, bud, okay? I'm workin' on it. Damn, ya gotta gimme a minute, I didn't get no Eggos for ya."
Malachi whimpered at this and started forcing himself to cry, and Beth looked down at her coffee. She could tell from his body language alone that Daryl was reaching the end of his rope. She could only imagine how difficult the toddler had been earlier in the morning when he had to get up and get dressed, and she was surprised Daryl had the patience to mix up waffles when he could have just as easily shoved a bowl of cereal in front of Mal and told him to like it or lump it.
Daryl was pursing his lips at this point as he tried to focus on pouring the batter into the waffle iron while his son continued tugging on his pants and exaggeratedly crying over literally nothing. Then there was a knock at the front door, and Beth jumped up to answer it, leaving her coffee and remaining Pop-Tart on the table. She opened the door to find Carol and Sophia, the former with a kind smile on her face and the latter refusing to look up from the phone in her hands.
"Good morning," Carol greeted warmly, while Sophia didn't even glance up.
"Mornin'," Beth smiled tersely, then stepped aside to let the two neighbors into the apartment, shutting the door behind them.
Carol was dressed in similar clothing to the other girls in the class – yoga pants, old T-shirt advertising a high school play from 1996, and worn tennis shoes over the typical, middle-aged woman white socks, as well as a light hoodie left unzipped. Sophia was dressed in her own version of that, but her shirt advertised a band that Beth had admittedly never heard of and she was wearing a long sleeve shirt under a hoodie, as well as sweatbands to cover her wrists. The twelve-year-old also wore her hair down, and it appeared she was taking pride in growing it out, long and thick, and swooping it over to cover half her face. Beth wondered if Carol cut her daughter's hair, too.
"Hey, how ya feelin' this morning?" Carol greeted Daryl as she approached him in the kitchen. Sophia stood by the front door, still staring at her phone, while Beth went back to her seat at the table to finish her breakfast.
But she could hear Daryl grunt in response, and then mumble, "Alright, I guess. Ain't nothin'. Kid's just bein' whiny as all hell today."
"Ca-arol!" Mal said, tears still in his eyes and soaking his cheeks as he let go of his dad and turned to walk to Carol.
"Hey, kiddo – are we havin' a bad morning?" She asked, her voice changing to sound a little higher and friendlier as she squatted down to Malachi's level.
The toddler shook his head and Beth looked back down at her coffee and the last couple of bites of her Pop-Tart. She was starting to think that Daryl hadn't been late the night before because of work. And now she was feeling that dreadful pang, and she didn't know whether it was jealousy or paranoia or both.
How much did he tell her? She thought, chewing the Pop-Tart slowly while Daryl and Carol talked in low voices in the kitchen, just quiet enough that Beth couldn't overhear from where she sat.
Then Daryl's voice got a little louder, and Beth didn't know if he was snapping at Carol or Malachi. She heard Malachi's whines turn to sobs within seconds, and then Daryl was audibly losing his patience.
"Ya wanted damn waffles, I made ya damn waffles! What d'you want from me?!" He said, his voice raised and just short of yelling, but sharp and angry enough to make even Beth feel guilty.
Malachi's sobs then turned to full-blown crying – loudly – and Daryl huffed angrily. Beth craned her neck to see into the kitchen and try to hear what was going on. She had yet to see Daryl lose his temper like this.
Carol quickly intervened and grabbed the toddler's hand, as well as the plate from Daryl's hand, and led Malachi out of the kitchen and to the empty seat at the table. She shushed Malachi and encouraged him to calm down and eat his breakfast so that he would feel better, and he slowly quieted down and stopped crying and sniffling.
Beth had finished her Pop-Tarts and was still sipping on her coffee, watching with wide eyes. Carol looked up and finally noticed, but gave a reassuring smile, like it was nothing unusual.
