Red River Blue
Chapter 21
Harley shifted her body, leaning forward on the bunk to take her guitar back from Beth. She hadn't thought much of the girl at first. Honestly, she hadn't even really noticed her except as a number when she was counting how many people were in the group when they first showed up. Since the outbreak, Harley had gotten used to judging people by their survival skills. People were classified into two groups. Strong and weak. Upon meeting her, Harley had mentaly placed Beth into the second category.
Beth was weak. She was only alive because she had people stronger than her around that were willing to look out for her. Because of this, Harley naturally assumed they wouldn't have much in common. She was never rude to the other girl, but aside for casual passing converstation, Harley made no effort to get to know her. Then one day she was passing by Beth's cell. Beth was in the cell singing a song to Rick's cute little baby. Was surprised Harley was that she wasn't singing a lullaby. She was singing an old Johnny Cash song.
Harley stopped in the doorway of the cell, leaning against the metal bars and listening until Beth felt her gaze and looked up. Beth shifted Judith from her lap onto a small blanket she had set out on the floor.
"You need help with somethin'?," she asked. Harley shook her head, realizing that she was staring at the other girl, and since she had what her mother like to call a resting bitch face, that meant she was probably staring and scowling at her.
"No... I just," Harley stammered, trying to think of what she meant to say. "You like Johnny Cash?," she finally asked. No offense to Beth, but she looked more like a Taylor Swift fan. Beth nodded. Then she scootched over to make room for Harley on the floor next to her. Harley hesitated in the doorway a moment. Talking to Beth was fine, but she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to sit in her room with her. But curiosity finally won out over her general mistrust of people and the next thing she knew she was sitting on the floor in Beth's room with a baby in her lap.
The two girls didn't have a lot in common. Especially not when it came to their former home lives and upbringings. Other than the fact that Carl had the worst body odor out of everyone in the prison, the one thing they could agree on was music. They liked a lot of the same singers and bands. Harley played the guitar and Beth liked to sing. Beth was also halfway decent at playing the harmonica and could tap out a simple rhythm on the large wooden bowl they had taken from the kitchen so they had something to use as a drum.
"My dad asked if we wanted to play for everyone after dinner tonight," Beth mentioned. Harley adjusted herself into a more comfortable position and strummed at her guitar. She wrinkled up her face a little at Beth's sudden suggestion. Playing her guitar was something Harley enjoyed, but it had always been a solitary pursuit. Something she did alone in her room to unwind and relax. The only other person she had ever made music with before Beth was the broke college boy her mother hired to give her guitar lessons after school. She had never played in front of anyone besides her mother and sister, and that was only if they hung around in her doorway long enough to listen.
"I dunno," Harley said. She looked down at her guitar, trying to ignore the hopeful look on Beth's face. Harley usually didn't give a shit what anyone thought about her. But for some reason the thought of playing music in front of them made her almost queasy. It would be like walking around in front of everyone naked and exposed. The thought of playing in front of her dad was even more unappealing. She had made her peace with him and the idea of her parents being together again. But that didn't mean she was ready to perform in front of him like a trained monkey.
"What's the point of practicing all these songs if nobody's going to hear them?," Beth asked. She was careful to keep her tone soft and even. If she had learned one thing about Harley it was that she was stubborn as a mule and hated people trying to make her do things she didn't want to do. The truth was, Beth's father wasn't the only one that asked. Almost everyone had been asking her when they were going to play the songs they had been learning for the group. Life at the prison didn't offer much in the way of entertainment. There was no tv. No radio, excpect for a few busted cd players and even then there weren't a lot of cds to choose from. People were bored.
"I dunno," Harley said again. Beth sighed and decided to leave to topic alone for the time being. She thought maybe she might try and talk to Wren. The younger of the two Dixon girls was the only one that Beth had ever seen get her the elder one to do things she didn't want to. Her method of attack was to follow Harley around all day and harrass her until she gave in and did whatever it was that Wren wanted her to do.
The last time the girl had been bugging Harley to play double dutch with her and Mika. They needed a third person to twirl and Mika's sister had been banished from the game since she kept smacking them with the jump ropes. Beth thought Harley was about to choke the life out of her sister, but finally she just gave in and went outside. She even called out a few chants for the girls while they jumped. Innappropriate chants, but chants all the same. Beth was glad her dad wasn't outside to see her laughing at the other girl's dirty songs.
