AN: So, the party is really just a gathering to bring everyone together and help everyone have the opportunity to know who everyone else is as we move forward.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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Daryl picked Carol up at precisely the moment that she asked him to meet her at her house. She'd still been outside, on the front step, waiting for him, as though he were late. Instead, he discovered she'd just been anticipating his arrival. She'd also wanted a cigarette before they left and he'd gladly let her bum one. He'd sat in the truck and smoked one with her instead of immediately leaving for the party.
She'd already been where they were going. She and Jacqui had cooked for the gathering—because it was really a gathering more than a party—and they'd gone over at the end of their workday to set things up before Alice or Sadie even got there, since apparently the two women were living together despite the very short run of their relationship. Carol had run home to change clothes and wash off the day before Daryl arrived to pick her up.
The gathering was casual—nothing fancy. It was only a chance for everyone to meet everyone else. It would be a couple of whirlwind hours of eating finger food, having a few drinks, and making some idle conversation before everyone went home to get ready for Thursday.
Carol was beautiful. She was wearing a dress that seemed somewhat wrapped around her and tied at her waist, even though the skirt flared out in the way her pretty little fifties-style dress had flared. It was a deep coral color. She wore flats and, despite the fact that it was a dress, she looked relaxed. She looked like she was as comfortable as if she'd been wearing pajamas. She wore very little makeup, as usual, if she was wearing any at all.
Daryl told her she was beautiful the moment he'd seen her—the words rushed out of his mouth immediately. What he didn't tell her was everything else that pinballed through his mind, and that was mostly because he thought she would have gotten out of the truck immediately if he'd gone off on a tangent about how much he was growing sure, with each passing moment, even, that he loved her. He thought she might panic, too, if he told her that he wanted to be with her—so close to her—that he had the strange desire to almost consume her. The thought, which gave him an odd urge to taste her with his tongue, and even to nibble at her skin, made him sure she'd think he was a psychopath, even though he truly had no desire to really eat her, it was more of a sensation of longing that his brain seemed determined to interpret and reinterpret a million different ways.
If he told her how much she scrambled up his mind in the best way possible, she might not even take him to the party, so he kept those thoughts inside and kept their conversation light—a recounting of his day and questions about hers.
When they reached their destination, Daryl didn't know any of the vehicles parked there. Merle had either not arrived, or he'd come in Andrea's car—a vehicle that Daryl had seen, but not bothered to memorize.
"Do I look OK?" Carol asked before getting out of the truck. Daryl couldn't help but laugh to himself.
"You gotta be kiddin'. You look incredible." She smiled and her cheeks ran pink. It was thanks enough when she seemed to be struggling to figure out how to thank him for a genuine compliment—something she still seemed to be getting accustomed to hearing. "What are you worried about, anyway? It's me that oughta panic. They're your friends, and they're gonna be judgin' me like a side of beef."
"You're incredible," Carol offered. "And they're going to know that."
The sincerity of her words hit Daryl like a tidal wave of warm water. It ran through him, and he didn't fight it.
"So—it'll be a good night…" He said. It wasn't what he wanted to say, and he immediately thought he should have said something better, but it was what fell out of his mouth, and Carol accepted it.
"Merle's going to be here," Carol said. Daryl hummed and nodded his head. "He's going to be—judging me. Like a side of beef, isn't that what you said?"
"You're more like—a filet mignon," Daryl offered with a wink. His need to take away that concerned look on Carol's face suddenly outweighed his possible discomfort with the situation at hand. She smiled and face flushed a little pinker. "Merle ain't gonna judge you," Daryl said, knowing it was probably a lie. Merle would judge, but he would hopefully keep his opinions so himself—at least until he was in private—because Daryl had asked as much of him. "And even if he did, it wouldn't matter. Not to me. But—if you want to? We'll skip the whole damn thing. You say the word and we'll just—go to the movies. I'll buy my best girl some popcorn and candy, and we'll blow the whole damn thing off."
The smile he got from Carol, at that moment, was worth any of it—any amount of scrutiny or judgment that possibly awaited him—anything.
