Can't Help Falling in Love {Ryan Blaney}✔️

| six |

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"Where are you going?" Rick narrowed his eyes at his granddaughter as she exited the bathroom in a pair of jeans shorts and an old racing t-shirt.

"To hang out with my friends," she replied nonchalantly, regretting taking her grandfather up on sharing his motorhome.

"Don't stay out too late," He called after her as she stepped out into the warm Florida air.

"Goodnight Grandpa," She waved as he shut the door behind her.

She made the short walk to Chase's motorhome, where he had asked her to meet him. Lara knocked, waiting until he opened the door.

"Hey," She greeted happily, stepping up into the motorhome, closing the door behind him. "I missed you today." She leaned up for a kiss but Chase pulled away.

"Sure didn't seem like you missed me today when you disappeared with Ryan," he accused.

Lara's eyes widened for a second at his accusation before her face heated up with anger, "Excuse me?"

"I said, sure didn't seem like you missed me today when you disappeared with Ryan," Chase repeated, tone sharp.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that I wasn't allowed to have lunch with my friend, mind you the only damn person who treated me like a person before I got a Cup ride." She shook her head. "You don't get to tell me who I can and cannot hang out with Chase. That's not how this works."

Chase shook his head, "How would you feel if I just disappeared with some girl, huh?"

Lara opened her mouth but closed it again, trying to figure out how to answer, "He's my friend, Chase."

"I saw how you looked at him last season," He snapped. "You practically had hearts floating around your head."

"So? I'm with you now, Chase. Are you really that insecure?" She laughed bitterly. "You're acting like a teenager. I'm not dealing with this and I'm not going to stop hanging out with Ryan."

"You're not even denying what I said about last season." Chase pointed out flatly.

"Because last season doesn't matter and it doesn't change the fact that Ryan is my friend. You know what? Have a nice night, I'm done." She opened the door, coming face to face with Ryan.

Lara's face burned with embarrassment that Ryan probably heard their entire argument, including her admission that she had feelings for him last season. "Excuse me," She muttered as she pushed past Ryan, back to her motorhome.

"Back so soon?" Her grandfather looked up from the papers he was reading.

She nodded, desperately fighting the tears that were threatening to spill onto her cheeks, "Plans changed so I'm just going to go to bed."

"Goodnight." Her grandfather turned back to the task on hand, oblivious to the emotions threatening to spill out of his granddaughter.

Lara slipped into the tiny bathroom, changing into her pajamas before sliding into the bottom bunk. She curled up into a ball, tears streaming down her cheeks.

She couldn't understand what had happened, things were so good between her and Chase but once they reached Daytona, it felt like he had changed. Gone was the sweet Chase, replaced with an abrasive one. And Ryan, Lara had no idea how she was going to face her only friend ever again.

Lara dried her tears, resolving to talk to Chase tomorrow when both of their tempers had cooled.

She drifted off to sleep wondering what to do about Ryan.

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A buzzing woke up Lara up. She reached for her phone, answering it without checking caller ID, "Hello?"

"Can we talk?" Chase asked on the other end, "I'm really sorry, babe."

She pulled the phone away, checking the time, "Do we really need to talk at 5:15 in the morning?" She hissed, keeping her voice low so she didn't wake up her grandfather. She wasn't any less upset this morning and being greeted with this phone call certainly wasn't helping.

"I didn't think we'd have a chance to talk today," Chase pointed out. "I'm outside your motorhome and I've got you a donut."

"I don't know..." Her voice trailed off for a moment, a donut did sound really good. "You have until I finish my donut to talk and then I'm going back to bed."

"Deal." Chase hung up.

Lara slid out of her bunk, tiptoeing to the door. She gently opened the door, stepping out, slowly closing the door behind her.

Chase handed her a donut, which she took. She noticed that it had a mint icing and oreo crumbles, her favorite. "Let's walk," He suggested.

She followed him, "I'm eating my donut now," She warned, taking a bite.

He took a deep breath, "I'm really sorry for getting upset last night and saying what I said."

Lara nodded, "I appreciate that." She told him in between bites.

"But it just makes me so crazy to know that you're with some other guy, especially one that you had feelings for in the past," He continued.

Lara shoved the rest of her donut in her mouth, chewing quickly. "If you can't trust me or your best friend, then I don't know what we're doing here, Chase. And as for those feelings, when you have no friends and somebody as charming as Ryan pays attention to you, yeah, you get a little starry-eyed." She shook her head, "I'm going back to bed." She turned, walking back to her motorhome, ignoring Chase's protests behind her.

She opened the door to the motorhome quietly, slipping in, hoping she hadn't woken her grandfather up.

"Where were you?" Her grandfather sat at the table, not bothering looking up from his newspaper.

"I.. couldn't sleep so I went for a walk," She lied.

Her grandfather nodded slowly, "You've got a full day ahead, better go get ready."

She nodded, cursing Chase for nearly getting them caught.

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i just wanted to thank everybody for their reads, votes and comments! i appreciate it more than you ever know!