Never Have I Ever Fallen in Love

Chapter 21

"For Christ's sake Scout!" Daryl groaned as he lurched forward into the dashboard again. 

We had been in Maggie's car for over half an hour now, me behind the wheel and Daryl gripping onto the side of his seat for dear life while attempting to give me pointers on how to drive. We had been in this position several times this week and my driving skills still weren't improving any. I bit my lip as I fell forwards, causing a dull throb to fire up in my stomach. The wound that I had got from the shot I took had been healing well and was no where near as bad as it originally was. The harsh redness of it had gone completely and I could barely feel it most of the time, however, it still hurt like a bitch if I twisted my torso the wrong way or got up from my seat too quickly. I screwed my face up as I pressed my foot back on the accelerator but didn't get another metre before the car stopped suddenly. Daryl let out another puff from next to me and glared at me slightly.

"I'm gonna die..." he muttered, more to himself than to me and I smirked slightly, deciding not to reply. "You really haven't got any better at this, have ya?" he continued, raising his arm and clutching onto the handle that was attached near the roof. I silently shook my head and tried to move the car forward again. I let out a puff of air I had been holding in and sat back in the driver's seat, crossing my arms over my chest and closing my eyes when my attempt failed again. I could hear the slightly-heavy breathing of Daryl besides me before he grew quiet and it became fully silent between the two of us.

I sat there for several moments, just listening to the soft hum of the car's engine before suddenly snapping my eyes open and swinging my head around to face Daryl. As I looked over at him, he looked away from me, his ears turning a faint red colour because of the fact that I had just caught him staring. He started chewing on the skin next to his thumb nail and I watched as he glared out of the window, biting furiously. I leaned over slightly and layed my hand on his wrist before pushing it down gently so he wasn't chewing it anymore. 

"Maybe...maybe I should try again..." I muttered quietly, causing him to turn his head and look me straight in the eye. He smirked slightly then nodded and took his wrist away from my hand and comically reached forward, grabbing the dashboard with both hands, showing me he was going to hold on again. My hand felt empty without his in it and I screwed my face up slightly at the fact that I felt...upset...by this but quickly smiled at his sarcasm to hide it. I took a deep breath and reached forward for the wheel. Just as I was about to take it in my hand, Daryl cleared his throat, signalling he wanted to say something before I started.

"Maybe yer should try putting yer foot down a bit more slowly. It makes the world of difference." he stated in a surprisingly calm voice. I nodded and grasped the steering wheel then did as he instructed. I slowly placed my foot down on the accelerator and slowly-very slowly but surely-we started inching forward. We carried on like this for several moments before Daryl groaned. "Yer allowed to go quicker than 5 ya know." I hesitantly put my foot down harder and smiled happily when the car sped up without throwing us forward and almost knocking us both out. I glanced down at my hands and released the tight grip on the wheel, helping my knuckles return to their normal colour instead of the vivid white they had become.

"Uh...Scout..." Daryl suddenly spoke. 

"Wha'....?" I looked up and widened my eyes as I saw that we was quickly advancing on the fence that was surrounding the field. "What do I...!?" I started panicking slightly and my grip on the wheel tightened again.

"Turn or break!" Daryl burst out and I squeaked in surprise. My hands were frozen where they were so I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the impact that never came.

Before we could crash into the fence, Daryl had leaned over and grabbed the wheel with one hand. He effortlessly yanked it to the side and turned the car away from the fence causing me to become slightly sick with my eyes being closed and all. I suddenly realized what had happened and I jabbed the brake pedal with my foot. We both flew forwards and I hit my head on the steering wheel while Daryl stopped himself from crashing into the dashboard by putting out both arms. 'I knew we should'a put our seat belts on,' I thought to myself, 'but Daryl had insisted it was fine, using the excuse that 'nobody needs 'em anymore!'.'

"Scout!" Daryl groaned and I put my hand to my forehead, rubbing it and wincing slightly. "Couldn't ya have done that before we nearly crashed!? And maybe a tiny bit more gracefully?" Daryl snapped and I glanced over at him. He looked at me and sighed as he realized he had used a harsh tone with me before reaching over and grasping my shoulders, one in each hand, and pulling me around so he could see my entire face. He studied my forehead closely and then looked down to my eyes and nodded slowly. "Shouldn't bruise...but hell, if it does, it'll go with them lovely ones you got on yer neck couple o' days ago." My mouth dropped open slightly and he chuckled glancing down at the faint marks briefly before looking back up at me. One of his hands moved from my shoulders up to my cheek and cupped it softly. My breathing suddenly became rugged and I bit my lip out of nervousness. "For fuck sakes, ya need to start looking after yerself. You could've gotten worse than that..." he trailed off as he glanced up at my throbbing forehead then back down to my eyes then down further to my lips. His thumb brushed the bottom one slightly, giving me no choice but to release it from between my teeth, and he sniffed slightly. "Yer should stop biting yer lip as well. Making it bleed everyday ain't gonna do ya no good..." he spoke to me in a voice barely louder than a whisper and I flinched as his eyes bore into me. I cleared my throat then pulled away from him, causing him to drop his hand and stare at me blankly.

"Er...maybe...maybe I should try again?" I hesitantly asked, fully aware of his eyes which were steadily trained on me. He made a noise that sounded like an agreement and I immediately looked back towards the field in front of me, cheeks on fire, my bottom lip numb and my palms sweating awkwardly. Damn, Daryl Dixon make me nervous.

So I did the only thing that would make me feel slightly better in a situation like this.

I bit my lip.

And screw him if he thinks I was gonna stop my habit because he had used his Dixon charm on me.

It's part of me.