𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐔𝐏 • 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐗𝐎𝐍 ✔︎

11

"Rin, come on, yer late!" Daryl yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"M'comin' chill will ya!" Rin yelled back, Daryl then saw Rin rushing down the stairs and rushing past him to the front door.

Daryl drove Rin to Abby's dance studio. She was doing another competition in a few days, and the class had been practicing for a week.
Rin was always the favorite of Abby and always had a solo. Though the parents of the other girls weren't as fond of Rin, they still liked her.

"Ya excited for the competition?"

"Yeah. It's gonna be a fun dance to do." Rin said lowly. Daryl looked at his daughter with concern. He noticed this behavior for the past couple of days. It was as if she was hiding something, and it was starting to bother her.

Once Daryl parked at the studio, he turned to her before she could open the door, "What?"

"When we go home after yer dance class, I want ya to tell me what's goin' on because this behavior of yers is gettin' to ya." Daryl said in a stern but soft tone.

Rin stared at him for a moment. She grabbed her bag and opened the truck door and nodded as she got out, "Yeah... Yeah, sure."

Daryl watches as Rin walks in and starts the engine again, driving to the bike shop. A few years after the wedding, Daryl and Darlene bought their own houses, and Rin and Blake lived in an apartment as they graduated from school. Darren still lived with his mother and Daryl.

Blake had her job at a local Starbucks as she went to college to be a game designer. Rin didn't go to college as she wanted to work at the same bike shop as her father, but she also wanted to work as a macanic for cars and trucks.

"Dixon! You're late!"

"Yeah, sorry, I had to drive my daughter to dance."

"Don't be late again, or you're done." His boss then walked away.

Daryl sighs and gets to the bike that he is still trying to fix. He's been late to work for a while. For some reason, he's been very wiped out. Work had him drained by the shifts he had. Daryl was almost working most of the day, and he had Rin waiting at the studio.

Rin would drive herself, but she's failed two drivers ed.

The rest of the day, Daryl had finished fixing up the bike before clocking out to go home and shower before picking up Rin from dance. He was slightly worried about what Rin was bugging about. Whether it was good or bad.

As Daryl exited the truck, he walked to the front desk, and no Rin, she wasn't waiting for him. He turned to the lady behind the desk and asked where his daughter was. Apparently, she was still in the other room, and so was Abby.

"Rin?" He knocked on the dressing room door.

He heard a small 'Come in' and walked in to see Rin in tears, Daryl rushed to her and looked at Abby, "What happened?"

"She fell and sprained her ankle. She started to cry and thought I was disappointed, but it's just a sprained ankle, and she needed a break." Abby explained.

Rin shook her head, "Don't tell him that..." She wiped her face roughly, which had Daryl grabbing her wrist to stop her.

"Baby, it's a'right. It's nothin' to be ashamed 'bout."

After that, Daryl drove her home and helped her into her apartment and helped her on the couch, "Do ya need anythin'?"

"Can ya get me some water? It's in the fridge in a blue water bottle."

After he did that, he sat next to Rin and watched as she had a drink of water and reached to put it on the coffee table. Now was the time to talk, or he would never get the chance to find out what Rin is going through.

"Darlin', is somethin' goin' on? You've been acting out for a while."

Rin let out a sigh. Obviously, he told her he wanted to talk before dance, but she didn't want to talk. What was the point? There was no point in talking. Especially if it was going to upset him, and he would be disappointed in her.

"I don't think -"

"Rin, I'm not lettin' this slide any longer, ya need to talk to me about this. You can tell me anythin'."

God, why was he such an amazing father? Why was he so understanding most of the time? Yeah, he had moments of being upset and almost shouting at her, but he was no saint. He had his moments, but he was always trying to help her.

Shit.

What can she say?

Maybe she can make something up? That would go well for a little while. But Daryl can tell when she was lying.

So maybe not.

"It's nothin' dad, I promise ya, it's just mood swings, I'm probably close to my period or somethin'." Rin said, internally cringing talking about her period with her father.

Daryl's eyes widened, and he immediately looked away from her. Well, that's not what he was expecting from her at all. Though he was relieved that it was nothing at all to worry about.

"Um - I'm - okay, that's good - I mean, it's not - " Daryl was cut off by Rin's chuckling.

"Dad, it's fine, I swear! There's no reason to be awkward like this, I'm sure Darlene has her period weeks every month still," She laughed, playfully punching his arm, "Ya should be used to this."

Daryl nodded and cleared his throat.

"So, uh, do ya need anythin' else? Anything to eat? TV remote?"

Rin nodded, "TV remote, please?"

After receiving the remote, Daryl said his goodbyes and exited the apartment, calmed down about Rin's recent behavior. Turned out for him, he had nothing to worry about.

Rin, on the other hand, couldn't calm down to the fact that she almost blown her cover. She was barely caught that she had something going on. She was doing so well for the past three years, and yet her old habits followed her now that she lived on her own.

She looked around for it and saw that there was a plastic baggy sticking out from the nightstand next to the couch. She sighed and scooted over and grabbed it.

She took the joint out of the bag and took out her lighter out of her Jean pocket, lighting it and blowing out the smoke. She looked for the remote for the ceiling fan and turned it on once she found it.

Though Rin scolded herself when she realized that her windows weren't opened, she didn't dread on it too much. It wasn't like she had any roommates at the moment. Daryl never visits. It was always her that did the visiting unless it was for holidays that he visited her.

Rin's apartment was fourty minutes away from where he lived, and Blake lived fifteen minutes away. It would have been fun if she lived with her, but Blake was in school, and the college had dorms, so it couldn't have happened.

After relaxing, Rin struggles to get up and make her way to a near trash and go to a near window to clear the smell and go back to the couch. She turned on the TV this time and watched some YouTube for the rest of the day, not bothering to eat anything for a few hours.

She was never a perfect person, not even a perfect daughter to a great dad and an absence mother. But she tried, she still was, but old habits come back and never stop.

She was turning out like Merle (who she stopped talking to a while back), and she absolutely hated it.

But she couldn't do anything about it, not even a support group or rehab could help. Only Blake knew of her relapse. She did her best, but she always just ended up smoking with her instead. Not that Rin cared.

She was just glad Blake never scolded her for it.