Forced by Love

"Gosh, Riley! You're so irritating!" I exclaimed, slapping his shoulder. Riley chuckled.

I was currently in Riley's living room and he was bragging to all the guys about our date yesterday. It was starting to piss me off. I wanted so bad to slap him across the face to shut him up. But I couldn't do that, because he would make me organize his underwear by color or something since I hurt his pretty face.

I glared at him as he continued to tell almost every detail about our date. He already told them about our shared kisses at the restaurant and the pier. And the guys listened very intently like little boys who were being told a story about pirates. Hell, they were even sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of Riley. I just hoped he wouldn't mention the kiss we shared in the car. That one was the most embarrassing and intimate kiss we shared that night. I can't help, but blush when I think about our kisses.

Oh my gosh! What is happening to me?! Why am I feeling like this about Riley's kisses?!

I thought to myself, horrified. When Riley started his next sentence, I was pulled out of my thoughts.

"And then in the car-" Riley began before I clamped my hand shut over his mouth.

"That part isn't important!" I said quickly. Riley tried to say something, but I just clamped my hand down harder on his mouth. "That. Part. Isn't. Important." I said through gritted teeth, glaring at him. He nodded slowly as he understood that I meant 'Shut the fuck up, you dumb ass!' I hesitantly removed my hand from his face. I glared at him one last time before I turned to the guys with a bright smile.

"What happened in the car?" Chase asked.

"Uh..." I started, glancing at Riley. He shrugged and leaned back into the couch. "Nothing happened!" I exclaimed. The guys all looked at me in disbelief. I smiled at all of them, hoping they would believe me. But I knew deep down that they didn't. I thought about the kiss in the car.

Don't blush. Don't blush. Don't blush.

And then I blushed.

Fuck!

"I think we all know what happened in the already..." Derek trailed off with a wink. I blushed even redder.

"I didn't even need to say anything. You pretty much just told them yourself." Riley said. I glared at him.

"They so made-out." Roy said grinning.

"Gah! Shut up!" I said, burying my face in Riley's shoulder. Riley chuckled and pulled me closer to him. Then all the guys started to laugh at my embarrassment. "It's not funny!" I muttered, my face still covered.

"Yeah, it is." Riley disagreed. I groaned. He laughed again and wrapped both his arms around me. I looked up at Riley and he smiled warmly at me. It was an actual smile. I was expecting to see a smirk or a grin, but I got a smile instead. I definitely wasn't expecting a smile. I blushed and turned away. I turned to the guys and glared at them.

"You guys suck." I said, absentmindedly playing with the necklace that Riley got me. The guys didn't bother replying as they continued to laugh. I pouted as I leaned in closer to Riley. Before I could tell them how much I wanted to kick all their asses, my phone rang. I picked it up and brought it to my ear. "Hello?" I asked, not bothering to check the caller ID before I picked it up.

"Hey, Lacey. It's Katie." The person said.

"Oh hey, Katie. What's up?" I asked her. You couldn't have forgotten her, right? She's one of my friends that I introduced Riley and the guys to on their first day of school.

"Well, we were wondering if you wanted to hang out today." Katie explained.

"Who's 'we'?" I asked her.

"Me, Ivy and Eve." She said. "We're thinking of doing a girl's only hang-out thingy." Katie said with a laugh. I smiled to myself. "So you going?" She asked me.

"Uh..." I started. I looked up at Riley, silently asking if I could go. I knew he was listening to my conversation. He gave me a slight nod with a small smile. "Yeah, I'm going." I said into the phone.

"Okay, good." Katie replied. "We'll pick you up at your house in fifteen minutes."

"Sure. I'll see you soon. Bye!" I said.

"Bye!" Katie replied before she hung up.

"Thanks, Riley. I haven't spent a lot of time with my friends recently. I kind of miss them..." I trailed off with a small laugh. Riley laughed as well.

"No problem. I understand that you need to hang out with your friends. Without me." He said with a chuckle. I pulled down on his collar and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.

"Thank you again." I muttered before I quickly stood up and left his house.

**Riley's POV**

I leaned back more into the couch as Lacey left to go hang out with her friends.

"I'm surprised you let her go..." Derek said, standing up and leaning against the side of the couch.

"Why would you say that?" I said, somewhat defensively.

"I mean, you actually let her go hang out with her friends. Without you. You're so overprotective of her, I can't believe you didn't go with her." Derek explained. I nodded slowly.

"I understand what you're saying, I guess..." I muttered, rubbing my neck awkwardly.

"You really like her that much, don't you?" Scott asked me. I didn't reply to him. I didn't know what to say. I mean, I liked her. Actually, I liked her a lot. "You do, don't you?" He continued to press on. I slowly nodded as I took a small sip of my soda. From the corner of my eye, I saw all the guys start to grin.

"...Shut up..." I muttered, sinking deeper into the couch. And then they started to laugh at me. "Ugh..." I grunted.

**My POV**

"Can we stop now? my feet hurt and I'm hungry!" I whined.

"Gah! Fine!" Eve practically snapped at me. I pouted and led the way to the food court. I found an empty table and we all sat down.

"So..." Katie started as we settled in. "How's Riley?" She asked me with a wink. I choked on my own saliva.

"W-what?!" I asked her when I could speak again.

"Yeah, how is he?" Eve prodded.

"Uh..." I fidgeted. "Oh look! Food!" I suddenly said, getting up from my seat and making my way over to a random food place. I looked back behind me and saw them still sitting at the table. I sighed in relief.

I took my time getting my food, even letting a few people behind me cut in front of me. I was trying to delay my time as much as possible. It was inevitable though as I reached the register, paid, and got my food.

I sighed as I reached the table. I mentally prepared myself and sat down at the table.

"So..." Eve continued.

"Ugh..." I grunted. "He's doing okay, alright?"

"Hmm..." Both Eve and Katie hummed. I rolled my eyes as I dug my fork into my food.

"Speaking of boyfriends, how's Justin?" Katie asked Eve. Eve smiled widely.

"He's doing great! Our sixth month anniversary is coming up soon." Eve said.

"Really?" I said. "It's only been six months? It feel longer. Huh... Any plans for it?" I asked.

"Well, we were thinking of going out to eat at a nice restaurant, but that seems so plain. Got any suggestions?" She asked us.

"How about hanging out at your favorite amusement park? Or maybe the fair?" Katie suggested.

"We could do that..." Eve pondered.

"Why don't you just have a hang-out day with Justin?" Ivy said. "I mean, you could go to all your favorite hang-out places, and just make fun memories there. You could make your favorite hang-out places even better."

"That's actually a really good idea." Eve said. "Thanks, sis. That reminds me, isn't your two-year anniversary with Sean coming up soon too?"

"Yeah, it is."

"What do you plan on doing?" I asked.

"Well, Sean was thinking that we should take a trip up to the mountains and go snowboarding." Ivy explained.

"For a whole weekend?" Eve asked.

"Yeah." Ivy replied.

"Mom would never let you go. She won't let you spend an entire weekend alone with Sean up in the mountains." Eve retorted.

"Actually, I already asked her and she said I could go."

"What?!" Eve screeched. "She's letting you go?! She wouldn't let me go!"

"That's because I'm more mature than you and she trusts me."

"And she doesn't trust me?" Eve asked incredulously.

"Apparently not, since she wouldn't have let you go if it was you wanting to go." Ivy said. Eve pouted.

"Humph..." Eve grunted as she folded her arms over one another. "I'm gonna get food..." She muttered before getting up and walking away towards the food.

"Eh. She'll get over it." Ivy said, picking at a piece of lint on her jeans. Both Katie and I nodded. It was true though. Eve would get over it soon. And, of course, she did get over it, because she came back over to the table, acting as if nothing had happened. Ivy mouthed a 'See?' to us. Both Katie and I shrugged.

"So..." Eve started. "What were we talking about again?" She asked us. Ivy, Katie and I all looked at each other before bursting out into laughter. Eve looked at us in confusion. "Huh? What happened?"

**Riley's POV**

An hour or two after Lacey left for the mall, my mom came over. We started talking about how we were doing and other stuff like that.

"How's dad?" I asked her. She smiled brightly.

"He's doing great, son! He just sealed a really big deal, so he's just back at home finalizing things."

"So that's why he didn't visit me here..." I wondered out loud.

"He really wanted to come, but you know he's busy."

"I know."

"But he promised he would definitely come visit next time." She said with a smile.

I smiled back at her. "He better."

"Oh, by the way, where did your friends go?" My mom asked me.

"They went out to do the usual stuff; checking out girls and possibly hitting on them." I said with a shrug. My mom nodded.

"Oh, I see. That's good. And Lacey?"

"She's at the mall with her friends." I replied simply.

"I like her, you know that?" She asked. I smiled at her as I leaned further back into my chair.

"Yeah, I know. Me too." I replied with a smile.

**My POV**

When I got back from the mall, I texted Riley, saying I was home. I got a text back from him a few minutes later telling me he'll be right over after he says bye to his mom. I set my phone down on the dining table and then went upstairs to my room. I looked around my room and saw that it was messy. I might as well clean it up a bit since I had a few minutes to spare. Just I finished cleaning up the stuff on my floor, the doorbell rang. I closed my door as I left my room and went downstairs. I opened the front door and let Riley inside.

"How was the mall?" He asked me as he sat down on my couch.

"It was fun." I said with a smile.

"That's good." Riley replied.

Just as I was about to go sit on the couch with Riley, I heard my phone go off with a distinctive song.

"Oh! A text." I said out loud. "Hold on." I walked over to the dining table and grabbed my phone. I opened the message and groaned.

-Can you make dinner tonight? I'm too tired to make it myself.-

It was a text from my mom. I texted her back.

-What? What am I supposed to make? I can't cook!-

-I don't know. You figure it out yourself.-

I groaned again. "What's wrong?" Riley asked.

"Oh, um, I just have to cook dinner tonight. And..." I trailed off.

"And what?" He asked,

"I can't really cook..." I admitted sheepishly. Riley chuckled.

"I can cook dinner for you guys instead. If that's fine with you." He said with a smile. Riley could cook?!

"Yes! That's fine! Go right ahead!" I said eagerly. He laughed again.

"Okay, lead me to the kitchen!" Riley said with a small laugh. I led him to the kitchen and let him look through my fridge and freezer. "Hmm..." He pondered.

"You think you could make something with what's in here?" I asked, peeking over his shoulders to look in the fridge and freezer too.

"Do you have lemon and parmesan?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"Okay then. I can make something." He stated, grabbing something from the freezer.

"Really?!" I exclaimed.

"Yup. Do you think your mom would mind if I used this frozen salmon?" He asked me, holding up what he took from the freezer.

"No, I don't think she'd mind." I replied.

"Good." He said with a smile, glancing up at me. I noticed he seemed to be smiling more than smirking or grinning. I blushed as I made eye contact with him.

In about an hour, my mom came home and the food was done. It was done just in time too, because my mom said she was starving. Riley made baked salmon with lemon, parmesan, pepper and olive oil. Gosh, it looked delicious! While he cooked that, I made rice. I could at least do that.

When my mom first came home, she was so surprised by the delicious smell. Then when she found out that Riley cooked instead of me, the first thing she said was, "Oh! No wonder it smells so good in here! Riley made it! Not Lacey! That makes sense!" Yeah, thanks mom. Notice the sarcasm. Needless to say, Riley couldn't stop laughing after what my mom said.

"Anyways!" I said loudly, trying to get Riley to stop laughing. "Mom, you should go eat, okay?" I said to my mom. She nodded and went to get some food. I saw Riley look at the clock and then back at me.

"It's getting pretty late. I guess I should go home now..." Riley said, leaving the kitchen. I grabbed his arm before he could make it to the front door.

"Why don't you stay for dinner?" I asked him. "I mean, you did make it yourself. You should at least get to eat the food you made, right?"

He grinned at me before replying. "Okay."

Riley, my mom and I all sat down at the dining table with our food and had a nice dinner. Riley was such a gentleman to my mom. And I could tell my mom really liked him.

After dinner was over, I saw Riley off at the door. We both stood out on my porch, Riley gripping my hand slightly.

"You know," I started. "you just earned brownie points with my mom, because you cooked for us. And your food was really good too." I said with a smile. He smiled back at me.

"Good. So I already won over your mom and brother. Now, all I need to win over is your sisters and your friends." He said with a wink. I pushed him playfully, giggling slightly. After I stopped giggling like a little girl, Riley placed his hands on my cheeks. He gently kissed my forehead. This was the second time he had done this to me. And to be honest, I really liked it. "So, uh, listen..." He started when he pulled away. "Tomorrow is my mom's last day here before she flies back to Chicago and I'm gonna spend all tomorrow with her at the zoo. She really likes animals." He said with a laugh. "And I was wondering if you would like to come...?"

"Is it alright if I go? I mean, you're going to spend the day with your mom before she leaves and I don't want to be an... intruder." I said, trying to pick the right word.

"No, no, it's fine. She actually insisted that you go with us." Riley said. I looked at him in shock before replying.

"What? She did?" I said in disbelief.

"Yeah. I told you she likes you." He said with a smile.

"Well, um, if she insists that I go, then I guess I'll go." I said as I smiled back at him.

"Okay then. I'll pick you up tomorrow at ten, okay?"

"Yup." I replied. Riley kissed me quickly on the lips before saying bye and leaving. I leaned against my front door when he was out of sight.

So I already won over his mom. Who else do I have to win over?

I thought as I bit my lower lip involuntarily. I smiled at the thought of the rest of Riley's family liking me as well. Trying to get his family to like me wasn't the scary part though. The scary part was that I actually wanted to be liked by his family.