Hey everyone! Sorry this chapter is late and a bit shorter than the previous two. I had a super busy day with classes and assignments. Hopefully I'll update between tomorrow night and Wednesday night! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!
"So, what's he like?"
"..How did you..? I thought…"
"Rick told me, don't worry"
Beth was sitting on one side of Zach's hospital bed, both of them eating ice cream. He looked better and seemed a little bit happier than last week. She had come here to check on him and to tell him about Daryl, but apparently he already knew about it.
"So, what's he like?" he asked again, and Beth could see that he was doing his best to look genuinely interested and not bitter or jealous.
"He is… complicated" she answered. Truth was, she really didn't know how to explain Daryl Dixon. He could act like such a surly ass one moment, and look completely lost and shy the other, like when the tips of his ears turned red.
"Oh wow. Only what, three days of practice, and it's already complicated?"
Beth laughed. She missed Zach and the way things used to be so simple with him.
"He's not an easy person, but I think he's trying."
"Well, no one can be as great as me, I know that" Zach grinned "…And as a skater? Is he up to the standard?"
Beth nodded. She had been surprised, to say the least, to find that Daryl was still a perfectly capable skater, even if a bit rusty. He was just a natural, and you couldn't kill that even if you were the most stubborn man in the world.
"Mmh. I used to look up to him so much" Zach confessed, "You're lucky, Bethy. If he doesn't bail on you like he did with Andrea Harrison, I mean."
Beth laughed, even though the thought gave her anxiety. Daryl wouldn't do that to her, would he? But then again, she was no one to him, and Andrea had been his long-time partner, so...
"Yeah."
"Is he treating you well? I've read things about his temper, you know"
Zach was looking at her with his big, dark eyes, and Beth missed him more than ever in that moment. He always felt so comfortable with him, and with Daryl she had to fight to conquer him inch by inch.
"He… we're getting there, I think" she finally said. She could have lied to him, but she was an awful liar anyways, and Zach knew her too well for her to hope he wouldn't noticed.
Zach gently held her wrist.
"Beth. You are an amazing skater, but most of all you're a great person. Don't let anyone step all over you, okay?"
She knew he meant it, and she knew he was right. But she didn't think that Daryl was that kind of person: he pretty bad temper, sure, but as Lori had said, that was probably a defence mechanism.
"Okay"
"Good. Cause I kinda can't walk right now with this leg, and it'd be pretty awkward for me to try and beat him up"
"It's time to try the throws. We'll never be ready on time with our programs if we do"
Rick was looking at them intently. They had worked all morning on jumps and lifts, and things were going really well. Daryl wasn't talking much, as always, but Beth could have sworn that he had almost smiled at her a couple of times. Not to mention, when she had brought him her famous cookies the tips of his ears had gone red again, and she couldn't help but find it endearing.
She looked at him, and he seemed nervous.
"Rick, 's too soon for that"
"No, Rick is right." Carol intervened "The qualifications will be at the end of October, and your throws have to be absolutely perfect if you want a chance. It's now or never"
Daryl was looking at her with a hostile expression on his face, but Beth knew that Carol was right. It was gonna take time for them to feel sure of their throws, and the earlier they started, the better.
"Okay, let's do this" she said, and Daryl's head snapped towards her.
"I told ya I ain't ready!" he hissed. She wasn't gonna give in, though. Plus, she was the one who suffered the biggest risk in this.
"Well we gotta be" she stated, firmly.
He looked mad, but finally, he nodded.
They reached the ice, followed by Rick, and he started giving them directions to try a triple Salchow.
They started skating, and Beth knew that Daryl's speed and higher strength was gonna be a problem for her at the beginning so, when Daryl's hands went to her waist and he threw her in the air and she flew higher than she ever had, she wasn't surprised that she couldn't control her landing and she ended up with her butt on the ice.
Ouch.
It hurt. It wasn't anything that she hadn't experienced before, but the idea of a whole afternoon like this was becoming less and less appealing.
Before she could do anything, Daryl was at her side, looking incredibly concerned.
"'m sorry" he whispered, kneeling beside her and placing a warm hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright. It's not your fault" she said, but he wouldn't look at her anymore.
"Told ya I ain't ready" he muttered.
Was this the reason why he didn't wanna do this? Was he afraid that he was gonna hurt her?
"Daryl, this was bound to happen sooner or later. It's okay, we'll get there" she said, sweetly, putting a hand on his forearm. His eyes darted to her hand and then to her face, before falling to the ground again.
Rick reached them, and offered Beth a hand to get up.
"Alright?"
"Yeah, let's try that again. Only way to get past the fear of falling again, right?" she said, trying to smile so that Daryl would stop feeling guilty.
He was staring at her now, an unreadable look on his face.
Then, he nodded.
She did fall again, and way more than once. In fact, she didn't think she had fallen that many times in one day since she was fourteen and still learning how to do throws.
She couldn't wait to get home and take a long, hot, soothing bath. The good news was that at the very end of the training the throws had actually started to work, and she was able to land them without falling down.
The worst part about that afternoon's training had been having to see Daryl's face after each fall. He just couldn't stand it, and she hated that he blamed it on himself.
