The Best of Me ( Rickyl )

Chapter 3

"That's a relief, otherwise what I'm going to ask next would have been really awkward." Rick chuckled causing Daryl to snap his head back up towards Rick in confusion. "Do you want to grab a drink with me? Maybe Saturday at Squeals... 6 o'clock?" Rick asked and Daryl stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds before he began to shake his head.

They couldn't just go out on a date to one of the most popular places in town, even if it wasn't popular they couldn't just go on a date together. If people saw the two of them on a date all hell would break loose. Yes, Rick's family was highly respected in town and people might not care about his sexuality. But if word got back to his father or his cousins that a Dixon had been seen on a date with person of the same sex... it would be a totally different story and Daryl would be lucky to live to tell that story.

"I-I can't... We can't just..." Daryl stuttered tripping over his words as he struggled to say what he was trying to and he groaned at himself, rubbing his face with shaky hands. "Can't be gay in this damn town. We can't just go on a date like normal people."

"We're not normal people? I'm not normal?" Rick questioned and Daryl quickly shook his head. Shit, that's not what he was trying to say. Why can't he ever just say what he means?

"That ain't what I meant, it's just-"

"Relax, I'm messing with you, I know what you mean. But, why can't two friends go out and have a drink together?" Rick suggested a small smile on his face as he watched Daryl slowly process what he just said. "Shane and I go to Squeals all the time together to hang out. We can do that too, nobody has to know that it's a date or something."

"You're askin' me out on a date?" Daryl asked because he couldn't figure out why Rick would even want to be seen with him, let alone ask him out on a date.

"Well, I'm trying to." Rick chuckled nervously and Daryl stared at him for a few seconds trying to figure out if he was being serious before he nodded. "Is that a 'yes'?" Rick asked.

"Yeah." Daryl replied with a slight smile causing Rick to smile too as he nodded, relief evident in his features.

"Alright, I'll see you then. Thank you for fixing my car too." Rick said, climbing into the drivers side as Daryl took a step away from the car.

"No problem." He responded, unable to stop himself from smiling as he watched Rick put the car into gear and drove off before he turned around and began walking home, hoping his family weren't home to ruin his now good mood.

-

It took nearly 20 minutes before he turned off the bitumen road and down the dirt driveway that lead into the Dixon property. There were a couple old rusty trailers parked off to the left where any of his fathers friends stayed when they were over, while Daryl and his cousins live in the small rundown house in the centre of the property with his father.

He spotted his fathers black pickup truck parked out the front, but no others vehicles were in the area indicating that his fathers friends had left while he'd been at school and he sure as hell wasn't going to complain about that.

He hoped his father was already passed out on the couch since he was already two beers down before Daryl even left for school this morning, but as he opened the broken flyscreen door to the house he knew that wasn't the case.

He could hear his father and cousins in the lounge room, laughing and shouting at each other, no doubt playing some sort of card game which Daryl had no interest in joining.

Quietly, he closed the door behind himself and silently walked down the hallway towards his bedroom, hoping none of his family would see him. He didn't want to deal with any of their shit, not tonight. For once Daryl was actually in a good mood and he didn't want his father to ruin it. But, of course, life always had a different idea.