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Buzzin'

ONE

Daryl was less than excited to be drug along to this forced Thanksgiving dinner; Merle’s girlfriend and her family were a group that Daryl felt he would have been happier never meeting . He would have been much happier sitting at home, drinking a beer, or out hunting. He had no want to see people – hell, he didn’t even like Merle’s woman. Her name was Jenny and her loudness and obnoxiousness matched Merle’s nearly perfectly. The only different between the two thirty-year-olds happened to be that Jenny had a touch more class than Merle… but Daryl had noticed that she was slowly rubbing off on him.

At twenty-two, he didn’t give a shit what his older brother did, but he despised being treated like he was a young idiot who couldn’t take care of himself, so as Merle drove their shared truck over to Jenny’s mother’s house, he glared out the window silently.

“They ain’t so bad. You might even be lucky an’ Jenny’s little sister’ll be there.”

Daryl stayed silent and picked at his fingernails. Nothing Merle had to say would change the way he felt.

“She’s hot,” Merle added as an afterthought. “Think Jenny said she’s goin’ through some lesbian shit, though.”

Daryl let out an impatient huff of air and sent his brother a glare. “I don’t give a shit about Jenny’s fuckin’ sister.”

Merle ignored his little brother’s attitude and turned the volume up for the radio. Jenny’s mother lived in the next town over and Daryl felt a touch of anxiety twist in his gut. He hated meeting new people but even more, hated being the odd man out. Merle would be busy as usual with his woman; Daryl had learned this throughout the past months that the couple had been going steady. With Jenny around, Merle couldn’t concentrate on anything other than the tall blonde with bright blue eyes.

Sure, Daryl understood why Merle found her attractive, but just because he understood it didn’t mean he had to be okay with it.

The feeling in his gut intensified as Merle parked at the end of a long driveway just on the outskirts of Bennington. There were at least ten other vehicles parked and Daryl checked each one out as they walked past. Most were your basic used cars but a couple were pretty fancy and new.

Merle didn’t even have to knock on the door; Jenny burst through the doorway before giving him a chance.

“Hey, sexy,” she greeted with a sultry grin. “Hope ya’ll are hungry.” She offered Daryl a wink. “Come on in.”

Daryl was last through the door and felt like the introductions were a blur. There were at least fourteen people already there, not to mention the three stuck working in the kitchen. Somehow, a cold Budweiser ended up in his hand, which he truly felt grateful for. Jenny said something about a pie before leaving the brothers in the living room full of her family. Most were engrossed in the football game roaring from the decently sized television while the last few played a card came with pocket change and a few dollar bills on the card table.

Merle quickly made conversation with Jenny’s cousin, a guy Merle had worked with a couple times before. Daryl stood awkwardly, gauging the situation as he nursed his beer.

“Jenny! Call your damn sister – she’s an hour late with that butter!” Daryl heard a voice yell from the kitchen.

“Mama, you know she’s never on time!” Jenny yelled back.

He spotted the front door opening quietly as a much shorter version of Jenny walked through the door with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a grocery sack in the other. Her hair was much lighter than Jenny’s – it was nearly white, which was quite the contrast from her tanned skin and gray eyes.

Daryl quickly looked away. He was beginning to understand why Merle had even bothered to mention her in the first place.

“Christ, Jules, can’t you ever be on time?” one of the cousins teased just loud enough for the younger sister’s mother to hear.

Jenny’s mom – Debbie – came storming out of the kitchen and sent the fair-headed girl a harsh glare before snatching the grocery sack out of her hand. “You and your goddamn sense of time!”

“I was busy,” she responded simple with a smile and a shrug. “Where’s Dad?”

“Here, babe,” the father, Gary, hollered from the couch. “Game’s almost over but come on over here.”

Daryl leaned back against the wall and took in the scene as the girl – who could have only been twenty at the most – made her way through the maze of family before handing the whiskey to her father and giving him a quick hug.

“Where’s whatshername?”

“Dad,” Jules responded sternly.

“Well?”

“She’s with her family.”

“She couldn’t come meet your family?”

“You didn’t want her to come. Don’t act like you did.”

Gary’s stern face broke out into a grin. “You know what Jesus thinks of lesbians.”

