#ryan au

~

Ryan's POV

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Ryan grumbled, more to himself than to his siblings. He was staring at the writing on his hand – the writing you'd put on your own.

"Why?" Anna asked, "You've been wanting to meet your soulmate for forever."

"Yeah," Jamie chimed in, "Why not meet them there? You already know where they'll be."

"What if it's a different day?" he shook his head, "What if I get the place wrong? What if they're just not ready to meet me?"

"Ryan, you're psyching yourself out," his sister sighed.

"There's never really the perfect time to meet someone like your soulmate anyway," Jamie added.

"That makes me feel better," Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Just quit your worrying and just take the chance! I know you, and I know you're going to regret it if you don't."

~

Six hours later

Ryan breathed in and out deeply as he entered the building you'd written on your hand. He still felt like he was going to throw up, but he knew his siblings were right; He knew he'd regret not trying to meet his soulmate when he now knew for sure where they'd be.

"Hi!" the receptionist at the front desk smiled, grabbing Ryan's attention, "Do you have an appointment?"

"Uh... No..." he cleared his throat, "I... This is gonna sound crazy, but... Writing showed up on my hand this morning... My soulmate has an appointment today, and I guess... I was hoping for the chance to meet them..." The girl's eyes widened slightly before nodding.

"I'm not usually allowed to let people just hang around, but my boss can make an exception this one time," she assured him, "You can have a seat over there-" She motioned to the little waiting room in front of them. "-and see if anyone comes in around that time." He gave her a grateful smile, breathing out a sigh of relief that she was letting him stay.

"Thank you," he told her, making her smile as well as he went to sit down.

The wait for his soulmate – or anyone to come into the building, actually – seemed to take forever, but it finally paid off. The front door opened and Ryan's head snapped up, finding you walking in. You looked just as nervous as he was, but he had to tell himself that it wasn't anything to do with his soulmate situation. Though, he couldn't ignore the fact that, as he looked at the clock, it was almost the exact time his soulmate had written on their hand earlier that morning.

"Hello!" the receptionist's voice rang in Ryan's ears again as you approached her desk, "How can I help you?"

"I have an appointment at 4:15," you told her, your leg bouncing nervously.

"Alright! I'll let them know you're here!" You thanked her softly, walking over to the chairs to sit before your legs gave out underneath you.

Ryan couldn't keep himself from watching you as you sat directly across the room from him, looking for the little picture he'd doodled on his left bicep before leaving his house so he'd know who his soulmate was – and his heart started pounding once he saw that same picture peeking out from under the sleeve of your t-shirt.

You weren't looking up – your eyes locked onto your hands as you nervously awaited for your interview – so Ryan frantically searched for a pen or a Sharpie or something, mentally kicking himself for not thinking to bring one with him in the first place. When he lucked out in finding a pen on the table beside him with the magazines, he wrote a simple message for you on his wrist.

Found you

He watched the fingers you were playing with freeze when you noticed the ink show up, turning your wrist up to look at it. Your head then snapped up, your eyes meeting the boy sitting across from you the moment you did. Your heart skipped when he smiled, turning his own wrist toward you so you knew it was really him.

You didn't even hesitate before you were back out of your seat and hurrying across the waiting room. You were going to sit in the chair beside him at first, but right before you reached him, he stood up and wrapped his arms around your waist, so yours went around his neck. You both breathed a deep sigh of relief, happy to finally be hugging your soulmate.

"Sorry I just showed up like this," Ryan admitted, "But I didn't know if I'd ever have this chance again..." He felt you shake slightly as you laughed under your breath.

"It's okay," you promised him, squeezing him gently.

"I'm Ryan."

"I'm Y/N," you returned softly, feeling him smile as he pressed a kiss to the side of your head.

It was silent between you two for a moment before you spoke again.

"Ryan," you murmured. He simply hummed in response, prompting you to continue. "Do you think you can wipe off that picture on my arm?" you asked, "I kind of have an interview in 5 minutes."

❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀

master list / master list for mobile users

you can also check out my last imagine here, my to do list to see what’s coming up, and click here to go to the page for my calum fic :)

Other soulmate AUs: Marshall / Luke / Calum / Calum / Ashton / Luke / Michael / Ashton / Michael / Cody / Calum / Marshall / Marshall / Luke / Zach / Trevor / Maxx / Awsten / Ryan / Ashton / Calum

taglist: @calumhoodslays @vendylewin @lunalove25 @i-opened-the-chamber-of-secrets @maurine5sos @rachellwrites@itkindajusthappenedreally @breathinginthevapor @double-tap-to-edit @all-i-want-is2b-loved-by-you@silverchainbee @disastrxlogy@softboycal@5saucewho@mycollectionofnuts@sunnysidesblog

“Good morning, everybody!” one man said into a microphone as he looked into a camera, “It is a beautiful day here in Daytona Beach – perfect weather for the Daytona 500! I’m Jeff McMann-”

“-and I’m Derek Simmons,” the man sitting beside him went on, “Yes, Jeff; The weather is amazing for today’s race – the second round, in fact.”

“Exactly, Derek! I don’t think anyone in the country hasn’t heard about this, but we’ll give you a run-down just in case,” Jeff said, “The fight for the Sprint Cup ended in a tie between long-time NASCAR racers David Garrison and Ryan Follese, and rookie Y/N Y/L/N.”

