Beth held the flowers tightly in her hand, her eyes on the ground in front of her as she walked. After visiting a couple of times after It happened, she hadn't been able to bring herself to go back. She yearned to, but something held her back.
Hershel visited often. Maggie and Glenn had visited last week when they'd come over for lunch. Glenn had finally had a day off, and they came down and spent the day at home. They had walked over there almost immediately after arriving. Later, while Glenn had gone up the road to the shop to get more milk before they ate lunch, Maggie had offered to go with Beth, when she was ready. Instead Beth had asked if they could walk down to the pond.
After lunch, Beth, Maggie and Glenn had walked down there and sat by the pond, Beth's hand in Maggie's and Maggie's in Glenn's. They were content to sit in silence by the water and listen to the hum of nature that surrounded them.
Now, as the sun rose, Beth walked alone past the church under the glow of the new day. The morning was quiet, the birds peppering the air with their sweet songs. It was almost eerie as she reached the tombstones. The cemetery seemed full of the spirits that inhabited it, and Beth could feel a lump in her throat as she drew near to her mother's grave.
Beth stood for a long time once she had reached the tombstone, her head bowed as she faced the grave. She gently laid the flowers down, before kneeling and coming down to sit, her hand still clutching the flowers as she silently wept.
.
.
Beth sat in class; her attention drifting as it so often did lately while the lecturer droned on about behaviour management, she allowed her eyes to drift over the lecture hall. The hall was large and there were about one hundred students taking this class, and Beth's attendance during the semester was somewhat patchy as of late. This was maybe the third lecture she'd attended for this particular subject. She realised with a start that a guy in the row behind her further down was staring back. She snapped her eyes back to the front of the room, before chancing a look back. Maybe he'd been looking at someone else? She looked over, but sure enough he was staring at her. He was smiling now, and she gave a small smile back before looking away again. The guy was kind of cute, messy brown hair, and slightly pudgy cheeks. She'd never seen him before that she could remember. She turned her focus on to what the lecturer was speaking about, taking notes down.
Finally the class ended and the familiar sounds of the shuffling of paper and of feet filled the room. Beth was putting her notepad away and turned to leave when she stopped short. The guy was standing in front of her, smiling hesitantly.
"Hey…uh, I'm Zach," he introduced himself.
Beth smiled at him. "Oh, hi, I'm Beth." She glanced at the door. She really wanted to make the train home.
"So, I was wondering, there's this party on this weekend, and like, heaps of people are going, um, so…if you aren't already doing anything, I was wondering if maybe you, like, wanted to go?" He sounded a little nervous and Beth felt for him for a moment.
"Oh, that sounds great, but I got a tonne of assignments due…" she trailed off.
Zach shrugged. "Oh yeah, me too, but…you know, it's just one party." He smiled, arching an eyebrow, a little cockier than she expected.
Beth shrugged, mirroring him. "That's true but really, I haven't even started half of them, so…sorry, maybe next time?" She smiled politely as she walked away.
"Next time it is!" She heard him call, and she tossed a quick smile over her shoulder before going up the stairs to the exit.
.
Beth was relieved when she got to the train station to see there was still five minutes till her train arrived and glanced up and down the platform, to see Maddy standing further along.
Beth walked over to her, happy to see a familiar face. It wasn't often they caught each other on the way home or to college.
They found seats together on the train, and Maddy was in the midst of telling Beth about how awkward it was third wheeling with Laura and Jimmy on Saturday when Beth's phone started vibrating in her pocket.
Beth smiled apologetically at Maddy, getting her phone out. She glanced at the screen, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw it was Daryl calling.
She shifted in her seat so she was facing away from Maddy. "Hello?"
"You free Saturday?" Daryl's drawl spoke into her ear.
Beth hesitated, her heartbeat quickening. She'd just told that guy back at class she wasn't. But that was a party. Parties were different.
"Um, yeah," she answered, nodding, trying not to think too hard about what that meant.
"I'll pick you up at 10…this ain't one of the ones you looked at, saw an ad in the paper," he explained.
"Oh, that's ok, thanks. How are you feeling?" Beth enquired. She'd been tempted since Friday to message him asking, but refrained from doing so. There was a pause, before he cleared his throat.
"'M Fine…patched me up good, nurse Greene," he said, and she could hear the lilt of teasing. She smiled, ducking her head, aware that Maddy was within earshot.
"It was the least I could do," she said quietly, shrugging. There was another pause.
"10 am." He said again, before hanging up. Beth slowly brought the phone away from her ear, sighing a little. His walls had gone back up in an instant.
"Who was that?" Maddy asked, as Beth twisted back in her seat.
"Daryl, he's helping me find a car," Beth replied, slipping her phone back in her pocket. Maddy paused, tilting her head.
"Daryl…Daryl Dixon? Really?"
Beth nodded, her lips quirking in amusement at Maddy's reaction. Maddy was one of the nicest people she ever knew, completely unassuming and genuine. She also had a tendency to be a little naïve.
"That's nice of him," Maddy smiled at Beth.
.
Beth walked home from the bus station, waving off Maddy's offer to get a lift with her mum, in the mood to walk on her own for a while.
She was surprised to see Sheriff Grimes standing with her father on the front veranda as she approached the house, deep in conversation.
