In honor of chapter 25 (a quarter to 100 because lets face it, that's completely insane) here's a cute and fluffy raura filled chapter :)
Enjoy💜
If This Is Love: 25 | Shower With Me
| Laura Renae |
"There, email is sent." I mutter, closing my laptop lid. The boys shout at the two tv screens, Riker and Ross cheering as Ry and Rocky boo. Of course, the boys are playing NHL, Riker and Ross the back and Rocky and Ry on the couch across from me on the couch while E and Rydel are playing cards with Stormie beside me. Mark was in back with Ross and Riker, most likely watching them or doing his own thing on his laptop.
"Did you proof read it?" E asks, looking up from his deck of cards.
"Yeah." I say, leaning back against the seat. Stormie wraps her arm around my shoulder, pulling me into her side. "I just really hope I can get help in the class or else I'm going to earn my first failing grade." I tell them.
"You actually have an F?" Ry asks, not looking away from the tv screen.
"Not an F, but a C minutes at the moment." I wince as I say the grade, literally embarrassed and ashamed of it. "I don't even get A minuses, it's seriously killing me." I whisper, letting Stormie rub her hand up and down my arm. I didn't care that my glasses were getting smushed, I just relaxed into her side and closed my eyes, wishing it was my mom holding me. Don't get me wrong, I love Stormie and of course I see her as my second mom, but it's just not the same, you know?
"Brighten up. We're ten minutes away form the hotel and you can go straight to bed and sleep in before we go to the lake with the family." Rydel's tells me. I sigh, no stress leaving my body. I haven't been this stressed out since Ross and I weren't on talking terms, and everyone sucks at trying to keep me from being too stressed out unless it's Ross helping me. And he's not. He's playing stupid NHL on the complete opposite end of the bus. The rest of the ten minutes, Stormie didn't take her arm off me, keeping me glued to her side as I helped her with cards, even sneaking in a Snapchat on her phone a few times. As soon as we parked in back, I walked over to my bunk and grabbed my small bag full of the stuff I need before bed and exit the bus behind Mark.
"Okay, Andre is checking everyone in and we're leaving for the lake at ten." Ross walks up beside me, his own backpack on his back as he wraps an arm around my shoulder. Smiling the slightest, I lean into his side and feel his lips land in my hair. "If you forget anything you need for when you wake up, call one of the crew guys or Andre for the keys but no earlier than ten." He adds. Just as he finishes talking, Andre walks out the side door with a envelope in his hand.
"Are we staying in the hotel tomorrow night?" Riker asks.
"Yes, but bus call is five thirty sharp." We all groan. I hate early bus calls. "We need to give the crew time to unload and set up." I wave off Andre as Ross pulls me along to the door. We were on the second floor, room 237, and Ross decided not to take the elevator and I rolled my eyes, letting us detangle as we head up the stairs. As soon a she slid the keycard in and opened the door, I went straight for the bed, falling face first with my backpack still on me.
"Did you already brush your teeth?" Ross asks me. I give him a thumbs up. "And you obviously did everything for your face?" He asks. I keep my thumb up. "Are you showering?" Now I turn my thumb down. "Good, because it's almost three in the morning and I'm beat." I groan and get up, dropping my bag down on the bed to pull out my phone and it's charger. "Do you want my shirt?" He asks me, already lifting it over his head. No, I want a hug. Seeing as he's standing by the edge of the bed as he fixes his twisted necklaces and slips his shoes off, I take the opportunity and walk on top of the bed.
Ignoring his questioning about what I'm doing, I wrap my arms around his neck and wrap my legs around his torso, forcing him to hold me like I'm a child who fell asleep and needs to be carried to bed. In his embrace, my eyes immediately water up. He doesn't say anything as he wraps his arms around, squeezing me too him.