“The three have been at the top of the charts all season – coming into one of the top three spots in every single race they’ve competed in to get them to Daytona Beach.”

“Until now, of course,” Jeff went on as Derek nodded, “The original race – as everyone knows – was held two weeks ago where it ended in a three-way tie for first place for the first time ever. It was decided that there would be a tie-breaker race and here we all are!”

“I’m personally incredibly excited for this one, Jeff,” Derek said, “Y/N Y/L/N – who was arguably a racer no one knew before – won her first qualifying race by almost an entire lap and I honestly had no idea who she was before I heard she made it all the way to Daytona.”

“Not a lot of people did,” the other man shook his head, “She placed first in every single race she’s been in up to this point – a rank not many other racers hold.”

You never really saw yourself as someone to look up to, but it seemed like every single day, you had fathers coming up to you before or after practices with their young daughters, asking if they could take their pictures with you. You, of course, never turned a single one down, kneeling down next to them and smiling happily, signing whatever it is they asked you to.

One father once told you that his 11-year-old daughter had never been particularly excited about going to the speedway – she couldn’t care less about racing, he said – but he noticed a change in her the moment she heard about you. She started keeping up with races you’d be in on television – though she’d refused to admit it for the longest time – but the Daytona 500 qualifying race was the one that really sparked her interest. Danica Patrick had retired long before you started racing, so she’d never seen a woman in the competition fight as hard as you did. And from that point on, she was set on becoming a racer just like you.

That was probably your favorite story – you were now to little girls what Danica Patrick was to you: an inspiration.

The three-way race was just like any other – 500 laps with gas refills, tire changes, and regroups with your crew chief. 

But the real action didn’t start until the last lap.

You were well ahead of the other two racers – Ryan Follese and David Garrison – and you were 100 feet from securing your very first Sprint Cup win. It wasn’t until you heard a loud crashing sound behind you that you glanced over at the screen on the tower in the middle of the grass.

The other two racers had just gone it into the final turn when David – so obsessed with not coming in behind Ryan yet again – rammed the front of his car into Ryan’s bumper, sending the car rolling again and again on the grass near the finish line. Everyone in the stands was in shock – did David purposely run into Ryan or was it just an accident?

Either way, you immediately slammed your foot down on your brake pedal, causing your car to come to a screeching halt. David flew past you, and you could hear him shouting victoriously. The people in the stands weren’t celebrating at all – not even his fans – they were all just watching you. But you didn’t notice.

You put your car in park without hesitation and then you were jumping out of the window. You took off your helmet, throwing it to the side and running over to Ryan's window. There was a lot of smoke coming out from under the hood of his car and it was in that moment that you knew you had to get him out.

By this point, Ryan had taken his helmet off – which probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do in his situation, but you figured you’d let his crew chief lecture him about that later – and was working on his safety harnesses. He looked over when he heard someone running up to the car, narrowing his eyes when he realized it was you.

“I don’t need any help, Y/L/N,” he said, struggling to get the last harness off.

Ryan – for whatever reason – never seemed to like you, always being either very short with you or just not talking to you altogether. You didn’t know what you did – you’d barely even spoken to him outside of race-related events – but you weren’t going to let that stop you from helping him. And especially not when you saw what was happening under the hood.

“Be stubborn some other time, Ryan; Your car is literally on fire!” you exclaimed, catapulting your upper body into the car, reaching across his stomach, and unbuckling his seat belt.

You then came back out, grabbed his arm, and helped him out the window. You slipped on the grass as he stumbled out when you saw the last thing you wanted to – the flames start to get bigger. Ryan immediately reached for your hand, pulling you to your feet, and took you away from the car.

It seemed like the moment you reached where the grass met the asphalt, the flames took over Ryan’s racecar. The explosion made you yelp in surprise, the ground shaking so much to the point you fell again. 

You were surprised to feel Ryan lay himself on your back, his arms covering your head so no debris hit you. You could feel your heart beating in your ears, but the cheers from the crowd were even louder than that.

After the initial explosion, Ryan rolled off of you and you both turned to lie on your backs. Your chest visibly rose and fell as you breathed heavily, just happy you got him out of the car in time. 

Medics rushed over to check on the two of you and after determining you were alright, they insisted that you get back in your car and take second place. You were obviously about to protest, wanting to make sure Ryan was okay first, but the brunette interrupted you before you could get a word out.

“Be stubborn some other time, Y/N,” he shook his head, “Go cross the finish line.” You shot him a glare, but he only smiled slightly, turning his attention back to the medics’ questions. You felt your heart flutter when he smiled at you, making you swallow thickly as you returned to your car. You climbed in the window and started it back up, taking your car over the finish line.

“In all my years of doing this, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the kind of sportsmanship we’ve seen out there today, Derek,” Jeff announced.

“Right, you are, Jeff,” he added on, “Y/N Y/L/N, the rookie no one expected to win, was only half a second away from taking home the Sprint Cup when she stopped just before crossing the finish line to help a competitor out of a burning car. If she doesn't win Rookie of the Year, I don't know what I'll do!”

“Now I don’t know about you, Derek, but even though she’s finishing second, Y/L/N won this race in my book.”

After Ryan received the green light on continuing the day, you all were given a 15-minute break before David would officially be given the Sprint Cup. You had wandered off to Ryan’s pit, wanting to check on him.

