…

Chapter Eleven.

She still hadn't picked shoes when she heard the doorbell ring. She almost gasped, her eyes flying to the clock. He was there right when he said he would be and she still didn't know what shoes to wear. Downstairs, she could hear Shawn talking and she could just imagine the things he was saying to Daryl. She grabbed her Converse sneakers and tugged them on as quickly as she could before hurrying out of her room and down the hallway.

Shawn had been oddly excited when she told her family that she was going out with a friend on Friday night and also, a little jealous when she said they would be going to the Roller Derby. Shawn had muttered something about how scary and hot those women were and he could just imagine them in bed and Beth had just given him a strange look because she hadn't been too sure how to respond to that.

Hershel had smiled when she told them that the friend she was going with was Daryl but he thankfully didn't insinuate anything in front of her siblings, his smile being more than enough to make her blush. And when it was just the two of them, Beth reminded him that she and Daryl were just friends and this wasn't a date. Hershel had just kept smiling though.

That was something she had told herself many times over the past few days ever since Daryl had asked her during their lunch hour on Monday – his eyes not meeting hers and having to clear his throat a few times. She had certainly never been to the Roller Derby – had never even thought of going to a Roller Derby – but when Daryl had asked her, saying his brother and sister-in-law went, that it was kind of their thing and were always inviting him along, she had smiled and eagerly agreed to go. It was something new and different for her to experience and she was excited to be able to experience this with Daryl. Her friend, Daryl. Friend. That seemed to be something she had to remind herself of more and more.

Maggie had been oddly quiet about the whole thing and Beth had almost asked her if she was alright but she was honestly too afraid to know.

"She hasn't eaten dinner so if you could…" Hershel was saying as she came down the stairs and Beth saw Daryl nodding his head in agreement.

Beth felt a flush rise up her neck as she felt a stone settle in her stomach. It was as if Daryl was babysitting her for the night. She now remembered why she hadn't been out on a date in so long – as if she could forget and not that this was a date. She felt so unsure around guys now, convinced they were all looking at her and studying her and trying to figure her out so they could save her. Guys seemed to love it if they were able to save a girl.

She knew Daryl wasn't like that and yet, she felt as if she was forcing him into the position to be.

Daryl lifted his eyes then and saw her on the stairs and she managed to give him a small smile and his own lips twitched a little towards her in response. He was wearing jeans and a black tee-shirt and he looked almost sloppy as he always did and yet, he looked so good as he always did and she felt that flutter in her stomach that she was getting so used to feeling every time he was around no matter how hard she tried to stop herself.

"Hi," she smiled, coming down the last step.

"Hey. You all set?" He asked.

"Yep," she said and she was smiling easier now because she couldn't deny that she was excited. She had absolutely no idea what to expect tonight and she had never been the sort to just dive headfirst into something – even before she got sick. Maybe this was who she was now. A girl who did spontaneous new things.

"Maybe want to get a sweater or somethin'," he said. "It might be cold in there."

Beth smiled and nodded before going into the living room where she had left her white cardigan sweater from work earlier. She slipped it on over her blue tee-shirt and came back into the main entry hall where Shawn was now telling Daryl that if he knew of any girl in the derby league who needed help with their sore muscles to give them his name. He had been known to give a very good massage. Daryl just stood there and smirked and Beth rolled her eyes.

"Alright, I'm ready," she said and Daryl moved his eyes to her.

She told herself that this wasn't a date even though that was what it felt like when Daryl and her daddy shook hands and then daddy kissed her on the side of the head, smiling at her and telling her to have a good time. Beth found herself taking a last glance for Maggie but she wasn't anywhere to be seen and she wasn't sure why she felt disappointed. If Maggie had been there, too, she would have probably just said something that would maybe upset Beth for the rest of the night.

She smiled when she saw his bike. She had expected him to be driving his pickup truck tonight for some reason and seeing his bike, it only made her smile and feel breathless and when he climbed on and she climbed on behind him, her arms instantly sliding around his waist, she told herself that this wasn't a date. This was just an evening out with two friends. And even if she hadn't been the one to declare them to be friends, it wasn't as if he would ever want anything more.

