Ricardiana

three

When Dad drops Delaney and I off at the house after lunch, Mum's car is parked in the front. Dad heads back to the firm and Delaney and I walk to the door and unlock it easily. Mum is sitting on the couch in the den and watching the television while eating peanut butter from the jar. Delaney and I look at one another and smile.

"Oh, hey girls. Don't mind me, I'm just watching The X Factor." Mum says with a smile.

Delaney and I walk upstairs and I instantly call Liam. He picks up on the first ring.

"Diana, hey."

"Hey, do you want to come over and hang out?"

"Aw, I would love to, but I can't. I've got football practice. I can come get you before and you can watch and then we could talk after?" Liam says, his voice full of sadness.

"Uh, yeah. That sounds great. What time will you be here?" I ask.

"In about five minutes. See you then, Princess Diana." He says and then hangs up.

I decide not to change, it was a beautiful day outside and plus I looked cute in the dress I was wearing. I work on my story until I hear Liam honk the truck horn. I run down the stairs with my notebook and pencil in hand and scurry towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going, young lady?" Mum asks.

"Liam and I are going to his football practice." I say honestly.

Mum gives me a concerning look but then Delaney appears at the top of the stairs. "Mum, she'll be okay. You've got to let her leave the nest too."

Mum lets me go and I mouth a thank you to Delaney before running out of the house and to Liam's truck. He smells like outside and some Adidas cologne and I nearly cough because the scent is so strong.

"Nice to see you too, Diana."

I cough. "It smells like boy!" I say, sticking my tongue out.

"Well, I mean... I am a boy. So unless you would like for me to spray your perfume in my truck all the time, then deal with it. You look fancy today." Liam tells me.

I look down at my outfit and then look back up and out the window. "Dad wanted to take me and Delaney out for lunch. We went to some French restaurant he is in love with."

Liam nods. "Do you know what I had for lunch? I had Cod. It was terrible."

I laugh and shake my head at his nonsense. "Oh, you poor, depraved soul. How will you ever live?"

He rolls his eyes as we pull into the car park and he parks his truck in a parking space, and then grabs his gear bag from the backseat. I get out and meet him at the front of the car and he and I interlock hands as we walk towards the playing fields, and he hands me his car keys. It's getting cloudier and I hope it doesn't rain. Liam goes to the opposite side of the field with his mates and I sit on the bleachers, writing in my notebook and listening to the music on my phone. In the distance I can hear thunder and I begin to finish up my writing.

I make my way down back to Liam's car and sit in there for shelter as the rain falls. Liam runs back to his car and I unlock it, and he gets in, a semi-wet mess from the rain. He starts the ignition and begins talking about Sophie and how bad the breakup was and how much he missed her. I roll my eyes and look out straight ahead. He pulls into his garage and tells me to wait.

I didn't want to wait, so I walked in behind him. I was greeted by Liam's mum and younger brother, Seth. I loved coming to Liam's house; it was big and old and elegant and extremely castle like. When we were younger, Liam and I used to pretend to be king and queen of a kingdom we called Ricardiana. Liam came up with the name; his father's name was Richard, or Rick, Liam loved cars and Diana is my name.