Beth awoke early on Monday morning with a groan, twisting in her bed as she stretched. It had been a while since she had done a full day at the diner, and when she'd gone to bed the night before her feet had felt like they were on fire. She had shuffled to church the night before with her parents, her arm linked in her mother's, and had wished she'd brought a cushion to sit on during the mass. She had collapsed in bed early, utterly exhausted. She lay back in bed for a minute before she remembered that she was going to check out a car with Daryl Dixon. She forced herself out of bed, stretching for a moment when she stood up. Frowning, she turned to her wardrobe. She rifled through all her dresses before remembering he'd said it was an hour away, and she assumed they were going to be driving in his truck. She opted for a pair of ripped jeans, an old plain white shirt and her old chucks.
She entered the kitchen downstairs to see her mother on the phone, her apron on and a freshly baked loaf of raisin bread on the counter. Beth cut a slice and toasted it, peering out the window waiting for the timer to go off, noticing her father's truck wasn't there. She glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was 9 am. It would take around half an hour to get to Vanessa's house if she walked fast, cutting through the fields. Beth quickly buttered the toast after it popped up. She kissed her mother on the cheek, receiving a quick smile in return before she resumed her conversation on the phone, and Beth grabbed her bag from the front hallway before hurrying out.
She kept her eyes on the ground, feeling the sun shine down on her, eating as she walked. Despite the heat, she had worn a shirt with three quarter sleeves, conscious of the fact that she could be standing around in the sun a lot during the day. She passed by the church, and headed on to a trail which would lead her back out to the road. Finally she arrived at Vanessa's, finding her friend sitting on the front porch.
"You walked here?" Vanessa asked, by way of greeting, her eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, my Daddy's out working," Beth replied, shrugging as she walked up the steps.
"All right, well…you've only got 'bout 20 minutes till he gets here. Wanna cup of tea?"
Beth smiled. "Sure."
They sat in Vanessa's kitchen; Beth feeling like it was just old times again, with the radio on in the background playing country music. She glanced around the kitchen while Vanessa made the tea, looking fondly at the familiar paintings and family portraits adorning the walls. Vanessa chatted about classes and the boys in those classes, and she'd barely gotten to have any of her tea when there was a loud knock on the door.
"That must be Daryl…I promise it won't be as long until next time," Beth stood up to hug her friend, who smiled back, returning the hug tightly.
Vanessa walked her to the front hallway where Beth grabbed her bag. Vanessa opened the front door for Beth to step out and see Daryl standing at the edge of the porch, his back to her. Her first thought was that he was wearing sleeves…and that was weird. He turned around, and for possibly the first time that Beth could remember his face wasn't marked by grease or dirt. His hair even looked a little lighter. He was wearing a leather jacket, which hid his sinewy arms, and she found herself missing them. Despite her noticing his physique when he was wearing his seemingly endless supply of sleeveless shirts (it must be laundry day for him not to wear one), it was almost as though having them covered up made her notice him more.
"You ready?" He asked by way of greeting, shifting his feet impatiently.
Beth blinked. "Um, yep!" She smiled at him, a bit too brightly, before glancing back to wave discreetly at Vanessa who looked quite amused.
They walked out to the end of the driveway past the line of trees that obstructed the view of Vanessa's house from the road, and Beth stopped short at what was parked there. Not the truck.
His motorcycle.
"Daryl?" She said, her voice uncertain.
He glanced around at her, and she could have sworn for a second he was smirking.
"Yeah?" He grunted, slowing to a stop.
"I've…never ridden a motorcycle before."
He shifted on his feet, squinting at the bike for a second.
"First time for everything." He said shortly, before continuing to walk towards the bike. Beth felt like there was a flurry of butterflies in her stomach, all of them desperate to escape. She hurried towards the Daryl and the bike.
"No, Daryl, really, I…" she trailed off, feeling really nervous.
"Ya don't have to come if you don't want to," he said, picking up his helmet. She stopped short.
"Seriously?" She said, incredulously.
"Yeah, seriously you don't have to come."
"You took the bike on purpose." Beth's tone was flat, her hand on her hip.
Daryl didn't say anything, his stare fixated on the road in front of them.
"Screw you Daryl Dixon, I'm coming with you."
Beth wasn't sure which one of them was more annoyed but eventually they'd both gotten on the bike. If he were Shawn, she would have punched him in the arm. He'd only raised his eyebrows at Beth's insult, and she assumed that out of all the insults he'd heard in his life that was pretty tame. In addition to Beth's anxiety over riding a motorcycle, once she'd actually processed what that involved her anxiety had only increased. She was hesitant in wrapping her arms around Daryl. He'd snorted and asked if she wanted to fly off the back, and she'd tightened her grip so fast she felt his whole body stiffen. She felt his body pressed against hers; his tense shoulders bunched up practically around his ears before he finally relaxed. She felt claustrophobic in the helmet he'd handed to her, but she would never say so. She couldn't believe his nerve, or the fact he thought she'd run off at the sight of the bike. She kind of almost had, but at the end of the day Beth would never back down. At least, that's what she liked to think.
