Best Friends to the End

It was spring break, and spring had sprung in Georgia.
It was warmer than normal, which was hot.
Sadie and Daryl were sitting on the swing on her front porch, trying to stay cool and kill some time before Daryl went to work.
He had gotten a job as a trainee at a local auto shop and they were letting him pick up extra hours this week since he wasn't in school. If it was up to Daryl he would have quit school and just gone to work full time, but Sadie wouldn't let him.

Since the sleepover scare with his dad Daryl wouldn't let her stay the night at his house anymore. Sadie was pissed about the decision but Daryl was standing his ground this time. He would be completely devastated if something happened to her because of his carelessness. The upside was that his dad hadn't been home since that incident and that was months ago. Daryl kept hoping that meant it was the end of him coming back, but didn't want to say it out loud for fear he would jinx it.
Sadie was pissed because now they didn't get to see each other as much since Daryl started working and cancelled all sleepovers. He wouldn't let her come hang out at his work yet because he was the new guy and was afraid it would get him in trouble. If he quit school she was afraid she would never see him. Well, she knew that wasn't true, but when they went from spending all day every day together to just a couple of hours it felt like a void in Sadie's normal day.

"I needa get goin' soon" Daryl said, breaking both of their thoughts.
Sadie groaned and took her head off his shoulder, "I've only seen you for like two hours today".
Daryl felt his stomach twist, like always when she complained they didn't get to spend all their time together. He like feeling needed by her.
"Can I come visit you today?" Sadie asked, fully expecting him to say no.
"Wanna bring me lunch?" Daryl asked. He figured he'd been there long enough now that if she came and ate lunch with him it would be ok. The last thing he wanted to do was get in trouble with Gus, his boss.
"Of course!" Sadie yelled jumping up and hugging him. Sadie was so bored she could spit. Her parents were out of town for her dad's business trip and since it was spring break her little sister asked to go too. Sadie didn't have anyone to entertain her.
"Ok, I getta break 'round noon" Daryl said releasing the hug but not letting go of her entirely. Since the night she had told him she loved him Daryl had tried to be more affectionate. It was very hard for him but he wanted Sadie to really know he meant it when he said he loved her more. Daryl felt like it was true. He knew Sadie didn't mean she loved him like she wanted to marry him and have his babies type of love, more like you're my best friend in the entire world. But Daryl had meant both, even if Sadie didn't realize it.
"What do you want me to bring?" Sadie asked.
"Don't care, anything" Daryl replied, releasing her hips. If he didn't leave right now he would be there right on time. He had made it a point to always show up at least five minutes early.
Sadie smiled, "I'm going to go get ready and start making something".
Daryl had to laugh at her, "noon is four hours away!"
Sadie put her hands on her hips, "well I want to make a good impression since you have been hiding me from these guys for three months!"
Daryl knew why he had been "hiding" her. On top of the fact he didn't want the guys to think he was unprofessional he didn't want the other guys he worked with to see her. Sadie was pretty and the other two guys were in their early twenties so he knew they would be fawning over her. He didn't say anything though, just shook his head and kissed the top of Sadie's.
"See ya 'round noon" he said before hopping onto the second hand motorcycle he had found at a junk yard after he received his first paycheck. It didn't look like much but he had gotten it running and he was proud of it.
Sadie watched his pull out of the driveway and speed up a little as he drove down the street. 'Sexy' she caught herself thinking.
'Wait, did you just really think that?!' she thought before shaking her head and laughing at herself.