The moment Ryan saw bright blue out of the corner of his eye, he knew you were coming over. He looked over his shoulder – unable to keep himself from grinning.

“I’m fine, Y/N,” he assured you as you stopped beside him.

“What do you mean?” you scoffed.

“You came over here to make sure I’m alright,” he stated matter-of-factly, “And I am. The medics said I’m completely fine.”

“Do you think I was worried about you? No. Of course not. I was just coming over here to... Uh... Well, I wanted to see if...” Ryan cocked an eyebrow, a knowing smirk on his face, making you huff sharply. “Fine!” you squeaked, “I was worried! There! I said it! Are you happy?!”

“Well, I’m fine,” he repeated, “And thank you for doing what you did. I probably wouldn’t have gotten out in time if it weren’t for you.” Ryan leaned in and pressed a kiss to your cheek, making you swallow thickly as your stomach erupted with butterflies. But before you could say anything else, someone came up behind you.

“Follese, Y/L/N,” David sauntered toward you with a large smirk. The two of you simply stared at him with raised eyebrows, not saying anything. “Now, now – it’s okay to be speechless,” he sighed dramatically, “It’s understandable when a Sprint Cup winner is in your presence.”

“You know, Garrison,” you laughed bitterly, “You may have crossed the finish line first, but I promise you, that’s not what everyone’s talking about today.”

“And what makes you think that, Rookie?”

“Is winning so important to you that you would intentionally nearly kill someone just to win a stupid trophy?”

“Is the little rookie upset because she didn’t win?” David pouted teasingly. He lifted his hand to ruffle your hair and that was when your anger got the best of you.

You instantly balled up your fist and punched him square in the nose as hard as you could. You felt the bone crack under your knuckles and heard people around you gasp, but no one but Ryan did anything. He grabbed your waist and pulled you away from the other racer as he stumbled backward, holding his nose in pain. Derek shouted various profanities at you as the same medics who checked on Ryan sprinted over.

“What’s going on here?” one of them asked.

“Karma’s a bitch,” you grumbled, feeling Ryan’s stomach shake against your back as he tried to keep himself from laughing. The people around you – and those in the stands who could see Ryan’s pit – were less careful, however, laughing very vocally. 

Ryan led you away from David, taking you to an open area where there weren’t many people around.

“You know you’re going to get suspended for that, right?” he mentioned, letting go of you and turning to face you.

You simply shrugged, “I live a life without regrets.”

“That was pretty badass,” he admitted, finally smiling.

He took your hand in his, inspecting it to see if there was any damage. Your knuckles were bruised and felt a little sore, but you could still move your fingers just fine. Either way though, Ryan brought your hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to your skin.

“What are you doing?” you asked, unable to suppress the confused laugh that came out of your mouth along with the question.

“I’ve heard kissing something makes it better,” he said nonchalantly.

“Really?” you grinned.

“Yeah,” he sighed, “And unfortunately, nothing really got hurt on me, so you don’t have to return the favor.”

“That does sound unfortunate,” you nodded.

“Although, I did accidentally bite my lip as my car was rolling,” he mentioned, “But I’m sure you wouldn’t want to-”

You cut him off by taking your hand out of his, placing both on his cheeks, and pulling his face to yours. You felt him smile, his hands landing on your hips and continuing to slide around your lower back, bringing your body to his.

“Better?” you asked when you pulled away for air, but the two of you were still holding each other.

“I mean... I bit down pretty hard,” he shrugged. You only grinned, leaning in and kissing him again.

❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀

master list / master list for mobile users

you can also check out my last imagine here, my to do list to see what’s coming up, and click here to go to the page for my calum fic :)

Other Disney movie AUs: Ryan / Michael / Calum / Calum

You looked around for a brief moment before finally spotting Ryan. You instantly smiled, quickly going over to him. He pushed himself off of his car as you let go of your suitcase and carry-on bag, making sure they weren’t going to fall over, before you threw your arms around his neck. You were hugging him so closely that he was sure you could feel his heart pounding against his chest as he hugged you back.

“You still own this old thing?” you giggled softly, your arm moving so you could poke at the beanie on his head.

“Hey, don’t talk bad about it,” he smiled, “My best friend gave it to me in fifth grade.”

“I think I remember her,” you replied, “She was a pretty girl back then.”

“Pretty girl then, beautiful woman now,” he said, squeezing you before you both let go of each other.

“Thank you,” you smiled shyly, “And thank you for picking me up.”

“You still have that irrational fear of taxis?” he smirked, putting your suitcase in the backseat.

“It’s not irrational!” you protested, getting into the car after he opened the passenger door for you, “There is a one in 5,000 chance that I’ll be kidnapped in my lifetime!”

“But that statistic isn’t about people who drive taxis,” Ryan countered after getting in the driver seat, “So, statistically speaking, I could be kidnapping you right now.” He started the car and began driving, earning a sigh from you.

“Well, there goes me ever trusting anyone from elementary school ever again,” you replied. Ryan simply laughed loudly, reaching over and placing his hand on your knee, patting it gently.

“All I’m saying is, the more afraid of everything you are, the less you’re gonna go out and do something that could make you happy,” he shook his head, “Like, what if there’s a concert or something, but you have to take a cab to get there. Your soulmate could be there, but you wouldn’t know because you were too scared to take the cab!”

