𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐔𝐏 • 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐗𝐎𝐍 ✔︎

3

"I'll see ya soon, Rinny. ya have fun at yer dance class now!" Merle said as he hugged the little girl.

"Love, Uncle Merle!" Rin said.

Daryl and Merle said their goodbyes and headed for the truck, Daryl helping Rin in the backseat before getting in the driver's seat.

Daryl picked up Rin from Merle's house. She was only there for an hour until Daryl was finished with his shift at the bike shop. He couldn't leave Rin at home as he had to leave early, so the only option was to go to Merle's house.

Lucky for them both, Merle had finally gone clean.

As of now, Daryl has been driving to a dance studio in town, not too far from the bike shop, and Rin had packed up a bag for her dance attire.

"You excited, Rin?" Daryl asked the little girl in the back seat.

"Yeah, I am!" Rin said.

"M'glad. Daddy is paying a lot of money for this baby girl, so ya better enjoy it." Daryl said as he pulled into the parking lot.

"I will!" She said with a bright smile, Rin jumped down from the truck as soon as Daryl opened her door and made a run for the front doors of the building.

Rin ran to the building, and she turned back and saw her father jogging to keep up with the three year old.

"A'right baby, slow down now, ya know Daddy's old." Daryl joked, making the little girl laugh.

"Ba Daddy, I want dance!"

"I know, darlin', I know, don't worry, you'll get to dance soon." He said as he opened the front doors of the dance studio.

Rin let out a squeal of excitement, which caught the attention of the lady at the front desk.

"Hello!" The middle-aged women greeted with a smile.

"Hi there." Daryl greeted back.

"I'm Abby. Welcome to my studio. Who's this little girl?" Abby said as she stood up, grabbing some forms.

"This ball of excitement is Rin, she would like to join yer dance class." Daryl said.

"Of course, of course. I'll just have you sign this here and here." She said, sliding the paper closer to Daryl, handing him a pen.

As he did that, Abby asked Rin some questions, and some of them caused her to giggle. Daryl could hear her giggles all day if he could. One thing for sure he's most happy for is seeing her happy and dancing to her heart's content.

He couldn't wait for the competitions and recitals.

Before he left, he explained to Abby that she was still working on her speech and everything else that needed to be explained.

He crouched down to Rin's level and kissed her nose, "I'll pick ya up later, a'right? Be good and listen to Abby, okay?"

"Mmhm! Love Daddy!"

"I love ya too darlin'."

Once Daryl left, Abby led her to Studio A, and there were other girls who looked her age and maybe two years older. Rin gave everyone a shy wave as Abby introduced her. She and everyone else in the class were given a practice routine to do for competition, but Rin was not involved as she had just joined.

"Straighten your legs! Point those toes!" Abby lectures to one of the girls.

Rin found Abby quite funny as she always yelled, but she kept her giggles to herself as she practiced her splits and flexibility in general.

About twenty minutes into the class, Rin sees Abby walking in her direction, "Rin. How are you holding up?"

"Good, ba, I want dance." Rin suggests.

"I know, but you need to work on your flexibility for dance competitions, I won't have you slacking, yeah?" Abby said, and Rin giggled as she nodded.

"Good, love to see it! You can take a break for now. Don't want you straining yourself. Go." Rin does as told and goes to the den to drink some water and to catch her breath.

Who knew dance took this much work?

Rin digs into her bag for her bottle of water, I was a green camouflage that Merle had given her on a shopping trip. He had gotten a few extra bucks to spend, so they went shopping for useless stuff besides toys for Rin.

After taking three sips of her water, she put it back in her bag and went back to the studio where Rin saw the girls rehearsing their dance.

It seemed lyrical.

Rin was in awe. She couldn't wait to dance. But first, she had to get her body used to the new muscle use.

"Miss Abby!" Rin called out.

"Yes, Rin?"

"I finish, what now?"

Abby didn't know what else to give Rin to do besides practice and small dance moves to give her, so without any thought, she told Rin to practice some jumps and spinning.

To Abby's surprise, Rin was really good at the jumps, a few correcting here and there, but other than that, Abby was impressed and loved Rin so far. The time when Daryl came to pick up Rin, Rin came, and Abby told him how impressed she was and could not wait to see her again the next day.

"Well, I'm glad that ya had fun, baby, say bye and come on, you'll need yer rest." Daryl said.

"Okay! Bye, Miss Abby!"

"Bye, sweetie!"

While on the drive home, Daryl had asked Rin about her time at the studio. Rin wouldn't stop talking about how excited she was for him to see her dance on stage, maybe even a few at home performance of routines she'll learn.

"Miss Abby says to patrice ma jumps and spins, Daddy!" Rin said as Daryl pulled into the driveway.

"Practice, ya mean." He chuckled.

"Yeah!"

Daryl hopped out of the truck and helped Rin down, and she bolted towards the house and waiting for Daryl to unlock the door while chanting, "Hurry Daddy!', Daryl smiled at her hyper behavior.

Even at the end of the day, when people are usually tired, she always seems to find a way to be happy. Daryl didn't know where she got that from. Not even Bethany was like this, but Daryl wasn't complaining. Being hyper was better than seeing her upset.

Once they got inside, Rin tossed her bag onto the couch in their living room and immediately started spinning, making Daryl laugh.

"Baby girl, don't ya want to eat first?"

Food! Oh crap she totally forgot!

Rin stopped and nodded at him, "A'right darlin' what would ya like?"

Rin thought for a moment before she requested a bologna sandwich with orange juice. While she waited, she put on the TV and put on the TreeHouse channel.

Later that night, when it was time for bed, Rin had already passed out. She sure did have a busy day for a three year old. Daryl, as quietly and gently as he could, picked her up and carried her to her bedroom and tucked her in for the night.

He kissed her head and moved a stran of hair out of her face, "G'night, baby girl."