Beth lifts her head and smiles as she hears the rumble of a motorcycle outside. She gets up from her chair and heads toward the register. She reaches up, grabbing a pack of Marlboro reds and sets them down on the counter, glancing at the clock.

11:30

Daryl comes in a few seconds later, gives her a small nod of acknowledgement, and heads toward the cooler. He comes back up the aisle and sets two bottles of water on the counter in front of her, along with a Styrofoam container he had been carrying since he walked in. Beth scans the waters and the pack of cigarettes before she reads him his total and she barely finishes her words when he hands her a twenty dollar bill. She quickly cashes him out and hands him his change.

"Heard it might rain tomorrow," Beth says, watching as he picks up his smokes and places them in his pocket before he grabs one of the water bottles.

"Ain't gonna."

Is all he says in his gruff voice and begins to head toward the door.

"Have a good night, Daryl," Beth says sweetly, giving him a small smile.

He pauses at the door, turning around to face her, his back braced against the glass.

"Night, Beth." he mumbles before begins to push the door open and if she looks real hard, she can see just the barest hint of a smile on his lips.

He pushes his way out the building and she watches him until she hears the grumble of his motorcycle starting up again. She then looks down at the counter where he had left the other water bottle and the Styrofoam container. She picks it up and pops it open, laughing when she sees the pancakes and eggs inside. She looks back out toward the door and sees Daryl begin to pull out of the parking spot, a lit cigarette hanging from his lips.

She grabs the food and heads back over to the desk in the corner just as she hears Daryl peel out of the lot and as she opens one of the drawers, pulling out a plastic fork, she smiles.

.

.

.

Beth is contemplating just locking the doors and going in back to take a nap. It's not like anyone is ever coming to come in this late anyway. Zack had told her just as much; the night shift was one of the most boring shifts to have at Dale's - a small convenience store just on the edge of town, owned by an old man with a love for fishing and an interesting way of thinking. He refused to close the shop at night, his excuse being, "ya never know when an emergency can strike and I wanna make sure people have a place to go."

Beth snorts. Yeah, sure. It didn't bother him at all, Dale was currently sleeping, probably snoring away being as he wasn't the one who had to work the night shifts. That was now Beth's job. It used to be Zack's but he decided a month ago that he was leaving town, said he had a brother in Atlanta and he was tired of the small town. Beth envied him.

Now she was stuck working this lame shift and Zack guaranteed her that she wouldn't get more than five customers her whole night. Great. The only reason Beth had agreed to take his place was because Dale wasn't completely heartless - he paid two extra dollars an hour just to work this ridiculous shift. So it wasn't much of a decision when Dale had asked her if she wanted to switch from being his morning cashier to his night - he knew she was in desperate need of money.

Her first night was starting off nothing but boring. She had already gone through all the aisles twice, facing and organizing everything in the store and it was only two hours into her shift. She sighed as she made her way toward the desk Dale kept in the corner, slumping down in the chair and wishing she had thought to brought a book or something. She leans back in her chair, deciding to put her feet up on the desk - what Dale didn't know wouldn't hurt him, she decided. Wasn't like he had cameras in this place anyways. Just as she lifted her feet though she heard the grumble of a motorcycle pulling into the lot and she glanced down at the clock.

11:30

She quickly stood up and made her way over to the cash register, sighing softly as the door is pulled open and a man walks in. He doesn't look up as she greets him but she does notice a small pause in his steps as he heads toward the coolers. She watches as he grabs a bottle of water and heads for the counter she's standing behind. He places the water down and she gives him a smile, which he doesn't return, but she does notice how his eyes narrow, glancing over her as if he's studying her, searching for an answer.

"Anything else?" Beth asks politely, noticing that his eyes are a striking blue color.

"Pack'a Marlboro. Red." he responds gruffly, already placing a twenty dollar bill on the counter.

She nods and finishes ringing him out. Normally she would try and engage in a conversation with her customers but Beth could tell right away that this guy wasn't the talking type. Her suspicions are confirmed when she hands him his change and he picks up his purchase without a word before he makes his way toward the door. Beth sighs softly, turning to head back to the desk.

"Where's the otha guy?"

Beth pauses, her eyes widening slightly in surprise as she sees the guy still inside, leaning against the door, slightly pushing it open. She finds her eyes searching him, grazing over his appearance, taking in his torn jeans and sleeveless flannel. He's wearing a leather vest and his hair looks like a tosseled mess but he strangely pulls it off. He's just looking at her and she notices an eyebrow arch and she realizes that she still hasn't answered him yet.

"Oh, Zack?" she mutters, feeling her cheeks begin to warm. "He quit. Decided to move to his brother's in Atlanta." she explains with a shrug.

"You his replacement?" the man asks then, shifting his water bottle to his opposite hand.

"For now," she replies simply.

"Good." the man says with a small nod, beginning to open the door. "Kid was an annoyin' lil shit. Never stopped talkin'."

With that the man opened the door completely and stepped out, and Beth watched as he made his way over to his motorcycle, placing a cigarette in his mouth. He started it up and as he began to pull out of the lot, Beth couldn't help but smile.

A/N

Just a lil something that's been floating around in my head...it won't be too long and half of it is already written (warning: the chapters won't be too long) so updating should be regular...don't worry, I'm still working on "The Greene Room" but the muse hit and it couldn't be stopped! So please review and let me know what you think and as always, thank you for reading :)