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

| twenty |

❛ ━━━━━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━━━━━ ❜

"Is my grandfather in his office?" Lara asked his secretary, Jane.

She nodded, muttering good luck as Lara stepped into his office. She wasn't sure what he wanted to talk about but judging by his tone in the phone call, she knew she was in big trouble.

"Take a seat," Her grandfather barely looked up from the papers he was reading. Lara did as she was told, bouncing her knee as she waited for him to speak.

"You know, when I tell you something, specifically not to do something, damn it, Lara, I expect you to listen." Her grandfather looked up, his blue eyes blazing.

Lara's gaze dropped to her shoes, her stomach churning. She wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew. She didn't know what to say but her grandfather continued talking, saving her from having to come up with a response.

"You thought you knew better than me, didn't you? You thought I was just being protective, you thought that you wouldn't get caught." Rick scoffed, "And now we're in the middle of a shitstorm that is only going to get worse if this gets out." Rick slammed his hand onto the table, startling Lara. "I expected better from you, Lara, I raised you better than this."

Lara looked up at him, her eyes full of tears that she was desperately trying to keep from spilling over. Rick glared at her, waiting for her to say something.

The defiance that Lara had for Rick had turned into guilt, into shame, into regret. "The only thing I can think to say is that I'm sorry but I know that's not going to cut it. I never meant it to get out of hand."

Rick shook his head, "You never do, Lara. You're impulsive and you never learn and I have to clean up your mess, again. Which is probably why you bought Hank's Happy Golf and somehow you sweet talked Ryan Blaney into it too, poor kid. But I'm not going to be there to clean that up. I'm sick and tired of cleaning up your messes."

"That wasn't impulsive," She choked out. "I guess I'll be impulsive one last time. I quit. I'm done." She stood up. "I'm not your problem, anymore, no more messes."

Her grandfather blinked a few times, stunned. Lara didn't wait for Rick to give her an answer, she stormed out of his office, watching the entire staff snap back to what they were doing, pretending like they hadn't heard the whole thing.

Her gaze landed on Chase, his brown eyes wide. "God, I hope you're happy, Chase." She muttered as she pushed out of the office into the parking lot.

Lara got into her car, without even thinking she started driving, she was numb. She had just thrown away the one thing she had worked so hard for but she couldn't bring herself to feel anything. Lara felt like she was floating, like this was a dream or rather a nightmare that she was going to wake up from

She drove until she found herself pulling up into Hank's Happy Golf. The door dinged as she stepped in, Ryan pausing from whatever he was working on at the counter to look up at her.

"What happened?" He set down his pen, his eyes filled with concern.

"I'm going to have plenty of time for Hank's Happy Golf," She laughed bitterly, plopping down on a stool across from Ryan.

"Lara, what are you talking about?" Ryan asked, the concern seeping into his voice.

"I quit. Maybe Chase was right in the end. Maybe I only got my ride because Rick felt obligated because I'm a burden." She shook her head, "And now, I'm your burden."

Ryan's eyes widened, "You quit? What the hell happened that made you think that was the way to solve your problems?"

Lara's face scrunched at the disappointment in Ryan's voice. "I've always been a burden, making messes no matter what I do. But at least now he won't have to clean up after me." She shook her head. "Let me buy your half of Hank's so you don't have to clean up after me either."

Ryan shook his head, "I'm not going to sell my half, Lara. I'm in this for the long haul. You aren't a burden, not to me and not to Rick."

"My mom dropped me off at my grandparent's house. She didn't even bother to get out of the car. She just unlocked the car door and told me to get out. My grandparents took me in because they had to, not because they wanted to. Do you know how bad it would've looked if Ricky Hendrick's daughter had ended up in foster care? So they took me in. And he's right, Ryan. I am impulsive and I screw up and he always was the one who fixed things for me." Tears spilled down Lara's cheeks. "No matter what way you slice it, I'm a goddamn burden. And it was impulsive to quit but I didn't know what else to do."

Ryan didn't say anything, stepping around the counter, wrapping his arm around her. Lara leaned in, burying her head into his chest, letting her tears flow. "It's going to be alright, Lara. We're going to figure this all out and it's going to be just fine."

Lara couldn't help but notice that Ryan had said 'we' instead of 'you' and she found that comforting. "I hope so." She murmured, leaning back to dry her tears. "Sorry about that outburst."

Ryan shook his head, "Don't be sorry. I'm sorry about your mom."

There was a beat of silence, awkward silence. "So should we get to work?" Lara offered, suddenly desperate to change the subject. She had never told anybody anything about the day her mom had left and she hoped that Ryan would forget about it.

Ryan let out a shaky breath, "I thought you'd never ask."

❛ ━━━━━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━━━━━ ❜