Crossed Paths // Ross Lynch

epilogue

T h r e e Y e a r s L a t e r

"Ross, for God's sake, just take hold of the box!" Chloe cried through her giggles.

Her hands were holding a rather heavy brown cardboard box which had been filled to the brim with her clothes. From the top of it peeked the sleeve of a pyjama t-shirt that had fallen out of the side, constantly swinging back and forth so that it occasionally brushed past Chloe's nose, making her screw it up so that lots of tiny little lines decorated the sides of the bridge of her nose.

She loved the smell of her clothes, loved the fresh smell of deodorant mixed with the lemon scented washing powder that her Aunt Steph always used, and then the aroma of Ross's scent because they were always snuggled up beside each other to the point where Chloe always smelled of his aftershave and there was always a little whiff of Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck perfume whenever Ross walked by someone.

"Can't you just carry it?" Ross huffed as he grabbed hold of the sides of the box.

He held on to them for only a couple of seconds before he let them go, making Chloe gasp in surprise and grip hold of the cardboard. It was so heavy that she felt like her legs were turning to jelly under the weight of it all and her knees were bucking under her body. She wanted to hand it over to Ross and make him carry it but she knew that he would just hand it back to her with a cheeky smirk and a glint of mischief in his brown eyes.

He had made constant excuses about carrying things, making sure that he took all the small boxes filled with weightless pieces while Chloe was left to carry boxes filled with clothes and things that seemed to weigh the weight of a small person. That was just how things worked in their relationship.

"No," Chloe said with a pout, sticking her lower lip out childishly.

She took one hand out from under the box and brushed a strand of brown hair out of her eyes before quickly grabbing the bottom of the box, her knees bending in an effort to keep herself from collapsing onto the ground due to the sheer weight of the box.

"Why not?" Ross asked.

"Because," Chloe said with a sigh as she tried her best to maintain her smile that was slowly slipping. She just wanted to go up the flight of stairs and open up the door to her apartment, drag the rest of the boxes in and then suddenly just see the new place.

After three years of living with her aunt and uncle, along with the Lynch family, she and Ross had saved up enough money to buy an apartment all of their own. The two had been wanting to move out for years - they both knew that having a place that belonged to just them would be brilliant for their relationship.

They truly could bond together without the constant distractions, they could do whatever they wanted to without being judged by anyone else, and there were no rules or regulations. The two of them were desperate to start a family of their own, desperate to have children or even just a life outside of her aunt and uncle's house. They were married and happy about it and had realized that if they wanted to have a proper adult life, they would have to move out and live their lives together with no one else.

"Because what?" Ross pressed, a smirk playing upon his lips so that the corners of his mouth twitched.

He was trying his best to hide the smile that he wanted to show, just because he loved to tease Chloe and make fun of her. It wasn't in a cruel way or a way that made her feel bad - she knew he was always joking.

"Because you're supposed to be helping me, silly!" Chloe cried.

She bent her head, resting it on the side of the cardboard box before she started to giggle, shaking her head in disbelief over the fact that Ross was always the one who tried to slip out and get all the easy jobs, but also the huge hilarity over the fact that he was complaining about a box full of clothes.