At 11:56 Daryl saw Sadie's car pull into the parking lot of the shop. He didn't want to rush out and have the guys make fun of him, not to mention he wasn't officially on break for four more minutes. He stayed ducked under the hood of the old car he was changing the oil in and hoped she would stay in her car for four minutes. He should have known better though, knowing Sadie.
"Well now, what do we have here!" Tom said wiping his greasy hands on a rag and walking around the car he and Joe were repairing. This caused Joe to spin around and see what the fuss was about.
"I'll help her!" he said grinning at Tom. They both did this whenever a pretty girl showed up, knowing full and well that Gus comes out to greet all customers.
Daryl kept quiet, though he wasn't sure why. He didn't have any official claim to Sadie so he just tried to ignore them.
They continued to banter while Gus met Sadie in the parking lot. They exchanged a few words and he saw Gus point into the garage. Sadie put her hand to her eyes to block the sun and look in. Daryl got a good look at her then and could see what the other guys were fussing about. Sadie had on a short pair of denim shorts and a flowy spaghetti strap top, not hiding much but making her look innocent as well. Daryl felt his cheeks heating up. He was somewhat annoyed she would wear such short shorts knowing he worked with a bunch of men but then Sadie had never been one to worry about what other people thought of her or her clothes.
Joe and Tom met her at the entrance to the garage door.
"Hey gorgeous, need some help?" Tom asked, winking at her.
"Don't listen to this big ugly fella, I can fix any problem you got. ANY problem" Tom said grinning.
"HA! Thanks y'all but Daryl takes care of me just fine" she said brushing past them.
Daryl felt his cheeks turn beet red. Sadie was being sassy and he knew the guys would be questioning him about it later.
"Let's eat gorgeous!" Sadie exclaimed, walking over and kissing his cheek as both guys stared at them. Daryl knew she could see his red cheeks and knew she knew why they were red but she ignored it.
Daryl led her to a picnic table beside the garage and opened the large umbrella while Sadie sat out the food she had made.
"Ya know them guys are gonna give me shit for that later, right?" Daryl asked, sitting across from her and opening a bottle of water.
Sadie smiled at him, "what? you do", she handed him a sandwich and bowl of fruit salad; "you protect me, help me with stuff, teach me to hunt and fish, hell you've even taught me some car stuff".
"Ya know that's not what ya implied!" Daryl pointed out around a mouth full of sandwich.
Sadie just grinned at him and took a bite of her own food.

After they finished eating and cleaned up their trash Sadie took a breath in. She knew Daryl was probably going to tell her no, but she wanted to ask anyway. "So, can I come in with you and you show me around? Introduce me?"
"Sadie.." Daryl started.
"Please Daryl!" Sadie interrupted grabbing his hand. "I miss you! The least you can do is show me around and introduce me to the people stealing you from me".
Daryl eyed her for a minute and Sadie gave him puppy dog eyes to seal the deal.
"OK, fine. But if Gus even starts to seem a little bit mad you have to go, no questions" Daryl said, pointing a finger at her for emphasis.
Sadie nodded and promised to behave.

Sadie followed him around the garage, seemingly genuinely interested in the whole thing. Gus came out of the office and Daryl was sure he was going to say she needed to leave but he didn't.
"I guess we will be seeing you around here often?" Gus asked Sadie.
"I guess if it's ok with you" Sadie said, giving him a smile. Daryl knew that smile, it's the one she used to get what she wanted with her father and it always worked.
"Just so Daryl keeps doing what he's doing I got no problem with you being here. Just don't expect to get paid" Gus said with a wink. Obviously when Daryl had introduced them Gus recognized Sadie's last name and knew her father.
Sadie laughed, "be careful, once you give me permission to be here I may not leave."
"I think I speak for all of us when I say that will be just fine" Joe yelled from across the hood of a car.
"Cool your jets, man, she's only sixteen" Gus yelled back to him. He turned back to Sadie, "like I said, you're welcome here so long as you don't keep Daryl from his work and don't get hurt".
Sadie saluted Gus, "yes sir! I will be the best non-paid, not actual employee you've ever had!"
Gus laughed and went into his office to take a phone call.
Sadie turned to Daryl and smiled, "I guess that kind of makes you my unofficial boss. What do you want me to do?"
Daryl's mind raced with all of the things he wanted Sadie to "do" but out loud said "hand me a half inch socket wrench?"
Sadie sat down on a wheelie chair and slid over to the tool chest and pulled out the wrench before wheeling back over to hand it to Daryl. It didn't take long before it felt like there were in his driveway working on his motorcycle or Merle's truck. Daryl was happy Gus didn't mind her there. Daryl was still amazed that a girl like Sadie would want to hang out in a hot, smelly, dirty garage just to be there with him.