Updating two days in a row? Must be a miracle. Not much to say about this chapter, so let's dive in!

Chapter 4: Actual Biker Guy

After my conversation with Maggie, I continued through Alexandria looking for Deanna. After asking around a bit, I finally found her in the food supply area. She smiled and motioned me over once she saw me

"Ah Liz, I thought you'd show up sometime this morning. I'm glad you made it back last night. We were getting worried about you." I shrugged my shoulders. "You know I can do alright out there on my own, Deanna."

She smiled and patted my shoulder. "Well, we worry about you anyway." She went back to inventory of the food pantry as she continued, "Anyway, was there something you needed?" Mentally crossing my fingers for luck, I asked "Yea, I was wondering if there was anything particular you needed me to do today?" Please don't say go hunting, PLEASE don't say go hunting. Holding my breath, I waited for the response.

Deanna turned around quickly. "Oh no, Liz! You had a rough day yesterday. Why don't you just stay in today? I'm sure you've got something you can do to keep you busy." YEESSS, I cheered as I mentally did a happy dance. Before she could change her mind, I told her thanks and made my way back to my house, a little more spring in my step at the idea of an easy day.

As I turned a corner towards my house, I saw Aaron and Eric walking towards me. A smile crossing my face, I made my way over to them. "Aaron! Eric! Hey!" They looked up, smiling and greeted me. Aaron began, "Lauren! We were hoping to run into you. Do you want to come over for dinner tonight? We managed to snag some spaghetti stuff.

The gods are smiling down on me today, I thought to myself as my mouth began to water at the thought of a good, homecooked meal. "Is that even a question, Aaron? Of course, I'll come over and eat all your food. That's my favorite hobby," I said with a laugh at the end. They chuckled with me before continuing. "We thought that might be your answer. Come over around 6!" they said as we said goodbye and continued on our way. In a great mood, I continued my trip to my house and went inside.

/

Even though it's the apocalypse, I still feel bad for not bringing something to dinner, I thought to myself as I headed down the block to Aaron and Eric's house that afternoon. As I neared the house, I noticed the garage door was open and I could hear some faint noises. Odd, I didn't know Aaron and Eric kept anything in the garage… Changing my course, I turned and headed towards the opening. As I reached the doorway, I opened my mouth to begin a greeting, but it got caught in my throat when I took in the scene in front of me.

There was a motorcycle, well, a partial motorcycle, with parts strewn around it in various states of disrepair. I then honed on in the back of a man who was squatting next to the bike with his back to me. After a second of looking, I realized something that made me bark out a laugh. So, he really is a biker dude.

Daryl tensed at the sudden noise before he turned quickly to look back in my direction. He narrowed his eyes when he saw me. "What are ya laughing at?" he asked, sounding somewhat defensive. I quickly smiled to reassure him as I shook my head. "Not at you! I just…well don't take offense, but I had been calling you biker dude in my head before I knew your name and, well," I gestured towards him and the bike in front of him. "it just made me laugh a little that my made-up nickname for you was actually kinda accurate," I said with another chuckle. Daryl let out a small huff that I assumed was a laugh and I think I even saw him smile a bit as he turned his head to look at the ground. Ha! I'm gonna count that as making him laugh. He rubbed a hand over his face, looking like he was trying to wipe his amusement off his face. He turned back towards the bike and began to work on…well whatever he was doing before.

Curious, I stood up on my tiptoes to try and see what he was doing. Realizing it wasn't really helping, I slowly walked around Daryl and closer to where I could see. Picking a clear spot on the floor near a toolbox, I sat down slowly, trying to watch and not disturb him at the same time. I saw him glance over at me with an odd look on his face, but he continued working while I watched. It was fascinating to me that he seemed to just…KNOW where everything went in the giant hunk of metal (or that's what it looked like to me anyway). After a few minutes, I noticed him glancing over at me again, seemingly confused by continued presence. I cleared my throat as I decided to explain myself. "Sorry, I was just curious about what you were doing. I'm awful with anything mechanical, so it always amazes me when people can just, I don't know, put things back together." Realizing he was still looking at me, I suddenly had the thought that he might not WANT my company. Panicking a bit, I started to ramble as I began to stand up. "Oh god, I'm probably bothering you, aren't I? I'm sorry I should have realized you don't want someone staring at you as you work!" I was about halfway off the floor when I saw him shake his head. "Nah, you're good…. don't mind ya watching if ya want," he said in a gruff voice as he briefly met my eyes. Still halfway crouched, I slowly sank back down to the floor expecting him to change his mind. But he just went back to his work.

