Chapter 4

Bay was in a really good mood when she got home around 3 pm that afternoon. Not only would she hang out with her best friends Jessa and Erin later, she would also have a wonderful rare treat for dessert today. Her co-worker Mary had brought doughnuts to work and had asked Bay to pick one for herself. She had carefully carried her little treasure home on a paper plate, smiling happily like an idiot, and it now sat on top of the fridge, waiting for her to finish her Yakisoba noodles with cheddar cheese flavor, she had gotten for free with the help of a coupon she had clipped from the paper. She tried to eat slowly, because she got tummy aches easily, but that sugary, glazed doughnut with colorful sprinkles was calling to her and seducing her to stuff herself with the noodles like she was dumping them down the garbage disposal. The image of herself throwing the contents on her plate into her face and chewing and swallowing everything she'd be able to catch with her mouth made her chuckle and shake her head at herself. She wouldn't waste food like that, even if it had been for free this time.

She tried take her mind off of the doughnut and thought about later that night. A part of her was unsure if she should really go. Daryl seriously hadn't looked happy when his friend Patrick had invited her and she actually might have imagined that nod. Bay knew how unpleasant it could be when someone you didn't like hung out with you and your friends. Jessa had a cousin, Tonya, who lived with her family in Alabama, but they had visited Jessa's family a couple of times a year and Jessa's parents had her take Tonya with her whenever the girls had been meeting up after school. Tonya was as arrogant as they come and not only did Jessa not even like her, but neither did Bay and Erin and the tension had always been palpable and the mood had been down in the dumps. Now Bay didn't want to ruin the evening for Daryl. She had already ruined his beauty sleep as a thanks for rescuing her, he would seriously start to hate her if she ruined hanging out with his guys as well.

What do I care if he hates me or not? Bay chewed her food thoughtfully, her mood getting a little damper at her thoughts. Because I can't stand people hating me. And the least I can do for him after risking his life for me, is not be selfish and leave his circle of friends alone. But I miss the girls so much... Bay dropped her spoon and let herself drop on her back on her sofa-bed. Her fingers went to the cross around her neck, feeling the cold metal and tracing the shape. What in the world was she supposed to do? She had promised Patrick, she would hate to let him down, but then again, he was just trying to be nice after seeing her injuries, she reckoned. He wouldn't miss her if she didn't show up. She wished she would be able to please everyone at once, including herself, but something like that was just not possible. One of them would be unhappy tonight, either her or Daryl. It wasn't in her nature to be selfish... She wouldn't go.

Her heart sank a little when she made the decision to stay home, but if it was the way to pay Daryl back for his good deed, then she would pay that price of being sad for a night. She looked back at the top of the fridge. Time for a little pick-me-up. She rolled off her sofa-bed and trudged over to the fridge and picked up the delicious-looking pastry. She took a bite, and she swore that she heard a choir of angels sing heavenly tunes inside her head. Her eyes closed and with her back leaned against the fridge, she slid down until her ass hit the floor while she chewed slowly in bliss, only stopping to catch some frosting and sprinkles, that had stuck to her lips, with her tongue.

"Oh God!" she moaned. "This is so good it should be illegal. Mmmmmmm." She hadn't had a doughnut in months and she had always loved them. Cakes and pastries were her vice, she had never been able to say no, until she had started saving all the money she could and had denied herself all unnecessary pleasures. She was very much aware of the fact that she was being too hard on herself. She had two jobs that paid relatively well and in addition to that, she sometimes had an odd job here and there. A couple of hours of babysitting, or tutoring, or she would donate blood, things like that. She barely spent anything, she had money, she was able to afford nice meals or treats, but she couldn't do it. She just wasn't able to bring herself to spend more money than necessary. Bayanne wanted to go to college and be a psychiatrist later. She had promised her grandmother on her deathbed, that she would find a way to go back to school and make something of herself. In order to do that she would need to save up about 200,000 dollars to cover for getting her Bachelor's degree and then four years of medical school, and she was still a long way from having that kind of money. She also wouldn't be able to take too long to come up with that amount, mostly because she didn't want this kind of lifestyle to drag out for the next ten years. She would rather deny herself all kinds of luxuries for three years than wait six years or more until she was able to come up with the money. Once she was in the program, she wanted to focus on her studies and only work one part-time job, instead of having to practically split herself in half to get schoolwork done and work two jobs to pay for her apartment, food and tuition. She wasn't stupid, but studying had never come easy to her, because she was easily bored and distracted, so she had always had to work a bit harder to get good grades. She knew if she wouldn't have enough time in college to write papers and study for tests, because she had to work too much, then she would fail miserably and everything she was going through now, would have been in vain, which meant that failing was simply not an option.