“Ah, the classic soulmate argument,” you rolled your eyes.

“Hey, you never know,” Ryan shrugged, taking his hand back.

“What if I’ve already met my soulmate?” you returned, leaning your head back on the seat and looking at him, “How would I know then?”

He glanced over at you and smiled slightly. He didn’t want to automatically assume you were talking about him, but then again, he couldn’t remember the last time a girl looked at him the way you were at that moment.

“Maybe you should just take a chance,” he replied softly, reverting his gaze back to the road in front of him.

“Well, he did agree to hang out with me while I’m in LA,” you said thoughtfully.

“Did he?” Ryan grinned.

“Uh-huh,” you chirped, watching the palm trees fly by the window, “He also said he had a crush on me when we were kids; I heard he still does.”

“When you were kids, huh? Well, if he still feels that way, it sounds to me like he very well could be your soulmate.”

“Only problem is I have no idea how to find him,” you shrugged with a light sigh, “LA is huge; He could be anywhere.”

“What’s he look like? Maybe I’ve seen him around before.”

“Well, now that I’m getting a good look at you, he looks a lot like you: Brown hair, always wearing sunglasses but he’s got the prettiest brown eyes hiding behind them.” Ryan smiled, looking over at you upon stopping at a stop sign and peeking out from the top of the sunglasses on his face. “Yeah, like those!” you nodded, pointing to his eyes.

“You think my eyes are pretty?” he winked, turning his attention back to driving.

“The prettiest,” you returned, a silly grin on your face.

“You know, I think I have seen him before,” he mentioned, “How about his name?”

“Well, his name is Ryan Follese,” you said, “He works at BuzzFeed – I don’t know if you’re familiar with it.”

“Really?” he wondered teasingly, “My name is Ryan Follese and I work at BuzzFeed. I’m the only Ryan Follese there though.”

“So you must be who I’m looking for!”

“What a small world – me picking you up from the airport and being the one person in LA you’re looking for,” he shook his head.

You simply smiled, your head leaning on the headrest again as you looked at him. It was silent for a moment until Ryan reached back over and took your hand. He tangled your fingers together and brought your hand up, pressing his lips to the back of it.

“I’ve missed you, you know,” he said, his voice laced with seriousness as he moved your hand back down, holding it on your thigh.

“I’ve missed you too, Ry,” you murmured, squeezing his hand lightly. You both sat in silence – Ryan rubbing your skin with his thumb as you played with his other fingers. After a couple minutes though, Ryan spoke again, realizing he had no idea where he was supposed to be taking you.

"What hotel are you staying at?" he asked you. 

"Oh, I don't know," you shrugged, "I was just gonna try to find a cheap one or something."

"Well... You know... You could always stay at my place..."

"Ry, you don't have to-"

"I know I don't have to, but I want to," he insisted, "You shouldn't waste money on some cheap hotel when you can just stay with me for free. Plus, we’re already here, so-" He ended his speech by shrugged as he let go of your hand to pull into an apartment building parking lot.

"You're not going to charge me?" you awed teasingly, "You're too kind."

"Shut up or I might," he laughed, winking jokingly at you. He got out of the car to open your door for you, finding you sticking your bottom lip out, making sure your pout was extremely prominent when he looked at you again. 

"You wouldn't really make me pay to stay with you, would you, Ryan?" you asked sweetly. He couldn't stop himself from smiling at you, holding his hand out. When you put your hand in his, he pulled you to your feet into his chest, his arms wrapping around your waist while yours went around his neck. 

"Never," he answered, pecking the tip of your nose, "But you better not tell any of my friends about this or else I'll have to stop making them pay when they want to stay with me." You giggled quietly, letting it taper off as you laid your head on his shoulder and stepped forward so your body was pressed right up against his, feeling him squeeze you a little tighter in the process. 

You didn’t want to let go of him, afraid this was all just some weirdly realistic dream that you would wake up from any second and he would be gone. You spent the last 20 years wondering how your childhood best friend was doing and what he was up to. Now that you were finally hugging him again, you never wanted to leave his arms because the last time you hugged him like this, he moved 500 miles away.

“Hey,” Ryan said softly as he kissed the side of your head, “What are you worrying for? I’m here now.” You sighed into his shoulder.

“Even 20 years later, you still know what I’m thinking,” you murmured.

“20 years ago, I wasn’t brave enough to tell you I liked you either,” he countered. You finally released him just enough so that you could pull back to look at you – both of your arms still wrapped around each other.

“Didn’t you think girls still had cooties back then?” you teased, making him roll his eyes playfully.

“It’s not my fault,” he shook his head, “If anything, it was yours for being so cute.”

“Don’t hate the player, hate the game, Ry,” you smirked, “And, you know, you had some questionable hairstyles, but you were still adorable.” You moved one of your arms to rest on his chest while your hand patted his cheek, earning yourself a real eye-roll that time.

“Listen, it was the 90s, okay? Those hairstyles were cool back then,” he said defensively.

“Were they?” you smirked.

Ryan’s hands immediately slid to your sides, tickling you roughly. You squealed loudly, your laugh unable to keep Ryan from maintaining his straight face. You grabbed his hands to make him stop, giggling softly as you caught your breath.

“I would hardly consider that a fair punishment for that comment,” you informed him, “But a ‘thank you’ would have been appreciated.”

