EVERYBODY GO READ That Special Someone BY -Taliah- I AM INSANELY PROUD OF HER FOR IT AND I WANT YOU ALL TO BE PROUD WITH ME!!!
On another note... this chapter is legit all over the place, and I'm so sorry about it... but I really wanted to update early for a few reasons... one being I'm obsessed with writing this story and I want the juicy stuff to happen, and two being I've been on a high since my Shawn Mendes concert two days ago, and I see R5 in 8 days so... lots of stuff happening! Like I get my am wisdom teeth out in 10 days and leave for L.A. in about 22 days, and I have work and blah blah blah, basically I'm staying up late and writing writing writing because I can't stop!! So here's an early update :)
Enjoy💜
If This Is Love: 9 | Rehearsals
| Laura Renae |
| Two Months Later (April 9th, 2017) |
"Everybody needs to be helping with moving these damn boxes!" Riker shouts from the front door. We had a giant ass moving truck in our driveway with it almost half full, and still a shit ton of stuff in the house. I groan and grab the last box from my room, which is really going in my car since I'm moving back in with my parents until Me, Ross, Ry and Rocky figure out our living situation. Over the past week, we've slowly been moving things out of our house, but today is our deadline and we have to be out by tomorrow night.
"Ryland, help." I hear Rocky says as I pass the two. Ry was on his phone. He laughs to himself before putting his phone in his pocket and going back inside the house. After putting my box in the backseat, I tune myself around and head back for the house.
"Renae!" I twist myself around and look at the voice. Damn Ross for being so fucking sexy right now. He had no shirt on. I repeat, the boy had no shirt on. "Can you help me lift a box from the kitchen?" He asks. At the beginning of the week, we emptied out Smash Palace completely and all brought it to our rehearsal space, and all that was left was furniture and the kitchen stuff.
"Yeah." I reply, waiting for him to catch up. He bumps my hip and I couldn't help but laugh. "I'm gonna miss not being in the same house as you for awhile." I tell him.
"You still coming with me and Rocky next week to look at that house?" He asks me.
"Of course." I tell him. He gives me a small smile before we grab an extremely heavy box from off the floor. "Shoot, I'm going to break my back." I say, my eyes widening.
"Well then I'll owe you a back rub." I now raise my eyebrows at him. "What?" He asks.
"You haven't given me a back rub since you started dating Brianna." I tell him. He furrows his eyebrows at me. "Oh don't act all surprised. You've stopped a lot of things these past few months." His eyes immediately soften.
"What else have I stopped?" He asks.
"Don't worry about it." I tell him, shrugging my shoulders. We lift it up and let Mark and Ryland grab ahold of it to put it in the moving truck. I dust off my hands and head for the door, but was immediately yanked backwards. "Jesus, Ross. What the hell?" I ask, ignoring the butterflies in my stomach from being so close to him. If I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, I could imagine being in a giant bubble of Ross.
"What else have I stopped?" He asks me again. Weekly movie nights with just the two of us. Daily random deep talks. Daily jokes. Pretty much everything. I'm honestly surprised he still texts me everyday when he's with Brianna.
"I said don't worry about it. It's fine, I understand why." I go to walks way again, but I get yanked back. Again. "Ross, let it go." Before I could say anything, I hear my brother coal my name.
"Laura, come here and help me!" Thank you Ellington. I don't bother waving off Ross as I walk to my older brother who gives me a soft smile. "You good?" He asks me.
"If ignoring how I really feel about him is good, than yeah, I'm doing fantastic." Ellington has known my newfound feelings for Ross since the day I cried in his arms. He hasn't told a single soul since then, and I am completely grateful for him. He's done nothing but make up excuses for me to not be around Ross when Brianna is there and for when Ross wants to invite Brianna, him and Rydel always try and convince him not to. Although, it does come with Ell constantly asking me if I'm doing good, but that's okay I guess. I'm use to it.