Once the bike was moving towards the road and the engine roared to life, Beth's heart seemed to leap into her throat and back again but she just pressed herself against Daryl, all inhibitions she'd had two minutes ago mere ghosts in her memory. Right now, he was her rock.
Daryl accelerated, and any coherent thought in Beth's mind was left behind at Vanessa's house. Beth's fear channelled into pure exhilaration. The wind rushing past them, the trees almost blurred together and the fields rolled by them. Beth relaxed slightly against Daryl, but kept a strong grip around his waist. She couldn't quite shake the image of her flying off the back of the bike.
Beth watched the trees go by as they twisted their way through the roads, barely any other traffic to be seen. The road started to rise as they approached a lake. They had only been riding for a little while, maybe 20 minutes but Beth couldn't really tell, when the bike started to sputter and jerk until finally Daryl had to pull over. They were at the top of a ridge, overlooking the lake. Beth got off the bike first, using Daryl's shoulders for leverage. She immediately backed away allowing Daryl to dismount the bike and took off her helmet. He removed his helmet and placed it on the ground, his thumb immediately going to his mouth as he surveyed the bike, kneeling down next to it. Beth observed the scene for a moment, glancing up and down the road. The trees on the other side of the road were dense, and on the other side of Beth the ground dropped sharply giving way to the vast expanse of water, glittering in the sun. Beth approached Daryl slowly, arching her neck to see what he was doing. His hands were already coated black, as he worked on the bike.
"'S'an old bike," Daryl muttered. "Fuel line…" he tossed a quick look at her over his shoulder. Beth shifted her feet, suddenly keenly aware of how badly she needed to go to the toilet.
"Um…I'll be right back," Beth informed him. He looked up at her, confused.
"Goin' swimming?" He asked dryly, squinting against the sun.
"I need to pee!" Beth declared, staring into the trees across the road, checking for cars before she crossed the road making her way into the dense wilderness. She walked until she couldn't see him before she squatted down, feeling her face heat up briefly despite Daryl not being able to see her. By the time she got back Daryl was looking frustrated, a small toolkit by his side as he fiddled with the bike. The niggling but persistent feeling of doubt crept into the back of Beth's mind that perhaps he wouldn't be able to fix it, and she tried to act extremely casual as she asked how it was going.
He made a noise, something halfway between a snort and a grunt, and responded with a confidence inspiring: "not fuckin' well."
Beth took that as her cue to remain silent. Feeling a bit useless, she walked over to a tree to sit under the shade, keeping an eye on Daryl as he worked. She fished her phone out of her pocket, checking the time and saw they'd been driving a little longer than she'd thought. Then she noticed the lack of signal. Fantastic, she thought. She called out to Daryl to let him know, but he didn't give any indication he'd heard.
Beth huffed out a breath and stared out over the lake, until she Daryl leaned back on his hands, looking over at Beth. She got to her feet, walking over to him and joining him on the ground.
"Needs a new filter," he explained. Upon seeing her blank expression, he elaborated. "It needs a new part, which I don' have here, which means we gotta walk."
"Walk?" Beth repeated, unable to keep the incredulity out of her voice. He glared at her.
"Princess, don' make me repeat myself again." He pushed himself to his feet, glaring down at her. "Does it look like I got a whole garage up my sleeve? It's just us out here. I'm not sayin' walk the whole way, just to the next town," Daryl practically spat. "Good Lord, thank Christ no one ever asked me to babysit." This time he did spit, on the ground next to the bike. Beth flinched, and Daryl in turn recoiled. Beth got to her feet, glaring at Daryl.
"I think I know why they never asked you," Beth threw his words at him. "I'm not sure whether it was stupidity or childishness, or both, that you brought that bike today," the words tumbled out of her mouth, anger fuelling her as she stood her ground. Beth was done with his volatile temper.
Daryl whipped around, his gaze killing anything further she wanted to say. "You wanna talk about childishness?" He asked, quietly, and the abrupt change struck Beth deeper than if he had yelled.
"Why're ya out here with me? How come you ain't asked Bill to do this?" He gestured at the bike.
"Because –" Beth started to speak, her eyes narrowing, but Daryl cut in effectively cutting her off.
"Ya don't want ya parents knowing, right? They got you that car, cos it sure as shit time for you to get one, and now you wanna take responsibility, right?"
Beth nodded slowly. "Yes," she replied softly.
"An' ya out here with me, lyin' to them, making me sneak around like a fuckin' teenager? That sound adult to you? You wanna prove to ya parents that you're responsible? That you're an adult? Just fuckin' ask them to help you find a car!"
There was a long silence, before he turned away from her and started packing up the toolkit and throwing it back in his bag. Beth took the opportunity to hastily wipe her eyes. She'd never been spoken to like that before and it hurt. She turned her back on Daryl, listening to him move around, before she looked back to see him start walking, guiding the bike along. He stopped, his shoulders hunched before he looked at the ground. He turned back, regarding Beth for a moment.
"C'mon."
Beth looked away, out over the lake at the glistening water before she quickly wiped her eyes again, and followed him.