“Why would I have thanked you?” he grinned, “You weren’t there when I decided on a less embarrassing haircut.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“Technically my mom and dad,” he chuckled.

You gasped obnoxiously, hitting his cheek again, “Don’t talk about my second parents like that.”

“You still calling them that?” he teased.

“Whatever,” you scoffed, “You’re just jealous they loved me more than they loved you.”

“That’s not even fair!” he whined, “Everyone loved you more than they loved me!”

“Your brother couldn’t have cared less that I was around,” you said matter-of-factly.

“Well, Jamie was 8 by the time we moved; He didn’t care about girls at all,” Ryan reminded you.

“Not true,” you informed him, “He cared about Adrienne and Anna.”

“You’re asking to get tickled again,” he stated, “You want me to do it.”

“On the list of things I could even possibly want from you, tickling me isn’t one of them.”

“How about we talk about the things you could want then?” he grinned mischievously.

“A ride from the airport, a place to stay, a ride to my job interview tomorrow morning, maybe some pizza for dinner toni-”

Ryan cut you off, his lips colliding with yours. You smiled slightly as your eyes fluttered shut, your arms wrapping back around his neck and your fingers playing with his hair. He let out a small sigh as his own arms went back to your waist and pulled you into him – having imagined doing this for so long, he couldn’t believe it was actually happening. When you pulled away to breathe, you couldn’t help but smile again.

“That wasn’t on the list, but I’ll take it,” you shrugged.

“Shut up,” he chuckled, pressing his lips back to yours.

“Hey, Follese! Couldn’t wait until you got inside your place?” You pulled away once again and looked over, finding someone walking out to their car.

“You’re just upset you have a roommate and have to go other places to see your girlfriend,” Ryan shot back, his tone obviously playful.

“Fair enough,” he nodded before looking at you, “It’s nice to finally meet you. Ryan’s been talking about you non-stop for the last month.” Ryan’s eyes widened as you laughed under your breath.

“Goodbye, Aaron,” Ryan murmured, only making you laugh a little louder.  

“Bye, Ryan,” he replied innocently, getting into his car and driving to wherever he was off to.

“So,” you said after a few moments of silence, “Non-stop, huh?” Ryan paused before releasing you to open the back door to get your suitcase.

“So pizza,” he cleared his throat, “(Favorite topping) still your favorite?” You didn’t answer him – you just simply smiled and followed him toward the building and to his apartment.

~

The next morning

You woke up to the sound of ducks quacking repeatedly. You groaned into the chest your face was pressed against, hitting Ryan’s stomach through the blanket with your palm.

“Ry, turn that thing off!” you whined, turning onto your opposite side and covering your ear with your hand, “It’s too early!”

“Woke you up though, didn’t it?” Ryan chuckled after he turned the alarm on his phone off, his voice coming out gravelly from obviously having just woken up. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to your shirt-covered shoulder before taking your hand off of your ear and moving it down to your waist as he kissed your cheek.

“But the duck alarm, Ryan? Really?” you frowned, finally turning onto your back.

“I can’t help that it’s the only one that ever actually wakes me up on time,” he grinned, “Now you get dressed so we can stop by Starbucks on the way to your interview.”

“Are you bribing me to get out of bed?”

“No,” he stated matter-of-factly, “If I were bribing you, I’d use kisses instead.”

“You’re right,” you nodded, “I’d rather have coffee.” Ryan responded by throwing himself on top of you and peppering your face with kisses.

You squealed before laughing, squirming being about the only thing you could do since he was literally on top of you. You managed to free your arms out from under him, grabbing his face and pushing him back slightly.

“A nice way to wake up,” you affirmed, pecking his lips, “But that still won’t get me going like coffee will.”

“We’ll see about that later,” he smirked, kissing you again before getting off of you and going into the bathroom so you could get dressed.

~

“You know where you’re going?” Ryan asked you after you both got into his car.

“Yup,” you chirped, “I’ll tell you when to turn.” He nodded and pulled out of his parking spot.

The closer Ryan got to the BuzzFeed office, he would glance over at you more often. He was confused as to why you hadn’t told him to turn at any point, and when he pulled into his work’s parking lot, the confusion wasn’t eased much.

“You know you never told me where to turn, right?” Ryan cocked an eyebrow while putting his car in park. You finally looked up and out the window and shrugged.

“That’s okay,” you replied, grabbing your coffee cup and unbuckling your seatbelt, “We’re here.” You got out of the car, Ryan quickly mimicking your actions.

"Wait..." he said slowly, "Your job interview is for BuzzFeed...?"

“Mhmm,” you hummed, taking his hand when he came around the car.

“And you knew that when we Skyped?” he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You didn’t ask,” you shrugged again.

“Well, you’re asking to be tickled again,” Ryan finally laughed, poking your side.

“I most certainly did not,” you let out an involuntary giggle, pushing his hand away from you.

“Maybe you asked for it telepathically then because I definitely heard it,” he said.

“Maybe you’re picking up signals from some other girl then because it definitely wasn’t me,” you grinned.

“Hey, Ryan!” you heard a voice as Ryan led you inside the building.

“Hi, Kayla,” he smiled back at the girl standing with someone behind the front desk.

“You’re Y/N, right?” she asked you, “You were the one he Skyped during a video we made last month?”

“That would be me,” you grinned.

“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you! Ryan’s been talking about you all month.”