"Did you take your stupid Instagram video?" I ask Ell as he walks out of the house. He gives me his satisfied grin. The moving truck left a few minutes ago and we're heading to Rydel and Ellington's new place to unpack a few things before heading to a storage unit so the rest of us and move in our stuff when we can. Me, Rydel and Ell were heading back to my parents' house where the tow of them will be staying a few nights in and where I'll be spending probably a month in while Ross and Rocky head back to their parents' house where they'll be living for a month.
"Yup." He replies. Rydel locks up the house and walks over to us, a sad smile on her face.
"I'm gonna miss living with everybody." She says, a frown now taking over her face. I roll my eyes.
"No you won't." I tell her. "I'll follow you guys?" I ask, pointing to our cars. Ellington's car was dropped off at our parents' place last week and only mine and Rydel's were left.
"Sure." Rydel replies, unlocking her car. Nodding, I unlock my own car and climb inside, heading back to mine and E's childhood home.
My room was exactly how I left it a few years ago. A giant wall with dance awards and ribbons, along with some R6 posters. And three bare walls with a single photo of my family. I set the last of my six boxes on the ground by my old bed and immediately collapse onto it, enjoying how comfy it was. I've missed this bed.
"Yo, mom just made some dinner." Ell says, peaking his head into my room. "Rydel is gonna eat it all if you don't hurry up, dawg." I roll my eyes at his choice of words. "Seriously."
"I'll be down in a minute." I say, sighing the slightest. It took me a good five minutes to make it down the few steps we had. I love family dinners.
| April 16th, 2019 |
"First day of rehearsal for our New Addictions listening parties in New York and L.A.." Ross says into his phone. "Super stoked for the shows. Super stocked for you guys to hear what we've been working on. Can't wait." I lightly chuckle as I walk past him and to my little mini set up. My little setup is center back, right smack dab in between my brother and Rydel, directly behind Ross. Rydel's keys and my keys were about three feet away from each other and separated by a noise box that she uses for certain songs with drumsticks, and I had the laptop in front of it for other purposes.
"Guys, let's actually work, please." Riker says, a little irritated. Ross and Rocky have gone back and forth, playing random guitar solos and I've been keeping my keys a little low so I can practice some of the new songs and old ones and Rydel was on her phone, Ellington was also on his phone.
"What song we doin' first?" Rocky asks.
"Do like, If or Need You Tonight." Riker suggests. "Or do All Night or something." They all look at me.
"All Night it is." I mumble, turning my keys back up. Ell counts me in as I play the familiar notes to start off All Night. And the whole time, I couldn't keep my eyes off Ross. The past few days have been... rough. Every time I go to Stormie's, Ross is always at Brianna's. Like, this is the first time I've seen him in six days. Sure, we've literally texted everyday and Snapchat everyday, but I haven't seen him face to face. And the first thing he did when he saw me today was pull me into a hug and tells me he missed me. Butterflies went everywhere I tell you. And it was only six days.
"That wasn't half bad." Rocky says, immediately taking a seat as he starts playing Red Velvet. Rydel matches his tune and comes in seconds later, myself coming in not much later as we start up Red Velvet.
"Hey, wanna watch a movie at my place tonight?" Ross asks me. I furrow my eyebrows at him. "I just thought you could spend the night and tomorrow morning you, me, Rocky and Brianna could go look at some houses we were suppose to look at two days ago." He tells me. Right... Brianna.
"Oh. Your not going to Brianna's tonight?" I ask him.
"Nah, she didn't want me to come over. Instead she's staying at my place. So it'll be interesting to see what happens. Luckily Rocky and I have a spare bed in our room at the moment so you don't have to sleep on the couch." Recently, Stormie redid all the bedrooms and turned Rydel's old room into a girly girl room with three full sized beds, Riker and Rocky's room was a giant closet and Ryland turned his and Ross' room into just his room.