The Roller Derby was at the recreation center and she was surprised to see that almost the entire parking lot was full. She hadn't thought Roller Derby would get that much attention but seeing the crowd there, it only made Beth feel even more excited for tonight. Daryl parked the bike and turned it off and Beth couldn't help but practically leap off of it. Daryl climbed off as well, looking at her with a smirk.

"Excited?" He asked.

She smiled and realized she was practically bouncing on her toes. "Is it obvious?"

He smirked a little wider, almost smiling. She wished he would smile more. He probably would never believe it but she thought Daryl had an adorable smile. When he smiled, he looked so much younger. Not that she wanted him younger but when he smiled, he looked as if he didn't carry the world's problems on his face. When he smiled, it always made her smile in return.

"'m glad you wanna be here," he said, fiddling with his keys in his hands, looking at her for a moment before looking away quickly across the parking lot.

"I'm glad you invited me," she said and she wanted to hug him or even kiss him on the cheek but she bit her lower lip because he still wasn't looking at her and she couldn't just kiss Daryl on the cheek. She could just imagine his repulsed reaction to that and she didn't want to ruin tonight. Tonight, she was all about having fun with her friend and doing something she had never done before.

"My brother and his wife… I told 'em I was bringin' someone but I didn' tell them… they're prob'ly gonna be annoyin' as hell," Daryl warned her as they began crossing the lot towards the brightly lit building.

"That's alright," Beth smiled. "You were subjected to my brother. Sorry about him, by the way," she then quickly added.

Daryl shrugged and reached the door first, stepping aside and holding it open for her. "He was funny. I should prob'ly apologize for my brother now."

Beth just smiled. "I'm sure he's lovely."

Daryl snorted at that and he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a pink ticket. He handed it to her and Beth smiled wider – not only because he had gotten her a ticket and had invited her to come and she was super excited to be here but his fingers had just brushed against hers and she could feel her cheeks blushing just at the brief contact. Her hand could still feel his hand holding hers from the other night when they had gone to the Yellow Jacket Creek and had eaten their gas station dinner. His hand had been rough and warm and she could still feel the way her stomach had clenched at his touch.

Friends. Just friends, Beth, she scolded herself. She wondered if she had always been this pathetic or if this was something that just Daryl brought out of her.

There was a man sitting at a table outside of the double doors that led into the field house and Daryl stopped, handing him his ticket before getting a stamp on the hand and Beth followed, handing the ticket over and getting a star stamped on her hand.

Daryl looked at her. "Wanna get somethin' to eat?" He asked.

Beth nodded but then she felt herself smile a little. "I feel like that's all I do when I'm with you. Eat."

Daryl shrugged. "You don't got much choice when it comes to that."

Beth stared at him as his words settled over her. She told herself that he didn't mean anything by it. It was something she had to do and she didn't have any choice in it. Something everyone had to do and yet, she looked at him and she remembered the way her dad had told Daryl about dinner and Daryl had nodded because he knew that she, of all people, had to eat. He was her babysitter. Maybe they weren't even friends. Just a babysitter and ward.

She saw the expression passing over his face. He looked at her and looked completely ashamed that he had just said that. "I didn'-"

"Sure," Beth cut him off and quickly looked around in search of the concession stands. Spotting it and without waiting for him, she turned and began walking in that direction, pulling the money she had tucked into her jeans from her pocket. She wasn't surprised when Daryl was at her side within seconds. "So, I was reading up on Roller Derby before coming," she said as they waited in line.

She saw him smirk. "You researched Roller Derby?" He asked.

His earlier comment forgotten (almost), she felt her cheeks warm and she smiled. "Of course," she looked at him with a shrug. "I didn't want to be completely lost."

His smirk grew almost into a full-fledged smile. "'s women tryin' to kill each other. It's actually pretty straight forward," he said.

She laughed a little. "I didn't expect you to like something like this. Not that I think about things you like and I have never thought about roller derby before." She felt her face grow warmer. "I'm just… surprised."