"I had a feeling something was up." He quietly says. I sniffle, squeezing my eyes shut tight in hopes that my tears wouldn't fall. He takes a deep breath, my body moving with his as he does so. As I open my eyes, the first tear trickles down my cheek and I know for a fact it landed on his shoulder blade by his sudden squeeze of my body. "Don't cry, bean." He whispers, gently rubbing my back. "Why don't you get under the covers and get comfy." He tells me. Nodding, Ross sets me back on the bed. "I just need to pee." He rushes to the bathroom. I sniffle again, taking off my sweats and leaving me in my underwear. I then quickly take off my sports bra and put on Ross' t-shirt he was wearing before climbing under the covers and placing my glasses on the nightstand. After I heard the toilet flush and the sink water run for a minute, Ross' blurry figure was getting closer and closer.
"Can you turn on the lamp?" I ask him quietly. The lamp clicks on and Ross' figure become sleds blurry as he lays down in bed, tugging on my body to move closer to him. Within two seconds, Ross had me wrapped around him with his hand in my hair and his other hand rubbing up and down my arm that was laid across his abdomen.
"What's up? What's wrong?" He asks me.
"I'm stressed out about my class." I whisper.
"No shit." He mutters. "That can't be all of your stress, bean. There's clearly something else up."
"Well I'm not sleeping either, but there's not much we can do about that considering the bunks only fit one person." I tell him. "And I guess I'm just a little bit stressed about not sleeping for the movie and whatever when I'll be alone." I whisper.
"You're going to be fine, bean. With everything. You're going to get help in school. Your professor and counselor do not want to see you fail, they're there to help you succeed. And you're going to sleep without me, just probably not as much considering you only have so much time to film because of tour and everything so you'll have crazy schedules, but it'll be fine. Everything will work out. You don't need to be so stressed about it." He tells me, his voice calm and steady.
"But what if help is impossible?" I ask. "My school is in California, we're across the effing country and will be all over for the next month, Ross. And two days after getting off tour are my finals, and then I fly straight to Atlanta for three weeks. I barely have time to do shit. I'm not going to sleep until after the European tour that ends late October. It's July, Ross."
"Calm down, bean." He whispers. "You're breathing heavily and quickly and if you don't stop you'll have a panic attack." He calmly tells me. "Hey, why don't you go relax and take a shower or something."
"A shower won't do anything, Ross." I mutter, sitting myself up. Ross sighs, sitting up as well and facing me. "Babe, I don't know why I thought I could finish out a full credit load this semester while touring. I've never done a full credit load during tour, not to mention weeks before finals." Ross' hand came out from under the covers and gently rests on my knee, shaking my leg the slightest.
"Stop." He instructs. "You're doing just fine, bean. Struggling in school happens a lot to kids. I promise you'll get the help, but you need to realize that in this moment, at three in the morning, you won't get help. What you need is to relax, bean. You need to go take a hot shower and relax in there, come back out here and sleep."
"I don't want to be alone." I whisper, looking down at my lap.
"Then I'll sit on the counter and keep you company." He tells me. I frown at his words. "What?" He asks me.
"Can you shower with me?" I ask him, looking up at his face. "Please?" I add, my voice getting quieter. It was times like these where I was glad I could still see up close clearly, because Ross' face brought a smile to my face. It's not like the two of us haven't seen each other naked, because we have. Showering on tour tends to always have all the boys showering together and more times than not, Rydel and I have seen them butt ass naked. Not so much of them seeing Rydel and I, but once or twice they have. Ross most likely has seen me naked the most, only because we shared a bathroom in the band house and sometimes we walked in on each other by accident, but it was never awkward. We always laughed it off and walked right back out.
"As in naked?" He questions, his eyes furrowed and head tilted back a little.
"Ross, we've seen each other naked before." I tell him, my voice staying quiet. He scratches his chin at my words and shrugs his shoulders.
"But this time is completely different. This time around, I can actually like... uh, I mean... yeah." The way he's talking about it only made my smile fade and my head fall to gaze at my covered lap. I didn't think he'd act so weird about showering together. We've been together for over a month and I guess for couples that's a little early, but we've been best friends for ten years. Not to mention we spend nearly everyday with each other.
