this is my last pre-written chapter! i just started summer quarter classes and they are already kicking my butt, so i want to say that i may not be putting as much time into this story, which sadly means there won't be as frequent updates :/ just wanted to give you a heads up on that :) hope you enjoy this chapter!!! <3
We're Not Friends | 5
Five Days Later
Thursday
May 26th, 2022
Ross:
Headin up now
Ross shoves his phone in his pocket as he waits for the elevator to reach the 17th floor. Himself and Laura are grabbing a bite to eat before he has to head to set for another night shoot. She has the day off, unlike the other characters because her character is attending a lecture all day (her shooting hours will be longer than everyone else's tomorrow). Since their heart to heart almost a week ago, their friendship has slowly shifted back into place. Their daily texts have definitely proven that. Ross pushes himself off the elevator wall as the doors open and make his way towards Laura's place. Before he can even knock on her door, a guy who looks oddly familiar steps out of the apartment next to hers. The guys eyes widen the slightest.
"Ah, shit. You're Ross Lynch!" Ross gives him a small smile. "My girlfriend is obsessed with your band and netflix show. The Driver Era, right?" Ross' smile grows. "I'm Chase, by the way." It clicks in his head now. This is one of Laura's costars, who also stared in the popular Netflix show Outer Banks.
"Yeah yeah, The Driver Era." Ross confirms, his head tilting slightly. "Outer Banks was the shit, my sister got me hooked on it awhile back." Chase's smile widens at his words. "Laura mentioned that you two are starring in a new show together." Chase furrows his eyebrows.
"How do you know Laura?" He asks. She hasn't talked about me to her new costars?
"Uh, we did a Disney Channel show together years ago. We're actually grabbing a bite to eat in a few, you can come if you want. We're just eating at this little cafe a couple blocks away." Chase sucks in a breath.
"I wish I could. I'm actually on my way to set." Ross nods his head understandingly. "But we are all having a movie night Saturday with lots of snacks. You should totally come to that." Before he can get an answer, Laura's door opens. She smiles at the two boys.
"I thought I heard voices out here." Chase glances at his phone.
"Shit, I really need to go. It was nice to meet you, man. Seriously think about that movie night." He ruffles Laura's hair before walking away. "I'll see ya later, shorty." Laura rolls her eyes after him.
"Bey, Chase!" She shouts after him. She smiles up at Ross. "Hey." He smiles down at her. "I need to grab my phone and my purse. Do you need anything to drink or use my bathroom?" She asks him, already walking back into her place. Ross takes a step inside.
"No, I'm good." She quickly scrambles to the living room to pick up her things. "Hey, uh, Chase seems like a cool dude."
"Yeah, he's the best. I'm definitely closest with him so far. Since our characters are sorta dating yet not really dating, we have a similar film schedule. Except today, he ditches the lecture early and leaves me by myself." Ross chuckles.
"Is your character a goody two shoes?" Ross teases.
"Not all the time." She mumbles. She makes her way back over to him. "Ready?" He nods his head, stepping back outside. Laura quickly locks her door and shoves her keys in her purse. They make their way to the elevator.
"Chase invited me to your guys' movie night Saturday." Laura gently nudges his arm.
"Hey, the host invited you, you've gotta come." He chuckles.
"You think? I don't know anybody but you and I just met Chase, you don't think it'll be awkward?" Laura rolls her eyes.
"Dude, I went to your guys' first week of filming party, it wasn't too awkward." Ross presses the down arrow on the elevator.
"Yeah, but you knew everyone. You've hung out with at least three or four of us prior to the party. I only know you." He explains.
"You just met Chase." She shrugs. One of the elevator doors beep and open, they step inside where a couple of other people are. Laura gives them a polite smile as they squish in the corner.
"Yeah, and he seems like a cool guy." Ross keeps his voice quiet. "But that's all I know."
"I, personally, think you and Chase would be great friends." She starts. "Look, Ross. I'm not going to force you into coming to movie night. However, it'd be nice if you'd meet my cast mates and get along with them so we could hang out more. I don't want to keep blowing off my cast mates to hang out with yours. I really think you'd get along with them. Plus, I really think you'd hit it off with everyone. One of my female costars used to watch us on Austin and Ally." Ross sighs.
