"𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫."
•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚༺♥༻˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙

THE RIDE BACK TO THE CAPULETUE HOUSE was suspiciously silent to Robby. The once happy girl who would be smiling with every opportunity she could find was now dangerously quiet, making Robby worry for the girl.

Her leg was incessantly bouncing up and down, her rainbow checkerboard Vans were starting to crease with her foot bending on the floor of the car. Robby knew something was surely clouding her mind and her leg was starting to worry him, so he gently put one hand on the steering wheel, while the other found Lanie's thigh.

Robby placed his hand modestly on her thigh, sending frigid shivers down her spine, making her shaking leg instantly stop. It wasn't an uncomfortable shiver, but more of a comforting one, the kind where you wish it could stay there forever.

"Lanie, are you okay? You seem anxious," Robby said, careful to try not to pry out of Lanie's comfort zone. Lanie recomposed herself and put a hand on top of Robby's so now both of the teenagers were flustered by each other's touch.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me," Lanie said quietly, trying to convince Robby, but he wasn't buying it. Robby knew there was something going on in her home and that's why he wanted to drive Lanie back to her house, to see what her home life was like for himself hoping he could do something to help her.

"Lanie, I'm always going to worry about you, but also know that I will be by your side no matter what." Robby gently lifted his hand from Lanie's thigh and gently caressed her hand, placing a gentle kiss on the top of it, Lanie's cheeks flushing instantly from his flattering gesture.

Soon after, the two teenagers arrived back at Lanie's house. Lanie said goodbye to the boy and shakily closed Robby's car door before walking up to the front entrance of her house. She heard the car engine stop and the sounds of keys clattering made the girl furrow her eyebrows in confusion.

"Robby, what are you doing?"

Robby gave her a look as if it was obvious. "Walking you to your door. I'm not going to let you walk alone even if it's your house. You never know what can happen."

Lanie just stared at Robby in awe. The way he was treating her was definitely something new to her and she felt grateful to have someone like him in her life.

Robby smiled and walked beside Lanie as they walked towards the front entrance of her house, and before Lanie could even reach for her keys, the door swung open, revealing a very angry Henry Capuletue.

"Lanie, you are going to re—oh, who's this?" Henry's furious demeanor was replaced by a faux nice one when he saw that Lanie wasn't alone. Robby kept his fake smile on as well, already not liking the man because of the tone he used on Lanie.

"I'm Robby Keene. It's nice to meet you, sir." Robby's arm slithered around Lanie's waist, pulling her to his body, not wanting Henry to get any closer to her.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you, I'm Henry, Lanie's dad." Lanie cringed when Henry used the word 'dad' considering he was barely a father figure to her. At least not anymore. "Would you like to come inside, Robby?"

At Henry's words, Lanie's eyes widened in fear and before Robby could accept the offer, she cut him off.

"No! It's okay, Dad. Robby has somewhere to go. Don't you?" Lanie turned to face Robby, a pleading look in her eyes telling him to leave, but the boy didn't listen and did the complete opposite of Lanie's thoughts.

"I would love to come in, thank you," Robby said with the same fake smile as earlier. Robby walked through the doorway, grabbing Lanie's hand along with his, wanting her to be at his side at all times. He wanted to be next to her as if he was the melted marshmallow and Lanie was the gram cracker to a s'more.

Lanie kept her gaze away from her father as she walked into her home. She knew the feeling behind her was the burrowing glare from Henry, but she kept her composure up.

"Wow, this is your home?" Robby asked, in awe of the large house.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a home," Lanie mumbled her thoughts aloud, completely oblivious that Robby heard her words clearly.

"So, Robby, how did you meet my daughter?" Henry sat on the black leather couch, both teenagers sitting on the opposite side of him.

" At an ice cream parlor. I saw Lanie walk in and it was like for the first time, an angel was in the same room as me." Lanie held her head down in embarrassment, not wanting to show her red cheeks.

"Aw, that's cute," Henry said in a monotone, his leg across the other. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and looked at Robby while tilting his head. Lanie and Robby were confused at his gesture at first until he spoke up.

"Robby, son, you seem like a nice kid and you're certainly handsome too. Could use a haircut, but why would a handsome boy like you be with someone like my daughter? You can obviously do better." At Henry's incredulous words, Robby's expression had a look of distaste on it.

