So far I think there's one more chapter to this, possibly two if you all end up wanting an epilogue or something. I will try to get the next chapter out tomorrow but I can't promise you anything. I'm super sick and a total whining slob that doesn't want to do anything, even something as minimal as type, but I'll try! Hope you all had a good weekend and thanks for reading!

Chapter Four

Carol bounded into the kitchen and had to skid to a stop in her sock clad feet to avoid smacking right into her sister. Jenny raised one eyebrow at her and took a long sip from the cold glass of tea in her hand.

"I thought you were gone again," Jenny said, her voice sounding amused as Carol poured her own glass.

Carol glanced at her sister and then at the clock on the wall. "I can stay home if you want," she said, hoping that her sister had plans of her own.

It had been fifteen days since going on that fake date with Daryl Dixon and it had been fifteen evenings straight that the two of them spent together. He worked at the garage with his brother and sometimes didn't even bother going home to shower before picking her up. Sweaty and grease stained, she never minded because he always had something up his sleeve for them to do.

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of getting in the way of young love," Jenny said with a grin.

Carol glared at her as her face flamed. "Shut up. That is not funny."

"Carol, no boy in the history of the world would bother spending so much time with a girl if she was only his friend, which is what you keep claiming to be."

"He isn't my boyfriend. I'm not his girlfriend."

"Has he put any moves on you yet?" Jenny asked, unperturbed.

Carol rolled her eyes and stormed out of the kitchen, glass in hand, ignoring the question. Of course he hadn't put the moves on her. What was that suppose to even mean, anyway? He was a good friend and they actually had fun together. He taught her how to shoot pool, they hung out at his house and watched movies, she had even cooked him dinner a few times. She didn't mind going to garage with him anymore and he never made any remarks about her clothes, even though she had gotten a little more daring, just not like she had that first night. She at least raided her sisters closet for jeans most days.

"You can't hide, little sister," Jenny called from the kitchen.

"The hell I can't," she muttered, slamming her bedroom door behind her. "Put moves on me," she grumbled. "Who even says that?" she sat the glass down on her dresser and looked up at her reflection. Movement behind her had her gasping and she screamed before she could even turn around.

Daryl was lying on her bed, his arms folded behind his head and his feet crossed at the ankles. He grinned at her but then grunted when she threw a paperback at him. It bounced off his stomach and onto the floor.

"You scared me to death!" This wasn't the first time he had climbed through her bedroom window to avoid the jeers from her sister.

"What the hell was you mutterin' about?" he asked, not bothering to even get up.

"What?" she was completely flustered. The truth was, and she would deny it to her sister until she was blue in the face, but she liked him. More than liked him really and it was always a little disconcerting for her to be around him but it wasn't as bad when she had time to prepare herself. Right now, she wasn't prepared and she was having a hard time not staring at him.

"You said something about moves. You always talk to yourself when I'm not around?" he asked.

"Shut up," she muttered, dropping down next to him and folding her hands on her stomach, refusing to acknowledge the fact that what she was really doing was trying to calm the stupid fluttering under her hands. "What are you doing here anyway? You're suppose to be at work."

He sighed, staring up at the ceiling fan. "Left early. It's too damn nice to be stuck in the garage all damn day. It's ninety degrees out there and there's a perfectly good swimming hole in the woods behind my house."

She frowned. "I can't swim."

"I'll buy you a floaty."

She snorted at. "You're just trying to coerce me into putting on a bathing suit," she grumbled.

He raised up on one elbow and stared down at her. "You're gettin' awfully bold, you know that? Accusin' me, the only friend you got, of tryin' to skin you down to your skivvies or some shit."

"You're a teenager. It would be a lot weirder if you weren't trying to get some poor girl in her skivvies."

He laughed. "Yeah, well, the only girl I hang out with is you so it's got my priorities all mixed up. The site of too much shoulder is distracting enough now days. You put on a bathing suit and I might pass right out."

She turned over until she was facing him and gave him a hard shove. He toppled right off the side of the bed, groaning loudly. She hadn't meant to hurt him so she hurried over to peer down at him. "I'm so sorry!"

