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

| fourteen |

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"Lara, can we talk?" Her grandfather asked as Lara grabbed the handle of the door to exit their motorhome.

    "What's up?" She turned, searching his face for any indication of what he wanted to talk to her about.

    "Is everything okay between you and Chase?" He frowned. "I know what he said on tv about you and that was wrong, he and I have already had a chat about that. But word around the garage is that you two exchanged some less than pleasant words with each other yesterday. What happened?"

Lara shrugged, "His non-apology sucked and he doubled down on what he said, which I find highly hypocritical, considering he used the bit about my last name. So I had something to say back." She shrugged again, "In hindsight, I probably should have kept my mouth shut..." Lara trailed off, glancing at her grandfather to see what his reaction was.

    He sighed, "You know, I really hoped that you two would find camaraderie."

    Lara cringed inwardly. If only her grandfather knew just what type of camaraderie they had found in each other, he would probably have a heart attack. "I had hoped so too."

    "Just..." Rick winced at what he was about to say, "Let it go? Play nice in the garage. If you need to duke it out, do it where people can't tweet about it, okay?"

    "Okay." Lara agreed. "I'm sorry."

    He shook his head, "I think you two are a little too much alike for your own good. Now go on with your day, I'll see you around."

    "Have a good day," She called as she left the motorhome. She heard another door open, Ryan stepping out. "Ryan!" Lara called, heading towards him.

    Ryan's eyes widened a little. Lara found that odd but once Chase emerged from behind him, she understood. She shot a glare at Ryan before spinning on her heel. She understood that Chase has been his best friend for a long time, but Lara wasn't about to hang out with Ryan if it meant that Chase was there too. She put her head down, making the walk to the garage by herself.

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7:29pm
Ryan
You avoiding me is getting old

7:32pm
Lara
I wasn't avoiding YOU today

7:34pm
Ryan
Sure felt like it...

    Lara rolled her eyes at Ryan. She wasn't sure why he was so ticked. Chase had stuck to his side like glue in the garage so she kept her distance. Lara wasn't sure why Chase had turned into a Stage 5 Clinger but she wasn't going to go find out. This was the drawback to befriending Ryan, Chase would always be nearby.

    Lara felt like the pressure to prove herself this week had grown. Between her wreck at Daytona and Chase's comments, all eyes were on her. She had to focus and this wasn't helping.

7:38pm
Lara
I'm sorry for not
wanting to talk to Chase?

    Ryan didn't respond right away so Lara put her phone down, turning back to her laptop, studying the numbers on the screen. She was trying to figure out if she could afford to buy Hank's Happy Golf and keep it afloat. Thankfully, Hank's Happy Golf was a favorite among tourists so Lara knew that keeping it afloat wouldn't be too hard but Lara had visions of updating everything, expanding it, adding an arcade, maybe even adding a bowling alley, a go-cart track, adding food options. But that was expensive, something she wouldn't have for quite a while but she had decided that it was worth it.

    She scribbled a couple of numbers down, doing the math. Lara wasn't sure what Hank would sell it for but she wanted to be able to give him above asking price. She bit her lip, it would take just about everything she had but she could make it work.

    A light rap on the door pulled Lara from her math. She hesitated to open it but when there was another rap on the door, she pushed it open.

    "Hey," Ryan stepped in, shoving his hands in his pockets.

    Lara gave him a weak smile, sitting back down in front of her laptop. "What's up?" She studied his face, trying to figure out what compelled him to show up at her motorhome. "You can sit somewhere."

    "What are you doing?" Ryan asked, leaning over her, close enough to make her heart pound with memories from the beach.

    "Just crunching some numbers." She shrugged.

    He motioned for her to move over so she did, "To buy Hank's Happy Golf?" He shot her a questioning look.

    She nodded, "I have enough money to buy it outright, I think. Not enough to make any updates or improvements but I'll just put my racing money into it as I get it."

    "What improvements are you thinking about?" Ryan asked, his curiosity piqued.

    "Add an arcade, maybe a bowling alley, a go-cart track, food options..." Her voice trailed off, "There's this place on the coast that has all of that and it's super popular. Kind of like a one-stop entertainment area, a little bit of something for everybody."

    Ryan nodded slowly, "What do you think about having a business partner? I'll go fifty/fifty with you so you aren't completely broke and then we can put up the money for the improvements."

    Lara's jaw dropped, "Are you sure? You don't have to..." Her voice trailed off.    

Ryan smiled, "Of course I'm sure. I have more money than I'll ever need and your plans sound pretty badass. A go-cart track would be so much fun," His eyes sparkled with excitement. "C'mon Lara, it would be fun."

"If you're sure, I would love it." She smiled back at Ryan. "And I'm sorry for avoiding you. It's just kind of hard to talk to you when Chase is right there."

He frowned, "I guess that's true. He's trying to figure out how to win you back."

    Lara shrugged, "You know what he said to me in the garage when he tried to apologize? He asked me if I really believed that I would've been considered for the 48 car if Rick wasn't my grandfather. So I posed the same question to him and he did not like that."

    Ryan shook his head, "You two sure know how to bring out the worst in each other."

    Lara knew Ryan was right. But she wasn't going to admit that.

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