Daryl grimaced as he pulled up to the Greene house. He could see Beth sitting on the front porch with her friend Melody next to her. They were laughing, Beth had her head thrown back an her hair was glowing in the sunlight, as Melody talked animatedly next to her.

He knew the exact moment that Beth noticed him, he recognised the way her shoulders tensed, the smile dropping from her face as she glared at him. He took a deep breath to steel himself before adopting his trademark smirk as he flung his leg over his bike. He sauntered (maybe a little bit on purpose) up to the house and winked at Melody who blushed and giggled. Beth rolled her eyes at her friend before turning to glare at Daryl again.

"Afternoon, Greene." Daryl grinned at her obvious annoyance. "Your brother about?"

"SHAWN!" Beth didn't answer Daryl, instead turning her head towards the house and shouting for her brother. "DIXON IS HERE."

Daryl frowned. For some reason, which he didn't want to think about, it bothered him when Beth called him Dixon. He liked it when she called him Daryl, liked the way his name sounded in her southern lilt. She shot a him a quick smirk while narrowing her eyes at him before turning back to her friend and walking toward the swinging bench on the porch. Beth flopped herself down in it and watched through slitted eyes as Melody twirled her hair around her index finger and smiled up at Daryl. He was completely oblivious, which was one of the things that annoyed Beth most about Daryl. He always seemed to have girls giving him the eye and yet he never noticed. She watched him and didn't miss the mischievous grin that split across his face as his eyes flicked towards the empty the empty seat on the swing and before Beth could open her mouth to call Melody over to sit in it, Daryl was across the porch and standing in front of her, his grin widening as he sat down next to her and began swinging the bench rapidly back and forth. Beth turned to glare at him again (God, she was surprised her face hadn't stuck that way) and fought the urge to smack him when his arm extended along the length of the back rest, his fingertips brushing her shoulder. He winked at her before turning his attention to Melody.

"So, Melody, remind me again why you're friends with Grouchy Greene over here?" He gestured towards Beth with a jerk of his head.

"Daryl Dixon!" Melody scolded him playfully and Beth rolled her eyes as the giggling started again. "She's only grouchy 'round you, anyhow."

Daryl frowned for a minute and before Beth even had a chance to wonder what it meant, the frown was gone and Daryl was throwing his head back and laughing. Loudly. Beth found herself scowling at him before directing the look at her friend. This just made Daryl laugh harder.

"Can't imagine why." Beth grumbled as she stood and moved towards the front door. She pushed it open again and yelled. "Shawn! Will you get down here and claim your friend before I strangle him with his stupid bandanna!"

Daryl took the bandanna from his back pocket and held it away from Beth. He smirked at her as she shook her head, looking thoroughly exasperated.

"Now, that's a low blow, right there, Greene. Threatening to kill a man with his own possessions. I thought better of you." Beth growled as Melody resumed her giggling (seriously, what a traitor) just as Shawn stepped out the house and clapped Daryl on the back. Beth surged forward, grabbing Melody by the wrist as she dragged her down the steps of the porch, heading towards the lake. She tried to ignore Daryl's loud laughter but she was sure she could still hear it even when she was 2 miles away from him and he had no long stopped laughing.

Shawn shook his head as he watched his sister making her way back up to the house. She'd obviously fallen in the lake again. He honestly didn't know how his sister always managed to find the one spot near the lake with a seemingly invisible rock on the ground causing her trip and fall, usually face first, in to the water. He could tell by the look on Beth's face that she was not gonna be in the mood for dealing with Daryl Dixon, which was exactly what she was gonna have to do in about 30 seconds. Now that she was closer to the house he could see that he was definitely right about her having fallen in to the lake – her blonde hair was dripping and her white t-shirt was now see through. He grimaced at that, he definitely had no need to see his sister's boobs. And he definitely didn't want Daryl to make some comment about them either. He turned back to his friend who was sitting at the kitchen table, shovelling down Annette's home made cookies.

"Hey, Daryl, why don't we, uh, go watch the TV or something?" Shawn's eyes flitted nervously between Daryl and the door. The door which Beth would be walking through in about 5 seconds. Daryl narrowed his eyes at Shawn then turned his eyes towards the door before he smiled, seeming to catch on that Shawn wanted him out of the kitchen for some reason. And he had a feeling that that reason was about to walk through the door. Daryl leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head just as the flew open, rattling on it's hinges as it slammed against the wall. Beth walked in, dripping water all over the kitchen floor and Daryl knew exactly what had happened and why Shawn was so eager to get him out of the kitchen. He couldn't help but let his eye's rove over her wet body appreciatively. Daryl licked his lips as he admired her then flicked his eyes up to her face and she she had a quizzical look on her face. Shit. He'd been caught. He tried to smirk at her but it felt unconvincing even to him so he went to what he knew best.

"Bit nippy out there, is it, Little Greene?" He nodded his head towards her wet t-shirt and silently thanked every god he could think of that Beth Greene wasn't wearing a bra. She quickly crossed her arms in front of her chest and made a very undignified noise as she stomped up the stairs. For the second time that day, the sound of Daryl Dixon's laughter followed along behind her.

musicismylife: you there? i've had the worst day!

hunterguy: yeah, i'm here. anything i can do?

musicismylife: just to talk to me... how was your day?

hunterguy: i dunno, weird i guess. but not bad. hung out with my friend again. listen... i've been thinking...

Beth stared at the screen. Oh God. He was gonna tell her that he didn't wanna talk to her any more. She'd spent months talking to this guy about everything and nothing. She wasn't sure what exactly this was but Beth felt something for him on some level, some connection that she couldn't explain.

hunterguy: do you think we should meet?

A/N - This chapter was gonna be longer but I'm literally about to leave to stay with my best friend for the week before her wedding on Saturday and I wanted to get this out before I left. So I'm sorry for where I left it. Except, I'm not sorry at all. Also, I spellchecked this but haven't edited it so apologies for any mistakes!