"L A B E L S"

Episode 78

Dani wakes up feeling nothing but complete exhaustion running through every part of her body. She slowly stands up and looks at herself in the mirror. She can't help but notice the bags under her eyes and the new found bruise on her shoulder. She lightly touches it with her fingers and sighs with a lack of surprise, knowing it's one of many. She gets dressed rather slowly and walks downstairs an hour later still feeling sick and lazy. She slowly makes her way over to the kitchen table and sits down across from her dad, pouring herself a bowl of cereal.

Mr. Landon lowers his newspaper and looks across the table at Dani. "Someone looks a little less than wide awake."

She shrugs and gives her dad a small smile. "I'm awake enough." She takes a bite of her cereal just as a horn blares outside. She stands up and tosses her bag over her shoulder.

"I want to meet this new boy of yours soon, understand?" Mr. Landon gives his daughter a stern look that in turn only causes her to smirk in amusement.

She nods while wiping off the milk she accidentally spilled down her blouse. She smiles at her dad and walks over, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Promise." She turns and walks towards the front door, closing it behind her. She walks down the path to Nick's car and gets in the passenger seat.

He looks over at her with his sunglasses on and smiles. "Hey."

She shows a small smile. "Hey."

"Ready to go?"

She nods and sighs, looking at him with a fake smile. "So, how was the dinner with your dad last night?"

He continues starring out the windshield and answers her question. "Well, for starters; it wasn't a dinner with my dad. It was a dinner with my dad, his new girlfriend and her daughter."

She gives him a sympathetic expression. "Bad?"

He looks over at her with a smirk. "Strange."

"Strange why?"

"Taylor's mom is my dad's new girlfriend."

Her eyes widen in surprise and she knows if their had been milk in her mouth, it would have come out her nose. She turns to face him and leans forward with her mouth slightly open. "Taylor? As in...Alison?"

He nods and faces forward as she shakes her head and mumbles under her breath, "that girl just shows up everywhere, doesn't she?"

He doesn't catch what she said and glances over at her. "What?"

She shakes her head. "Nothing. So...is it serious? I mean your dad and her mom?" 

"Things are never serious when it comes to my dad and dating. He's had like eight girlfriends and that's just in the last two months." He snickers.

She smirks at him and slowly faces forward, unable to pass up a good smart ass remark. "Ah...so it's genetic."

He turns to her with surprise. "Hey! I dated Taylor for almost three years!"

She gives him a look of disbelief. "It was barely two and you guys broke up like once every week. And almost every time you did, you had another girlfriend within the hour." He turns back to the road, unable to deny her comment. She smirks, pleased with herself and faces forward just as an unbearable pain shoots through her head. She leans forward with a small groan and cradles her head in the palm of her hands.

Nick looks over at her in concern and takes a hand off the steering wheel to put on her back. "Hey, are you okay?" She stays in her position for a few more seconds until the headache passes before slowly lifting her head and nodding. "What's wrong?"