“Thanks, Kayla,” he murmured.

“Well, it’s not like it was a secret, Ryan. You’ve been telling everyone she was coming to town since the moment she told you,” she replied, making you laugh.

“So you’ve been telling your neighbors and your co-workers?” you smirked lightly, squeezing his hand.  

“You know what? This isn’t about me,” he shook his head.

“It may not be about you now, but we’re definitely going to be touching on this later,” you snorted softly. You let go of his hand, hearing him let out a quiet whine in protest as you looked at both Kayla and the other girl sitting at the desk. “I have an interview with Joel Greengrass at 9,” you said.

“You applied here?” Kayla asked with a wide grin.

“He thought he got rid of me 20 years ago,” you said with a teasing tone, nudging Ryan with your hip.

“Well, I’d be happy to take you to his office!” She walked out from behind the desk and started to lead you away, but quickly froze when she realized Ryan was following. “You know, Ryan, I’m pretty sure you still have a couple videos to edit,” she said coyly, “Maybe you should try to get one done before lunch.” They both looked at each other for a moment before he caved.

“Don’t you dare embarrass me,” he said accusingly.

“He’s right, you know,” you told her, “He’s never liked having anyone help him with things.” Kayla laughed loudly while Ryan grabbed your hips and leaned down to whisper in your ear.

“Find my desk when you’re done,” he murmured before kissing your cheek and letting go of you, “Good luck.” You shot him a sweet smile, going off with Kayla as Ryan watched you, thinking about how grateful he was you were back in his life.

❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀

other parts: one / two

master list / master list for mobile users

you can also check out my last imagine here, my to do list to see what’s coming up, and click here to go to the page for my calum fic :)

Other BuzzFeed AUs: Luke / Ryan / Calum / Ashton / Michael / Marshall

~

Two weeks later

It was the night of homecoming and you had just gotten to the school. Your mom dropped you off, telling you to call her when you needed to be picked up if one of your friends couldn’t take you home. You kissed her cheek before getting out of the car and walking inside the building, heading to the gym. 

A few people stopped you along the way to tell you they loved your dress or that you looked incredible and while you appreciated all the compliments, you’d be lying if you said you didn’t wish they were coming from Ryan.

It was a total cliché, honestly – the popular girl having a crush on the nerdy boy in her math class – but you just can’t help who you like. Of course, you’d liked Ryan ever since middle school – the time when no one even so much as bothered to learn your name. 

You didn’t know what happened between 8th grade and now, but you’d gradually become part of the popular crowd in high school. Apparently, you just happened to befriend the right people when you were a freshman, and they just naturally accepted you as one of the popular girls – not that you fit that title at all.

The popular girls in your school were generally very nice, but a few of them – the few you happened to be friends with – weren’t. You simply elected to ignore it, however – you’d been a nobody for so long, and you definitely didn’t want to go back to that in your last few months of school.  

Anyway, back to the dance.

You were sitting at one of the tables near the refreshments, your finger tracing the rim of the empty cup beside you. You hadn’t done much dancing – only going up when your two friends forced you because they knew the songs were some of your favorites. But after that, you went back to your table, silently people-watching. You let out a quiet sigh when a slow song began playing, and when someone approached you halfway through the second verse, you were a bit surprised to say the least.  

“Hi, Y/N,” you heard someone say shyly, making you look up. Ryan was standing in front of you, his hands in front of his stomach as he played with his fingers. “Do you… Would you like to dance?”

“Why aren’t you dancing with your date?” you asked softly.

“She didn’t show,” he murmured, “Should’ve seen it coming, I guess. She left a note in my locker asking me to the dance. I should’ve known it was a prank.” You instantly felt bad for him, but you’d be lying if you said you were happy now that you got to spend time with him.

You stood up suddenly, causing Ryan to jump a bit. You grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the dance floor. People were staring – with you being considered one of the popular girls and Ryan being the nerd everyone picked on – obviously wondering why you would be on the dance floor together. You took his other hand in yours as well and had him wrap his arms around your waist, then moved your arms to his neck. Everyone was whispering and it was clear that it was making Ryan embarrassed.

“You don’t have to dance with me,” you stated, surprising him. His attention was back on you as he tilted his head, wondering what made you say that. “You’re not comfortable with the kind of attention these people think is okay to give you,” you whispered, “And it’s just going to get worse the longer you stay here, so it’s okay if you want to go. I’ll understand.”

“Y/N, I-” Ryan was cut off by the song ending and your friends coming over.

“You two look cozy,” Karina snorted. Your eyes never left Ryan’s tie, your face clearly showing him how much you didn’t want the two girls there.

“So, nerd,” Mariah said plainly, “Heard your date didn’t show. I can’t imagine how embarrassing that must be to wait for a girl who was never coming.” Your eyebrows furrowed together and Ryan raised his at you, seeing you were thinking about something.

You thought back to what Ryan had told you earlier – about how someone left a note in his locker asking him to come tonight. You didn’t want to believe your friends would do that, but the condescending tone of her voice gave you all you needed.

“Why did you do that?” you asked bluntly, letting go of Ryan so you could look at your so-called friends.

“What are you talking about?” Mariah scoffed.

“You left that note in his locker about the dance!” you accused, everyone around you turning to look at you as your voice got louder.

“Well, it certainly wasn’t you,” Karina laughed bitterly, “You’re never interested in having any fun.”

“Having fun doesn’t mean you have to be a bitch to other people!” Everyone’s eyes widened as soon as the insult left your mouth.

Before either girl could react, Ryan grabbed your hand and pulled you out of the gym. He took you outside to let you calm down, but you obviously weren’t going to.

“Ryan, I… I am so sorry,” you shook your head, “I can’t believe they… That was so wrong! Why… I’m so-”

“Y/N!” he said loudly, grabbing your cheeks and tilting your head up so you would look at him. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” he assured you, “You didn’t do that; They did. You played no part in trying to make me look like an idiot in front of everyone.”

“Try?” you replied, “Ry, you waited for someone for-”

“10 minutes,” he told you. You hummed in confusion and he smiled at you. “I waited 10 minutes,” he told you, “Sure, that’s 10 minutes more than I should have waited, but it was still only 10 minutes. I’m not an idiot, Y/N, and no one can make me something I’m not.” He began stroking your cheekbones with his thumbs, making you breathe a sigh of content. “But how much of an idiot can I really be when I got to dance with the prettiest girl in school?” he commented. You instantly blushed a bright shade of red, causing him to chuckle quietly. “What do you say we ditch this dance and go do something else?” he suggested.

“Like a date?” you asked, your voice barely giving you enough volume.

“Yeah,” he smiled softly, “Like a date.” You nodded slowly, a small smile pulling at your own mouth.

“I would like that,” you said.

“Here,” he said, shrugging off his suit jacket and draping it on your shoulders, “I’ll take you home so you can put on something warmer and more comfortable.”

“Thank you,” you sighed happily, making him laugh again as he led you outside to where his car was parked.

Ryan took you home, waiting in the living room with your mom as you quickly changed into a pair of jeans, your favorite shirt, your boots, and threw a jacket and beanie on. You looked at yourself in the mirror one last time before going back out, hearing your mom and Ryan making small talk. 

 He smiled at you when you emerged from the hallway, telling your mother that it was nice to meet her as you made your way over. You kissed your mom’s cheek and she told you not to be home too late before you and Ryan went back outside.

He told you he wanted to stop by his own house and change as well and you nodded. You took your turn with small talk with his parents while he was upstairs. He took a bit longer than you did, but when he came out from the hall, you could see why. He had on jeans, a band tee, Converse, and his favorite jacket, and he’d also switched from the contacts he put in before the dance to the glasses he wore every day to school. 

You gave his parents the similar ‘it was nice to meet you’ speech that Ryan had given your mom, and his mother had told him not to keep you out too late. You smiled as Ryan put his hand on your back, quickly ushering you out of the house before she could embarrass him further.

“Sorry about that,” he cleared his throat, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, “My parents aren’t really used to me bringing girls over.”

“I hope she doesn’t get too used to it,” you said softly. Ryan blushed at the idea of you being the only girl he ever brought home, but quickly shook it off, convincing himself that that wasn’t what you meant.

“Sorry I took so long,” he said as you both got back into the car and he started driving, “I don’t wear contacts too often, so they were starting to hurt my eyes.”

“It’s okay,” you assured him, “I like your glasses.” Ryan swallowed thickly, thanking you quietly. You looked over at him and noticed he was blushing, making you smile. “So,” you said, snapping him out of his thoughts, “What are we doing?”

“Oh, I… Uh… Maybe a movie?” he shrugged, “I didn’t think you’d actually agree to go out with me, to be honest, so I didn’t exactly plan that far ahead…”

“Why wouldn’t I agree?” you furrowed your eyebrows.

“I just… You know… You’re really popular and I… I’m the kid with no friends that everyone picks on… I didn’t think you’d want to be seen with me like that…”

“Ry-” The nickname kind of just came out, making Ryan blush yet again. “-Anyone would be stupid not to want to go out with you,” you told him, “Who cares if you’re really smart? At least you won’t be held back another year like half of the class.” He couldn’t help but chuckle, making you smile as you continued rambling. “And you’re really cute, you know,” you informed him, “I like catching you concentrating on a science test because you do this thing where, when you’re thinking, you accidentally bite your lip too hard and it makes you jump.”

“You notice that?” he frowned and you giggled.

“It’s cute!” you told him.

“Well, you know what I like about you?” he said. You hummed in response, prompting him to go on. “You’re in the popular crowd, but you don’t act like them at all,” he shook his head, “You’re really nice and you don’t let your friends treat other people like crap and your grades are almost as good as mine.” You looked over at him again to find he had a small smirk on his face, making you laugh and smack his knee playfully. “Hey,” he pouted, “It’s not nice to hit.”

Ryan took your hand and moved it back to your lap, but when he went to take his arm back, you grabbed his hand. You held his hand on your thigh, your fingers playing with his, as he stopped at a red light and looked at you. You had a small smile on your face as you looked down at your hand in his. 

His eyes followed your gaze and he found himself looking at your hands the same way, thinking he could really get used to holding your hand. But he noticed the light turn green again out of the corner of his eye, so he had to look away and start driving again.

“Are there any movies you’ve been wanting to see?” he asked you. You thought for a moment before grinning.

“Finding Dory,” you giggled.

“Really?” he grinned slyly, a joking tone in his voice. You simply nodded and he continued, “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see it too.”

“Oh God, you really are a nerd,” you teased. He pulled into the parking lot of the movie theater, parked his car, and turned to you.

