I seriously have no idea what I'm doing with this story anymore and it shows. Lol This is bad but I had to write something for this to try to get me back in the groove so I'm apologizing in advance here. Sorry for the wait! Thanks for reading!
Chapter Nine
Carol made a face as soon as her feet touched the wet grass. The last thing she needed was for her sister to catch her sneaking out of her room and it said a lot about their relationship that Daryl didn't have to say very much to get her to come out in the first place.
She looked up at him, her eyes asking the questions she was unable to voice at the moment.
He grinned and grabbed her hand, pulling her around the side of the house.
"Daryl, this is a really bad idea. Merle managed to convince my sister that-"
He put his finger to his lips. "They're fuckin' with us," he whispered.
She blinked up at him, frowning hard. "No, they were just in my room and my sister is insisting I go to the doctor and-"
"Come on," he said, pulling her the rest of the way around the house. She glanced over her shoulder, sure that her sister would suddenly materialize out thin air, but the back yard stayed empty. When she faced forward once more she suddenly worried that Daryl had the bright idea of sneaking off and continuing on with what they had been doing back in her bedroom, which she wouldn't really object to, and this worried her.
He slowed down right before they reached the corner of the house and then he smiled again. "Sneaky assholes," he whispered and then jerked his head towards the porch. "Take a look."
She put her back to the wall and glanced around the corner, between the slats in the porch railing. Her mouth dropped open and she had to force herself not to scream out loud. Merle was sitting in one of the chairs, Jenny in his lap, his hands on her ass and they were making out. She looked up and Daryl was shaking his head, his eyes narrowed on their siblings. He grabbed her hand and pulled her around the side of porch, still as silent as a couple of wraiths. They both crept up the steps without making a sound but Carol couldn't keep her cool any longer.
"What on earth do you two think you're doing?" She shrieked just as Merle's hand slid up the front of her sister's shirt.
Jenny nearly fell completely off Merle's lap, the only thing saving her that particular humiliation was Merle hauling her back up but she was quick to push away from him and stand up, her eyes wide. Merle snorted and leaned back in the chair, folding his arms behind his head and grinning at them.
"What are you doing out here?" Jenny asked, her voice octaves higher than it should have been.
Carol gaped at her and then gestured wildly towards the older Dixon. "Me! Well, it looks like I'm standing here on the porch watching my oh so concerned sister give Merle Dixon a private lap dance! You were just in my room giving me the third degree about responsibility, making me feel like a horrible person for a stupid prank, and then you come out here in front of God and everybody and do... whatever you were about to do, here on the porch!" She couldn't believe her sister!
"Would you keep your voice down?" Jenny hissed, glancing out at the dark and quiet street.
Carol glared. "You two knew that it was just a big joke! You also knew he was in my room when Merle showed up!"
Daryl cursed out loud and Carol could tell by the look on Jenny's face that she had lost the upper hand by admitting that Daryl had been in her room.
"You've been sneaking him into your room?" Jenny asked before she turned on the elder Dixon. "Did you know about this?"
Merle shrugged. "I take a different approach to parenting. I give my brother room to breathe, stretch his wings a little before actually learnin' to fly, if you know what I mean." He actually winked and Carol thought for sure Jenny was going to kick him right in the groin.
"He can stretch whatever he wants, as long as it isn't in my sister bedroom in the middle of the night!"
"Stop being a hypocrite!" Carol snapped, hands on her hips. "You were five seconds away from taking Merle on ride! You... You exhibitionist!"
The porch light came on at the house next door and Jenny made her move. She grabbed Carol by the elbow and marched her to the door. Before she opened it, however, she turned and pointed at Daryl. "Inside, both of you."
"What?" Daryl took a step back, shaking his head. "Nah. I ain't goin' in there so you can scream at me in private, lady."
Merle got up then, giving Daryl a small shove towards the door that Jenny was now hauling Carol through. All in all, it was the most outraged Carol had ever been in her life, but it was also embarrassing because she had basically told on herself. Now Daryl was in trouble too.
Jenny slammed the door and crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay, this has gotten completely out of hand. How many nights do you sneak him in?" she asked, her gaze flicking between her and Daryl, who looked like he'd rather be at school at the moment, and that was saying a lot.
Carol scoffed. "This was the first time," she lied easily. So easily, in fact, that she was a little surprised at herself.
Merle chuckled. "He leaves every night. I'm guessin' unless he's really gettin' a piece on the side, which I'm doubting, this is where he ends up. Comes home in the mornin' long enough to shower, change clothes and scarf down his daily dose of Lucky Charms. But if it makes you feel any better, he's too moody. A boy his age wouldn't give me that much attitude if he was getting laid on the regular if you know what I mean."
"Thanks, Merle," Daryl grumbled.
Merle ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Jen, it's been fun but this ain't our scene, alright? We're gonna take off."
Jenny laughed at that but it was a chilling sound. "Not until we talk about this. I have a teenage sister I have to worry about here and-"
Merle cut her off before she could finish. "You have a kid here with more brains than she knows what to do with. I ain't never met a bigger goody two shoes in my whole life, studyin', excelling in everything she does, has a damn future in whatever she decides to pursue. And then I see you tryin' to suffocate her now that she's found somethin' she cares about that don't fit into your little cookie cutter plan for her. Well, I'll tell you what, she's smart enough to know a good thing when she sees one, and that's why she's with my brother. Cause he's just as good as she is, in his own ways.
Carol was shocked that Merle had made a stand for her but Jenny's lips pursed in a thin disapproving line.
"That isn't true," Jenny said defensively.