"Yeah, you're right." I whisper, keeping my head down. "Just... forget I asked, I'll shower by myself." I say, pushing the covers off my lap. Turning myself around, I grab my glasses off the nightstand and get up off the bed to head to the bathroom. Before I even make it past the bed, Ross stops me.
"Wait, you actually want me to shower with you?" He asks me. Furrowing my eyebrows, I turn around to face a highly confused looking Ross sitting up in bed.
"Well, it doesn't matter if I want to or not because you're clearly freaked out about it." I say, shrugging my shoulders towards the end. "I'm not even entirely sure why you're freaked out, but don't worry about it. Like I said, just forget about it."
"I'm not freaked out, bean. It's just gonna be different than when I walk in on your or you walk in on me." He tells me. "And obviously I'm not expecting sex in there, I mean... being with you completely naked is great and all, and I really do want to take the next step, you know? But I don't want you to be freaked out by anything and I guess I'm afraid that I'll make you uncomfortable or something." He explains.
"And how would you do that?" I ask him.
"By touching you?" He questions. "You'll be naked, with water running down your body, your absolutely sexy body, and my hands could possibly, maybe, most likely, wander." He tells me. My mouth forms an o shape at his words, my face getting a little hot.
"Is that such a bad thing?" I ask him quietly, hoping he heard me.
"No." He quietly replies. "Not for me, I'm just worried it is for you." He adds.
"Join me or don't join me, either way I'm taking a long ass overdue shower." I mumble, turning around on my heels to walk to the bathroom. Trying not to get upset over the fact he won't join me, I start the shower and close the curtain, taking a look at myself in the mirror. My face was red and blotchy from almost having a panic attack and crying a little, my eyes looked dead tired along with the dark circles, and my hair was still as frizzy as could be considering being on stage causes us all to sweat buckets and the venue had no shower. Silently, Ross opens the door and steps in, keeping his eyes on mine through the mirror.
"Why do you still look so sad?" He says, standing awkwardly beside me. Do I look sad? I'm not smiling, and I look absolutely terrible, but am I really sad looking? I just shrug, not really knowing how to answer his question. He sighs and wraps an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side and planting a kiss in my hair. I turn my head and look up, catching his eyes. He gives me a soft smile in return. "You're going to get help in school, bean. And I know you're going to understand it and ace your final. It'll all work out. While you're in Atlanta filming you're going to forget all about school and me and won't even be worried about sleep, I can tell you that much. Just don't over stress it because I know everything will work." I close my eyes, letting his words sink in.
"Thank you." I quietly tell him, opening them back up. Ross leans down, gently pressing his lips against mine for a few seconds, and then stands up straight as he grabs my glasses.
"Is me showering with you still an option?" He asks me. Smiling shyly, I nod my head the slightest and let him take a step away from me. For a few minutes, the two of us just stare at each other and it kinda makes me realize we don't know what to do first. As in, who will get undressed first. Who will get in first. All that jazz. So, for starters, I grab the bottom of my shirt (that's actually his shirt) and lift it up over my head. When I toss it to the side, I was pretty thankful that Ross was far enough away that he was blurry because now I wasn't embarrassed to see his reaction. And because of that, I proceeded to take my underwear off and walk over to the shower. I adjust the heat and step in, not bothering to wait for Ross. He steps in a moment later and grabs my hips to move me away from under the water.
"Hey, I was getting my hair wet so I can shampoo it." I tell him, gently shoving his side as he stays under the water. He doesn't reply, he just stays under the water as I cross my arms.
"Don't cross your arms." He says, stepping out from under the shower head. I furrow my eyebrows and look up at his face that was now inches away from my own. "You're blocking the view." He quietly says, a smirk on his face. I roll my eyes and lightly punch his shoulder, trying hard not to smile at his little laugh. And just like that, nothing was different. We didn't act awkward as we took turns being under the shower head and shampooing and conditioning our hair and washing our bodies. We kept up a normal conversation, one that we'd have while laying in bed together or sitting in a car together. I mean, there was staring (mostly him staring at me) and he'd move me by my hips most the time, but other than that it was completely normal.
