BUT DADDY I LOVE HIM, ᵉᵛᵃⁿ ᵇᵘᶜᵏˡᵉʸ

026

- Season 3, Episode 13 (kinda)
'Heart Aches'

"You sure you're ready to go back to work?" Sarah asked as she buttoned Rylin's jacket.

"No." Rylin admitted with a small laugh. "But I have to. I can't just sit in bed and eat pizza for another week."

"I can talk to Buck." Sarah said. "I can tell him what happened and then I'm sure he'd talk to Bobby about you staying home."

"No. I don't want anyone to know about my trip." Rylin told her. "They'll start treating me differently, like I'm some broken toy or whatever."

"So you're gonna lie to them?" Sarah asked.

"I'm not lying." Rylin said. "Just hiding the truth for a little bit."

"Right." Sarah laughed at the woman in front of her. "Okay, well just call me if you need anything."

"I won't." Rylin said. "Stop worrying about me and go to school."

Sarah rolled her eyes as she hugged Rylin before meeting Madison outside.

Rylin sighed as she watched Sarah close the door behind her. She was seriously debating on staying home another day.

No. She told herself. Get your ass to work.

"How's my favorite girl?" Madison asked as Sarah got into the passenger seat of her best friend's car.

"I'm okay." Sarah told her. Madison raised an eyebrow, growing suspicion. "It's Rylin. She didn't have the greatest time when she went to Texas."

"Really?" Madison asked.

Sarah nodded as she explained in bigger detail. "She told me not to tell anyone, but I mean, how could I not tell you?"

"I'm sure she'll understand." Madison giggled as she began driving.

"Hey, look who's back!" Chim announced once he noticed Rylin walk up the stairs.

"Hey, guys." Rylin said, putting on a fake smile as Chim and Hen individually gave her a hug.

"You took a few extra days off." Bobby said. "I'm assuming that means you had a good time back home?"

"Uh, yeah." Rylin lied. "I had a great time."

"Does that mean you were able to chase down your boyfriend?" Chim asked her.

Rylin desperately wanted to change the subject. "Yeah. I did. But we decided to end things. Long distance clearly wasn't the move for us. Everything's fine, though. I'm fine."

"How's your dad doing?" Bobby asked.

Rylin wondered the same thing. Her dad was still healing from the burns he got from the house fire when she saw him last. She had been ignoring almost everybody, including her dad since she got home.

"He's doing good." she told him. "It was great to see him again."

"Well, I'm glad you had a good time." Hen smiled at her.