He stared up at her and then sat up. "I take it that's a no?" he asked, pulling himself up off the floor.

She chewed her lip for a second and then shrugged. The truth was, it was a hot day and after spending so much time with him, she didn't really see any reason why she couldn't go for a swim. She hated to admit it but mostly, she really wouldn't mind getting a view of him without a shirt on. "Will it just be us?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea. Merle goes down there every now and then so who knows."

"I hate crowds," she said, taking the hand he offered and letting him pull her up from the bed. "But I think I might hate sweat even more than that."

His brows went up. "You really wanna go?"

"If you do," she answered quickly.

He looked contemplative for a few long seconds and then shook his head. "We can do whatever the hell you want."

"And today I want you to get to do something you want to do for a change so let me go make my obnoxious sister's day and borrow a bathing suit from her."

"You should ask her to come too," he said, glancing at the door.

She frowned. "Why?"

Daryl shrugged. "I don't know. My brother kind of ain't shut his big dumb trap about her since he found out who you were."

"Does he still think I'm your girlfriend?" she asked with a grin.

"Everybody thinks you're my girlfriend. Makes life a lot easier where Merle's concerned. It helps that you're the only person that I can hang out with and not end up wanting to strangle."

"You sure know how to sweet talk a girl, Daryl," she said with an easy smile.

"Workin' on it," he shot back before she slipped out the door.

~H~

Pretending to be going out with a girl that you wanted to go out with was a pain in the ass. He liked spending time with her but for the last few days his mind kept roaming to dangerous territory. He had liked her since the moment he met her but after spending so much time with her he realized that he liked every single fucking minute thing about her. She was funny, quick witted, smart, had good taste in music, seemed to enjoy his company more than anyone else he'd ever met, and he wanted to kiss her so fucking bad he couldn't stand it.

And that was the problem because short of a few flirtatious comments that caused her to turn red faced, she hadn't exactly let on that she felt the same way at all.

At least for the moment he could enjoy the ride to his place. Oddly enough, after the first time she got on it, she became a complete sucker for the bike and he had to admit that he was sucker for the excuse to have her wrapped around him like that. As he pulled into his driveway he wished, just like he did every time the ride was over, that he could go a little further.

He stood up, balancing the bike between his legs while she slid off first, dragging her bag around and rummaging through it.

"This should be fun," she muttered, shoving a beach towel into his hands. "I brought you one just in case."

He looked down at the towel and snorted. "What? You think we ain't got towels around here?"

She waved him away like she was batting at a fly. "Of course I think you have towels but I also think that you and Merle won't wash a load of them until you've used up every one in the house. I wanted to be safe, not sorry."

"We'll probably end up leavin' as soon as we get down there anyhow so it ain't gonna matter much. Not unless we take turns sprayin' each other off with the water hose."

She looked up at that as she struggled with her unruly hair. "What's that suppose to mean? I'm here aren't I?"

He nodded towards the driveway behind her. "Yeah, but you ain't very observant."

She looked over her shoulder and he could see the tension as she took in the other cars parked behind Daryl's truck. "Crap," she mumbled, almost under her breath.

"We'll just find somethin' else to do like I said. It ain't a big deal," he said easily. It was the truth. Sure, it was hot as nine kinds of hell and it was a damn good day to go but it wasn't like it was the only thing they could do. With everyone here it meant that he wasn't the only one that closed shop early so the garage was empty. "We can go shoot pool or somethin'."

She stared at him for a few long moments and then grabbed his sunglasses right off his face. He didn't even have time to react before she quickly reached up and kissed his jaw. "You always do this and I love you for it, but I need to learn how to stop being this way. So what if there's people down there, right? I've spent the last two weeks with you and before I barely spoke to anyone but my sister and my teachers. I had my nose shoved into a book all the time and I avoided every little thing that made me uncomfortable. But that isn't how the world works. Some day you're probably gonna move away, or maybe I'll move away or you'll find a girlfriend that wont want me hanging around and I'm not willing to go back to being alone all the time."