Robby's hands were clenching into fists, mindlessly forgetting that Lanie's hand was attached to it. So when she let out a small yelp of pain, Robby instantly released the pressure and looked at her with his soft eyes and apologized.

"I'm sorry, love."

"Um, you should go Robby. Thank you for the ride back home, but you should leave now," Lanie said, standing up anxiously, desperately waiting for Robby to leave her house so he won't see what typically happens at home.

"Yeah, you should leave, son. I need to talk to my daughter in private."

"No, sir, I can't let you do that. First of all, you shouldn't be talking about your daughter like that and you're wrong about Lanie. I can't do better than her because I already know for sure she is the best person for me." Robby stood up from his seat, his anger rising drastically.

"Robby, come on, you can go home. Just let me talk to my dad—"

Lanie was abruptly cut off when Henry angrily gripped her wrist, a sharp cry of pain escaping her lips, which would surely leave another purple bruise later. By this action, Robby's suspicions were confirmed true and he was more than furious.

"Hey! Get the hell off of her!" Robby yelled. He didn't like the way Henry was touching her and he was enraged. He instantly got between Lanie and Henry, attempting to pry off the man's intense grip on her small wrist.

Once Henry's agonizing grip was released from Lanie's, Robby stood in front of the girl, attempting to use his body to shield her from the man.

"Don't you dare touch her again. If I see you place another hand on Lanie, I will be more than glad to go to jail and get my fists bloody if it means I know she will be safe from you," Robby threatened. Henry didn't say anything and Robby gently put an arm around Lanie's shoulder and took her outside the forbidden home.

When they got back inside the car, Robby drove off to god knows where and his nostrils were still flaring with anger. Lanie felt terrible, too many emotions coursing through her mind right now.

"How come you didn't tell me your parents were abusing you? I would've helped you know," Robby said in a soft tone, careful to not scare her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Robby," Lanie whispered, choking back on a sob. Robby noticed her cries and he instantly stopped the car, hitting the brakes a little harsher than intended.

"Lanie, look at me." Robby unbuckled his seatbelt so now he was fully facing her. He cupped her cheeks with his hands and their eyes met one another.

"None of this is your fault. Do not blame yourself except for that piece of shit back there. He doesn't deserve to be called 'dad' if he can't realize the amazing daughter he has." Lanie peeled away her vision from him, holding her head low, looking at the floor, but Robby lifted her cheeks up once again.

"Hey, don't look at the floor. Why are you looking at the floor? Look at me."

"Are you quoting Gally now?" Lanie asked, attempting to lighten up the mood. Robby let out a chuckle and little did the two teenagers know, their faces were nearly inches apart from one another, their lips practically brushing against each other. Before they could even touch lips, Lanie pulled away as Robby cleared his throat awkwardly.

✧༺♥༻∞

"Oh my god. 'Robert Swayze Keene?'" Lanie was looking at Robby's driver's license and couldn't help but tease him about his middle name.

"Yeah, my mom was a huge fan of Patrick Swayze. He was an actor in the 80s."

"Yeah, like we haven't seen Dirty Dancing like a million times," Sam added on, Lanie nodding in agreement. It has been nearly two days since Robby took Lanie away from the hellhole she calls home and honestly, she couldn't be happier with the friends and love she received from both Robby and the LaRusso's.

"Honestly, I liked him better in The Outsiders. He was my favorite character along with Johnny," Lanie said, completely in awe of the greaser boys.

"Really, Johnny? I think he kinda looks like my dad," Sam said while taking a bite of her french fry. Lanie scoffed in response with a stiffed laugh.

"What? Not even close. They look nothing alike." Lanie and Sam continued to ramble on about the boys from The Outsiders, while Robby stared back and forth between the girls, completely unknown of what they were talking about.

"I feel a little jealous that you're talking about another boy that's not me, Lanie," Robby said sarcastically, yet seriously, interrupting the girls from their conversation.

"Aw, don't worry Robby, you're the only man I need in my life," Lanie said in a joking manner, but Robby took this as a serious statement. He wanted to be the man in Lanie's life who she doesn't have to be afraid of and can tell him anything.

Lanie stood up to go to the bathroom and despite the protest of Robby going with her, since he didn't want her to go alone, she insisted that she would be fine and can defend herself if she had to.

Luckily the line to the bathroom wasn't terribly long, but when she went to walk back to the table, she accidentally bumped shoulders with someone, making them turn around cockily with an annoyed look on their face.