She savored the incredible taste of the doughnut like it was the last she would ever eat. When it was gone she sucked her fingers clean and opened her eyes back up. She looked around her tiny apartment and decided what to do with her free time today, now that she was staying in tonight. My bathroom could use some cleaning. Some dusting wouldn't hurt either. Okay, so I'll do the whole apartment, then I'll change the sheets on the sofa and then I'll relax and be lazy for the rest of the weekend. With that plan in her head, Bayanne got up from the floor and got out the cleaning supplies from the cupboard under the sink. She changed the channel on the TV to MTV to have some music while she completed her chores, and went to work. It took her less than an hour to get everything done and after she finished the rest of her lunch, she changed into a tank top and sleep shorts, popped a VHS of her favorite Saved by the Bell episodes into her trusty old VCR, and laid down on her sofa-bed to watch them.

Her eyelids soon got heavier and heavier as she got sleepier and sleepier. It was only five-thirty pm, but she didn't fight the fatigue. Some rest would do her good, so she let herself drift off into sleep, hoping that tonight she would be nightmare-free.

Daryl wasn't able to focus on the conversation that was happening around him. He kept glancing at Patrick's watch. His friend was standing to his right, holding a beer, so Daryl had a perfect view of the time. It was eight pm already and Bayanne was a no-show. He refused to acknowledge the disappointment he felt, he straight up ignored it and focused on worrying instead. What if she had made her way towards the parking lot before dark, but something had happened to her yet again? The images from Monday night flashed up inside his head again. How those guys had her on the ground, one straddling her and beating her, while the other one had pinned her arms to the ground, rendering her absolutely helpless and at their mercy. What if those same guys had found her again and were taking their revenge out on her at this exact moment? The thought made his stomach churn and he grew more fidgety than he'd already been up until now.

Patrick felt Daryl's restlessness, because Daryl kept shifting his weight from foot to foot, and when Patrick looked over, he caught Daryl looking at the time while chewing his bottom lip nervously. Pat hadn't even realized how much time had already passed since they've all gathered here and that it was dark already. He suddenly became aware of the fact that Bayanne was not present. She had promised... Great, now I'm worried. Patrick thought and turned his body towards Daryl and spoke to him in a low whisper, so the others wouldn't hear. "I think it's time for us to go check where Miss Bayanne is at. Told her we would drag her ass down here if she don't show. You're the only one who didn't have beer yet. You go."

"Maybe she changed her mind." Daryl wasn't sure if he said it to calm himself down or to convince Patrick to just let her be. Don't fucking know what to do here. Don't want no one thinking I'm fucking sweet on her. Just worried that those fuckers tried something again.

"Too fucking bad that ain't an option tonight." Patrick grinned. "Go get her, tiger." You know you want to. Patrick snickered, making Daryl develop an urge to punch his best friend's lights out.

"Shut the fuck up." Always these little insinuations. Go get her... Could have said 'Go and pick her up'. Daryl didn't even realize that he was starting to put a little too much weight on the stuff Patrick said where Bayanne was concerned and that he was playing directly into Patrick's hands with his efforts to show him just how little he actually cared about that damn Bayanne girl. "Ain't like that." Daryl muttered once more, but more to himself, although Patrick heard him anyway.