He shook his head. "I ain't goin' anywhere," he mumbled, flushing for no good goddamn reason at all. "I like you the way you are."

She smiled and for one heart stopping moment he thought she might kiss him again. Sure, it was just on the face but he'd take what he could get. She sighed heavily. "But I don't."

He frowned but she ignored it, looking past him towards the trees.

She shoved past him, refusing to let him dwell on what she had said. He wanted to say something about it but there wasn't anything he could say so he simply followed her up the porch steps and through his front door.

Just like he expected, the house was empty, meaning that Merle and his Motley Crew were down in the woods, making what would have been a fine damn time something to stress about. Leave it to Merle.

"Let me guess, today is the day I get to see you in one of them fancy little speedos, right?" She asked, dropping into the only chair that sat in the corner of the living room. She smiled up at him, batting her eyes.

He scowled. "I liked you a lot better when you weren't such an asshole."

"Is that a no?" she asked, raising her brows.

He shook his head, gave her the finger and then took off down the hall to his room. It was a lie and he knew it because he enjoyed those moments where her guard was down and she forgot to be so goddamn insecure around him. He would take her teasing over the quiet Carol any day. When she was quiet it meant that she was over thinking and that was never a good thing.

He snatched a pair of cut off camouflage pants and a threadbare band shirt that at one time had an image of Motorhead on the front but now it mostly looked like some sort of faded blob. He didn't give a damn though. It was still his favorite shirt, even though the sleeves were cut so severely that it no longer even covered his sides properly.

He made his way back down the hall and found her staring out the front window. She glanced over her shoulder when she heard him and then raised a brow.

"You look like a roadie," she grinned.

"You still look like an asshole," he countered. "You ready?"

She followed him out and they fell in step, walking into the woods down a well worn path that had been on the property before he was even thought of. Carol was quiet but that was nothing new. He liked it that way sometimes. A little ways further and that quiet was broken by a feminine scream followed by loud obnoxious laughter. Carol stopped in her tracks, grabbing his forearm with both her hands.

He glanced down and smirked as her wide eyes met his. "They ain't down there killin' anybody if that's what you're worried about."

"I didn't know there were gonna be girls down there," she said, glancing down the path.

He chuckled. "You gotta learn, where there's Merle, there's chicks. You ready to chicken out yet?" He wagged his eyebrows.

She glared but loosened her hold on his arm, sliding one hand down until her fingers were threaded through his. "Let's go, loverboy. If your brother is down there then I'm back on girlfriend duty."

He could have told her that the party was over, the bike was his and if she wanted they could just tell Merle that it hadn't worked out, but he wasn't a fucking idiot. As long as she wanted to play, he'd play. They started walking again but he could feel how tense she was.

"You know, we've spent every evening together for the past two weeks," she said with an air of forced casualness.

He glanced at her. "Yeah, so?"

"And when your brother is around, we're suppose to act like we're dating, right?"

He shrugged, wondering what the hell she was getting at. "Not if you don't want to," he admitted reluctantly.

She was looking at the ground in front of them. "I do want to but I was..."

"You were what?" he pressed, noticing that they were slowing down.

"Well, have you ever considered actually... I don't know. Dating?"

His brows went up and he stopped. "What? You?"

"I... No, of course not me," she said quickly, shaking her head but the deep flush on her face told him otherwise. "I just meant that-"

He actually had thought about that a lot but he hadn't ever thought anything would come of it and he sure as shit wasn't going to bring it up. Rejection was a mother fucker and his own self esteem was only a little bit better than hers. He finally shrugged nonchalantly. "What'd you mean then?" he pressed.

"Nothing," she muttered, trying to start walking again. She didn't get far because his feet were planted on the path and his grip on her hand hadn't let up, even though hers had.

"You wanna be wined and dined, huh? Gettin' sick of burger joints and dirty garage pool?"

She scowled at him. "I wasn't even talking about me!"

He flashed her a grin. "Yeah you were." He hoped she was at least or he was gonna look like a real dumb shit.

"Let's just get down there okay? It's hot out here."

He had to say something because his opportunity was about to slip away but he wasn't sure what to say.