"Hey, watch where you're going— oh you're that pretty girl from Valley Fest." Lanie looked at him for a while until she saw the familiar red spikey mohawk and she remembered instantly who he was.

"Ah, you're that boy who winked at me. It was a bold move you know." Lanie walked away from the boy, but he was hot on her heels definitely not leaving her alone any time soon.

"I mean how could I not notice a pretty girl like you? The names Hawk by the way." Lanie raised an eyebrow at his name but nodded politely anyway. "Are you going to tell me your name?"

"Lanie. It was nice to meet you, Hawk." Before the boy could carry on the conversation, Lanie walked away quickly back to the table to see that Robby and Sam weren't there anymore. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and walked around the food court several times, but still no sight of them.

But the increasing sounds of people running made Lanie turn her head to see Demetri having a look of panic on his face, as he was being followed by other boys. Lanie recognized one of them to be Hawk and she shook her head incredulously.

One of the boys grabbed Demetri harshly from behind and this made Lanie's anger rise. "Hey! Dipshits, get your hands off of him." Lanie swooped in and roundhoused the two boys, while Demetri walked off to the side.

Lanie made eye contact with Hawk and she glared at the red-haired boy.

"I don't want to have to fight you, princess," Hawk said in a menacing, yet caring tone. Before Lanie could respond, she felt the familiar pair of hands grab her waist gently, whilst pulling her behind their body.

"You wouldn't stand a chance," Robby said, making sure Lanie was out of the red-haired boy's view.

Suddenly, a brawl escalated and Lanie was caught fighting two of the Cobra Kai boys but beating them instantly with her swift karate skills. Once she knocked down the boys, Lanie's eyes were met with Hawk's, and a sly smirk was plastered on his face.

"A worthy opponent. Want me to take it easy on you, princess?"

"Not if you keep calling me that," Lanie said while attempting to kick Hawk. He dodged it quickly and attempted to throw some punches at her, but Lanie deflected them off with more offense. Hawk was taken off guard by the sudden aggression and he staggered one of his moves, making him lose his focus.

Lanie kicked him harshly in the stomach, making the boy fall onto the floor with a groan, but his pain was replaced with a sly smile on his face as Hawk let out a chuckle.

"Wow, that was hot," Hawk said attempting to flirt with Lanie.

"Don't get used to it."

✧༺♥༻∞

"Wait, he said what now?" Robby and Lanie were currently making smores back at the LaRusso household and talking about the events that occurred earlier that day.

"Yeah, he called me princess. That boy certainly has some kind of confidence."

"Yeah, something all right," Robby mumbled annoyingly under his breath. Lanie looked at the boy weirdly until she figured out why he was acting like this. At first, she brushed it off, but now it was clear to her.

"Oh my god, Robby, are you jealous that another boy was flirting with me?" Lanie said with a teasing tone.

"W-What? No, I don't get jealous." Robby tried to mask his emotions but failed terribly as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Oh, stop it. It's adorable." Lanie and Robby shared a laugh before cooking marshmallows in the fireplace. The air was filled with comfortable silence until the sounds of a poor marshmallow caught on fire, being burned to death.

"Woah, Woah Woah." Both Lanie and Robby attempted to blow out the fire, their faces inches apart. Once the fire was completely extinguished, Robby's piercing green eyes were met with Lanie's brown ones, their bodies subconsciously getting closer to one another.

Their warm breaths were radiating off one another and before their lips could officially connect, Lanie backed away last second.

"I'm sorry Robby. It's just I've been going through a lot lately and I finally have this one good thing, and it's with you, but I don't want to do anything to mess it up. Not that you're messing it up, it's just—"

"No, Lanie I get it." Robby had a look of disappointment on his face but masked it with a smile. He understood where she came from and the last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable. "It's okay. I promise. Just know I won't be going anywhere and I will wait for you, no matter how long it takes."

Robby got up from his seat, as did Lanie and they shared a glance at each other before Robby opened out his arms and Lanie smiled before getting into his warm embrace. He gently stroked the back of her hair and gently placed a kiss on her cheek before walking back to his room.

"Goodnight, sweetheart. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Robby. I'll be looking forward to it."

they were this close—

but like hawk be a little too flirty with robby's girl tsk tsk tsk but hope you all enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for more hehe <3

VOTES AND COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED <3