We're Not Friends || Raura

25

"Tell me the moment you realized you liked me." Ross says softly. She thinks for a moment.

"When we were teenagers or now?" She asks.

"Both." He replies.

"Okay..." She trails off. "I can't remember the exact moment I realized I liked you when we were teenagers. I just remember always feeling warm and fuzzy when you were around." Ross frowns.

"That's a cheap answer." She laughs softly. "Come on, there's gotta be a moment. You already know when I realized I liked you." She smiles at the memory.

"Okay okay." She whispers. "First day back for season two." She admits. "We weren't really doing anything, we were just sitting in your dressing room waiting for scripts to be handed out. We hadn't seen each other for a month, I think you were in Colorado or somewhere for awhile. And I just remember not being able to keep my eyes off of you. I know I blamed it on the fact that I missed you, but later that night I realized that I might have the slightest bit of feelings for you." She explains. He kisses her head.

"I can't wait to take you to Colorado. You're gonna love the cabin." She smiles.

"Can we go when it's snowing?" She asks him.

"That's the best time to go. The small lake nearby is frozen and we have a huge hockey game with our family and friends. We walk around the small town at the bottom of the mountain and eat a good meal, too. Mamoo just loved having us all under one roof." She kisses his neck softly for a second. She's heard many stories about Ross' family cabin adventures. She's seen so many pictures and videos, too. Actually being able to go out there and see it excites her.

"That sounds so fun." They're silent again.

"When did you realize you liked me now?" She scrunches up her nose. "I can feel that." He mumbles. She sighs.

"Bowling." He furrows his eyebrows.

"When we went bowling?" He asks. She nods. "The night we had sex for the first time?" She nods her head again. He thinks back to that night for a moment. Honestly, he didn't notice her behavior being off (as in she wasn't more touchy or anything to indicate a shift in feelings). "Then why were you so worried about our friendship changing? Why did you agree there were no feelings involved?"

"Because I was panicking." She admits. "I was feeling all these... these feelings that were familiar but also kinda not, and I really really wanted to keep you in my life the way we were. I was afraid you didn't like me back and then our friendship that I absolutely love and need in my like would be ruined so I decided that I'd rather hide those feelings than announce them and possibly lose you." Her words were kinda a jumbled mess, but she couldn't help it. She's nervous. She didn't think she'd ever have to share this with him.

"So the second time we had sex..." He trails off.

"Yup, feelings were there for me." She whispers. "I was just too terrified to voice them again."

"Okay... so you were terrified of me not liking you back, but when I told you I liked you back you freaked out even more. Why?"

"Because I never thought you'd like me back. I wasn't prepared for it. I didn't think it through. And I truly didn't want to ruin our friendship." She explains. They're quiet again as Ross takes in this information. He tickles her back gently with his fingertips through her shirt. "When did you realize you liked me now?" She whispers.

"Didn't I already tell you this?" He asks. "It was when my brothers came up."

"I don't remember."

"Oh." He lifts her shirt up on her back and be traced his fingertips on her bare skin. "A few days before you found out that I liked you, they were asking questions about why we had sex." He starts. "I told them it was only because we had needs and shit. But they kept saying that that was bullshit and they see how we act around each other and look at each other that there was definitely more than horny adult needs in the mix. I kept brushing them off but when I went to bed that night... I couldn't stop looking at you. I realized that there was definitely more to it than our horniness." He takes a deep breath. "I think the moment my feelings changed might have been the bowling night, too. They changed the second I went back to your door to kiss you." He can't see it, but Laura has a huge smile on her face. "I just didn't want to believe it because of what happened in the past."

"So we actually started liking each other at the same time this time around?" She questions. "Damn, that's growth, don't you think?" He chuckles.

"Sure." Once again, silence over takes them.

The Next Day
Sunday
October 9th, 2022

"Hey." Laura looks up from laptop and over at Ross. He took his headphones off one ear. "I have an idea that I want to share with you." She raises her eyebrows at him, a little bit intrigued. "I wrap up a few days earlier than you do," He starts. Laura slowly nods her head. Ross' final filming date is this month on the 28th, which is a Friday. Halloween is on Monday, so for the CAOS cast and crew decided on making their wrap up party on Halloween and to go all out with costumes. Laura wraps up on the 4th, with their wrap party being on the 6th. Ross may as well stay until then so they could go home together. "and I know we talked about me staying here until you're ready to go home, that way we could go home together." Again, she slowly nods her head. "But I was thinking that we could road trip back to L.A. instead of flying."

"Oh." Laura says, taking in his proposal.  Road trip? With Ross? Sounds exciting to her.

"I figure we'd fly into Seattle so we can skip the boarder traffic and international car rental." He tells her. "And my dad is actually flying into Seattle on the day I'd want to leave so we could meet him for lunch at the airport." He shrugs. "Figured we'd take a week or two and explore throughout Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. Two weeks would allow for more stops, but I don't know if you had plans or not for when you got home." She smiles.

"A road trip sounds really fun, Ross." He smiles back at her. "My only plans were to be with my family, but that can be pushed back a couple more weeks." She shrugs. "Do you have places in mind you want to visit?" She asks.

"Um, a couple throughout Oregon, yeah. I want to spend a day in Portland and there's this cool water area in Cape Perpetua that they call Thor's Well. There's a cool hiking trail there, too." He explains. "I also think spending time in Napa Valley for a couple days would be nice. Maybe Malibu, too. I know we could always do those for just a weekend trip when we have free time in L.A., but since we're taking the two weeks for a road trip it wouldn't hurt."

"Okay, we should probably make a solid list soon so we can book hotels in the areas. Think we could have a solid list done by Tuesday or Wednesday? I'm off set early those days." Ross thinks for a moment.

"I think I film late Tuesday, so meet up Wednesday after filming and do all the shit. We can do the hotels over the weekend." Ross was getting even more excited than he already was. Everything about this trip is exciting him. Being alone? Always a positive. Sight seeing? A bonus when you have a pretty girl to take pictures of in front of the sights. Being in a car for hours and jamming to music or talking? Exciting and thrilling. Making memories? Growing closer? Everything about this trip screams fun and exciting to both Ross and Laura.

"Sounds good." She shrugs. Ross looks down at his phone as it vibrates with a text.

"Ah shit, I gotta go FaceTime Rocky now and figure some shit out." He stands up from the table and grabs his laptop. "I'll come back up when I'm done." Before he walks to the door, he leans down and kisses Laura's lips. "See you in a bit." He ruffles her hair before leaving her alone.

• this chapter is definitely an adorable and fluffy chapter that i absolutely loved writing. i hope you loved this chapter too <3 please vote, comment something, and follow me! •

p.s. there is about five or six chapters left until we say goodbye to wnf 💔