"Alright, it's only fair if I spend some time with you and your cast mates. Tell Chase I'll be there." Laura smiles up at him and gives him her best thank you look without actually saying thank you.
Two Days Later
Saturday
May 28th, 2022
"Hi, mama." Stormie smiles through the phone. He sees a few of his family members in view behind her and his smile wavers. He misses hanging out with his family. It's another reason why he's somewhat glad they're wrapping up the show completely. He's a family man, being this far away from them for this long is awful.
"Hi, honey!" She cheers. "Do you have plans for the weekend?" She asks him. Due to his late filming schedules and her packed day schedules the last few days he hasn't been able to FaceTime his mom.
"Um, I'm heading up to Laura's soon. Her cast mates invited me to a movie night. I'm gonna help make cookies to bring." He tells her. "And I have nothing planned for tomorrow. I think I'm gonna stick to working on that new song I sent Rocky a few days ago."
"You're hanging out with Laura again?" Stormie asks with a huge smile on her face. "Didn't you two get lunch together a couple days ago? I feel like I saw pictures on my Instagram of you two." Ross furrows his eyebrows.
"People took pictures?" He asks. In all honesty, he hasn't been on any social media lately.
"Just a few." Ross hums. "Did you have a good lunch with her? Are you two good?" He rolls his eyes.
"Mom, we told you last weekend that we were good, remember? You FaceTimed us." They actually had to step outside on Jaz's balcony to answer her FaceTime call. It was short, just long enough for Ross and Laura to confirm that they've made up, but still, she knows they're good.
"I know I know, I'm just checking in. I don't want you two to fight again like that. It was nasty." He shrugs his shoulders.
"We've fought before." He mumbles.
"Not like that, Ross Shor." He gives his mom a small smile.
"Is dad home?" Stormie frowns.
"No, he's flying right now. My pilot had to go to work." With Mark working more hours lately, Stormie's been a little lonely (even though she has four dogs) so she's been inviting the whole family over more (as if they weren't already there pretty much everyday). Any time his sister or brothers FaceTime him they're always at his moms.
"Damn, I wanted to ask him if he'd be flying into Seattle anytime soon having a lay over or something. I wanna meet up with him and go flying." Stormie's eyes light up.
"Aw, make sure you call him sometime tomorrow. Even if he isn't flying in to Seattle commercially anytime soon I know he'd love to meet up with you." Ross gives his mom a smile.
"I will. How's everyone?"
• <3 <3 <3 •
Ross knocks three times on her apartment door before opening it up. When he had asked her when he should be up on their floor by, she responded with 3. I'm making cookies! You can help :) . So, here he is in his comfy clothes (light grey joggers, white t-shirt, black hoodie, slippers). He looks around the main area and noticed the cookie ingredients out on the counter, but no Laura. He makes his way to the hallway that leads to her bedroom and the bathroom.
"Laura?" He calls out. Both doors are open.
"In here, Ross!" Her voice calls out from her room. He peaks his head into her room. She's laying down i her bed with her phone pressed to her ear, talking to her ex-boyfriend/current friend. Even though they broke up, it doesn't mean that their friendship ended. "Yeah, I'll call you a different day. Bye, Thom. Thanks for checking in on me." Ross walks to the side of her bed and falls into his back with a huff.
"Everything okay?" Ross asks.
"Yeah, why are you asking?" Ross furrows his eyebrows and keeps his eyes on the ceiling.
"Because you thanked him for checking in on you. Did something happen?" Laura chuckles.
"Everything's fine. We talk every now and then to check in on each other." Ross closes his eyes.
"So I' taking it as your breakup wasn't terrible?"
"It was terrible, but not in the way that somebody cheated or anything. It was mutual, but it doesn't mean it didn't hurt." She shrugs. Ross goes up on his elbows and looks at her.
"Am I totally overstepping some kind of boundary if I ask why you broke up?" He asks her. The small smile on her face answers his question.
"Do you think we actually have boundaries, Ross?" He smiles back at her. "We had different life goals and couldn't make it work." Now Ross is super confused.
"Goals? Like marriage and babies or career?" He asks her. Laura shrugs. He puffs out a breath and lays back down.