She leaned forward and he met her, kissing her deeply, hoping to transfer his feelings to her with nothing more than his lips.
"I can't wear lipstick around you," she teased, patting her lips with her fingertips as the kiss broke.
"Don't need it," Daryl insisted. "Beautiful without it. But if you want me to stop kissin' you…"
"No," she breathed out, shaking her head. "You ready to go meet everyone?"
"Ready when you are."
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Daryl's boss, Tyreese, was there. Merle and Andrea arrived late—and a little disheveled—and Andrea had trotted off directly to Alice's bathroom to "fix her face" before she'd even started greeting people. Daryl felt like he'd seen most of the faces in the room around somewhere, but he moved quickly and introduced himself to everyone.
Tyreese's wife, Michonne, was a very well put together woman. She was wearing high heels and a jacketless suit at the party, so Daryl assumed she must have come straight from work since she looked very formal in comparison to everyone else. Carol's business partner, Jacqui, spent most of her time happily arranging food, refilling things, and practically force-feeding everyone. She was warm and Daryl immediately liked her. Her husband, whom Daryl had been introduced to as "T", seemed bored from the moment he'd arrived, and he hung around Tyreese, ate copious amounts of food, and clearly waited for the thing to be over.
Carol's friend, Alice, was obviously nervous. She had that way of being nervous that made her look jumpy—like she might rocket right up to the ceiling and get stuck there if someone were to drop something. She was wide-eyed, and her smile looked like it was uncomfortable, but she didn't know how to drop it. Daryl had felt kind of sorry for her, and he'd brought her a replacement for her drink from the table that Jacqui tended with great attention.
"Thanks," Alice said, taking the glass. "You're Daryl."
Daryl smiled at her.
"Good job," he said. "You're Alice. You doin' alright?"
She raised her eyebrows at him.
"That obvious?" She asked.
Daryl laughed to himself. One nervous person apparently called out to another in silent, panicked solidarity. He felt an almost instant kinship to the brunette.
"What's your girlfriend's name again?" Daryl asked, tracking the short, curly-headed red-head that kept glancing toward Alice and smiling.
"Sadie," Alice said.
"You say girlfriend?" Daryl asked. "Hell—I don't meant o be like an ignorant asshole or nothin', I just—don't know this shit. It's a learning experience for me."
Alice smiled. It was the first time that her smile had looked real and less like a painted-on smile.
"No offense taken. People say different things," Alice said. "But—we like girlfriend."
"Then that's what I'll say," Daryl offered. "You nervous about her, or you nervous about you? Because she seems to be holdin' her own pretty damn good. My asshole brother just asked her a couple minutes ago if she liked eatin' pussy 'cause that'd give 'em somethin' in common, an' she ain't missed a damn beat after she told him she thought she missed that and Andrea said he was just a pig and she didn't miss a thing."
Alice nearly choked on a swallow of her drink and Daryl instinctively patted her back to urge her to cough the liquid out that was slowly seeping into her lungs. She wiped at her face, clearly finding that her drink had escaped a little through her nose as well as her mouth.
"Feel better?" Daryl asked.
"Yeah," she said sincerely. "Thanks."
"No problem. These are your friends. Ain't no need to be nervous."
"Mich kind of thinks we're moving too fast," Alice said, matter-of-factly.
"Do you think you're movin' too fast?"
"I like it," Alice admitted. "I'd rather come home to Sadie being here than not."
"Does Sadie think you're movin' too fast?"
"It was her idea, actually," Alice said. "I mean—she's keeping her place, but it's a just in case thing at this point and, honestly, I don't think she'll keep it long."
"If you're both for it, hell, you got my support," Daryl offered. "For what the hell it's worth, and I know that ain't a damn thing right now."
"Can I ask you something?" Alice asked, her face going serious for a moment.
"I got a good feelin' you're going to," Daryl said. He searched Carol out as she helped Jacqui arrange some snacks on the table. She caught his eye and winked at him, giving him a smile. He couldn't help but smile to himself. She seemed happier to see him interacting with her friends than anything else. He turned back to Alice. Her gaze was fixed on him, hard.