"Yeah," Daryl said but said nothing else and Beth didn't know what else to say. She looked ahead at what sort of food there was but then she heard Daryl mutter "Shit" and she turned her head to look at him. He was looking at something past her and she wondered if his brother was coming. She wondered why he was worried about her meeting his brother because this was what family did. Family embarrassed you. It was the whole reason families existed.

"Was wonderin' where you were," a man came up to Daryl, slapping a hand on his shoulder. He was older, a little shorter and stockier with a shaved head, bristles of grey hair over his scalp and across his face from not shaving. He was grinning and when he turned that grin on her, Beth smiled, too. "And you're the second ticket."

"Hi," Beth didn't hesitate in sticking her hand out. "Beth Greene."

"This is my brother, Merle," Daryl muttered before Merle could say anything and Merle kept grinning, reaching out to shake her hand.

"Well, hello there, sweetness," Merle didn't take his eyes from her and his smile didn't fade and Beth could see Daryl shifting almost uncomfortably beside her. "Gotta tell you. You were not what I was expectin' when Daryl asked for a second ticket so he could bring someone along."

Beth glanced at Daryl for a moment and then looked back to Merle. "What were you expecting?" She asked, her curiosity evident in her tone.

Merle just shook his head and kept grinning as he looked her up and down. He then looked to Daryl and slapped his hand on his back. "Thing's 'bout to start. Annie's savin' us all seats. Punky Bruiser's here," he then said.

"Great," Daryl grumbled, facing forward, staring at the concession window they were just two people away from.

"Punky Bruiser?" Beth couldn't help but ask.

"One of Annie's friends," Merle answered her as if they both knew that Daryl never would. "Annie, my wife. Punky plays on one of the teams and has had a crush on ol' Daryl here forever." Merle grinned at that.

"It seems like quite a few women have crushes on him," Beth said before she could stop herself and when Daryl looked at her, eyes dark and intent, she felt her cheeks burst into fire as she quickly moved her eyes away. She wanted to say that she wasn't talking about her but rather Karen but the words clumped in her throat and Daryl had already made his assumption and it was too late to explain.

She didn't say anything as she listened to Merle and Daryl talk. Well, Merle did all of the talking and Daryl would just grunt occasionally. When it was their turn, she stepped up first to order a soft pretzel and a bottle of water. She paid for it herself, too, before Daryl could. It was bad enough that he felt some sort of obligation to make sure she always ate. She didn't need him to always pay for it, too. When she got her things and turned, Merle and Daryl were both looking at her and she wondered if Daryl had told Merle about the girl at the garage who starved herself and she wondered if Merle had figured out that she was that girl. But her eyes fell on Daryl and she could tell what he was thinking. She was used to that look. From Maggie. From her daddy.

Is that all you're eating?

And she had always hated that look but seeing it from Daryl right now, it actually upset her more than angered her because this was Daryl and in the time they had been spending together, he had never looked at her like that before but he was looking at her like that now and Beth honestly just felt like she could cry.

She had been having so much fun with Daryl over the past few weeks, just talking and spending time together – whether it was in his trailer or going for rides on the back of his motorcycle – and she had thought he was having fun with her, too. But maybe she had been wrong about it all. Maybe Daryl was like one of those men; the men who looked at a girl and decided he needed to save her. And maybe Daryl had looked at her and found out about her and he had some white-knight complex.

She had thought that maybe he had liked her. Not like a man liked a woman, of course, but like a guy liked a girl when they were friends. And she wondered how big of an idiot – a naïve idiot – she was for thinking that.

She quickly looked away from him and stepped from the line and stood off to the side as she waited for Daryl and Merle. She looked around at the crowded field house and the rink in the middle of the large room with metal bleaches surrounding it. She had been so excited to be here but now, she really just wanted to go home.

God, she was an idiot.

…

To those who celebrate, I hope you had a wonderful Easter.

Daryl's POV will be next, of course, and the Roller Derby continues.

Thank you so much for reading and please review!