Merle grinned. "It's true. All this time and you was worried that she wasn't doing the things other girls were doing, but deep down, she was being the person you needed her to be and you were glad of it. Somebody that never gave you any shit and did what you asked when you asked it. Now things ain't quite workin' out like that and you hate it. But what exactly are all these new rules and regulations gettin' you? It's turnin' a good girl into a liar and causin' you undo stress. Me and my brother, as dysfunctional as we are, have a better relationship than that. You should take notes."
"Oh, so, all I have to do is let her make her own rules, have her own curfew and let her spend whatever night she wants with her boyfriend then? And that's the way to teach her responsibility? I see. I'm so glad you were here to enlighten me."
"I think it'd work," Daryl chimed in but he closed him mouth at one narrow eyed glance from Jenny.
Merle shrugged. "Teach her responsibility? You can't teach that girl anything. Look, I wasn't sayin' cut the leash completely but give her some slack. If you don't, she'll keep sneakin' around and she'll feel like she's got a point to prove."
Carol decided then that it was high time she stopped letting Merle stick up for her. "He's right, Jenny. He can't be here unless you're here, you keep tabs on everywhere I go with him and when he is allowed over you hover over me."
"Then tell me, Carol Ann, what the hell do you want me to do?" Jenny seemed like she was at the end of her rope and finally, Carol felt bad for her.
"For you to trust me," she said quietly.
Jenny's features seemed to smooth out, other than a frown between her eyes. She looked down and then shook her head. "I don't know how to do that! I can't let you-"
"I'm not you," Carol said, still holding onto the that calm.
"And what's that suppose to mean?" Jenny asked.
"Burn," Merle said, his voice serious.
Carol shot him a look but when she turned her eyes back on her sister, she was pleading. "I'm not the same person you were when you were my age. I'm not into the kinds of things you were into and Daryl isn't Merle."
Jenny rolled her eyes. "I know that. But I also know what it means to be a seventeen year old."
"You know what it meant for you. Not me. I'm still gonna do everything that I planned on doing. It's just that now, I have someone other than you cheering me on. That isn't a bad thing. And Merle is right about one thing, you trying everything in your power to keep me on a leash, is only making me want to rebel against it, because I know I haven't done anything to deserve it."
"I caught him in your bed," Jenny deadpanned.
"I'm not having sex with him!" She was quickly losing patience but she was tired of this. "Fine," she said, shaking her head. "Keep doing what you're doing, Jenny. Stress yourself out for nothing, treat me like I'm twelve years old for nothing, and let's just keep not trusting each other because it's seriously doing wonders for our relationship." She turned then and stormed out of the room, slamming her door.
Surprisingly enough, a few minutes later she heard Merle and Daryl leave and then Jenny's bedroom door shut quietly across the hall. She tried to put herself in her sister's position but it wasn't easy. And that stupid prank had backfired so horribly that she knew it was the last time she was ever going to try to mess with someone. It just wasn't worth the damn trouble.
~H~
Breakfast was strained to say the least. For once, Daryl wasn't exactly in a huge rush to get to Carol's. After last night it was pretty safe to say that Jenny would likely blow her top if she saw him again. He knew that the two of them had been really close before he'd came along and even though he'd never regret being with Carol, he did regret being the reason that her and her sister didn't get along too well.
"Somebody sneak in here and piss in your Cheerios?" Merle asked before taking an obnoxious slurp from his coffee cup.
Daryl stared down into his bowl of cereal and shrugged dejectedly.
A long drawn out sigh was his reward. "Look, kid. I ain't got no worldly advice for you. Hell, if it'd been me gettin' caught in a girls bed you can bet I'd have been caught with my pants down. Jenny's just worried about her sister and you're the one gonna catch the flack for it. That stunt you all pulled didn't help matters any."
"Yeah, no shit," he muttered.
The thing that bothered him the most was, he wasn't sure if Carol would end up regretting it all. Her life had been pretty okay before him and now she was stressed out and staying in trouble with her sister. He was a complication and it sucked. He didn't want to feel like that. The only time he had ever thought of it like that was last night. He wasn't stupid. He was good for Carol and she was good for him but knowing that didn't much matter when you had someone like Jenny trying to say otherwise. Especially when Jenny had been a part of her life, and played a much more important role than he ever had.
"It'll work out. I'll work on her," Merle said, sounding a little bit concerned.
Daryl finally looked up. "Don't worry about it. What's the worst thing that could happen? If Carol starts thinkin' this whole thing ain't worth the trouble, then I can't exactly blame her."
Merle scowled at that. "Didn't take you for a quitter, little brother."
Daryl scowled right back. "I ain't, but there ain't much I can do about it. Jenny was right, Merle. Carol's goin' far. The only fuckin' place I'm goin' is the nearest garage hiring after I graduate. She-"
"If you say she deserves better than you then I'm gonna break your goddamn jaw, boy. Maybe I got my faults when it comes to bringin' you up proper but I know I didn't raise you to feel like you're little ass is less than anybody else. You got just as much to offer as that damn girl and if her stubborn fuckin' sister don't see that then fuck her."
Daryl's brows were seconds away from crawling under his hairline at Merle's outburst. "That ain't what I was gonna say. Besides, I thought you had a thing for Jenny, anyway?"
Merle stood up and nearly broke the mug that he slammed into the sink. "Here's another lesson for you, brother. Sometimes, no matter how good the pussy is, it ain't worth trouble." With that he stormed out of the kitchen, leaving a stunned Daryl staring after him.
It wasn't that Merle didn't usually stick up for him, because he did when it needed to be done, but this time seemed a little different somehow.
"Great," he grumbled, tossing his bowl into the sink. Like it wasn't bad enough that he was causing crap between Carol and her sister, but now he was fucking shit up between her and his brother. The woman probably seriously hated him at this point. Usually he wouldn't give a damn about what people thought of him but this was different.