Disclaimer: I do not own House of Anubis or any of the characters related to it.

Present time

Patricia

Ryan picked me up at 10am.

We went to a coffee shop a few miles from my house, then for a walk on the beach, just like he'd said we would. I was wearing a thick leather jacket, some dark red gloves and a big, white scarf around my neck. Even though it was March now, it was still cold out.

Ryan slipped his hand in to mine as we walked along, and I looked up at him, smiling. I wasn't quite used to how easy it was with him. I didn't realise it could be that easy with a boy.

We went to a café for lunch at 1 O'clock, and everything was great.

"So what was Jerome like at the school you went to?" Ryan asked, sipping his drink.

"He was a nightmare," I said, "seriously. And somehow Joy fell for him. Actually, lots of girls fell for him... I even went on a date with him once."

Ryan nearly choked on his drink, and he looked at me with his eyes wide, laughing a little. "What? You and Jerome!?... No way!"

"Yeah," I laughed. "But it wasn't a real date."

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean, I only asked him on a date to make someone jealous and he only said yes to try and prove a point to someone."

"…Right…"

"I know, it's weird. But we were young."

"How old?"

"Seventeen. Nearly eighteen."

"So… who was this guy you were trying to make jealous?" Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow playfully.

I laughed nervously and swirled the straw of my milkshake around in the glass. "Just this guy I used to date, but… it didn't work out. We broke up 18 months ago."

"Oh," he said, "OK. Well, whoever he is, he's gotta be an idiot for letting you go that easily."

I smiled a little and looked down at the table. Yeah, Eddie was an idiot. He'd been a big one back at university.
But, looking back, I'd been one too.

We went to the park as well – it was completely deserted – and sat on the swings, gently swinging back and forth a tiny bit with our feet still on the ground.
"You're different to other girls," Ryan said randomly.

I laughed. "So I've been told,"

"Seriously," Ryan laughed too, a tiny bit of black hair falling in to his eyes. I smiled at him as he stared ahead. "You're… interesting."

"Interesting? Wow, you sure know how to charm a girl…"

"No," he turned to me now, and he was grinning. "You know what I mean. You're different, and I like it. You wouldn't take any crap from anyone, you know?"

"Oh, I know…"

"…And you're just yourself all the time. You weren't bothered about trying to impress me. Most girls, they just pretend to be something they're not. But not you; you're different."

"I guess I just decided to be my own person a while back, and… it's been good for me."

"I like it," Ryan said honestly, shrugging lightly. "A lot."

"A lot?"

Ryan nodded, and I smiled at him. And I knew in that moment that I had to see him again; I didn't want to leave things with him just yet. He was good; he was nice to me. He was cute, and funny, and just what I needed.

"You know," Ryan started, putting his hand in mine as we walked along the pavement. "Today has been so much fun, and I don't really want it to end yet."

"Me neither."

"We could go to a restaurant for dinner?"

"I don't do restaurants."

"What?" Ryan asked, looking down at me and grinning. "Why not?"

I shrugged. "Never have done, never will. They're too posh, and there are too many rules about where your elbows can go and how much food you can put in your mouth at once."

Ryan laughed. "This is what I love about you, Trix," he said, "you're really not like other girls."

"You got that right."

Smirking, he moved his hand from mine and put his arm around my shoulder, gently pulling me in to him. He smelled good, like a cross between clean clothes and boy's cologne.

/\o\/o/\

Everything was great with Ryan all day, and when I eventually got home it was 8 O'clock. How had the day gone so quickly?

"I'll see you soon?" Ryan asked, stopping by my door and taking a hold of my hands.

I nodded, completely sincere, and smiled when he leaned in to kiss me. He was an amazing kisser.

And when he pulled away, I was sure I'd made my decision.

"I think I'm falling for you, Patricia…"

I think I'm falling for you, Yacker.

I bit my lip, trying to smile.

"I know we've only been on two dates, so we're technically only dating, but…," Ryan came closer and held my hands. "I… do you… do you wanna make it official? You know, like… official, official?"

I bit my lip for another moment. It took my by surprise, I'll admit that.
But what took me by surprise even more was what I said next.

"I'd like that."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Ryan grinned, and leaned forward to kiss me just once. "I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah… definitely."

And when he kissed me again, I held on for just that little bit longer because it was easy being with him. Just so, so much easier than anything I was used to. I felt perfectly fine with him.

Ryan.

A month later

Eddie

Four weeks after I spent the night at Patricia's, and I still hadn't heard from her. I took it as my cue to move on.

Patricia

Four weeks with Ryan and I hadn't thought about Eddie once. Not once.

It was such a nice change, because for the past 18 months, all I'd been able to think about was Eddie. But then Ryan came along, and wiped all that away.

I saw him almost everyday for a week; some of the time we went out, but mostly we just chilled at either one of our apartments.
His place was nice, and quite big, and clean. He lived with one of his band mates, but he was always out, so it was mostly just the two of us. Just how I liked it.

And when we did go out, Ryan always came up with the most random suggestions (although it was never a restaurant.)

"Let's go to the zoo! I wanna see the gorillas!" He'd grinned one morning.
"I know… let's go roller skating!"
"Oh my gosh. Patricia, I have the best idea ever. We have to go swimming at that new pool today; there's an awesome slide and everything."

Sometimes he was like a little kid. And I loved that; it made me feel like my life wasn't such a mess, and like it wasn't the end of the world if I didn't have a job that I loved, or if I didn't have much money. Other things in life could make me happy; like the zoo, roller skating, a certain boy…

A/N: I'M SORRY. Please don't hate me for breaking poor Peddie up... I'm just really sorry!
Apart from that, I really hope you liked this chapter:') Please review, I would love some feedback for this chapter. Hopefully the next will be up soon! Sorry this one took me a while.

Love you guys, thank you for reading.

I'm still working on those prompts for Everything We Are! :)

Love :* xxx