"Ross?" I say, taking a step out for, under the water. I let it continue to hit my back as I look up at him, not really expecting him to answer to his name. "Do you ever think about the future?" I ask him. He stands there, with his arms crossed (I'm almost positive because he's a bit blurry), and keeps his mouth shut for a few moments.
"A future for R5 or a future for acting or a future for you and I?" He asks me.
"You and I." I say.
"Uh, yeah. I have been since I was thirteen." He tells me. "But now that we're actually dating it's changed a little." I furrow my eyebrows up at him.
"What have you thought about?" I ask him.
"Well... since we've been dating it's mostly been the future as in like, the next few weeks or months, but when I was younger it'd always be about being a family or something when we were way older. Never something that can happen soon." He says. Ross grabs my hips and moves me away from the water, letting himself go under.
"A family?" I ask. "As in kids and pets and stuff?"
"Uh, yeah kinda." He replies.
"How many kids do you want?" I ask him. "With me." I quickly add. Ross chuckles as he moves out from under the water.
"Bean, I've only ever imaged my kids being ours." He tells me, grabbing my hips and pushing me under the water. "And I always kind of imaged four or six, an even number that way everyone has a buddy." He tells me. "And if we're talking gender, I'd like to at least have one girl, two at the max. I want mostly boys who'll be bomb at hockey." I playfully roll my eyes before I close them and let the water run down my face and hair.
"I know you're staring at me." I say.
"I can't help it, you have a sexy body." By the end of his sentence, his hands were on my my hips and he pulls me away from the water. Taking both my hands, I wipe my eyes and look up at his face. Our bodies were touching, skin to skin, and his eyes were shining bright with need. "How many kids do you want." He keeps his hands where they were, leaning his head down the slightest as he spoke.
"I like the idea of four." I tell him. "I don't know if I'd be up for having six, it might kill me to go through labor that many times." I add, taking my hand and placing it on his face. I put my other hand on top of his shoulder, smiling up at his adorable face. "I feel like we should get out of here." I say.
"Yeah, we probably should." Ross and I wrapped towers around ourselves and dried off for a bit before getting into our clothes we were in before, and then we headed straight for be dead under the covers. "It's four in the morning, we have to be up in sixish hours." He mumbles, cuddling me into his side. I groan at his words, not looking forward to getting up anytime soon.
"We've only been dating like... a month and a half." I whisper. "Why are we already talking about kids?" I ask him.
"Well, we have been best friends for ten years." He tells me.
"Yeah but... I don't know, it doesn't seam too rushed at all?" I ask. Ross sighs.
"See, this is why I wasn't going into too much detail at first, I don't want to scare you off. Because I have thought about the future a lot since I was thirteen." He says, his voice a little upset. "My mind wanders a lot. Especially when I was a teenager." I take a deep breath and close my eyes. "Bean, do you think we're rushing our relationship?" He asks me.
"Do you?"
"No. I really don't." He whispers. "I think we're doing just fine. I'm not pressuring you into sex or anything, and you brought up the future topic, so honestly... I don't think we're moving too fast. But if you think we are... well then I guess we should talk."
"No, you're right." I whisper. "I guess... I'm just scared. I want this to last, I want you to be my first everything, an sky last everything. I'm just being too cautious." I mumble.
"And there's nothing wrong with that." I sigh again, relaxing my body. "Get some sleep, bean." He whispers, pressing a kiss to my wet hair. "I love you."
"I love you, too." I whisper.
• well, was this chapter what you expected? i was hoping for something a little more cute, but this is what it turned out to be. hopefully you all still liked it! don't forget to vote, comment something sweet, and follow me!
-rydelly_belly💜