The Girl Next Door | Baby Daddy

6.1 | My, Oh, Miami

"Alright. See ya, bro." Danny said into his cellphone as he hung up, stepping into the kitchen where Tucker and Riley sat at the table. "That was Ben. They just landed in Miami." He reported, his voice frantic.

"Why do you seem so panicked?" Riley wondered, confused by his frenzied state.

"I might have given Ben some... reckless advise..." Danny told her, wincing as he anxiously awaited her response.

"Oh, God. What did you tell him?" Riley demanded and Danny gave a forced smile.

"I kind of told him that Cassie liked him back and that he should... kind of... you know... throw himself at her..."

Riley's eyes widened, her jaw dropping. "What?! You cannot tell Ben Wheeler to throw himself at a girl! Danny, he doesn't have the sense not to!" Riley exclaimed, flailing her arms.

"I know! And I know it was stupid, but the words just kind of... slipped out." Danny defended.

"How are those the words that slipped out?!"

"It was kind of an... uh... situational thing?" Danny mumbled as a cover. This was really just a cryptic way of saying he wanted to deter Riley from Ben, though it didn't seem to be working because Riley continued to glare at Danny.

"Well, you need to call him again and tell him not to do anything." Riley insisted.

Tucker watched knowingly as the two of them interacted. Tucker was the only party that knew about both Riley's crush on Ben and Danny's crush on Riley. Tucker was in the unique position of being aware of each step of the cycle: Riley liked Ben, Ben liked Cassie, Cassie liked Danny, Danny like Riley. It was a full circle of complicated relationships.

"Well why not? What if Cassie decides she likes Ben? Maybe all they need is a romantic weekend as a married couple!" Danny suggested, but Riley seemed to strongly dislike this response.

"Romantic? Pfft, what? Who-- who said anything about a romantic weekend?!" Riley rambled nervously, shifting her weight between her feet and crossing her arms loosely over her chest, as if she was trying to appear casual.

"Well, they're in Miami at a nice hotel. His boss thinks they're a married couple, not to mention the fact Ben said they were going on a "romantic weekend" trip." Danny listed.

Riley forced a scoof. "Yeah, well... I mean, it's Ben, so he was probably lying." Riley tried to convince herself.

Danny gave the girl a sympathetic look. "Riley, maybe you need to start moving on from Ben."

"Oh, yeah? And move onto who?"

Danny smiled. "Oh, I don't know. Someone bigger. I mean better! Better, not bigger!" He jumped to correct. Tucker still watched smugly as he smirked at the two.

"Maybe it's just time to give up on love because clearly it's not working out for me." Riley declared, holding up her hands in surrender.

Danny gazed upon her in admiration. "Maybe you just need to find someone who truly loves you back."

###

The flight was short, only a few hours from New York City to Miami. The airport was swarming with travelers as we fought our way through the crowd to find the taxi Henderson had lined up for us to drive us to the hotel.

"I think you managed to hit on every single one of the flight attendants on that plane." I commented, chuckling and shaking my head as I held my duffel bag strap over my shoulder.