"No one else has visited him in prison, we were thinkin' he deliberately told–"
"Bethy, say hello to Sheriff Grimes," Hershel interrupted the Sheriff, smiling at his daughter as she ascended the steps.
"Hiya Sheriff," Beth smiled at the Sheriff, who greeted her with a warm smile, tipping his hat to her.
"Miss Greene, how are we?"
"Well, thank you," she answered politely, glancing between the two of them. She wasn't sure what she'd just interrupted.
"I was just checking in, seein' how you folks were doing," Sheriff Grimes explained.
"That's very kind of you," Beth smiled at him. Sheriff Grimes was really the perfect lawman, he always went the extra mile.
Beth excused herself, wishing the Sheriff a good day, before going up to her room to start her assignments.
.
Beth was in the midst of typing up a reading response when there was a soft knock on the door.
She looked up to see her father opening the door slowly, a small smile appearing on his face as he took in the sight of his youngest daughter studying.
Beth leaned back in her chair. "Hey Daddy," she smiled. "Sheriff Grimes leave?"
Hershel entered the room. "He did. He said to say good bye, and good luck with your studies." He sat down heavily on Beth's bed with a sigh.
"Not that you'll need it, of course," Hershel eyed his daughter with a shrewd smile. Beth grinned mischievously, if not a little guiltily. Beth's recent slacking off hadn't gone completely unnoticed.
Hershel chuckled, and the two lapsed into contemplative silence. Beth took a moment to observe her father, his bushy eyebrows and his worn hands in his lap.
He cleared his throat. "Bethy, I was thinking it…might be a good idea if you asked that Dixon boy over for dinner."
Beth stared at her father in surprise. She licked her lips, trying to formulate a response.
"You've been spending some time with him, alone, and I'd like to have him over for dinner." Hershel watched his daughter carefully, as she smiled at him weakly.
"Daddy, I'm just not sure…he'll want to," she said. And neither did she, Beth thought. She couldn't think of a more embarrassing way to spend an evening. How much of a child was she going to sound when she asked him?
"If you don't manage to convince him, I'm sure I'll be able to," Hershel said, raising his eyebrows at his daughter, whose eyes widened fractionally. He stood up from the bed slowly, his joints cracking.
"Friday night should be fine," he patted her shoulder, before leaving the room, pulling the door ajar behind him.
Beth slumped back in her chair. She glanced at her phone on the desk next to her laptop. He probably wouldn't respond to a message about this.
She had already talked to him on the phone earlier that day; perhaps he would answer thinking she was calling back about the same thing?
Her stomach was already tying itself in knots thinking about asking him. Ever since she'd noticed her attraction to him, her stomach would do little flip-flops when she thought about him. This was different to Jimmy, they'd settled into a relationship after knowing each other almost their whole lives. There had been no real fire, or chase involved. It had been as though they'd woken up one day and thought 'well, we may as well'.
She wondered if he could tell. He probably could, with her blushes and smiles, the thought of which made Beth want to bury her head in her pillow. He made her nervous, and he piqued her curiosity. Her thoughts had drifted towards him in the shower a couple of times, but she wouldn't let herself indulge in them. She had, as Maddy would put it, rose-tinted glasses on. Just because he was helping her out, and just because he'd given her flowers, it didn't really mean much…right? He just felt sorry for her or something. No, the flowers meant something, she reflected. They meant a lot. But they didn't mean he really felt anything for her beyond sympathy in that moment.
Even so…she wanted to do something to thank him. As awkward as this dinner was going to be, with her father staring him down, the more she thought about it the more it seemed like this was the perfect opportunity to do so.
Beth picked up her phone and opened her contacts. She scrolled to Daryl's name, pausing before she hit call.
On the sixth ring, he picked up. She heard muffled noise in the background.
"Yeah?"
"Hi, Daryl, it's Beth," she said, immediately wanting to place her face on her desk. "I was wondering–"
"Hang on," he interrupted, and the noises in the background faded slowly as she listened. "Yeah?"
"Um, I was wondering, if you would like to come over for dinner on Friday?"
Silence.
"Dinner?"
"Uh huh, dinner," she smiled at the incredulity in his voice. "Me and my Daddy wanted to say thanks, you know, for helping me out."
Daryl cleared his throat, and there was a long pause. She could imagine him trying to formulate a response.
"Please Daryl? I'll be cookin'," she said.
"Beth…I dunno," he said. "Yer Daddy's all right with this?" He asked.
"Yep, completely," she assured him. "Please, it's just dinner. It would mean a lot to me."
There was more silence.
"Please? You've been helping me out so much and all, you gotta let me do something in return," she pleaded, wincing as she realised that it was suddenly all about her again. She needed to find the perfect way to thank him, one day.
"Look, I ain't sure it's such a good idea…your Daddy and me," he started.
"Daryl, my Daddy is fine with it, he suggested it. We can have steak if you'd like?" She offered, that being the only thing she'd seen him eat.
"'S fine, cook whatever," Daryl replied, and she got the sneaking suspicion he was smirking at that. "Friday."
Beth exhaled in relief. "Ok, at 6:30. See you then," she smiled.
There was a click on the other end of the line and she realised he'd hung up. That didn't faze Beth anymore.
A/N: Another chapter! I hope you liked it. It's the end of my uni term so I had some assignments due, hence the slightly longer gap between chapters.
Thank you to everyone who has been following, favouriting, reading and reviewing!