“Well, I hate to break it to you, princess,” Ryan said, lifting your hand up to his lips and kissing your knuckles, “But it looks like you’re as much of a nerd as I am.”

❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀

master list / master list for mobile users

you can also check out my last imagine here, my to do list to see what’s coming up, and click here to go to the page for my calum fic :)

Other nerd AUs: Calum / Luke / Michael / Calum / Marshall / Ryan / Michael / Ashton / Michael / Jamie / Luke / Michael

Other school dance AUs: Ryan / Nash / Ryan / Cody / Zach / Michael / Michael / Marshall / Ryan / Calum / Ashton / Cody / Cody / Calum / Michael

“Okay, now kind of explain the backstory about her.”

“Her name is Y/N,” Ryan started, “We met on the first day of kindergarten in like, 1992, so that gives you a little indication as to how old I’m feeling right now.” He laughed lightly before continuing. “I very distinctly remember sitting on this rug that had the alphabet on it, playing with some blocks before class actually started, and a woman had come in with this really cute girl. She was crying, you know, not wanting her mom to leave, and our teacher went over to try and get her to come in, but she wouldn’t do it. So me being me, I decided to get up and walk to the door, and l just looked at this girl. Our teacher told me to go back to playing, but I think, in my mind, I was thinking ‘not without her’. So I held my hand out and said ‘you can come play blocks with me if you want’ and as she was sniffling, her mom urged her to come with me, so she wiped her eyes and nodded. Her mom kissed her goodbye, saying she’d be back in a couple hours, and the girl took my hand and we played with blocks for like, 10 minutes until class started.”

“How long has it been since you’ve seen her?”

“Well,  I moved to a different state the summer before we started middle school, so I haven’t seen her in almost…20 years now, I’d say,” Ryan said.

“You ready to Skype her?”

“As ready as I’m ever going to be,” he laughed.

Kayla hit the call button and placed the laptop on the table in front of Ryan. He took deep breaths as he waited for you to answer – you were obviously asked about this video shoot at the same time as Ryan, so you knew what was going on – and the moment you popped up on the screen, Ryan actually lost his breath.

“Ry!” you smiled brightly, your hands covering your mouth, “Oh my God, I haven’t seen you in so long! I think I’m gonna cry!”

“It’ll be like kindergarten all over again,” he smirked slightly.

“Shut up!” you laughed.

“Hey, you were the one attached to me that entire first week of school!” he grinned.

“And for some reason, you didn’t tell me to leave you alone,” you winked, making him chuckle.

“I’d never tell my favorite girl to leave me alone.”

“I’m still your favorite girl?” you teased.

“Always will be,” Ryan smiled, “So you already know what this video is about, right?” You nodded and he went on, “Did you ever know I had a crush on you?”

“I think remembering all the stuff we did and how you didn’t even care that I was pretty much attached to you for a  while, looking back on it now, it’s like, ‘Oh wow, he totally had a crush on me’, but at the time, I honestly don’t think I had any idea. Because, you know, that was back when girls were told that if a boy is mean to you, he likes you, and you were never mean to me, so I always just assumed you didn’t like like me. What about you? Did you know I had a crush on you?”

“You had a crush on me?” his eyes widened, making you laugh loudly.

“Well, there’s that answer,” you shook your head.

“Man, Y/N, we could have been each other’s first boyfriend and girlfriend, first kiss, first breakup…” Ryan sighed dramatically.

“When time travel is possible, we should definitely go back and make sure that happens,” you teased, sticking your tongue out at him. Kayla interrupted for a moment, telling Ryan it was time to wrap up the conversation.

“Kayla says I have to stop talking to you now,” Ryan pouted, causing his co-worker to roll her eyes and smile.

“Probably just jealous she’s not on this level of reminiscence right now,” you snickered, hearing the girl laugh in the background.  

“So I have one more question before we end this,” Ryan cleared his throat, “Would you be surprised if I said I still kind of have a crush on you?”

“I wouldn’t blame you,” you shrugged, “Puberty was so good to me.” He rolled his eyes at the comment but laughed along with you. “You know, I’m actually flying out to LA soon for a job interview…” you remarked, “We should hang out or something…”

“Yeah!” he practically shouted, “If you need someone to get you from the airport, just call me and I’ll be there.”

“Thanks, Ry,” you giggled, “I’ll let you know. Well, it was nice seeing you again. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, Y/N,” he replied a bit quieter than he’d been talking that whole time. You both waved goodbye and he watched you disappear from the screen. He stared at it for a moment with a silly grin on his face until Kayla’s voice brought him back to reality.

“How you feeling after that?” she asked him, beginning to close out the video.

“She’s just as beautiful as I remember,” Ryan smiled.

“If you guys get married, I expect to be the first to receive an invitation since this video was my idea.”

Ryan simply laughed, rolling his eyes as he got up from his seat. The person working the camera turned it off, letting Kayla take the memory card so she could return to her desk and begin editing.

Throughout the rest of the day, Ryan wore that same silly grin, confident that everything with you was going to work out.

❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀

other parts: one / two

master list / master list for mobile users

you can also check out my last imagine here, my to do list to see what’s coming up, and click here to go to the page for my calum fic :)

Other BuzzFeed AUs: Luke / Ryan / Calum / Ashton / Michael / Marshall