in a dark meadow | daryl dixon

done good

word count: 3943

"I kissed Daryl."

"You what?!"

Maggie's shriek echoed along the creek and caught the attention of the group that had assembled just downstream.

"Shut up!" Avery hissed, wary of the strange looks everyone was giving them. She waved back at the group, signaling that everything was alright, and everyone slowly resumed their tasks.

The Georgian weather had gifted them a peculiar warm afternoon, so the group decided to spend it by a nearby creek, washing their clothes and boiling reserved water. 

Avery and Maggie stood ankle-deep in the running stream, wringing their soppy laundry and spreading them out on large rocks to dry. Lori sat on a boulder, letting the water run over her swollen ankles. Nearby, Carl practiced disassembling his gun in the grass. Rick stood stoic some distance away, his back facing the group as he kept watch, while Daryl skinned his latest kill. The others were washing themselves downstream.

"Don't you dare tell Glenn. He's a loud-mouth."

"OK, OK, I won't," She replied impatiently. "You have to tell me everything. What'd he do? Did he kiss back?"

"Well, at first, he didn't really do anything..."

Maggie snorted. "Anything short of him pulling a knife on you would be a success in my books."

Avery ignored her comment. She clamored for the right words, growing bashful as she thought about how he'd pressed her to him, as if he hadn't tasted her enough. 

"But then he - he, uh... Yeah."

"Girl, your face is as red as a cherry tomato." Maggie cackled, twisting the water out of a t-shirt. "Must've been some kiss."

Beth approached them downstream, drawn in by their commotion. "What's going on?"

"Avery kissed Daryl."

"Jesus, Maggie. Didn't I just tell you not to tell Glenn?"

"I didn't tell Glenn, I told Beth."

Avery rubbed her forehead, irritated. Beth looked to Avery with wide-eyed innocence. "So are you two, like, together now?"

"We're not in high school, Beth." Avery's blush betrayed her as she focused on laying a pair of wrinkled jeans out to dry. "We're just two adults that kissed."

"Oh my God, you like him!" Maggie gasped, slapping Avery's arm. Avery turned to Beth, who was suppressing a giggle.

"Beth, I want you to hold my head under the water until the bubbles stop."

Glenn narrowed his eyes at the trio upstream, not missing the animation in Maggie's tone as she seemed to relentlessly torment Avery about something. 

He stepped out of the stream, shaking the water out of his hair as best he could, before pulling a dried shirt over his head. He walked over to Daryl, who also seemed distracted by their jittering.

"What do you think they're talking about?"

"Who knows," Daryl forced himself to refocus on his task, his sharp blade passing through the skin of the dead rabbit in his hands.

"Do you think they're talking about me?" Glenn continued to watch them, eyes curious. Daryl sighed heavily as he began ripping skin and fur from bone, hoping to gross the young man out and end this conversation. Tiny organs slumped onto the grass and Glenn took the hint, heading back to the stream.