"Laura! Stop pacing! You're creating a draft!" Vanessa yells at me from downstairs.
I can't stop pacing. I told Ross he could come over and now he'll be here any minute!
What. Was. I. Thinking?
There's no way he has anything positive to tell me. I could tell by the tone of his voice. What could possibly be so important about his past relationship with Courtney? What am I gonna supposedly "hate" him for?
Oh no. What if she has this secret plan to kill me and Ross was just dating her to stop her? Now that they broke up, she's coming for me!
Okay, what am I thinking? I'm just getting nervous. There's no way Ross would let her kill me.
I hope.
"Laura! Seriously, stop pacing!" Vanessa yells again.
I don't respond. I'm too nervous to speak. What am I going to do when Ross gets here?
I'm lost in my thoughts when I hear the doorbell. I freeze. What?! There's no way he can be here already!
I hear Vanessa open the door. I still haven't moved from my frozen position.
"Hey Ross! I didn't know you were coming over." I hear Vanessa say in a surprised tone. Crap, I knew I forgot to do something.
"Hey Vanessa. I didn't know you were back from New York. Is Laura here?" Ross asks quickly. He sounds nervous. That doesn't help my own nerves at all.
"Yeah, she's upstairs." Vanessa replies, "Laura! Ross is here to see you!"
I still don't move. I don't want to go down there. I don't want to know what Ross has to tell me. Why did I even agree to him coming over?
"Laura!" Vanessa shouts again.
"It's okay, Vanessa. I can go up there instead." Ross says. Oh no.
I want to run. I want to jump out of the window just to escape this situation. But even when Ross' footsteps get closer to my bedroom, I can't force myself to move from my frozen position.
I think I probably freaked myself out too much. How bad could this possibly be?
Before Ross enters the room, I quickly snap out my frozen state and rush to my bed, grabbing my iPad. I pretend to be sitting there doing something productive when really I'm just staring at the home screen.
I feel his presence before I see him. He stands in the doorway for a few moments and that's when I finally look up at him. He's already looking at me. I can see the nervousness in his facial expression.
Well this is gonna be bad.
Without speaking, he slowly makes his way into the room and sits down on the edge of my bed. I put my iPad down beside me and I pull my legs up to my chest to create as much distance between us as possible.
He lets out a sigh before he turns to face me and begins to speak.
"Laura, you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you." He says softly.
This is already off to a great start.
I don't say anything, I don't think I could even if I tried. He continues to speak after my silence.
"You're going to be so mad at me for keeping this from you. I should've told you a long time ago."
I turn my head to look at the rug next to my bed. Even though I already know that he's been keeping something from me and that he lied about it, it still hurts to think about. He's my best friend.
"Courtney and I didn't meet like I told you we did. We didn't meet at my manager's party like I said we did." He continues, his voice still soft.
What? He told me that he met Courtney at a birthday party for their manager, Betsy, and that they hit it off.
"Betsy kind of, set us up." Ross says.
That makes my head shoot up. "What do you mean?" I ask, finally speaking for the first time since our phone call earlier.
He looks away and begins to play with the necklaces around his neck. That's what he does when he's about to say something he doesn't want to say. He always does that.
"Betsy decided that I needed a girlfriend. She wanted to stop all the 'Raura' rumors and stuff. Little did she know that the Raura shippers would never stop completely." Ross starts.
He quickly turns back towards me and reaches out and grabs my hand. I was so stunned by the action that I didn't pull away.
"Laura, please promise me that you won't hate me forever after I tell you this. I'll understand if you hate me for a while but I won't be able to take it if you hate me forever." He desperately pleads, squeezing my hand tightly.
I simply give him a small nod.
He must have been holding his breath because he suddenly releases a huge gasp of air.
"Courtney and I were doing exactly what you and I are doing now."
No. It can't be.
"We were fake dating."
There it is.
I quickly pull my hand out of his grasp and scoot back into the headboard of my bed as far as I can go.
He's lying. He has to be lying.
He squeezes his eyes shut and keeps talking. "After two years, Betsy decided that Courtney and I being together wasn't working. It wasn't getting rid of the Raura drama like she had hoped. So she planned our 'break up'."
He can't be serious. He was faking a relationship with Courtney for two years and I never knew. No wonder he thinks I'm going to hate him.
Wait. I've been doing the exact same thing. I've been pretending to date Ross without the intention of ever telling anyone. I'm just as bad as him and Courtney.
But if Betsy wanted the Raura drama to disappear, why did she have Ross fake date me?
Ross must know what I'm thinking because his next words answer my question.
"After a while, Betsy decided that maybe giving the fans what they want would help my career. So then she decided to use my 'break up' with Courtney as an opportunity to bring Raura back into the picture. I tried to get out of it but she threatened to have me fake date another stranger that wouldn't like."
I bury my head in my knees that are still pulled up to my chest as he opens his eyes again.
"I chose you instead, Laura."
***********************************
Heyyyyyyy.
I bet you weren't expecting that!
Who am I kidding? It probably didn't shock you at all.
I'm sorry that I keep waiting days and days to update. I don't mean to wait make you wait that long. I hope this story is worth the wait though.
I love all the comments you guys leave me! ❤️
Thank you to the lovely people who voted on the book covers! The new one has won!
Chapter 22 coming soon! 💕
Published: June 27, 2017