We're Not Friends | 22
One Week Later
Saturday
August 27th, 2022
Ross smiles at Laura as she walks through Jaz's apartment door. They haven't seen each other since this morning (it's past dinner time now). They both focused on themselves today. Ross spent most of his time on FaceTime with Rocky talking over their schedule for next week when Ross goes home. Ross has been at Jaz's (with the rest of his young cast mates excluding one or two) for a little over an hour. Laura's been on social media for hours. Her newest single dropped yesterday so she was just posting photos and stories of the charts and recent phone interviews-turned magazine articles. She was doing a mini Q&A on Twitter, too. She jsut ended that before heading to Jaz's.
"Aye, there she is!" Lachlan shouts. Laura smiles at them. She plops down in between Ross and Kiernan.
"How long has everyone been here?" She asks.
"A couple of hours. Ross just got here not that long ago." Kiernan tells her. "We we're waiting to start a movie until you were here." Jaz's dog, Zora, trots over and greets Laura.
"Aw, hi!" Laura scratches behind her ears for a moment. "Did you get stuff done?" She then asks, looking at Ross. He shrugs.
"As much as you can over FaceTime." He admits. "We locked in that photo shoot and interview with Cosmopolitan next week. And Rocky finished up a demo that I need to record vocals for. I think it might be our next single?" He questions. Laura furrows her eyebrows.
"I thought your next single was already recorded?" She asks him. Zora begins to trot away, leaving Laura with a frown.
"Uh, yeah I don't know what's going on with that. Rocky likes this one more. I guess we'll mess around with them next week and see." He shrugs. Laura nods. "How's the chart climber doing?" Her cheeks turn pink. Her single has been climbing the charts all day. Right now she's in the top 20 for the U.S. and top 50 worldwide. She's actually in top 5 for the U.K., which is mind blowing to her.
"Good. Happy." She tells him. "Your mom FaceTimed me earlier. Actually, I was on a three-way FaceTime with both our moms." He jerks his head back. "They're excited for us coming home again. I think they're planning a huge dinner."
"Damn. My mom tired calling earlier, but I didn't answer." He shrugs. "I read some of your articles. You're hot shit, you know that?" He teases. In all honesty, he's never been one to read articles on people. Let alone watch interviews. But he actually enjoyed reading about her and what she has to say.
"Okay, you can stop talking now." She mumbles, her face hot. He grins. He loves watching her get nervous. She rarely does. He turns from her and looks at his cast mates.
"Hey, have all of you streamed Laura's new single yet? She released it yesterday." Laura slaps Ross' arm.
"Dude!" She exclaims, her face getting even hotter.
"Duh, I listened yesterday and sent it to my mom." Kiernan says, causing Ross to chuckle.
"Shit, I didn't know you released a song!" Gavin whips out his phone. "Jaz, is your speaker on? We can blast it real fast." Laura's eyes widen.
"Oh gosh, please don't do that. You can listen to it later when I'm not in the room." Laura's not embarrassed of the song she wrote (well, maybe a little. The song is about Ross and when she had the demo of it, she showed it to him. He loved it), she's just embarrassed of the hype up. Mostly Ross' hype up. "What movie are you guys thinking of watching?" She asks.
"Wow, trying to change the subject?" Ross asks, nudging her side. She nudges him back but doesn't say a word.
"We haven't thought of any." Lachlan shrugs. "Wait, who's going home for Labor Day?" They ask. Even though they are in Canada and Canadians don't celebrate a U.S. holiday, production still gave everybody the entire week off. It's sort of a break, too. Laura even scored a week off, too. Only Ross and Gavin seem to be the ones going home for a week, well, and Laura. She just didn't announce it. "Well shit. When are your guys' flights?"
"Mines Friday night after filming." Gavin tells them.
"Uh..." Ross looks Laura. He honestly has no idea. Laura booked the flights. He knows they're staying an entire week, though. She playfully rolls her eyes and points between the two of them.
"We're leaving Saturday morning." She tells everyone.
"Shit, you got a week off, too?" Gavin asks.
"Yeah. Most of my cast mates are flying home." She shrugs. "I have a few music related things to handle." She as a couple of band meetings, along with a couple of rehearsals. She's playing on The Late Late Show with James Corden. She's not getting interviewed, though, just performing.
"She's playing The Late Late Show with James Corden that Thursday." Ross tells them.
"Holy shit." Jaz says, her eyes wide. "That's amazing." Laura smiles.
"Yeah, it's pretty cool. Hopefully performing on there will open up new doors for me. I really wanna go on more late night shows and actually be interviewed, too." She explains. "Are we ready for a movie yet?"
"Yes yes, we can find one now." Gavin says with a laugh. He grabs the remote. Laura leans back on the couch.