After a particularly tough fall, that took her breath away for a second and made Carol gasp in shock, he had literally thrown himself towards her, sliding on the ice and gently grabbing her ankle.
"Can you move it?" he had asked, an edge of panic in his voice.
"Y-yeah" she had replied, still a bit overturn.
He had breathed out a sigh of relief then, and she had really wanted to hold his hand and hug him in that moment. That training was torture for him, and he was enduring it because she had asked him too.
Lori had been right when she had said that he wasn't mean or hateful as he looked and made people believe.
Daryl Dixon wasn't a bad person at all.
She had a really long, relaxing bath, and despite being sore everywhere she was feeling better.
She was already in bed, wearing shorts and an old oversized t-shirt, and she was talking to Tara on the phone.
"Wow, Bethy, that sounds intense."
"It was, but I'm fine. I'm glad that things seem to be working, with Daryl"
"And tell me, have you noticed that he is.. how to say this, handsome as hell?"
Beth felt herself blush even though no one was there to see her.
"TARA! I thought you were into girls!"
"Yeah well, that doesn't mean I'm blind" her friend was laughing, "I'm just teasing you. But, you know, if you wanted to go for it I'd totally support you."
"Tara…"
"Just look at Rick and Lori! It could work, you know?"
"I'm gonna end this conversation now if you don't stop it immediately. Plus, you never told me how it was going with that girl Erika that you were seeing…"
"Well, basically-"
Beth's doorbell rang. That was odd. Who could come visit her at 9 pm, especially knowing her schedule?
"Tara, I'm gonna call you back, someone's at the door."
"Yeah well, if he's armed and is wearing a mask don't open!"
Beth rolled her eyes, before hanging up the phone.
She walked to the front door and opened the door. In front of her was none other than Daryl Dixon.
"Daryl!" she definitely wasn't expecting this. He looked uncomfortable, the tips of his ears turning red when his eyes fell on her bare legs. She blushed uncontrollably.
"Came t'bring ya this" he said, clearing his throat, and without looking at her he gave her a jar with a green something inside.
She looked at it, taken aback.
"'s a parsley cream. Helps with bruises" he explained, before adding "Thought it might help after t'day. Sorry if I woke ya up"
She felt her stomach knot for a second, and she found herself smiling. This man definitely wasn't who people thought he was.
"Aww. Thank you, Daryl. That's really sweet of you" she said. His eyes still wouldn't found hers and he looked like he wanted to bolt.
"Least I could do after.. y'know"
"Daryl, it wasn't your fault" she said, more firmly.
He nodded, looking unconvinced.
"Do you wanna come inside and.. I don't know, have a cup of tea?" she found herself asking. What had gotten to her? Five minutes ago she was ready to go to bed and now she was inviting Daryl Dixon to have tea with her.
He shook his head "Y' need sleep".
"So do you."
He looked at her, and the intensity of his eyes sent her a shiver down her spine.
"See ya tomorrow"
"I'll see you tomorrow, Daryl. Thank you for the cream" before she even knew what she was doing, she was on her toe-tips, pressing a light kiss against his cheek. His scuffle was making her lips itchy, but she found she didn't mind.
When she took a step back she could see that his ears were as red as ever.
Without another word, he walked to his truck and drove away.
The morning after, Beth woke up feeling energized and ready to face a new day of training with Daryl. Her mind kept going back to that moment on her front door, and to the way his scuffle had felt when she had kissed his cheek.
What was she doing? She definitely wasn't supposed to be thinking about Daryl like that.
Sighing to herself, she grabbed her sports bag and went for the front door. When she opened it, it was like being in a nightmare. There were more than twenty people shouting at her and taking pictures, all of them asking her –yelling at her- whether it was true that Daryl Dixon was her new partner.
Panicked, Beth tried to ignore them and walk to her car, but they kept pushing her and snapping picture and demanding answers.
Finally, a hand reached for her arm. It was Rick.
"LEAVE HER ALONE" he roared at the paparazzi, while he dragged her towards his car, telling her to get in.
She did, and as soon as Rick was at the wheel, they left as fast as they could.
Beth was dazed and in shock, while she tried to breathe again after that terrible two minutes.
"Are you okay?" Rick asked, eying at her protectively.
She nodded, shakily. "How did they find out?"
"I don't know. Someone must have given them a clue. The news would have broken next week, anyways. I'm sorry about that. I knew it was gonna be bad, but I wasn't expecting this. Not on you, too."
"So what do we do now?"
"We work our asses off and we ignore them until we are ready to officially release a statement"
"Do you think they've done the same thing to Daryl?"
"I don't know. If they found out where he's staying, my guess is he had it much worse. He's not gonna be happy about this"
They arrived at the ice-rink and it, too, was surrounded by screaming paparazzi.
The peace was over.
As usual, thank you SO MUCH to whoever comments\follows. It means so much to me! I love how you guys find Skater!Daryl hilarious, and I absolutely agree with you. If you wanna see the kind of male skater I have in mind, go look for Maxim Trankov ;) One last thing, if you guys wanna be friends I'm on tumblr with the url francescadb :D