"I know, D. I get it. Don't have to convince me." Patrick said as innocently as possible, having Daryl figuratively pulling his hair out. His best friend was driving him nuts these days. He could never tell when he was serious and when he wasn't anymore.

Daryl released an incoherent grunt and climbed into his truck, but not without staring daggers at Patrick, who just chuckled and wrapped his arm around Jessa.

"Where's Daryl going?" she asked when she saw him drive off.

"It's a surprise."

Bayanne woke with a little yelp as insistent knocking tore her out of her deep sleep. She felt disoriented for a moment, having no idea what time it was. She stumbled towards the door, her foot getting caught in the blanket and she fell to the floor in a very ungraceful matter. "Oooowwww." she winced and rubbed her elbow, which she had slammed against the edge of the coffee table.

Outside the door Daryl's eyes widened when he heard the noise of something dropping on the floor and Bay's pain-filled moan. Panic gripped his insides and his knocking became even more urgent and louder. "BAYANNE! Open the fucking door!"

"Keep your pants on. I'm coming." she shouted. She got up and walked the last couple of steps, until she realized that she didn't recognize the voice and didn't have any idea who was banging on her door. "Who is it?"

"Daryl!"

Her eyes widened and her heart started racing. Daryl? Oh my God... he's making sure I'm not coming to the parking lot. Good call that I didn't go. Bay opened the door and started explaining herself right away. "I wasn't gonna come. Don't worry. I was already sleeping. I'm not gonna bother you and ruin your night."

Daryl didn't know what hit him, he didn't really listen to what she was saying, he was speechless for a moment when he took in her rumpled appearance. Shit. Why she gotta be so damn cute? His stomach was doing funny things and he reflexively rested his palm on it like it would help calm it down. Shouldn't have eaten that damn burrito. Knew it smelled funny. Okay, what in the world is she ramblin' about? She wasn't gonna come? Ruin my night? The hell?

"You promised." he finally interrupted her rant, while his eyes scanned the apartment behind her, making sure nobody else was there.

"What?"

"You promised you'd come. So why ain't ya dressed and on your damn way? We were waiting." he asked gruffly, doing a great job of intimidating her and making her blush and grasp for words.

"Oh... umm... I..."

"You what?"

"I didn't... I-"

"You at least put something on that cut like I told ya to?"

"Umm... no." Bay felt like she was being scolded like a naughty child, she even averted her eyes guiltily and did some lip-chewing on her own.

"Fucking hell, girl. What happened just now? Ya hurt yourself more?"

"I fell,... hurt my elbow." she muttered and looked down at her arm.

"Let's take a look at that. Come on." he entered her apartment without being invited and closed the door behind him. "Show me." he motioned towards the elbow in question and he crouched down a little do get a good look, but he was very careful not to touch it.

"It's not bad. Just hurt when I hit the table."

"Yeah. Seems right." Daryl straightened and shoved his right hand into his pants pocket. "Here. Put that on your cut." he handed her a tube of Neosporin extra strength and a long strip of band-aid.

"Oh... thanks." Bayanne gave him a grateful smile as she accepted the items. Then she stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

"Whatchu waiting for? Put it on." Daryl commanded her and Bay jumped a little and sprang into action. Geez, he's so bossy. But he brought me the ointment, that's really nice. Bay squirted some on her finger and looked up at him, waiting for him to turn around and look away, but he didn't. The thought didn't even cross his mind. Bay turned her back on him and startled, when she suddenly heard his voice close to her ear and she almost head-butted him when she turned her head to look at him. He was a bit clueless and was really thinking nothing of it by looking over her shoulder and down her cleavage.

"Don't rub. Just dab, alright? Never rub." he instructed her and watched her finger closely, making sure she was doing it right.

Bay nodded and blushed a little when she pulled her tank top down just an inch to get the rest of the cut. She wasn't wearing a bra, which should be obvious by now, but she was still very much covered. She didn't feel uncomfortable, otherwise she would have told him to avert his eyes. The situation wasn't sexual at all, it was weirdly intimate and very new, though, and that was what made her blush. Daryl eventually looked up and watched her face when she grabbed the band-aid. A smile was tugging at his lips when he noticed how her lips were pressed together and her tongue was peeking out as she focused on the task at hand. Just when the band-aid was in place, her head suddenly whipped up and she looked at him with a shocked expression. "Oh God..."