"A little bit of everything." She admits. "We've talked about marriage and the future several times. We wanted to get married, but he didn't want kids. And I knew that, but I thought that he'd change his mind once my baby fever stage happened awhile back, but he didn't." She frowns. "And then I realized that we'd been dating for five years, lived together for two, yet there still wasn't a ring on my finger." She sounds selfish when she says it out load. Having a ring on your finger doesn't define your relationship, she knows that, but there was a feeling in the pit of her stomach when she came to that realization days before they split. "And it's stupid to think that marriage wouldn't have come out of our relationship, but kids? I really want to be a mom someday. I can't settle for anything less." Because Ross is laying around the foot of her bed, the only way he can comfort her from his position is to place a hand on her shin.
"You're going to make an amazing mom one day, Laura." He squeezes her shin lightly before folding his hands together and placing them on his stomach. He sighs. A small smile forms on her face.
"Am I totally overstepping some boundary if I ask why you and Jaz broke up a year ago?" He lets out a small laugh.
"Do you actually think we have boundaries, Laura?" He asks her. His eyes stay on the ceiling. "We couldn't figure out who we were in the real world." He admits.
"What do you mean by the real world?" She's intrigued now.
"We broke up the first time because she couldn't trust me while I was on tour. Which at the time completely pissed me off, but she had some trust issues she needed to work out before committing to me. And she worked on it, and when we got back together, everything was great. We were amazing. Except for the fact that our entire relationship revolved around work. We knew how to function in that routine. And then the Black Lives Matter movement became the new norm. Which was amazing, by the way. Jaz is badass and watching her be so passionate about her own skin and others' skin was incredible. I learned so much from her during that time." The smile on his face says it all. Laura can't help but smile. "With that came Jaz in her thoughts a lot." His smile disappears, Laura's does too.
"We were each other's support systems for awhile. Our function was solely supportive, which any relationship should be, but this was a different kind of supportive. We weren't physically and emotionally invested in each other like we were in the beginning, and when the protests died down and the social media posts died down, we weren't the same. We couldn't function like we used to. Our lives were just... so different outside of Vancouver and the Black Lives Matter movement." He shakes his head. "Jaz is an amazing women. She taught me a lot about relationships and friendships and just life in general, and letting her go was one of the hardest things I think I've ever had to do. But some people are just better off as friends, ya know?" He nudges her calf. "Kinda like how you and I were better off as friends back in the day." She chuckles at his lame excuse of a joke.
"You're an idiot." She mumbles.
"By letting her go? Yeah, sometimes I beat myself up for it." Laura rolls her eyes.
"I wasn't talking about Jaz, Ross. I was talking about us."
"Whatever." Laura grunts as she sits up.
"Come on, Ross Shor. Let's go make our cookies." She holds a hand out for him to take so she can help him to his feet. "You know, I really like your middle name. You should name one of your kids that." Ross furrows his eyebrows as he takes her hand.
"Uh, that's my uncles name." Laura rolls her eyes.
"No shit, sherlock. I know that's your uncles name. It's a cute name and I'm sure your uncle would love you a lot if you named a kid after you two." Ross hums as he follows her down the hall.
• <3 <3 <3 •
Chase Stokes, Diego Tinoco, Gabriel Darth, and Lucas Jade Zumann are Laura's male costars. Sofia Hublitz and Alycia Jasmin Debnam-Carey are her female costars. When the boys are put together in a room, they're rowdy. Sofia and Alycia are more reserved, which is the exact opposite of Laura, so Laura usually gravitates towards the boys' company rather than the girls. Lucas is the most calm boy of the bunch, so he usually hangs out with the two girls. Luckily, Ross fit in well. It was a little weird at first, but as soon as the introductions were made and out of the way, he relaxed. Sofia is actually the girl who watched the early seasons of Austin and Ally, so they bonded over that. They also bonded over her last Netflix show, Ozark, which he loved.
After their bowls were full with snacks; popcorn, m&ms, homemade cookies (which were a hit), cookie dough bites, and ice cream for later in the freezer. There's eight of them, and only five fit comfortably on the couch. Luckily, Chase has an air mattress in his closet that he had so his friends could stay with him, and he had a chair. Laura made sure to claim the corner spot on the couch and the spot beside her for Ross. Diego is down by her feet, Chase is on the other side of Ross, and Gabriel is next to Chase. The two girls took over the air mattress and left Lucas with the chair.
