Blind ➳ D.D (Pre-Apocalypse)

16. Shopping for turtle clothes

I run into the cabin, slightly shivering with Daryl right on my tail.

As the rain pounds on the ceiling, Daryl places his hand on the wall with his head down, taking deep breaths. And I don't think it's from being out of breath.

"Okay Daryl, spill it," I say, crossing my wet arms across my chest.

"Spill what?" He mumbles.

"You know. How you just left the diner while your brother, that you haven't seen in a while, was in the middle of talking. You seemed so upset about something. For heavens sake you were crying."

"I ain't cryin shit."

I roll my eyes. "I'm not stupid. I knew you were crying and I also know that you don't cry very often, which means something must be up."

Daryl huffs, knowing the stubborn bitch I can be, and after a minute, slowly turns around. His mouth begins to open when suddenly I hear the sound of a soft piano playing.

I pull out my phone to see who is calling. My eyes scan the screen, seeing in bold letters: Mom.

"Dammit," I say, then press the answer button on the phone. Daryl looks at me with a perplexed face as I put my index finger to my lips.

"Holly, where are you?! School ended two hours ago!!" My Mom says loudly in alarm. I mentally roll my eyes.

"I'm fine Mom. I'm just at a friends."

"It better not be that redneck kid or-"

"It isn't Mom. I'm just with Teddy and a couple of his friends."

I hear a relived sigh.

"Oh thank the Lord. It's only Teddy. But, please come home soon, I have supper waiting on the table for you."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye honey. Don't be too lo-" I end the phone call quickly and let out a stream of air from my mouth.

"That was my Mom," I say to Daryl, who has awkwardly been standing there the whole time. "If you couldn't tell."

He nods and stares at the floor, kicking a tiny pebble with his boot.

"Well, you got lucky this time Dixon. But, next time I want some answers, whether you like it or not."

He lets out a tiny grunt and I sigh. I walk up to him and pull his head down so it's just about level with mine.

His blue eyes seems so much darker than usual, causing my heart to sink.

I give his forehead a peck and run my hand through his hair, then whisper beside his ear, "I'll see you soon."

///

The next few days I did a lot of thinking. Mainly about Merle and Daryl's conversation and what had been possibly bugging Daryl, but, a little about Daryl's birthday coming up too.

He had never told me anything about his birthday. Also, from the sounds of it, I don't think his Dad or brother will be hosting a surprise party for him anytime soon.

So, I decided we could have our own little celebration.

I currently am driving into the city where there are tall buildings and more civilization. It took my parents a lot of convincing to let me come here, but I just lied and said Teddy was taking me.

Cars honk in every direction until I finally get out of rush hour traffic and pull into a shopping mall parking lot that's quite busy.

I park into a free spot and head into the mall that's filled with both city and country people of all different races and sizes.

My eyes connect with a store that looks like it would have some cool things Daryl would like inside.

The main present I'm getting Daryl cannot be found in this mall, but, I know just the place to get it. The reason I'm mainly here is to get some stuff to decorate the cabin and to get him other little presents as well.

As I begin to make my way into the store, I suddenly notice out of the corner of my eye, someone else exiting the store beside this one.

The store beside is an expensive guys store that has overpriced clothes that don't have any value to them, and will tear on the second day someone wears them. Only one guy I know used to go into that store.

"Holly? Is that you?" Teddy asks, as I stop in my tracks.

"Y-yeah, it is." I turn my direction towards his now and walk up to him. "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

I feel my heart drop into my stomach and my blood turning cold. I can't mention anything about Daryl.

"Um, just doing a little bit of..well..clothing shopping for my..turtle."

Great Holly, great. The best excuse you could ever use. A turtle.

"But, you don't have a turtle."

"Well..my family is thinking of getting one, so I thought I might as well get it some clothes so it wouldn't be..cold."

"It's Georgia, I don't think it's getting cold anytime soon," He chuckles.

"Enough about me," I quickly say back, hoping to change the subject. "Why are you here?"

"That's the thing." He takes a step towards me. "I need to talk to you, I still love you Holly."