speak ➵ bethyl au

7

She's blissfully sleeping, tangled in his arms, when the phone rings.
She lets it ring, and he tightens his grip around her waist, as if he's afraid he'll loose the battle between the phone and himself.
She whispers good mornings, and she squirms in his grip to face him. She yawns, and he loosens his grip slightly, resting a hand on her back.
"I'm tired," she whispers, and he smiles faintly, eyes still shut.
"Mmm,"
"You're tired, too,"
"Yeah."
"Stupid phone woke me up." She smirks, pulling a hand up from underneath the covers and raises an eyelid.
"Should see who called."
"No," she says all too quickly, "stay. You're comfortable."
He snorts, and teases, "you too," and her pale cheeks turn a light shade of red, and he's thinking that this is how it should be. The only wrong thing about now is that they're in a place where she doesn't belong, where they don't belong.

☔︎

"What day is it today?"
"Friday."
"I want to leave."
She has the phone pressed to her ear and she staring into space, replaying the morning. The cuddling, the knocking at the door, him stumbling out through the window and her throwing clothes out after him. It was cliché, something she'd seen in a movie or read in a book, and he's scoffing and referring to themselves as a damn romance novel, and her heart soars when he calls them romantic.
She shakes her head--she hadn't heard a thing he'd said.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I'll try to get you out--"
"But I don't want to go to my house. I want to go home."
He stays silent, and she oversteps the line where he stands, crosses the barrier that separated the two of them.
"Home with you."

☔︎

He's in some hipster store, shelves cluttered with candles and coffee makers, when his phone rings.
And he thinks it's Beth, but it would be strange if it was because she just told him she would call after she got out of the shower, so he brings the phone to his ear and is surprised to hear none other than Maggie Greene.
She's sobbing.
"Why isn't Beth answerin' the phone?"
He's all too confused and, "Dunno, I'm not there right now," and she sobs a little more hysterically, and he furrowing his eyebrows and he's certain the people in their beanies and scarfs can hear her screaming through the phone.
"Calm down," he urges, lowering the volume on the phone. "What's going on? Beth's fine, she wants to leave."
"I need to talk to her, the receptionist keeps sayin' she's not available."
"I'll tell her to talk to you as soon as I see her."
Maggie stifles an okay, and she sobs even more and he thinks she might've forgotten to end the call, so he does so for her.

☔︎

Daryl
see attachment

Daryl
it's candles i bought her candles

Daryl
can you call her dad and ask what candy she likes

Daryl
i don't have his number and maggie isn't in the place to be talking

He's sitting there in the candy aisle, waiting for a reply that never comes. He figures that Rick is probably busy, so he gets a bag of name brand chocolates and a bag of miscellaneous candies, and heads off to purchase.

☔︎

He's entering the familiar building and an older man who he's briefly acquainted with is sitting there at the desk.
"You have Friday's off, don't you Dixon?"
"Vistin'," he explains, writing his name on sign in sheet.
"Who?"
"Is it your business?"
He snorts. "Sort of."
"Beth Greene."
He drops the pen and is on his way, ignoring the comment he had no intention of hearing in the first place.

☔︎

When he arrives at her room, she's still in the shower. Her phone is ringing and he's assuming it's Maggie, and he's staring at the phone, shaking and ringing on the dresser.
She emerges from the bathroom, holding a towel around her frame.
"Can you disconnect it?"
He's startled, and looks up to her.
"The phone?"
"It won't stop."
"I think it's Maggie."
She purses her lips, staring at the phone.
"I can't."
"She called me earlier and she was crying, that she needs to talk to you. You should, okay? I'll be right here."
"Just let me change," she mumbles after a nod, and she disappears into the bathroom again.
He picks up the phone, ending its ringing.
"Beth? Beth, listen, please don't hang up-"
"It's Daryl." He says. "Beth's in the shower."
"Oh." She sounds slightly surprised, but it doesn't last long.
"Is she eating?" She whispers, her voice hoarse from crying even through the phone.
"Yeah. Yeah, she's eating."
"Daddy would've been so happy to hear that."
She's crying again, and he finally gets it, and he feels his eyes watering too, the phone pressed to his ear, and Beth is stepping out of the shower in leggings and a slouchy sweater and her hair is wet and she's running a comb through it.
"What?"
He hands the phone to her and he's shaking so he drops it, and she's confused at she reaches down to pick it up.
"Maggie?"
She sits down on the bed next to Daryl, and he has his chin in his hands and he's staring at his boots, and the candles and candies are discarded by the door, those aren't important anymore.
And he's shaking and his eyes are watering with tears that are bound to spill, and it's for the Greene daughters who need each other but one is too bent and too hurt to see that, who's suffocating in the eye of the town.
He's crying for Beth and how she's going to fall backwards and not move forward, and he's crying for how he can't envelop her in his arms forever.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry Maggie, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," and she's repeating it over and over and he's telling her to get off the phone but she can't and she's sinking to the floor and holding the phone impossibly close to her ear and she's shaking and apologizing for something she couldn't control and he grabs the phone and sends it flying across the room and she's sobbing and he lifts her and holds her in his laps and her arms are around him faster than his arms could hold her back and neck.
"I feel like I'm going to die. I don't want to anymore but I'm going to." She speaks quickly, droning on with no emotion repeating the same phrase of awful fate.
"No," he demands, he guarantees. "That's not going to happen."

☔︎

She's laying on her bed and she has a headache, and he's laying with her behind her, an arm over her stomach.
She glances over and he's awake, staring at her hair. She shifts so she's facing him entirely. He's staring at her eyes and so is she, and then she's staring at his lips.
She leans forward and presses a kiss and he doesn't pull back, not when her hand meets his cheek and not when he's loosing his breath.
She does though, and he's thankful for that, and she glances up to meet his eyes again.
He doesn't question it, and neither does she. They haven't for a long time.

☔︎

Rick
Sorry i didn't reply earlier brother

Rick
Was with lori and carl

Rick
You heard didn't u? did u tell beth?

☔︎

She's fast asleep and he's staring at her, and she's beautiful. She's breathing softly and her freckles are so faint but they're there if you're up close. He runs his fingers through her hair lightly, softly, and she's shifting in her sleep. Her eyes open faintly, like flowers blooming, and she smiles when she sees him, and he feels it in his chest and stomach.
She leans forward and he leans down and they're lips meet and it's what he's wanted and what she's wanted, and they're relaxing in each other's touch and they're sinking further into the mattress.
Her hands are searching and exploring and she feels the raised skin and scars on his chest and back, and when he slips her shirt over her head his hands, rough and calloused, he feels the scars on her wrists.
They share stories with these scars and they both know each other's like the back of their hand. She presses endless kisses across his jaw and down his neck and his hand stays behind her neck and the small of her back. She moves to his lips again after a few purple spots litter his neck and he's thinking about the hipster stores he'll need to raid to find a scarf, and then he's thinking about her. It's always her. It always has been and it always will.