"What are your intentions?"
"Wow," Daryl remarked, taking a drink of his beer. "Right to the chase. You her actin' old man or something?"
"Does it make you nervous that I ask you that question?" Alice asked.
"Yeah," Daryl said. "But—not for the reason you're prob'ly thinkin' it does. I'm goin' to smoke. I'ma invite you to follow me."
Alice did follow Daryl outside. On her porch, he lit a cigarette for himself and, when she asked for one, he lit hers as well.
"Are you going to tell me out here?" She asked after a moment, "or did you come out here hoping I wasn't going to follow your ass?"
Daryl laughed to himself.
"Where your friend Michonne leaves off, you pick up with the judgin'?" He asked.
"I'm not judging. Not unless you've got a bad answer to that question. I'm only asking because—I care," Alice said. "And I don't mean that I think anything's wrong with you or her…or anything. I'm happy she seems happy. The only concern I have is that—Carol's been a work in progress since I met her. She's been opening up. One layer at a time. And I'd rather see her alone and happy with herself than—destroyed by someone who didn't know what the hell she was worth."
Daryl hummed to himself.
"Oh, believe me, I know what she's worth."
Alice lightened a little and tasted her drink.
"Does that mean you're not just using her?"
Daryl laughed to himself.
"If I hesitate to answer a single damn question you got, it ain't because I'm hidin' shit. It's because—I'm not sure she's ready for the whole damn truth of it all."
Daryl had braced himself for something, though he wasn't actually sure for what he was preparing. Alice simply smiled.
"So, you—really like her?" Alice asked.
Daryl laughed to himself. It made his stomach tie itself into a knot to see her looking so pleased, but he welcomed it. He knew that he could already count Andrea as something of a friend, especially since the woman exchanged text messages with him nearly daily about Merle, and now he felt like he'd just found a sort of comradery with Alice—all for the price of a moment of comfort to someone who needed it.
"No," he admitted, shaking his head. "I wouldn't say that I—just like her. But—it's a start. Just don't say nothin' to her, please? I don't wanna say nothin' until I know—she's ready to hear it."
"Don't hurt her," Alice said, half as a supplication to Daryl and half as a warning.
"Trust me," Daryl said. "It ain't me hurtin' her that I'm afraid of."
They were interrupted by the emergence of Sadie from the house. Daryl's stomach twisted, for a second, in concern over what she might have overheard—and a touch of worry that things might get back to Carol too quickly. He remembered quickly, though, that Alice's girlfriend was deaf and, as such, probably wasn't too much of an eavesdropper.
"Are you running away together?" She asked, smiling at the two of them.
"Smoke," Alice said, holding up a cigarette.
"You want one?" Daryl asked, yelling it directly at Sadie.
She raised her eyebrows at him and smiled.
"I'm deaf," she said. "You don't have to yell. I won't hear you. I can understand you better if you don't."
Daryl laughed to himself.
"Fair enough," he said. "How'd you'd know I was yellin'?"
"I read lips," she said. "But—I also read bodies."
Daryl thought it was a strange thing to say, but he didn't question it. After all, he knew very little about her reality and experiences. He was only beginning to learn as he'd just met her that night.
She smiled softly at him and crossed her arms across her chest.
"I think Carol is looking for you," she said.
"She asked where I was?" Daryl asked.
"No," Sadie said, shaking her head. "But—she looks like she lost something she wants to find."
Daryl's stomach did another of the all-too-familiar loops that it was accustomed to doing in situations pertaining to Carol. He finished his cigarette and looked around for an ashtray.
"Potted plant," Sadie said, without the necessity of him asking the question. He nodded his head and stubbed his cigarette out in the potted plant, locating a few butts there that had been left behind by some other smoker.
Nodding to Alice and Sadie, and leaving them to have a quiet moment together on the porch, he stepped back inside to find Carol and, if she was concerned about his whereabouts as Sadie insinuated, to relieve her concerns.