She shrugged and leaned in closer to mutter quietly to Beth, "He was crying because he wanted waffles, and then he was crying because he got waffles. Dad's havin' a rough couple of days."
Beth nodded, giving Carol a look that assured her she didn't owe any explanation to Beth, then Beth mumbled something she'd heard her momma say a thousand times before: "Takes a village."
Even though she was silently wondering what was causing him to have such a rough couple of days. The old adage poured out of her mouth like a forgotten habit.
Carol glanced back to Daryl, who was slamming some pots and pans around as he gathered up the dirty dishes and prepared himself a bowl of cereal. Then she looked back at Beth and nodded, eyebrows raised.
"Ain't that the truth."
Beth, Daryl, Carol, Sophia, and Malachi were the first ones to arrive to class after a short walk through the neighborhood. The temperature was still mild outside and there were still clouds in the sky, but the sun was shining brightly. The group hadn't needed to zip up their jackets during the walk, and by the time they got to the gym, Beth was ready to strip hers off.
Daryl unlocked the door with his key and let everyone step inside ahead of him. Beth followed Carol and Sophia to the lockers area while Daryl and Malachi lagged behind, taking off their jackets and shoes. Carol took Beth's jacket and phone for her and stuffed it into her locker, and Sophia stood off to the side, shoes and jacket already off while she stared at her phone and occasionally texted. Beth glanced at the young redhead's wrists, but quickly looked away.
Daryl led Malachi around and had him help pull all the mats down and set them out across the gym floor. Clem and Enid arrived soon after, announcing that Tara and Rosita were following close behind. And sure enough, within a couple of minutes, the two twenty-somethings entered together, giggling at a joke they'd shared outside.
The girls made their rounds to say hello to Daryl and Malachi and Carol, and when they got to Beth, they ended up crowding around her and chatting casually while stripping off their shoes, bags, and jackets. Beth glanced over at Daryl, on the far side of the gym, and saw that he was looking at her, then at the girls that had welcomed her as their own. For a brief moment, she thought he had an expression of concern on his face, but then he was turning away and going back to rolling out mats and teaching Malachi how to be helpful.
Clem greeted Beth warmly and stood between her and Enid, who also greeted Beth with a smile and a kind, "Hey, what's up?"
Tara was obviously excited for the upcoming party and having a difficult time keeping it in, but Rosita was still clueless.
As the rest of the class gradually arrived through the front door and filled the gym, Daryl and Carol wandered to the front of the room and started discussing the plan for the day with plenty of hand motions. Malachi was set up in his usual corner with an array of coloring books and toys, and he seemed to be done misbehaving for the time being – or at least while Carol was around.
The girls' chatter died down and they all went to their usual spots near each other. This time, though, Clem stood next to Enid and pulled Beth over to stand on her other side. A few feet in front of them was Tara standing next to Rosita.
As they waited for Carol and Daryl to begin, Rosita turned around and whispered to the other girls, "So, we're all going to Tara and Denise's tonight…?"
The girls exchanged looks, but Tara gave them all a quirked eyebrow that said, 'Go with it.' So they nodded, still glancing at each other. But Rosita seemed to think nothing of it, because she looked back to Tara and shrugged.
"Can I bring Austin?" She asked Tara.
Tara furrowed her brow, "Why would I give a shit? Of course you can bring him."
Beth suppressed a laugh and Rosita smirked, then the girls turned their attention back to Carol as she began to speak to the class.
With Carol back, Beth found that Daryl chose to take the backseat more often than not. He acted as more of a demonstration assistant than a teacher. Until it was time to help correct people's positioning and movement, of course. Then he was hands-on and willing to teach each pair of students, making his rounds through the classroom to check on everyone's progress. Beth thought his smirk looked rather satisfied when he came around and saw her demonstrating a proper disarming on Enid, just like they'd been taught last week. But he didn't spend long hanging around them, because they were moving on to the next lesson soon.