Harley was chewing at her bottom lip, playing a little Tom Petty on her guitar but not really concentrating on it. She was still deep in thought, considering what Beth asked her about playing for everyone. A light tap on the bars of the cell caught her attention. She stopped playing and looked up. Then she wished she hadn't.
"Sounding good," Zach announced. As if anyone had asked for his opinion. He beamed a big smile at Harley despite the fact that she was scowling at him. Sometimes Beth wondered if that's just how her face looked. Zach came forward into the cell, saying a polite hello to Beth before he turned his attention to Harley. From behind his back he produced a small bouquet of flowers. Beth was actually rather impressed. It was a thoughtful gesture. The flowers were light blue with a few purple ones mixed in.
"Saw these and thought of you," Zach said, shoving the flowers a little closer to Harley, "they're the same color as your eyes." Harley was looking at the boy like he was offering her a big plate full of dogshit instead of a handful of wildflowers and Beth was having a hard time not laughing.
"What am I supposed to do with flowers?," Harley asked, making no move to take the gift. This kid was a slow learner if she ever saw one. She had been as rude to him as she thought she could get away with. And he just would not give up. She was almost starting to develop a grudging respect for him, but she still wasn't interested. He drove the kind of car that boys only drove because they liked attention and the one time she tried talking to him about sports he said the only sport he watched was soccer. That had been the end of that.
"Well," Zach said, his confidence starting to falter, "You could put them in your room to make it smell nice... or wear them in your hair." He didn't know what the hell girls did with flowers. All he knew was most girls liked getting them and they usually got him laid or at least to second base. Last he knew he was a reasonably attractive young man. Who drove a cool car. He usually didn't have to try this hard just to get a girl to hang out with him. But Harley was pretty enough to be worth the effort. She had a killer body, all titties and long tan legs. He even sort of liked the angry little look she always had on her face. And he was fairly sure from the way she acted that she was a virgin. Which made her even more exciting.
"I'm allergic," Harley informed him. It was a lie, and she knew Zach probably knew she was lying. But it seemed slightly more polite than telling him to shove his pathetic attempt at getting in her pants straight up his ass along with his thumb.
"I'll take them," Beth offered, eager to put an end to the increasingly awkward situtation. Zach was cute. She wished the flowers had been for her in the first place, but she would still take them. Zach turned and handed Beth the flowers, giving her another handsome smile. Then he turned his attention back to Harley for the second time. He lounged against the frame of the bed she was sitting on and leaned in closer to her.
"It's a full moon tonight," he said, "I got a bottle of wine hidden away in my room if you wanna take watch with me tonight." Beth felt her eyes go wide as she watched the other girl's eyes go narrow and predator-like as she started Zach down. Harley looked so much like Daryl's brother when she made that face it gave Beth a chill. Beth had a feeling whatever Harley was about to say to this boy, it wasn't going to be something he would soon forget.
"She can't," Beth blurted out before Harley could speak, "We are playing music for everyone tonight after dinner."
"That's right," Harley said, understanding that Beth was both giving her an out and tricking her at the same time. She was about to get up and ram her foot so hard up Zach's ass that he was going to taste her toes, and that would end up getting her in trouble. So she decided it was probably best for her to just agree with whatever Beth said.
"Well, maybe another time then," Zach suggested. He lingered a little longer, smiling at Harley and trying to get her to smile back. Then he headed back the way he had come. Harley rolled her eyes at his back while Beth took one of the flowers from the bundle and tucked it behind her ear.
"So...," Beth said, flashing the other girl a mischevious smile, "What songs do you want to play for everyone after dinner tonight?"
"How 'bout the song where I kick yer ass," Harley spit back. Beth was worried for a second, until she saw the corner of Harley's mouth twitch up into a grin. Also she knew well enough by now that Harley didn't make threats. If she wanted to kick Beth's ass, she would already have her on the ground punching her face in. Beth held the flowers up to her face and breathed in the sweet and slightly woodsy aroma. Then she leaned back and started going over songs in her head, trying to figure out which ones they knew best and which ones sounded best when the two girls sung them together.