After a few minutes, he startled me by suddenly speaking. "Hand me a crescent wrench, will ya?" he said, gesturing vaguely towards the toolbox next to me. My eyes widening, I investigated the box. Shit. Really should have learned more about tools from dad. Digging through the box slowly, I managed to narrow it down to a couple tools that I knew were wrenches but were too similar for me to tell apart. Giving up, I held up a tool in each hand and looked back to Daryl. "Alright, ill admit my weaknesses. I know next to nothing about tools. I'm pretty sure one of these is it." He looked up and after a second, nodded towards my left hand. Yes, didn't make myself look stupid. I handed it over to him

We continued to sit in surprisingly comfortable silence, only broken by the clanging metal and occasional request by Daryl for another tool. I managed to get most of the tools right as I handed them to him, although there were a few more specific tools where I was just completely wrong. I could tell he was trying to hide his amusement when I held up 2 completely wrong tools. I just would sheepishly smile and try to find the correct one as he gave me an actual description.

After a while, I heard some footsteps coming from the door to the house. Aaron popped through the doorway, looking at a dishrag in his hands. "hey Daryl, dinner's almost…" he suddenly stopped as he looked up and noticed me sitting there with Daryl. "Oh, Liz! How long have you been here?" I shrugged. "Not sure, maybe 20 minutes. I was just helping Daryl fix his bike." An audible snort left Daryl at that statement. I laughed before backtracking, "alright, alright, I was WATCHING d=Daryl fix his bike and occasionally assisting by handing him tools." I looked at him before adding "That description better?" He just nodded, the corner of his mouth quirking up the slightest bit. I glanced back up to Aaron, seeing a look of surprise that was similar to Maggie's that morning when Daryl had greeted me. He shook his head at our interaction before speaking. "Well as I was saying, dinners about ready, so you all can come on in," he said before he turned and headed back into the house. I turned to Daryl. "I didn't know you were eating here too. Although I guess I should have assumed since you were in their garage…." I trailed off. Daryl seemed to bristle a little bit. "That a problem?" Shaking my head, I quickly answered "No, of course not! I just didn't know you knew Aaron and Eric." He looked at me a few more seconds before he relaxed and nodded. Whoo, note to self. He's just a little defensive. Like a stray dog that got ran off one too many times. I stood up and started heading towards the house slowly, waiting for Daryl by the doorway as he put his tools away. He followed me into the house before stepping into the bathroom, I assume to wash his hands. I went into the kitchen and greeted Eric, before grabbing some stuff to help Aaron set the table. The 3 of us were sitting down as Daryl came around the corner and cautiously approached the chair next to me, sitting down slowly.

Daryl was quiet all dinner, although he obviously appreciated the food by how voraciously he ate. Aaron and Eric supplied most of the conversation, with me chipping in occasionally. Overall, it was a good time and we all ate enough pasta to feed an army. After we were done, Daryl stood up and picked up his dishes, taking them to the sink. He turned and looked at Aaron and Eric, rubbing his neck a little awkwardly. "Thanks for the food…I'm gonna head back into the garage." He turned and left the room before Aaron and Eric could get out more than a "no problem." We all quickly got to work on the dishes, chatting quietly the entire time.

Once the kitchen was clean, I said my goodbyes to Aaron and Eric, thanking them for the millionth time for the food. I started to head towards the front door, before changing my mind and heading towards the garage. Daryl was still out there, same place he had been before. We made eye contact for a moment as I exited the house before he looked back the bike. I stepped a bit closer to him. "…thanks for letting me watch you earlier. I really hope I wasn't bothering you." He shook his head. "Already said ya weren't." I nodded once. After a few seconds of silence, I started to turn to leave when I heard Daryl speak again "You're pretty quiet…so I guess you can help me with this as long as you don't start gabbing too much."

Shocked that I got a full sentence out of Daryl, a large grin broke out across my face once I realized that Daryl had basically said that he liked my company and pretty much invited me back again. Well, more like doesn't mind my company, but I'll take it! He was actively avoiding my gaze, making me think he was a bit embarrassed by his invitation.Still smiling, I said "I would like that," quietly. "Night, Daryl," I said as I turned and headed out of the garage. A thrill ran through me when I head a quiet "Night, Liz" behind me.

The grin didn't leave my face all the way back to my house.

And there it is. Lots of Daryl interaction for you. I couldn't quite get the ending like I wanted to, but overall, I really like this chapter. Hope you all enjoy it as well!

As always, read and review! Your feedback is always appreciated