Cigarettes and Mermaids

Beth woke up to the sun shining its way into the cell she was sleeping in. She sat up and put on her army style boots and strapping her sheathed knife back onto her belt. She picked up her jacket from a pile of clothes in the corner of the cell room putting it on and heading to the others who were sat around eating.

“Hey Beth you hungry sweetie?” Carol asked while stirring whatever was left of the small portion of stew they had left in the pot.
“Yeah I could eat I guess.” Sitting down at the table next to Maggie and Glen while Carl and Beth went to look after Judith while Carol placed my bowl full of stew infront of me as I smiled an awkward thank you towards her, I still had issues socialising in this new world but I guess being with these people since I stumbled across them on the farm it made me more at ease with them. I finished my stew and pushed the bowl into the middle of the table.

“Going for a smoke anyone want to join me?” They all shook their heads.
“Got to get ready for a supply run sorry.” Glen gave me an apologetic smile, we became like brother and sister throughout this hell.
“Alright then, be safe we don’t want to lose you two again!” They smiled and nodded as I walked up the stairs outside. I went to stand against the wall whilst the walkers around the fence growled and clawed at the fence at the meal they were missing out on. I took out my menthol cigarette and lit it with my Zippo enjoying the minty smoke whilst I enjoyed the rays of the sun warming me through my clothes. I looked infront of me to see Daryl coming from the guard tower approaching me. I quickly looked down and concentrated on smoking.

“Got one spare?” He stood causing his shadow to shade over me. His blue eyes making my legs turn to jelly while I tried to think straight.
“Umm…yeah I guess so…” I opened the box tilting it toward him as he took one. He seemed to already have a light in his pocket but it had run out of fuel. I smirked and handed him my own.
“Thanks.” I tried not to stare too much at him but he looked perfect just simply lighting it and smoking right next to me.

We had been getting close since we met, I was worried that by the time I ran out of cigarettes our talking and closeness would soon disappear. I sighed as I saw I had half of my cigarette left.
“You going for supplies too?” I looked at his blue eyes gazing at me.
“No I think I’ll go get more water from the lake, we all need some still for washing.” He nodded as I put out the end of my cigarette about to walk off feeling his grip on my arm.
“I’ll come with ya, can’t have you going on yer own now.” I gave him a slight nod and a small smile. I would be having more time with the Dixon I had been falling for so hard since they found me outside the prison on one of their supply runs.

I went back into the prison getting containers for the water collection finding Daryl next to his bike waiting with his trusty crossbow. He climbed onto his vehicle as I looked in confusion since the lake was only a short walk from the prison I dropped the containers infront of me wondering what the hell he was up to.

“There is a lake further ahead I wanted to check if that’s all right?” He patted the seat for me behind him and throwing me some rope to tie the containers onto the bike.
“I guess it won’t hurt.” I climbed onto the bike then hesitated, as I did not know whether to hold onto the back of the bike or wrap my arms around him. He grabbed my hand and wrapped it around his waist. I hid my face in his back while I tried to get rid of the silly blush that decided to crawl onto my cheeks as we drove off through the open gate Carl held open and quickly shut as we were out of the way.

It took us a good 15-20 minutes to get to this other lake, we saw the odd walker or two along the way but easy enough to get away from when you are speeding off on a motorcycle. We stopped at a path walking sign which indicated the location of the lake that seemed to be named “Mermaid Paradise’. I untied the containers from the bike and carried them along while Daryl kept his guard up for walkers that could decide to walk our way. I was still wondering why he wanted us to be so far away from the prison and alone at that. I had my knife but I had nothing else defence wise well apart from Daryl. It didn’t take long until a beautiful lake was infront of the both of us. There was even a small waterfall that you could easily wash under like natures version of a shower system.

“Wow.” The water looked so mesmerising, the name was truly perfect for it. It made me remember my childhood dreams of wanting to be a mermaid like Ariel from The Little Mermaid, still innocent and full of dreams.
“Pretty ain’t it, s’why I brought ya here.” I saw him give me a real smile; it was so contagious that I just had to smile back. I filled up the containers quickly so then I could spend the rest of the time admiring my surroundings. As soon as I was done I had turned around to Daryl undressing down to his boxer shorts I quickly turned around while I face went beetroot red and hearing a splash in the water with tiny splatters of it managing to hit me.

“C’mon take that off and dive in!” I could now feel my face heating up even more than before. Before I knew it I was being pulled into the water while letting out a little squeak and hearing the Dixon laughing at me as I swam keeping my head above the water frowning. I took off my jacket and shirt as well as my skinny jeans, which were even worse to pull off from being soaked, and threw them onto the bank.
“I hope my cigs are not soaked Dixon!” He scoffed at me and pulled me closer to him while moving my fringe from my eyes.
“Yer cute when ya mad.” My blush from before grew back slightly as he cupped my face and kissed me lightly on the lips. My heart felt like it was going to stop but instinctively I wrapped by arms around him and deepened the kiss feeling him so close and intimate with me. His eyes had a sparkle in them when we both pulled away.
“We better get back to the others, can’t have too much fun can we?” He winked at me and I just nodded in agreement. We swam towards the bank as he got out first he pulled me up before grabbing his stuff and clothing himself again. I wrung out as much water as a could out of my clothes before putting them on knowing the Georgia heat would soon have the rest of it out by the time we got back. He passed me a gun from his back pocket before slinging his crossbow over his shoulder and picking up the containers full of water. I guess it was my time to cover him plus I was useless for heavy lifting. I smirked to myself walking back to the bike knowing I would be able to gossip now to Maggie when we got back and probably have more alone time not with just cigarettes.

Daryl Dixon finally showed that he liked me and that’s all I cared about right now.