Their first movie was a comedy called Long Shot with Seth Rogan and Charlize Theron. They finished that with little to no talking, and now they're searching for a second movie. They pass over one of the Thor movies.
"Mmm, Chris Hemsworth is yummy. He's definitely on my list." Laura comments. Ross raises his eyebrows and looks at her.
"Your list?" He questions.
"The list of celebrities you can sleep with and your partner can't get mad." Ross chuckles at Diego's explanation.
"I know the list, I just thought Laura didn't have one." She rolls her eyes.
"Please, Ross, everybody has one." The whole group chimes in with some type of yes. "All five of mine are perfect." Ross crosses his arms in front of his chest.
"I bet I can name three of them, not including Chris Hemsworth." Laura glances at him. The entire gang is curious now.
"You think?" She asks.
"Yes." He says confidently. Laura shrugs her shoulders.
"Alright, bet. If you can't you're paying for lunch next time." He rolls his eyes.
"I payed for lunch on Thursday." He reminds her. She narrows her eyes at him.
"If you can't, I'll pay for lunch next time." They shake on it. "Give it your best shot, Lynch." Ross doesn't hesitate.
"George Clooney, even though he's fucking old." He starts. Her jaw drops, a little offended at his old comment. "Harry Potter-" Alycia points a finger at Ross, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Don't you mean Daniel Radcliffe?" She asks him. Ross shakes his head.
"No no, I mean Harry Potter, the character." Laura grins. "And that Ryan guy who played Deadpool." Ross stares at her, waiting for a response. She looks over his face for a moment before quietly laughing and shaking her head. Well, shit. She honestly didn't have faith in Ross. She thought he would have guessed other guys, ones that weren't from their teenage years. But what can she say, her fantasies haven't changed.
"Guess I'm paying for lunch next time." He smiles victoriously.
"Hell yeah, you are."
They watched two more movies before Laura crashed the party and told them she could barely keep her eyes open. Alycia and Lucas were both already passed out, and Laura didn't want Ross to feel uncomfortable if she passed out, too. Ross carried both their blankets back to her room while Laura grabbed some of the snacks to bring back, too. She sets all the snacks on her counter, waves off the fact that Ross just threw their blankets on her couch and didn't fold them, then headed to her bedroom. Ross was in the restroom washing his hands when she passed by. Before she collapses on her bed, she takes her contacts out and puts them in her solution holders she keeps on her nightstand. Ross falls on his back in bed beside her with a sigh, copying her position with his hands folded on his stomach. She turns her head to the side to look at him.
"Did you like everyone?" She asks him. He turns his head to look at her.
"Yeah, I did." He honestly says.
"Does that mean you'll hang out with us again?" He chuckles.
"Yeah. And whenever we have a party next I'll invite all of them to meet my cast mates." She smiles. She didn't quite believe that he'd go out of his way to hang out with her and her cast mates, but Ross has been proving her wrong about a lot of things lately. "Alright, I should let you get some sleep." He sits up.
"You can just crash here if you want. "I know," She yawns. "it'll only take you a few minutes to get home, but you're always welcome to stay with me if we hang out late." He falls back down on the bed.
"You sure?" He asks.
"Yeah, I don't mind. My beds big enough for two."
"Shit, I get to share a bed with Laura Marano?" He teases.
"I get to share a bed with Ross Lynch?" He chuckles. "I'm gonna go brush my teeth and wash my face. Do you want to use your finger to brush your teeth?" Whenever Laura is traveling and forgets her toothbrush (especially when she doesn't realize it until it's too late to go out and buy one) she uses her finger as her toothbrush.
"I'll use my finger." After doing their night time routines they head back into Laura's room and pull her sheets down. Due to the movie night being a comfy clothes attire, neither of them changed. Ross did decide to take off his shirt, but he left his sweats.
"Goodnight, Ross." She whispers, getting comfy under her sheets.
"Goodnight, Laura." He whispers back. With small smiles on both of their faces, they let sleep take over them.
• well? how was it? i didn't really go into detail about laura's cast mates, but those at their names! google them if you want :) i hope you all enjoyed this chapter! vote, leave me a sweet comment (please, i love reading them and respond to all of them!!!) and follow me if you want! •