Jules let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. “Find me a man who’s not a total dick and we’ll talk.”

“I got a friend,” one of the cousins offered.

“No thanks,” Jules quickly responded. “Nick, last time you set me up with one of those douche bags I had to call the cops.”

“What’s this about?”

Daryl watched amused, trying to hide his smirk, as the girl defended herself and went into detail over the forced date she had gone on.

“And he was missing two teeth – two!” she finished. “I just don’t get why this is such a big deal to you guys.”

“He just wants grandbabies,” Jenny interrupted as she strode into the room. “And he’s all but given up on me. Anyway, dinner’s ready so get goin’ to the dining room.”

It was still nearly another half hour before everyone was settled at the giant wooden table. Daryl and Merle had fresh beers and sat side by side with Jenny on Merle’s right and one of the half-drunk cousins on Daryl’s left.

It was loud and Daryl still felt a little on edge but the food proved to be delicious and before he knew it he was stuffed full as Merle quietly flirted with his woman to his side.

“We just gonna forget about family tradition? Where’s that bottle?” Nick questioned loudly.

“Jules – you had one thing to stay on top of!”

“And it ain’t even a man!” Jenny claimed loudly.

“Ha ha,” Jules sarcastically replied before picking the bottle up from the floor by her feet.

“Someone had to keep it safe.”

“What in the hell kind of tradition do you people have?” Merle joked.

“Oh, Jenny didn’t tell you?” Jules questioned daringly. “Hm. What a terrible girlfriend.”

“Shut up, brat,” Jenny jokingly replied. “Whoever finishes the bottle gets to pick one person to do dishes and one person to go on a beer run.”

Merle glanced to his brother, looking as devilish as ever. Jules started off the bottle by taking a long swig and passed it to her left.

The bottle made it to Jenny with easily a quarter of the bottle left. She first looked to Merle, and then to Daryl just past him and then drank the rest of the contents as her family cheered on. Daryl didn’t understand their humor but Merle seemed to be amused.

“Since the Dixons’ have joined us for their first Thanksgiving… hm…” Jenny glanced between the two. “Let’s change things up a little this year – Daryl and Jules can do dishes and me and Merle will go on the beer run,” she decided before shooting Merle a wink.

“What? This is bullshit – you only get to pick one!” Jules exclaimed.

“Oh, help the guy out, Jules,” her father told her merrily as he gave her a rough pat on the back. “It won’t kill you.”

Daryl felt as if he could have just shrunk underneath the table – the amount of chatter going on was unbelievable and he felt a little sick to his stomach that he would be stuck with this family he had no ties to as his brother left for a beer run. He was also certain everyone in the dining room knew they two would be doing more than just going on a beer run and he just hoped they would make it quick.

He was at least grateful that Merle wasn’t embarrassing him as much as he had expected. As everyone began to get up and either go back to the living room for more football or outside, he nervously glanced over to Jules, who was giving him a look he couldn’t quite read.

“Let’s go,” she commented with a sigh. She stood and began to gather the dirty dishes from the table. Feeling defeated, full, and a little shy, Daryl began to help her.

She was very quiet as they worked to carry the dishes into the kitchen. Without waiting to get asked, Daryl began to fill the sink with hot, soapy water.

“This sucks,” Jules finally commented dully as she began to rinse the dishes he scrubbed. “Sorry you got sucked into this.”

Daryl shrugged and handed her another plate. Mostly he felt like it was unnecessary to talk, but he did feel a strange twinge of guilt as he silently scrubbed away.

“So… uh, what do you do?”

“Work at the furniture store over in Fremont,” he replied quietly.

“Shut up – Mason’s?”

Daryl gave her a sideways glance and nodded.

“I start there next week – in marketing.”

“Huh.”

She smirked in an amused fashion. “I like that you don’t talk much – your brother is super fucking loud.”

Daryl almost chuckled at that. “Yeah. He is.”

“I guess, though, so is Jenny. They’re weird,” she added.

Notes

Thoughts? Should I continue?

Comments

Yes Continue!

Loul461 Loul461
10/7/16

Please update, I love this so far :) you're doing great, one of my favourites that I've read so far.

Please update, I love this so far :) you're doing great, one of my favourites that I've read so far.