"Oh." I reply, slowly nodding my head. "Um, yeah, sure." I add, not really feeling up to a movie anymore. Suck it up, buttercup. "I just need to run home and grab a few things." I tell him.
"Can I ride with you? I rode here with Rocky and I don't feel like going back just yet." Sighing the slightest, I nod my head at Ross and let him follow me out to my car. "Rehearsals went well, don't you think?" He asks me.
"Yeah, it felt good to play again." I tell him, pulling onto the main road. "You excited for the listening shows?" I ask him, a smile on my face. I hate that it's so easy to have conversations with him when I want to be mad at him for having a girlfriend. Is that selfish of me to say? Probably, but I really don't care.
"Hell yes. I cannot wait to be on the road again." I playfully roll my eyes.
"Slow your roll, buddy. We don't start tour until June, and it's currently April." Ross sighs and leans back in his seat. "What's on your mind?" I ask quietly. He sighs again and I turn my head to watch him as he runs his fingers through his hair.
"You know how you told me I've stopped a lot of things since I started dating Brianna?" He asks me. I suck in a breath and bite my tongue, trying to calm my heartbeat. So, instead of talking, I give him a nod. "What did I stop?" He quietly asks.
"I told you not to worry about it." I reply, just as quiet as he asked me.
"But that's the thing, I can't stop worrying about it since the day you said that." I hold back a curse as I stop at a red light and look at Ross. He had the most guiltiest look on his face and that only made him a hundred times cuter. Fuuuck me.
"If you can't remember what you stopped, then I guess it's wasn't important enough to you, so why don't we just forget it." I tell him, tightening my grip on the steering wheel. "It doesn't matter anymore, okay?" I add, even if he hasn't replied. "I don't care about it anymore. It's fine, it's whatever."
"You obviously care if you're rambling." He mumbles. "Bean, just tell me!" He whines.
"Weekly movie nights, our random meaningful talks at one in the morning, seeing each other in person every day, hugging everyday, a kiss on the cheek every so often, you've pretty much stopped most of our things we did together, Ross. We use to take a day once a week and do stuff in town together, but we haven't done any of that shit since January."
"In all honesty, I didn't know the movie nights were a thing, and I didn't think seeing each other daily was a thing either." I frown. He didn't? "As for the hugging, I hug you whenever I see you, which I guess isn't every day, but I still hug you. And I kiss your cheek once in awhile. And we still talk daily, Laura." He tells me.
"You don't get it." I whisper, pulling onto backroads. "Just forget I brought that up."
"You're still upset about it, though." He whispers back.
"Because I still feel like I'm being replaced, Ross. Slowly being replaced." I tell him.
"You're not, Renae. You're my best friend." I groan.
"We don't do shit now to be classified as best friends, Ross. Is it so bad that I miss seeing you everyday? That I miss hanging out with you?" I tell him. "I'd like to hang out with my best friend, without his girlfriend or his brothers or whoever the hell there is."
"You're right, I'm sorry." He whispers. "Do you want me to call up Brianna and tell her it isn't a good idea if she comes over?" Please. Please tell her that. Instead, I sigh and act like my heart isn't actually physically breaking in this very moment.
"Ross, I can't make you do anything." I say. I watch as he take ships phone out of his pocket and types something up before he presses it to his ear.
"Hey, Bri." He says, pretty quietly. "Look... I don't think having you stay the night is such a good idea. The house is insanely messy and squished because of all our boxes and it's just... not a good idea when it's all shitted up." He pauses for a minute, probably listening to Brianna talk. "I promise that when we move into a house you can stay the night whenever you want." I suck in another breath. Did he really just say that? "Yeah, night. Sleep good, Bri. I'll text you tomorrow." He waits a few seconds before hanging up. I'm surprised he did it. "If you want, I'll give you a back rub tonight. And I'll make it a good one. And I promise to think about your feelings a little more." My feelings?!