"What?" Daryl frowned in confusion.

Bay blushed a deep, dark red and quickly slapped her hands over her eyes. "You saw them, didn't you? That night?"

"Saw who?"

"Them." she waved her hands around her chest area, not looking at him.

"Oh..." he cleared his throat and blushed a little himself. "Guess so, yeah. Didn't ogle ya. Ain't like that, if that helps ya any." he reached his hand out to touch her arm gently in reassurance, but caught himself quickly before he made contact, and took a step back instead.

"Maybe a little." Bay rubbed her face which was still deep red.

"You gon' get dressed and come with me now or what?" he just wasn't able to keep himself from being gruff. He felt so out of his element right now, he felt more comfortable being able to hide behind that facade.

"You sure you want that? You didn't seem happy when Patrick asked me to come." Bay only dared to look at him for seconds at a time, the whole thing was so weird.

"Wasn't about you. Don't mind you hanging out with us. Come on. Wanna get back."

"Okay. Give me two minutes." she went to the walk-in closet and grabbed a pair of jeans and a simple black tank top. She gave him a small close-lipped smile when she passed him on the way to the bathroom, which Daryl returned ever so slightly. His mood was improving a little and he looked forward to being back with the guys and the beer. Goddamn he needed a beer.

Bayanne dressed and brushed her hair, then she came back out and turned off the TV and grabbed her keys. "I'm ready."

"Alright, let's go then." he said and led the way to his truck. What followed was a ten minute drive in awkward silence, neither of them knowing what to say and both of them relieved, when he pulled onto the parking lot.

"Surprise, baby." Pat grinned at Jessa when Daryl parked his truck next to the others.

"What?" Jessa looked up at him questioningly.

"Look over there." he pointed to Daryl's car and the person who was just now appearing from behind it. Jessa looked where he pointed and immediately released a loud squeal.

"No way! Oh my God Baaaaaaayyy!" Jessa stormed towards her and hugged her, almost tackling her to the ground in the process.

"Hey, careful." Daryl warned Jessa as he walked past the two girls, only to almost get run over by the little blonde whirlwind that was Erin, who had realized what was happening. "Jesus Christ, watch it. And don't fucking crush her." he grumbled, but he was sporting a little smile when he reclaimed his spot next to Patrick, who handed him a beer.

"Leave them be, they're happy." Patrick smiled.

"Bayanne's hurt." Daryl simply stated to justify his reaction.

"She don't seem to be complaining." Patrick chuckled at Daryl's fussing. He just can't help himself.

"Shut up." Daryl muttered and took a long swig from the bottle. They looked over at the girls and watched them hug and break out into chatter, like they hadn't just seen each other for the first time in months.

"Bay, sweetie, what happened to you?" Erin asked with concern as she saw the fading bruises on her friend's face.

"Oh nothing... just got a little roughed up walking home at night."

"Oh God, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm good, don't worry. I had help." Bay smiled. Then Jessa leaned in and whispered into her ear.

"What's with you and Daryl? You guys got something going on?"

"Oh no! No... just Patrick and him, they were in the store this morning and Patrick told me that you guys were together and that you would be happy if I'd join you and I guess when I didn't show he made Daryl come get me."

"You wanted to bail?" Jessa exclaimed with a laugh. "Should we be insulted here?"

"No, no. I just fell asleep I guess. It was a long week." Bay fibbed a little, not wanting to get into the whole Daryl thing with him and Patrick watching them.

"It's so good to have you here, Bay. Come on, let's get you a beer and then we'll catch up." Erin took her hand and pulled Bay with her to her boyfriend Sam's pick-up truck. Their little trip was interrupted when Tommy Delgado stepped forward and enveloped Bay in a bear hug.

