Sweet Caroline {Ryan Blaney} ✔️

ten • trigger warning

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

"Wait, hold on. My sister is calling me. I will call you back." As soon as the words left Ryan's mouth, he accepted his sister's call, bracing himself. "Hello?"

"Ryan Michael Blaney." She roared, the anger was palpable in her voice. "I did not want to spend my wedding anniversary consoling your girlfriend. Are you really cheating on her?"

"Do you actually think I would do that, Elle?" Ryan snapped.

"I don't know but Stacy was hysterical." Elle sighed. "What happened, Ryan? I want the truth."

Ryan chewed on his lip, trying to decide what he should tell her. Normally, he'd give her a bullshit excuse but today? Today he was going to let her know that the woman she had deemed his perfect match was anything but perfect. "She threw a vase at my head because I have plans on Monday so I can't be there to film her dumb show."

"She did what? Ryan, that doesn't sound right, that doesn't sound like Stacy." Typical Elle, trying to defend Stacy as always.

"She does it all the time," Ryan muttered. "She threatened to expose me, she threatened to ruin my career, Elle."

"You must've misheard her, Ry." Ryan's lips twisted into a frown. He should've expected this to happen.

"No, she was pretty clear." Ryan huffed, anger bubbling in his chest. He had always been so close to Elle, he had always considered her one of his closest friends. And here she was, taking Stacy's side.

"What are you even doing on Monday?" Elle questioned. "What could be so important that you would upset Stacy like that?"

Ryan gritted his teeth. He desperately wanted to tell Elle about Caroline but he knew that she would just turn and tell Stacy, inciting a shitstorm with a magnitude that Ryan didn't even want to think about. "I'm going to help my team get stuff ready. The playoffs are starting soon and they've been putting overtime so I think I should too. You know how much I hate Racing Wives, Elle. I'm not going to skip out on my team for it."

"I hope it's worth it, Ryan." Elle's tone was foreshadowing. "Are you willing to throw away nearly six years of dating over this?"

Ryan's brow furrowed, "What did she say to you?" Maybe he wouldn't have to break up with Stacy, maybe she would leave on her own, that would make his life way easier.

"Nothing that I'm going to repeat." An awkward silence settled over them, Ryan biting his lip as he tried to figure out what to say to his sister that didn't start with fuck and end with you.

"It's really going to be like this?" He let out a bitter laugh. "I am your brother, Elle. The fact that you don't believe me? You don't know how upset I am--"

"Look, I calmed Stacy down, talked her down from whatever rash things she was thinking. I don't know who to believe but your standoffish attitude is really not making me want to believe you. Stacy should be on her way back to your house and you need to fix it, Ryan. Fix it before you lose the perfect woman."

"What if she's not the perfect woman from me?" Ryan regretted saying that to Elle but he couldn't hold it back any longer.