"My feelings?" I ask, panic starting to rise. He can't know... can he? Only Rydel and E know!
"Yeah, because apparently I forget I have a best friend who I'm not spending time with." Phew. My grip loosens around the wheel as I pull into our development.
"Thanks, Ross." I whisper, sending him a smile. "It means a lot that you did that."
"What are best friends for?" He asks me. I couldn't help the smile on my face. "Be ready for one hell of a back rub. Brianna says I've gotten killer at the, since January." And now my smiles gone. But then I thought it'd be weird if I didn't react to his comment, so I let out a forced chuckle and pull into my parents' driveway.
"Just give me a few." I tell him, already jumping out of my car. I grab random pajamas, my tooth brush, contact solution, my laptop and charger, and my glasses before grabbing a random pair of jeans and t-shirt before leaving the house. I didn't worry about anything else because I knew Stormie had everything laying around. I make it back to my car and see Ross had gotten out of the passenger seat and into the drivers seat. "Hell no. I'm not letting you drive, Ross. Move." Ross let's out a loud laugh and it didn't even phase me that he had his phone pointed at me. "Ross, I mean it!" I whine.
"Put yo shit in back and hop in." He tells me, rolling up his window. Groaning, I open the back door and shove my backpack in the back, only to stomp my way to the passenger seat in my car. "Told you I'd get away with it." I flip him and his phone off as I buckle up. He chuckles and locks up his phone before putting my car in reverse and heading backwards to his parents' place. "Hey, I don't think I've said this yet and it's been a month, but I really like your short hair."
"Aw, thanks." I reply, giving him a small smile. I cut my hair in March pretty short, mostly because I felt I needed a change. But it didn't do much to me, it just mad my head a lot lighter.
"Laura?" Ross whispers. Why the hell is he up at three in the morning?
"What?" I whisper back. Ross, Rocky and I were all in the bedroom that Stormie put three beds in, and I definitely thought both Ross and Rocky were asleep since we stopped the movie around one, but I guess the light from my laptop screen gave it away that I was still up.
"What are you doing?" Ross asks me.
"Catching up on school." I whisper back. I heard shuffling from Ross' bed and saw a faint shadow move around before the bed I was on dipped down. "What are you doing?" I ask.
"Getting in bed with you." He whispers.
"Ross, you can't get in bed with me." His face was light up by my computer screen and it wasn't hard to miss his frown. "Don't get all frowny, you're the one who established that rule." I whisper. I go back to reading over the lesson.
"Let's have a meaningful talk." He then whispers. I sigh and close my eyes, not in the mood to get all deep and personal with a guy I'm currently in love with who has a girlfriend.
"You can't just say that. It has to just happen, Ross." I tell him. "I'm behind in school and need to catch up." Honestly, I'm not behind. In fact, with all the sleep I haven't been getting, I do school when everyone's asleep and really, I'm ahead. But he doesn't need to know that.
"You're not tired?" He asks me.
"I'm always tired." I reply.
"Then sleep." Kinda hard when all I want to do is sleep on you.
"I can't." I bluntly say. "That's why I'm doing school work."
"Renae, you need sleep." And that's when he grabs my laptop.
"What the hell?" I question reaching for my laptop.
"Go to bed."
"Why can't you get it through your damn head that I can't fucking fall asleep? Give me back my laptop." Remind me why I love him? Oh right, because he's fucking perfect. "Just... leave me alone so I can work." Ross sighs and hands me back my laptop. He waits a few seconds before getting out of my bed and I go his own.
"Night." He whispers. "Love you." He adds. Except you don't.
"Night, love you too." And I do.
• this is such a long chapter i'm actually proud of myself! haha, i hope you enjoyed this chapter because i actually really loved writing it. don't forget to vote, comment something sweet, and follow me! love you, babes💜 •
Question: If or Trading Time?
Answer: fuuuck idk
-rydelly_belly💜