We're Not Friends | 25
One Month Later
Saturday
October 8th, 2022
"Stop looking at me like that." Laura says, not even taking her eyes off her laptop. Ross, who's been gazing at her for the past minute or so, smiles.
"Like what?" He asks. In his defense, he's not meaning to stare. He's supposed to be focusing on his own stuff; memorizing lines in between emails. He can't help it, though. She's sitting across the table from him as she looks through her emails and updates her team on more new music. She ignores his question.
"We're supposed to be working, Ross. We've been neglecting this crap for a couple weeks now." She's not lying, Ross has old emails on here. Rocky's been the one keeping up with the emails, Ross just need to catch up on the content and memorize his damn lies. But Laura is very distracting. He hums.
"Working is stupid." He comments. She finally looks up from her laptop, her glasses low on her nose. She hasn't bothered to move them up in awhile.
"Working is how we get paid, honey." He waves her words off. He's got money to keep him afloat for a little while. "Twenty more minutes, okay? Then we can cuddle up on the couch and do whatever it is you want to do." He raises his eyebrows.
"Whatever I want to do?" He questions. She gives him a hint of a smirk.
"Whatever you want to do." She repeats.
"I'm setting a timer." She rolls her eyes. Of course he's setting a timer. They work in silence for the remaining time. Ross ends up texting Rocky about FaceTiming tomorrow and solidifying a few things for the next single. The goal is for a mid December release date, that way they can film a music video for it to release with it. "Okay, times up!" He cheers, shutting his laptop. Laura stares at her laptop screen for a moment longer.
"Ten more minutes?" She asks nicely. He pouts.
"But ten more minutes will turn into a half hour." Now she pouts. Sighing, Ross slumps into his char. "Okay, you can work for ten more minutes."
"And you're going to be..." He shrugs.
"Should probably read aloud some of my lines." She smiles. "But ten minutes isn't enough. I'll do that tomorrow."
"We can work for longer than an extra ten minutes, Ross. It won't kill you to focus on anything other than me." She tells him.
"I don't know, Laura. It's pretty fucking awesome only focusing on you." She lets out a small laugh.
"Go read some of your lines." Dramatically, Ross stands up and grabs his script. "I'll come get you when I'm done with the rest of my emails." She can't help but smile as she watches him walk down the hall towards her bedroom. If she's being honest, she would absolutely love nothing more than to focus on him and only him. But they've both been swamped with filming that their music careers are still on the back burner. Then there's the fact that they get distracted easily together (it's honestly a miracle that Ross is listening to her and giving them a no distraction time) and can't focus on their music. The only difference this time is that they're both getting scolded by their teams to try harder. Forty minutes later, Ross walks out of her bedroom.
"Okay, I'm over it. I can't do this anymore." He sets his script down on her ottoman before falling onto his back into her couch. Sighing, Laura shuts her laptop and stands up.
"I'm actually pretty impressed that you read lines for that long. I thought for sure you'd come out in five minutes and start distracting me." Ross keeps his gaze on the ceiling, but once he hears her footsteps he holds him arms in the air. His way of telling her to come lay on him for cuddles. "Is this what you want to do?" She asks him. He nods his head. Chuckling, she lays herself down on top of him and cuddles her face into his neck. Ross wraps his arms around her and squeezing her, Laura plants a kiss on his skin. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. They're silent for a few minutes.
"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 💔