As Beth stood and watched Carol demonstrate how to defend after being knocked to the ground, she started to think back on the morning so far and their walk to class. She realized that Daryl hadn't even spoken two words to her yet.
Which made her wonder if he could he really be upset that she hadn't said anything to him the day before. Part of her wanted to attempt to apologize and explain that she hadn't been feeling well, but another part of her didn't want to risk his reaction, afraid he'd think she was trying to be too serious about things and make their living situation awkward when they could just forget it ever happened.
It took Beth nearly the whole class to figure out how to properly defend herself from the floor. She ended up so distracted and wrapped up in practicing with Enid and Clem, trying to get them to help her figure out what she was doing wrong, that she put the situation with Daryl out of her head. By the time he was making his last rounds and had reached them, she was sweaty and red-faced, and her ankles were all red from where the other girls had been grabbing her.
Daryl stood back, hands behind his back, as he watched Clem successfully kick Enid away, and then vise versa. But when it came time for Beth to duplicate the action, she couldn't seem to get her hips to move in quite as drastic of a way as the other girls could. She looked up from the ground, lying on her back with her knees still bent while Clem clutched her ankles, successfully stopping her from harming anyone, let alone a potential rapist or mugger. Then she looked over to see Daryl's expression, and found him staring down at her thoughtfully, stroking the hair on his chin like he always did.
"'Lright, see, ya ain't movin' yer hips quite right," he said, moving to stand near her head and lean down until he was hovering over her, his face appearing upside-down to her.
Beth suddenly became very conscious of his body and just how close he was. He leaned down farther, reaching his hands out toward her hips, and she inadvertently held her breath.
"'S it – okay? If I put m'hands here so I can show ya?" He asked quietly, and she wasn't sure if anyone else was able to hear him.
She nodded silently, and he hesitated, then slowly slipped his hands beneath her hips until they were wedged between her back and the mat on the floor. The goosebumps sprung to life all over her skin. The stomach flutters were back, too.
Enid resumed attempting to attack Beth from where she stood, and Daryl gently showed her the proper movement she needed to achieve before she could properly kick, jump up, and defend, while she tried to focus on getting her body to cooperate. But it seemed that it would take a bit more practice. Daryl gave her some encouraging words and helpful tips nonetheless.
When he'd finished helping her, he reached out a hand and helped her up from the floor. His palms were sweaty, but so were hers. She smiled and let her hand linger in his palm just a second longer than was necessary, then pulled it back and nodded.
"Thanks," she muttered quietly.
Daryl pursed his lips with a brief nod and walked away, back to the front of the class. Beth hoped she was the only who noticed when his eyes lingered on her just a little longer than usual.
Beth forced herself to concentrate, and tried not to think about the very curious eyes of Clem and Enid that were on her right now.
After Daryl headed back to the front of the class, the girls returned to their spots and listened as Carol and Daryl concluded the day's lesson. They invited everyone to return the following Saturday, promising a more in-depth lesson on ground defense. Then the chatter rose in the gym again, and people started moving about to gather their things and leave.
Beth saw Malachi was still coloring in the corner, and Sophia had stood in a corner of the class by herself, practicing alone when Carol wasn't walking over to coach her and help her practice. Sophia was one of the first to return to the lockers and retrieve her phone and shoes. Daryl went straight to Malachi to get him ready to leave, and Carol went back to the lockers.
"How'd you like it?" She asked Beth, handing over her jacket and phone from inside the locker.
Beth took them, slipping her jacket on and the phone back into her pocket. "It was fun. I think I liked it more'n last week."
Carol smiled as she sat down and slipped on her tennis shoes, tying them. The other girls were standing near the door, talking with each other, and seemed to be waiting to say goodbye before they all parted ways.
"I'm gonna tell Daryl that I'd like to take Mal for the night," Carol said, standing up and leaning in a little closer to Beth. "Sophia's sleeping over at a friend's and the house gets too quiet for my liking... And – I think he needs a night out. With friends. Not on blind dates, where he feels pressured."
