"Mom!" Ryan announced as he quickly stood, moving away from me a little. "Why are you back so soon?"

She shifted her weight to her right, leaning against the doorframe, as she folded her arms. "Well I bought a lot of things in bulk last week, so I didn't have to do much shopping today. But by the looks of things, I'm glad I came home when I did."

Oh shoot, I'm still under Ryan's covers. I bet she thinks I'm in the nude or something!

I quickly threw the covers off of me, revealing my fully clothed outfit. I better try to make things less awkward.

"You must be Mrs. Lombardi," I said with a smile as I stood up. "Ryan and I were just working on a class project together and took a short break."

She then smirked slightly. Wow, I see where Ryan got that from. Not to mention his good looks too.

"Nice to meet you sweetheart," she said to me. "Anyway, Ryan, I came up to tell you dinner will be ready shortly. That is, unless you two want to continue your 'short break.'"

Ryan's cheeks reddened as he stumbled with his words. He clearly was getting embarrassed a bit. I have to say it was cute, but he's still a jerk, so I'm not going to admit it.

"Mom, no. Daisy just got cold, so I let her get under my covers-"

His mom then put a hand up to stop him. "I'm only joking son."

Ryan and I then both let out a breath we didn't realize we were holding in. The room seemed to be less tense now.

"Daisy? Would you like to stay for dinner? We're having baked chicken, salad, and mac and cheese if you're interested," his mom smiled at me.

Well it's a good thing someone in this family is nice to me. Ryan could take a few notes. But wait, did she say mac and cheese?! Okay, I know I don't eat carbs, but that seriously sounds good right now. Ugh, I've been craving the worst foods for me lately.

I was about to open my mouth to accept when Ryan beat me to it.

"Actually, Daisy and I have finished working for the day, so I think it's best if I just take her home."

What?! How dare he stand in the way of me and that cheesy pasta!

"Oh such a shame," his mom said. "Well Daisy, if you're back here again, you're welcome to join us for dinner," she genuinely smiled at me.

"Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Lombardi. I will take you up on that offer one day," I smiled back. I also shot that last line at Ryan, just to annoy him.

"I look forward to it," she nodded with a smile before walking back downstairs.

"Are you ready?" Ryan asked nonchalantly to me.

I rolled my eyes before grabbing my things and made my way out of the room, with him following behind.

It was already getting dark when we walked outside. The temperature dropped some also. A gentle breeze blew past me as it cooled off the evening air. It was a nice feeling compared to how hot it was earlier in the day.

"I'm driving," I said flatly as I walked towards the driver's door.

"Very funny," Ryan chuckled as he walked beside me.

I blocked the door some by standing near it. "I'm serious Ryan. I'm not letting you drive back. My skin almost flew off last time.

He sighed and ran a hand slightly through his jet black hair. He walked over to the passenger side and opened the door.

"Is it because I didn't open the door last time? Well, see, I'm holding it open for you."

I smirked and folded my arms. "That's very chivalrous of you, but no. Either I drive, or we go back inside to have some of that yummy dinner your mom is making."

My smirk grew even more when I knew I had him just where I wanted.

"Okay, fine," he breathed. He tossed the keys over to me as he got in the passenger seat.

That makes the score,
Daisy: 1
Ryan: -1000

I adjusted the seat and mirrors as I needed to, which was a lot. Ryan is over a foot taller than me. I then put the address in my phone's GPS before pulling out of the driveway.

"We literally could have walked there with as slow as you're going," Ryan said, breaking the silence.

"Excuse you, but I'm going at the recommended speed limit!" I retorted.

"Keyword: recommended," Ryan mumbled.

"Look here Ryan," I rolled my eyes. "I had a Porsche, and I never even went at the speed you were going in this thing."

"Had?" Ryan questioned. I could see him turn his head towards me in my peripheral vision.

Oh shoot! I forgot I'm supposed to keep this whole rich girl turned poor thing on the hush! I can not let people find out about this. The most that people like Kaitlyn and Alex know is that I'm just here to visit my aunt and Natalie for a while.

"Why don't you turn on the radio," I changed the subject. "I'm tired of listening to you sighing."

He sighed again, just to annoy me probably, and turned on the radio to a Blink song.

"Oh Em Gee! I love this song," I gasped as I began dancing in my seat.

"Woah, Woah, Woah. Watch the road!" Ryan said terrified. His hand hung onto the handle on the ceiling.

"Relax. I know what I'm doing," I smirked, using the same sentence he told me before.

We eventually made it back to aunt Hana's, all in one piece, thanks to me.

"Anything you'd like to say to me?" I smirked to him, flipping my hair.

