Not Desperate

Chapter 6 Making Plans

Chapter Six

Game face

            How long was he supposed to wait to call her? He’d been thinking about it ever since he got out of the shower. What if she’d changed her mind and didn’t want to see him? What if her friends convinced her that he was worthless? If Merle or the boys hit on them, he’d kill ‘em. That stupid, handless idiot was always ruining things for him. He knew why too. Merle knew that if Daryl found something good, he would follow it to wherever it ended, leaving him alone as a result. Yeah, Merle has “friends”, but you couldn’t count on them for shit. They’d just as soon make Merle their scapegoat and take off for the hills. Daryl loved his brother, at least he thought he did. He often wondered what his life would have been without him. Would he be a different person or would he be dead? Don’t need to think about that. Would rather think about Yvonne. As he drove down the road toward the garage, he passed the diner where they had been earlier. If he called her, and she agreed to see him again, it would be better than the diner. Although, the diner was real special. He didn’t want her to think that he didn’t want better with her.

            When he arrived at T’s garage, the man was waiting for him standing next to a bike. “Sorry to call you on Sunday man, but this bike’s been a bitch. Neither Zach or Jim can figure it out.”

            “Who’s it belong to?” Daryl asked. It was a beautiful piece. Brand new he’d guess. Triumph Bonneville, he’d wanted one since he was sixteen.       

            “New deputy in town, Shane Walsh, I think. He’s a prick, but a prick with great taste and money.”

            “Okay. I’ll look at it. Don’t want to get my ass arrested if I can’t fix it though.” Daryl laughed. He had known T-Dog since high school. Not a lot of black people in this part of Georgia. Merle and his “friends” have quite a reputation. But T-Dog hadn’t been afraid of them. Stood up to Merle and the gang quite a few times since then. Daryl admired that and had made it a point to be his friend. The two of them and Rick had been close for over thirty years.

            It took the great Daryl Dixon exactly twenty minutes to diagnose the problem. Sugar in his gas tank. It made him chuckle. He hadn’t seen this since he and Rick did the same to the principle’s car junior year. He guessed Rick remembered that too. When he went back to T’s office, he was on the phone, so he shut the door and sat down in the chair next to it.

            “Yeah man, count me in. I’m sure Dixon will want to be there too. He just walked in. I’ll ask him.” He moved the phone away from his face. “It’s Rick. He wants us to come over tonight and watch the game. Lori’s taking the kids to her sister’s. He’s ordering pizza and wings, wants us to bring the beer.”

            “Hell yeah,” he says. “Be more than happy to buy beer. I’ll be sure and get plenty. ‘Sides, I wanna talk to ya’ll about something anyway.”

            T-Dog returns to the phone. “He’s in and bringing beer. Says he’s got something to talk about. Okay man, see ya then.” After he hangs up the phone, he turns his full attention to Daryl. “So, what’s the verdict?”