Without even realizing he was doing it, Daryl, who had been leaned back casually against Jason's car, stood up straight, with his fists clenched and his teeth gritted, ready for action. The fuck is he doing? What's with everybody fucking touching her?

"Calm down, tiger." Patrick put his hand on Daryl's arm and pulled him back against the car. "They had classes together, they were friends. Ain't no one gonna rape her 'round here."

There was that feeling again. That weird feeling he'd had when Patrick had touched Bayanne's chin, only this time it was much stronger as Daryl watched both of Tommy's hands slowly rub up and down Bayanne's back. It was a purely friendly gesture between two old pals, but to Daryl it looked very different. Within seconds Tommy Delgado had made it to the top of Daryl's personal shit list. Gonna keep my eye on that fucker.

That little change in Daryl's posture hadn't gone completely unnoticed. All the guys that had seen it knew immediately what was going on. The only one who had no clue as to what was going on with him was Daryl himself. The guys exchanged knowing glances and little smirks, but Daryl didn't notice, his eyes were fixated on Tommy and Bay who kept chatting, until Erin grabbed her hand again and climbed with her into the truck-bed of Sam's truck and handed her a beer. Daryl kept giving Tommy the evil eye as he quickly downed the rest of his beer and grabbed himself another bottle right away, letting the alcohol soothe him. The second one he drank much slower, only nipping a bit every couple of minutes, his subconscious wasn't letting him get drunk... It also didn't let him keep his eyes off of Bayanne.

He tried. He really, really tried not to look over there too often, but his gaze kept trailing there ever so often, straining his ears, trying to pick up a snippet of their conversation, but they were too far away and the voices of the other guys were overpowering theirs, frustrating the hell out of him. About an hour later one of the guys left and came back with pizza for everyone. Bay, Erin and Daryl were the last ones to grab a slice and he watched with interest just how much Bay enjoyed her slice.

"Oh God, today is the best day!" she moaned. "First a doughnut and now pizza. Haven't had those in months."

"I don't know how you do it, Bay. I'd die." Erin said around a mouthful of pizza.

"Are you kidding me? You're super disciplined. You would be able to do it in a heartbeat. You'd get used to it, just like I did."

"Get used to what?" Daryl wasn't able to stifle his curiosity, but he asked Erin rather than Bay, to keep up appearances, not knowing that it was already in vain.

"Get used to having two jobs and live like she does."

"You got two jobs? What else you do?" This time Daryl addressed her directly, thanks to the beer in his system he was a bit more mellow, although he was still jittery about having all of them watch.

"I work at the carpet factory four times a week after my shift at the store." Bay replied. The answer caused Daryl to come up with some follow-up questions.

"The carpet mill? What you do there? Office stuff?"

"Pfff, I wish." Bay laughed a little. "No, I pack up the carpet rolls for delivery, label them and put them on the pallets."

"You're kidding." Daryl gaped at her a little.

"No, why?"

"I did that for about two fucking weeks right after school. Then I quit cause it fucking sucked. How you get those damn rolls lifted anyway?"

"I'm stronger than I look. It does suck, I hurt all over when I'm done, but the money is decent." Bay smiled before she finished her slice.

"Damn, girl. You gon' break your back there one of these days. So you walk home late at night four times a week?"

"Yes. It's not that bad, the factory is close. It's worse when the shifts get moved around and I get the late shift at the store. Can't say I look forward to the next time." Bay sighed and wiped her hands on her jeans.

Neither do I, Daryl thought and nodded.

While they talked and ate, Jessa was at Patrick's side, watching Daryl and Bay with a huge grin. "Daryl is so obvious." she giggled quietly. "Saw him look at her the whole time earlier. What's the deal with them? Bay didn't say anything about it."

"He denies it, but he's into her."

"You bet your cute ass he is." Jessa agreed wholeheartedly. "Daryl's got a crush. That's so cute. And on Bay! That's just awesome."

"She ever say anything about him?" Patrick asked her as he pulled her closer to his body.

"She used to think he was cute. And from how nervous she is, I think she has a crush on him as well."