"Daryl?" she tugged at his hand to get him moving.

"It is kinda stupid, right? Acting? We're always doin' shit together anyway."

"What?"

Now it was his turn to get all fucking flustered. Why the hell had he thought it would be amusing to give her shit? "Nothin'. Let's go." He didn't get far before he realized now it was her with her feet planted firmly on the path, unmoving as she eyed him.

"What were getting at?"

He shrugged.

"Do you want to..." she couldn't even spit out the question.

He nodded because his words were sticking to the roof of his mouth.

"Oh... Okay."

"Can we go now?" he asked, feeling like shifting on his feet.

"Yeah," she said and fell in step once again.

Another couple of feet and the path widened out and she stopped in her tracks so fast that he almost tripped. There were bikes parked haphazardly throughout the small clearing, which he hadn't considered. The few cars in the driveway made him think that the crowd here wouldn't be so big but he was wrong. There were a lot of people down there.

"Well, shit," she muttered under her breath. "There's kids from school here."

"You wanna make a run for it or are we doing this?" he asked, unsure what she would decide to do now.

She raised her chin and started walking towards the crowd. He hid a grin and then threw his hand up at his brother who just turned and noticed them walking down. There was a bikini clad blond hanging off his arm, which was typical.

Carol leaned into his side a little. "I can't believe my whole purpose for us hanging out that first night was to keep girls like that away from you. You're definitely a strange guy."

He laughed. "Strange, huh? Maybe you're right, but not as strange as the rash my brother had on his balls last month. No thanks."

Carol's mouth dropped open at that but she didn't have a chance to say anything before Joe made his appearance. Daryl hadn't seen the guy since the night of the party and he could tell by the mean glint in his eyes as he studied Carol that he knew exactly who she was now.

"Dixon," Joe said when he finally stopped in front of them.

"Joe," Daryl greeted, his voice hard. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Joe's shit today. He led her closer to the water and then veered off, stopping a short distance away from the rest of the crowd, feeling like he needed to shield her from the rest of them.

"You look more nervous than I do," she said, looking up and meeting his eyes as he leaned his back against the tree.

He rolled his eyes and stared over her head as one of Merle's buddies put his foot in the loop on the rope swing and pushed off the tree, arching over the water before letting go and doing a poor imitation of a cannon ball.

"Well, we might as well do it," she said, drawing his attention back to her as she worked her jeans down her legs.

He had noticed a significant change in her since the two of them started spending so much time together but he would have never believed that she had it in her to strip right there in front of him. But as she crossed her arms in front of her and quickly pulled off the oversized shirt she was wearing, he sure as hell didn't have a choice but to believe it.

"Wouldn't you know it, my sister is beneath a one piece so I'm stuck with this," she muttered, looking down at herself.

"Yeah, that's a real shame," he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice as his eyes trailed down, roaming over the taut flat planes of her stomach. It was simply that. Nothing but a two piece bathing suit and compared to the scraps that most of the other girls were wearing it was goddamn modest but that didn't matter because the other girls here weren't her and he'd meant what he had told her earlier. She wasn't one to show off her body so he'd been stuck using his imagination for a few weeks now and this... well, it was little bit overwhelming.

"What are you staring at?" she asked defensively.

Reluctantly he leveled his gaze onto hers and shrugged. "Nothin'."

She raised her brows at him. "Why is your face so red?" she asked.

"Why is yours?" he countered, sounding defensive himself and feeling his ears start to burn.

"Because I'm standing here mostly naked. What's your excuse?"

"Cause you're standin' there mostly naked," he said, catching her off guard.

She blew a strand of hair out of her face and rolled her eyes but he could see that she was trying to fight a smile. "Okay, lets get in."

He gestured towards the water and gave her shoulder a gentle shove. "After you."

She gave him another one of those half shocked looks but finally turned and headed down the slight incline towards the water. The rest of the group were further down near the rope swing and the music someone had turned up.

He chased away questions about how their mutual agreement back there on the path was going to possibly change things between them. Right now he just wanted to have some fun with her before the inevitable worry started trickling in on him.