Beth felt like the day was dragging on and on at school. She spent all morning watching the clocks religiously, wondering if she should pull the fire alarm and call it day. But she just laughed at her own stupidity and tried to get back to work on taking notes. The thought of seeing Daryl again was making her anxious and distracting her.
He looked… different. Beth thought he was good looking before, but now she swore she could melt into a puddle at the sight of him. His hair was washed and styled in a way that finally showed more of his face and he traded in his usual sleeveless flannel and angel wing vest for a plain white tee that still gave away a nice view of his biceps. If he looked this good in a plain white tee, Beth had to wonder how he looked in a suit. She'd probably have to die and haunt her own funeral to get a glimpse of that. And even then, the odds didn't look too great.
Finally, the bell rang and she was ready to sprint to her truck and race home. But Sophia was there waiting for her outside of the classroom to ruin Beth's escape plan.
"Are you ready for your first pep rally?" The coach's daughter asked as she looped her arm around Beth's and guided her towards the gym.
Beth had really only been on the squad for a little over a week and she felt confident that she had most of the cheers memorized but the thought of performing in front of the entire school made her nervous, especially because she was still new here.
"I guess." She replied, trying not to show as much doubt as she was feeling.
"What kind of spirit is that? Come on, you'll do great!" Sophia swore as they walked into the school's gym. It was no wonder that Sophia was the captain of the team and daughter of the coach. This girl was just naturally peppy.
Sophia was right though. Beth did do great, for her first time. She wasn't too pleased with the sloppy back handspring but she was getting better with practice. Beth was now in the girl's locker room packing the pompoms into her bag when she felt her phone vibrate. It was a text from Carl. He needed a ride home from school. Great. Another obstacle keeping her from going straight home.
She found him waiting for her by her truck a few minutes later. They exchanged greetings and small talk about the pep rally for a while.
"Can I ask you something?" Carl asked nervously after a few moments.
"Sure." Beth hoped that Carl wasn't going to bring up his mom's pregnancy because she really didn't want to be brought into something that had nothing to do with her.
"Has Sophia said anything to you… about me?" He asked, avoiding eye contact with Beth.
"Now that you mention it, she did say something about being head over heels in love with you." Beth joked.
Carl scoffed and she giggled. They talked for a few more minutes about the other cheerleader until Beth assured him that she'd drop some Carl-related hints to Sophia. He told Beth about how he and Sophia have known each other since grade school and how it wasn't until recently that he started developing feelings for the girl. Beth thought it was sweet that Carl was crushing on his childhood friend.
"What about you?" Carl asked.
"What about me?" Beth wasn't sure what he was getting at.
"Are there any guys at school that you like?" He clarified.
Beth thought about the question for a moment. Was there any guys at school that caught her attention? She shook her head.
"It doesn't matter. I know he looks at me and just sees another dumb girl." She said more to herself than Carl.
"Who?" Carl asked.
Beth shrugged her shoulders and Carl understood that the conversation was over.
But what she said was the truth. The more that Beth thought about it, the more she realized that her growing infatuation with Daryl was ridiculous. He was way older and more experienced than her. Sure, she's matured a lot since her parents died but that didn't mean that she could go around pursuing guys twice her age. She has to stop herself before she loses control of her feelings and gets her heart broken.
Beth arrived home much later than she would have preferred and to her dismay, Rick was upstairs sleeping and Daryl had left. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing. She couldn't face him now that she was questioning her own intentions with the archer. She had to figure out what she was going to do with herself before seeing him again. But that didn't leave her much time because she knew that he would probably be back over for dinner in a few hours. She dropped her bag on the floor of her room and threw herself onto the bed. Carl's question had opened up her Pandora's Box and now she was left alone to gather up the contents and sort through them.
Beth wished she could call Maggie and talk to her older sister about this but she knew that Maggie would never approve. Better yet, Beth wished that she could talk to her mom. Annette was always open minded and trusted her daughter's judgements. Maybe she wouldn't be too happy with her daughter's pick but she would tell Beth to follow her heart because that's what she did with Hershel. So that's what she'll do, she decided. Follow her heart.
Beth was in the kitchen cooking dinner when she heard a knock at the door. She made a mental note to ask Rick to get a key made for Daryl. She also wanted to talk to Rick sometime soon about moving Carl in. The boy had mentioned to her once or twice about wanting to live with them but was worried about how his mom would feel about it.
"Hi." Beth greeted Daryl at the door and was pleased to see that he still looked the same as he had earlier that day.
"Hey." He mumbled as he moved past her to get into the house.
The pair made their way to the kitchen and Beth immediately opened the oven to check on the lasagna. When she saw that the dish still needed some time to cook, she closed the oven again then walked to the other side of the counter and pulled herself up to sit. Daryl was watching her from his usual spot on the wall.
"How'd ya learn how ta'cook?" He asked when the silence around them started becoming awkward.
"Momma taught me." Beth replied with a sad smile.
"And your dad?" Daryl found himself wanting to know more about the girl in front of him.
"My dad taught me how to ride horses." She answered while staring down at her dangling feet.
Rick appeared a moment later, dressed in his sheriff uniform.
"You guys are gonna have to eat without me. Got a call about shots fired in Woodbury." Rick said as he put on the belt that holds his gun and cuffs.
Woodbury was a small town on the edge of the county. Beth has heard horror stories about a crazy man in Woodbury who called himself The Governor. She remembers seeing on the news a couple of years ago that he murdered a man named Martinez. But he plead insanity in court and his lawyer, Andrea, was able to get him sent to a psychiatric facility for a while instead of prison. Beth was comforted knowing that it couldn't be The Governor causing trouble in Woodbury right now because he was still in the loony bin but she still felt uneasy as she watched Rick leave. She said a silent prayer for him and hoped that no one was hurt.
Daryl must have seen the worry on Beth's face because a spoke up a few moments after Rick left.
"Don't worry 'bout him. He's a tough son of a bitch." Daryl assured her.
Beth had been too lost in thought about Woodbury to process the fact that she and Daryl were about to have dinner together alone in the house. A couple of hours ago she had decided to follow her heart and now she felt like fate was telling her to go for it but her nerves were telling her to run and hide.