"Get out of my car?" He pondered.

I narrowed my eyes. "No. How about, Daisy, thank you for showing me that it's okay not to treat these L.A. streets like a Daytona race.' "

He smirked over at me. "Hm, the most you're gonna get out of me is a 'see you later,' Princess."

"Ugh, whatever," I said before getting out of the car.

When I unlocked the front door, I noticed he was still parked in front of the house. Was he waiting to make sure I made it safely inside? Hm, so Ryan Lombardi does have a sweet side.

My thoughts got cut off by the suspicious behaviors of mother and Natalie as I walked inside.

"Were you two just spying on me out the window?!" I asked.

"What? Psh, why would you ask that?" Natalie fumbled.

"Hm? Well let's see," I said, putting my finger up to chin in thought. "The curtain and blinds are literally all messed up. You know, sort of like someone was peeping through them. Oh, and why are you two just here, whistling amongst yourselves for no reason?"

"I told them not to snoop!" Aunt Hana called out from the kitchen.

I arched my brow up at the two in front of me. The better have a good excuse for spying on me!

"Okay, fine!" Mother admitted. "I saw headlights up front, and Natalie said it might have been you coming back because you went out on a study date with a new guy."

"We just wanted to see how it went!" Natalie admitted.

Ugh, these two are hopeless.

I rolled my eyes as I made my way into the kitchen to eat the teriyaki chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans that aunt Hana had just prepared.

"I couldn't see too far, but he looked cute! Oh, do we need to have 'the talk' again? I think we should. Regular boys move faster than rich ones," mother said.

"No mother, enough!" I said, getting embarrassed at the conversation.

▪︎▪︎

After a delicious dinner, I showered and made my way into Natalie and I's room.

As I laid back on the bed, scrolling through my thousands of likes on Instagram, I got a text from the unthinkable.

CHEATER (AKA Chad) : Daisy, are you awake? If you are (which I know you are since you start your nighttime skincare routine at this time) can we talk?

Ha! Jokes on that idiot because I just finished my skincare routine 30 minutes ago! It's like he doesn't even remember me at all anymore...

My thumbs lingered over the text template. Should I text him back? What does he even want now that we're over?

Maybe I should find out.

No, wait Daisy, don't give that cheating jock the time of day!

But what if he's asking for forgiveness and bought me a cute, VVS tennis bracelet to compensate?

"Uh, Daisy, are you okay?" Natalie asked, looking at me in my distraught state.

I turned my head in her direction, checking out her outfit. "No, Natalie, I'm not okay. Because if I have to see you in those childish, ducky pajamas one more time, I think I'm gonna scream."

"I'll have you know that these are 100% cotton and are VERY comfortable," she told me as she folded her arms under hee chest. "But if you're not gonna tell me why you were looking so upset, then I won't force you to talk."

"Okay, okay, sorry," I rolled my eyes. "It's just that my cheater of an ex boyfriend, Chad, is texting me again and I don't know what to do."

Natalie narrowed a glare at me. "You don't know what to do? YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO?!"

My eyes widened as I scooted back against the wall. Okay, I'm a little scared of Natalie right now.

Standing up from her bed, she paced the floor for a few seconds. She then stopped as she stood in front of me. "Why in the world would you even consider talking to your ex boyfriend, who like you said, is a cheater?!"

"Maybe he is trying to apologize?" I squeaked up, holding my pillow in front of me.

She then grabbed the said pillow and tossed it aside. "No! Wrong answer Daisy!"

I looked to the side as if it was an imaginary camera there to shoot this frightening scene.

"Well what should I do then?" I asked.

"You don't respond is what you do!" She folded her arms. "That guy doesn't DESERVE your time! He made that decision when he broke your heart, hunny."

I took in her truthful words and nodded my head. Wow, Natalie might have a future as a motivational speaker.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right! I'm Daisy, and I don't have to put up with nobody's crap!"

"That's right you don't! Now who are you again?!" She asked me.

"Daisy Nickels!"

"It's Daisy FREAKING Nickels, remember!?"

"Yeah, I'm Daisy FREAKING Nickels! The Queen Bee! The Diva! The Empress! The Fashionista! The Hot Chick! The-"

"Okay Daisy, you've made your point."

"Thanks for the pep talk Natalie!" I smiled.

I was so excited I even.. get ready for it.. HUGGED HER! *gasp* I know right? It was just such an emotional rollercoaster.

I went back over to my phone and deleted the messages Chad was sending me.

"There. Out of sight, out of mind," I smirked, getting under the covers to go to sleep.

Or so I thought. Because one thing I forgot about Chad was that he was as determined on the field as he was in real life....