Beth trailed after Daryl while they walked; she didn't really feel like talking to him after he'd basically yelled at her. All of what he had said had been true, to a degree. She was feeling particularly foolish after finding herself stuck out here with him when no one in her family knew where she was and with no reception on her phone. On the other hand, all she had wanted to do was surprise her parents. She didn't want to be their 'little girl' anymore. Was it fair of her to put Daryl in this position? If he were anyone else, she'd say 'no' straight away. But he wasn't, he was Daryl. She guessed that whether or not she'd told her parents didn't factor too highly into his thought process, but clearly he didn't think much of her thought process. Or maybe he was jealous. She frowned. The thought had crept in, out of the dark recesses of her mind. Jealous of her getting a car as a present? No, she didn't think that was it. Jealous of her family? Maybe…or there was the possibility that he just thought she was spoiled. That was probably it, she thought dryly.
She watched him walk ahead of her, his gaze focused ahead of him. He hadn't looked back at her since she had started walking, and they'd been walking for 20 minutes or so now. There was no sign of any town ahead of them. She wondered what time he'd told the people they were arriving. She checked her phone again and was relieved to see she had a signal, although her battery was extremely low. She jogged a little to catch up to Daryl.
"Daryl?" She called as she reached him. He gave no indication he heard her. "I have reception now, do ya have their number? I'll let them know we'll be late."
He slowed his pace before stopping, using his foot to push out the kickstand. He dug in his pocket and produced the piece of paper with the car details on it that Beth had printed, and handed it to her. He waited while she made the call, and silently accepted the paper back when she thanked him. By the end of the conversation her phone battery was flashing. Once she'd switched her phone off they continued walking, Beth now keeping pace with Daryl. The road stretched on, only one or two cars passing them by. Eventually they reached a sign and Beth was relieved to see it was only 2 miles to the next town.
Beth was sweating a little, and glanced at Daryl in his leather jacket. She noticed his face was looking a little red.
"Would you like me to hold your jacket?" She asked, running her hand through her ponytail in an effort to get rid of the sticky feeling on the back of her neck. He glanced at her, his face blank and shook his head once.
Beth nodded. "All right…well, if you get hot, let me know. I don't mind," she offered, keeping her eyes on the ground, stepping over some road kill with a wince. After a few steps he stopped suddenly, pushing the kickstand out once again and removed his jacket, revealing rolled up sleeves and streaks of oil. He handed it to her with a gruff "thanks", to which Beth only nodded. They resumed walking again.
By the time they got to the mechanic's at the town it was close to 12 pm and Beth was wishing she'd brought some deodorant with her. She sat outside while Daryl spoke to one of the mechanics in the garage, watching the people go by as they did their shopping and ran their errands. There was a pretty decent sized supermarket across the street, which all the local people probably used for their weekly/monthly shops. It didn't take that long before Daryl was back, calling her over. Beth entered the garage and handed him back his jacket, which he draped over the bike. He handed her the spare helmet.
"Thanks…how much was it?" Beth enquired, nodding at the bike. Daryl paused, holding his own helmet in his hands.
"Don' worry 'bout it…would've stuffed up eventually," he shrugged, before putting his helmet on, swinging his leg over the bike. Beth put her helmet on, and mounted the bike.
It was a short drive to the address they'd been given, and the owners turned out to be a young married couple, who were really nice. Beth chatted to the wife while Daryl had a look at the engine, and then they took it for a test drive. Daryl drove while Beth sat in the passenger seat. Overall the car looked pretty good, but Daryl quietly told her just to say they would let them know in a couple of days.
After they'd said good bye, Beth turned to Daryl.
"Was there something wrong with it?"
"Nah…you just don't want to make a decision straight away, 's'all. Did ya like it?" He asked, squinting at her.
Beth shrugged. "Yeah, seemed to work all right."
Daryl nodded. "We'll look at another one. You gotta buy one ya really like."
Beth was surprised, but nodded.
"I'll tell my parents." She blurted out. He lifted his eyes to meet hers.
"Beth…you don' have to. Shouldn't have said that before…ya ain't childish."
"No, I think you were right. I mean, what if something happened out here?"
Daryl rolled his shoulder, eyeing her and shook his head. "Don' worry, it didn't."
Beth smiled at him, tucking stray strands of hair behind her ear. "Well, I'll think about it anyway."
Daryl didn't seem to know how to react after that, so just stuffed his helmet on.
The drive back didn't seem to take nearly as long in comparison to their journey earlier that morning, and Beth enjoyed the wind rushing past them. They took a short 5 minute break at the lake where they'd broken down, this time Daryl disappearing into the trees.
Beth felt a little relieved when they were driving along her road. Daryl had agreed to drop her off a way down from her driveway, and once she'd dismounted from the bike and given the helmet back, he simply nodded at her before she walked away. It was a minute before she heard him rev his engine and drive away.
She squinted through the thick line of trees that ran along the road as she approached the gate to her driveway. Distantly, it looked like there were lights up at her house…red and white lights.
She took off running.
To LittleBird, a guest reviewer, I checked out the song Miss Atomic Bomb by The Killers on youtube and I can see why this story would remind you of it! Good song/clip for most Daryl/Beth stories.
Thank you all for reading, your awesome reviews, favouriting and following :)