"Is it weird if I say I'm proud of you?" Ross quietly asks Laura as the group begins talking about what movies to watch.
"Proud of me for what?" She asks.
"Proud of your singles success. And just everything in general right now." She shrugs at his words. "I had nothing to do with any of it, but I still feel proud." He adds. "You're doing amazing things. And you're so sweet all the time. You don't let fame get to your head at all." She gives him a closed mouth smile.
"Thanks, Ross." She whispers.
"You're amazing." She closes her eyes for a moment.
"Keep sweet talking me and we'll have to leave." He raises his eyebrows.
"Is that a challenge? Because I'm so fucking down to leave and go to my apartment." She chuckles softly.
"No it's not a challenge. It's a stop talking request, sweetheart." She gently pats his thigh. He pouts.
"Well that's stupid." He mumbles, crossing his arms. She hums in response. It takes the group a little while before picking a movie. It's some comedy with Will Ferrell is in. Laura barely makes it a half hour in before her eyes grow heavy and her head starts falling to the side. Around the forty minute mark, her head is completely resting on Ross' shoulder. "Kiernan." Ross whispers. Kiernan sits forward a little bit to look at him. "Are her eyes closed?" He asks. She can't see his face, due to the fact her heads facing downwards, kinda falling off of his shoulder and into his chest. Kiernan squints and leans forward some more.
"I think so." She whispers. He rolls his eyes.
"Alright." Kiernan relaxes back in the couch and Ross focuses back on the movie.
• <3 <3 <3 •
"I think we're gonna head out." Ross announces as soon as the movie credits start rolling. Laura stayed asleep through the rest of the movie. Not gonna lie, it wasn't the most comfortable position for Ross to stay put in, but he really didn't want to wake her up. He knows she's been overwhelmed and crazy busy the last several days because of her single related work and just her normal filming schedule.
"Shit, has she been out the whole time?" Lachlan asks. Ross shakes his head.
"She made it a quarter of the way through the movie." He tells them. Slowly, Ross shifts around on the couch so Laura's head slides off his shoulder. He holds it up with one hand and uses the other to shake her shoulder. Gavin searches for another movie. "Laura." Ross says quietly. She moves around slightly, but her eyes stay closed. "Laura." He says louder. Her eyes flutter open.
"What?" She asks softly, lifting her head up off his hand.
"You fell asleep." She frowns. "We're heading home now." She takes a second to look around the room. Luckily, everybody is focused on what Gavin is choosing next, along with a little conversation happening.
"Oh." Is all she says. She quickly rubs her eyes. "Was the movie good?" Ross chuckles.
"Yeah. Now come on. Let's go back to my place and you can go back to bed." She nods her head. Ross is the first one on his feet. Laura just keeps staring off into space. She's definitely not fully awake. Ross holds both his hands out to her. "Come on." She grabs his hands and he pulls her to her feet. "Night, guys. See you later." Ross gives them a mini wave.
"Night." Laura says after they all say a chorus of goodnight. Laura wraps her arms around Ross and leans into his side for support. Chuckling, Ross wraps an arm around her shoulders and guides them to the door, down the hall, and into his apartment.
"Go get ready for bed, yeah?" Ross asks, closing his door behind him. "I need to shower real fast." Laura lazily nods and makes her way towards the bathroom. Ross makes sure to lock up his door before heading that way. Ross' shower is quick, he ends up not washing his hair. Although, the purpose of showering was to wash his hair, he doesn't like sleeping with wet hair. So, he'll just have to wash it in the morning. "What the, how are you still up?" Ross asks, walking into his room. Laura's laying in bed on his phone, scrolling through her Instagram comments liking and replying to some. She left her iPad at her place.
"I promised people I'd be replying to comments all day. It's been hours and I haven't been." Ross chuckles at her reasoning.
"I'm pretty sure you've done enough of that today, babe." He says, getting under the covers. Laura looks at him for a moment. Very rarely does Ross call her babe, or vice versa. He's maybe only done it twice before? And both times he's had a look of surprise on his face after saying. It's weird calling each other babe after ten plus years of friendship. Honey or sweetheart are their go-to's right now.
"I don't know." She finally sighs. "They just get so happy when I talk to them. It makes me happy." She cuddles closer to his side. "Maybe I should just talk to them tomorrow." She quietly mumbles. It takes her a moment to decide what she wants to do. She closes out of Instagram and locks his phone. Ross takes it and plugs it in, immediately turning around to cuddle his girlfriend. He kisses her head. "I love cuddling you." Laura admits with a content sigh. "Your skin is still very warm from your shower." She kisses his bare chest.
"You're tired." Ross says softly. "Don't kiss me like that when I know you're tired." She hovers her face above his.