"That's what I think,too. Wanna know what else I think? They're both into each other and don't even realize it."

"Wanna play matchmaker?"

"Already have." Patrick winked at her cheekily. "The rest they gotta figure out on their own. I'll only step back in if they are too blind to figure it out."

"Sounds like a plan." Jessa agreed and turned her back on them, giving her boyfriend some sugar for surprising her today.

Daryl meanwhile cleared his throat after a little awkward pause. "Sounds like you're busy a lot."

"Kind of, yeah. Four days a week I leave at five in the morning and don't get back until eleven at night."

"What you do on the other three days when ya have time?"

"Sometimes I do some babysitting or tutoring. If I don't have anything like that lined up, I mostly stay home, watch TV, clean... Pretty boring..." Bay blushed and looked at the ground where she was kicking at imaginary pebbles with the toe of her Doc Martens boots. Way to sell yourself, Moore. He's gotta think you're some kind of grandma. Or a hermit. A boring hermit.

"Good if ya come out with us a couple times a week then. Ya gotta live a little. Your life ain't over yet." Daryl gave her that tiny smile where the corners of his mouth lifted a little, making Bay blush even harder and quickly look back down at the ground with a giggle.

"I guess you're right. Yeah." she bit her lip and peeked up at him a moment, giving Daryl a visual that made his stomach do those funny flip-flop things again. He'd never really seen her eyes up-close like this, which made him realize, that they were standing pretty close together. He honestly couldn't say that he minded, it actually felt kinda comfortable. Right now, he blamed it on the beer for relaxing him. Bay cleared her throat and pushed her hands deeply into the pockets of her jeans. "I gotta say, today is the happiest I felt in a long time. Good thing you made me come."

"Yeah." Daryl agreed and fell silent again. Fuck, I'm just shitty at this. The fuck do I say now? Gotta say something, come on. Think, you idiot.

"Oh... okay..." Bay's voice made him focus back on her and he saw her looking around. He followed suit and let his gaze sweep over the rest of the group. There were only couples in attendance today. Couples and Bay and Daryl. And those couples were all in the process of making out heavily, leaving no one else around to talk to for the both of them. The slightly embarrassed silence between them was deafening, both at a loss of what to do or to say. They stood there side by side, both with their hands in their pockets, looking everywhere but at each other for a handful of minutes.

Finally Bay cleared her throat. "Well,... this is awkward..."

"Ya think?" Daryl snorted humorously and actually laughed a little. Bay was a bit dazed by the sight of it. Sweet Lord, he is gorgeous! Suddenly she felt her heart flutter, making her freeze and hold her breath as a sliver of panic went through her, because suddenly her weird involuntary reactions to him made sense. Oh God, no! Not on him! I can't have a crush on him! Not gonna happen, no no no no no. I was just surprised, that's all. He has a nice smile, that's all. I'm just very happy today, that's all. Right? Right!

"Right." she breathed out loud.

"What?" Daryl frowned at her.

"Oh, nothing..." she was blushing yet again and hoped he wouldn't notice. A moment later she felt his elbow bumping her arm slightly. When she looked up at him he was jerking his head to the side, motioning towards his truck.

"Come on."

"Why? Where are we going?" she was more than a little flustered since her heart had done that stupid thing.

"Just over there. Or you wanna stand here and keep watching?"

"Not really."

"Exactly. Come on." he said once more and turned around and walked to the passenger side door of his truck, with a very nervous Bay in tow.

Little bit of a cliffhanger, sorry:)

Thank you for reading and following, favorite-ing and reviewing.

Dear Snowbird, we are doing well and I hope so are you. Patrick certainly knows what he's doing, doesn't he? He knows how to push Daryl just right. Back in the day me and my friends used to hang out in parking lots all the time. There was just nothing else to do and I read up on the town this story takes place in and it said that the kids hang out in the Wal Mart parking lot, fun coincidence. I love the awkwardness and shyness of those first few encounters with your crush, gotta enjoy it before they get comfortable around each other, lol. xoxox