Beth nodded, and she was pretty positive that they were both thinking about earlier that morning, when Daryl had snapped at Malachi. Beth figured he must've told Carol how badly the date went – but she wondered if he'd told her about the last half of the night. She wasn't going to ask.
She wasn't going to speak it aloud, either, and remove any doubt. Instead, she simply said, "That sounds nice."
Carol narrowed her eyes, like she was studying Beth's face a little closer than usual, then went back to smiling politely and asked, "Are you still going? You feelin' alright?"
Beth looked quizzical, taking a half-step back. "Yeah – why?"
"Oh, maybe it was the class, I guess," Carol said. "But you look a little flushed, maybe sick. Do you feel hot?"
Beth shook her head, then glanced toward the door and the small group of girls waiting beside it. "No, I feel fine."
Carol nodded, but Beth could see that she had things she wanted to say or ask. Beth wasn't sure she wanted to hear any of them, though.
"Mom, can we go?" Sophia asked, appearing behind Beth.
Thank God, Beth thought.
Carol turned her attention to Sophia and nodded. "Yes, honey. We're going."
Beth bid the pair goodbye and took her chance to slip away. She walked over to the girls standing by the front door, approaching Clem while she waited for Daryl to finish getting Malachi ready. Clem gave her a knowing look and Beth returned it with a creased brow and a crooked half-smile.
"What?" Beth asked.
Rosita and Tara seemed to be having a discussion with Enid about her classes in school, and Clem leaned away from them to talk quietly to Beth.
"What was that?" Clem asked, smirking playfully.
Beth repeated, "What? What're you talkin' about?"
Clementine snickered and continued, "You and Daryl earlier. Just seemed… weird… Didn't it?"
Beth swallowed hard and bit down on the inside of her cheek, but tried to look as quizzical as possible while also sounding clueless. "Uh – weird, how? Like, which part? He's barely said two words to me all mornin'."
Clem's smirk faded and she shrugged her shoulders but still appeared somewhat suspicious. "Hm. I dunno. Nevermind."
Daryl and Malachi approached a few minutes later, after Beth and Clem agreed on a time to meet up and start getting ready. Then she bid goodbye to all the girls and left with Daryl and his son, who waited for her without question.
Despite their tension all morning, Beth didn't feel unwelcomed as she strode down the sidewalk with the boys, heading back toward the apartment. Daryl's bad mood had seemed to alleviate since the class, and Malachi was chattering away as usual. Which was fine with Beth, because she preferred trailing behind the boys and watching all the people move about the city from behind her sunglasses. And when she and Daryl weren't talking, the tension between them was practically undetectable.
But she definitely noticed the way Daryl kept glancing back at her the whole way home.
to be continued…
A/N: Based on a suggestion from arrowsandangels (huge shoutout, btw, for all the amazing reviews she left), I'm going to try to break up the updates into more parts. This will be my first attempt at that. By the time I finished this chapter, it was 22k words, and I don't wanna overwhelm you guys, but I'm also not going to make you wait a week or two weeks for an 8k word update. So I broke it up into 3 chapters. Based on how many people review, I'll decide whether to post the next parts tomorrow or give each update a day in between for everyone to catch up. But feel free to let me know if you like this new system of multiple updates a couple days in a row, or if you'd rather have 15k+ chapters every 2-3 weeks. I don't really care either way, I just want everyone to be motivated to read and review and not feel overwhelmed with the chapter sizes. And in all honesty, I would've broken this chapter into AT LEAST two parts anyway lol.
As always, thank you to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following! I'm dedicating all my writing time to this fic and I'm determined to see it all the way through. Please let me know what you're loving and what you're hating so I can keep writing an interesting story! :) And if you catch any mistakes or inconsistencies - please let me know! I always research and proofread, but I'm not perfect :)