"Who says I'm not too tired to kiss you like that?" She leans down and kisses his jawline. He closes his eyes.
"You sure?" He asks. "Because I don't want to be giving you my best performance only for you to fall asleep midway through." Laura dramatically gasps.
"What? I would never." He rolls his eyes playfully. "Come on," She starts rubbing small circles on his chest with her thumb. "you're the one who woke me up, so at least make this worth my while."
"I'm always worth your while and you know it." He lifts his head up off the pillow and presses his lips against hers.
"Prove it." She whispers against his lips. With one swift motion, Ross let's out a throaty growl-like moan and flips them over. Now he's hovering above her, his breath fanning across her lips. She smiles. "Prove it." She whispers again. He grins.
"I would love to."
A Few Days Later
Tuesday
August 30th, 2022
"Going to Ross'?" Chase teases Laura once she presses floor 15. Her place is floor 17, just like the rest of her cast. Only Chase and Laura had to film a little later today, it's nearing 9:00pm now. She gives Chase a guilty smile. "You two make me wanna throw up and make me miss Maddie at the same time."
"You get to see her soon." Laura reminds him. Chase grins.
"Thank fucking god. I think she won't be busy the rest of the year so she can come up and actually visit. You two would be great friends."
"I really want to meet her." The elevator doors ding open on the 15th floor. "Bye, Chase. I'll see you in the morning." Chase smiles at her.
"Goodnight, have fun with your boyfriend." Laura smiles wide and says goodnight to him as the doors close. She quickly takes her phone out and calls Ross.
"Hey, you done filming?" Ross asks once the call connects. Laura closes her eyes and takes a shaky breath. Between starting her period yesterday and having unbearable cramps, feeling overwhelmed from all of the support and love from her newest single, the crazy filming schedule she's had these past couple of weeks, and running a small fever (well, at least she thinks she has a fever, her foreheads been hot all day and her body has been aching but she hasn't been able to take her temperature to confirm it), hearing Ross' voice is what sets it over the edge. Her eyes begin watering up.
"Uh, yeah." Ross' eyebrows furrow at her uneven tone.
"What's wrong?" He asks. That's all it takes for her tears to start pouring out. She sniffles.
"I'm fine, yeah. I just... are you still at Kiernan's?" She asks him. He grows worried.
"Yeah yeah, but I can meet you at your apartment when you get home." She sniffles again and wipes one of her cheeks.
"I'm almost to your apartment." She tells him. Ross is quick to his feet. "I just need your hug." Despite her obviously being upset, Ross can't help but smile a little. His hugs calm her down and he loves that.
"Okay." He says softly. "I'll meet you in the hall." She doesn't hang up, instead she mumbles an okay and continues to sniffle and wipe of her cheeks. She hears voices in the background of the phone, then Ross speaks. "Yeah, I'm heading out. I'll see you guys on set tomorrow." There's more muffled voices and Ross' quiet laughs, along with his breathing, but once she hears the door click shut she turns the corner and sees him heading towards her. "Are you gonna tell me what's wrong?" He asks through the phone.
"There's nothing really wrong." She chokes out with a small laugh. She can almost see Ross smile, they're definitely closer to each other now. "It's just a lot going on right now." She tells him. He hangs up the phone once they're close enough and gets ready to give her a bear hug.
"How much is a lot?" He asks, squeezing her to his chest. He rocks her for a second. He's wearing a button down shirt with the top few buttons undone and he can feel the warmth of her forehead on his bare skin. He pulls away for a section to press the back of his hand to her forehead. "Holy shit, Laura." He quickly wipes her tears and then presses the back of his hand against her forehead again.
"I think I have a fever, too." Her lip quivers. He frowns and pulls her back in for a hug. "I shouldn't even be around you with a fever, I can't get you sick." She doesn't pull away from him, though. As selfish as it is, she doesn't want to be alone. She wants to cuddle and fall asleep in his arms. She's the first to admit she's the biggest baby when it comes to being sick.
"As long as I get you to hug and cuddle me when I get sick, then I don't care if you're around me." He admits.
"Okay, I can do that." She mumbles.
"Come on, let's get the baby home." He moves her to his side and walks her down the hall towards his apartment.
"I love you so much." He squeezes her.
"I love you, too." He tells her.
• just to clarify, she is NOT pregnant. i purposely made sure to include her having period cramps and her actual period so no one would automatically assume she's pregnant. this is not a pregnancy story 😂 she actually has a fever. i hope you enjoyed this fluffy chapter! next chapter will be fluffy. since it's near the end of the book just except fluffy chapters ahaha. vote, comment, and follow me! i recently just hit 1k followers and love keeping you all updated :) •