"I literally love you guys," the petite brunette said to her cast mates.
It was the last day of filming before they all went their separate ways for their holiday hiatus, and the four were in Calum's dressing room, joking around as they waited to be called to film their final scene.
Before parting for a break, they all tended to get sentimental as they reminisced on all of the memories they've shared.
"What? That doesn't make any sense."
Some, more than others.
"Wow, way to ruin the moment, Ross," Laura sassed as she smiled at Calum and Raini.
"What? It doesn't, dude!" Ross defended as he started his argument with Laura.
"It makes SO much sense, Ross," Laura bickered back.
Calum and Raini looked at each other and got comfortable on the couch. Their bickering was routine to them, and if they were being honest, was sometimes the funniest part of their filming day. They knew better than to interrupt one of Ross and Laura's arguments, and they knew that it'd be much more beneficial for them to just watch, anyway.
Ross laughed. "Enlighten me, Laur. How can you literally love someone?"
"It's not the literally part that makes it make sense!"
"Then what makes it make sense, dude?"
"It makes sense, because-"
Laura's sentence was interrupted as Garron knocked on Calum's door and peaked his head in. "Hey guys, they're ready for you," he said then closed the door again.
"You're so lucky. Garron just bought you an hour to come up with your explanation," Ross smirked.
"I don't need the hour! I already have my explanation! He just interrupted!" Laura defended.
"Whatever, dude," Ross said with a smile as he walked out of Calum's dressing room, ready to film the final scene.
There was nothing more he loved than pushing Laura's buttons, besides his job, of course. But Laura.. Laura was a very close second.
They had just finished filming the final scene, and as the crew applauded, Ross looked over to Laura and mouthed, "I hope you've had enough time," all with a smirk on his face.
Laura rolled her eyes, but secretly, she loved how cocky Ross could be, because she also knew how caring he could be. He was complex, but not at the same time. She couldn't really explain it, but to her it made so much sense.
As Calum and Raini went into their own dressing rooms to change and head home, Ross was in Laura's, watching as she filled her purse.
"Okay, dude. I've given you enough time. Care to enlighten me on how you can literally love someone? That's pretty hard to do. I mean, the word in itself is very abstract. You can't literally abstract something."
Laura shook her head. "First of all, that last part made no sense. Second of all, my phrase makes perfect sense because the sentence doesn't make sense."
Ross blinked a few times before saying, "Okay, you've lost me."
Laura laughed. "The sentence doesn't make sense, yeah. But love doesn't make sense. 'I literally love you,' I mean, the phrase in itself describes the feeling of love. It doesn't make sense, it's hard to do, but in the end, it's worth it."
Smiling, Ross stared at Laura.
"I'm going to miss this," he said as he gestured between her and himself.
"This?" Laura asked.
"You proving me wrong," he confessed, "Our arguing. It's not as fun to argue with my family as it is with you, because I know that our arguments always end in something good."
Laura had already taken off her foundation, so her cheeks were clearly pink. She was really hating her lightly pigmented skin at the moment.
"I literally love you, dude," Ross said.
He walked toward her with open arms, and he engulfed her as he rested his head on hers. Laura wrapped her arms around him, never tired of how safe she made him feel.
They had said 'I love you' to each other before, just as Ross had said it to Raini before and Laura had said it to Calum before, but this 'I love you' was different. It meant something deeper than a platonic friendship. It was theirs.
"I literally love you, too."
It was New Year's Day, and Laura was absent-mindedly scrolling through her Twitter newsfeed.
She stopped, however, when she read, " rossR5: Happy New Year guys! This past year was amazing because of every single one of you. Especially you reading this. I literally love you."
For a second the butterflies in her stomach sprung alive, but had quickly died. Because after that one, she had read, " rossR5: To the random girl in the crowd that I kissed- I hope you liked it!"
She was reminded of the reason why she would not let herself fall for Ross: he was a flirt, and she did not have time for a frustrating, flirty boyfriend.
It was the first day back on set, and everyone was ecstatic to see each other. Ross was especially ecstatic to see Laura, loaded with five new Laura jokes he had come up with over the hiatus.
Scanning the room for her, he found her and took no time at all to pull her into his embrace.
"I've literally missed you," he whispered to her.
Laura hugged him back, but dismissed any butterflies she had, even if they were more than she could handle. She wasn't upset at him, she was not the jealous type. She simply didn't want to flirt anymore. She didn't want to get hurt. So, she had decided to not do or say anything that would make him think she was interested, even though she really was.
Two hours into their work day, and Ross can already tell that Laura has been acting differently. They're best friends, and he would proudly admit any day that he could read her like an open book, just as she could read him.
He knocked on her dressing room door, and is surprised when she tries to tell him to leave because she's doing homework.
"You know, I could probably help with whatever you're working on."
"It's okay, I've got it."
He's surprised because she doesn't try to insult him back and start their routine bickering. That's when he knows something is wrong.
He opened the door and walked in, only to find that she isn't even working on homework.
"Wow, thanks for lying," he said, genuinely hurt.
"Sorry, I just wanted to be alone," she said without looking at him. He can see that she looks like she's been thinking hard about something, and knowing his favorite brunette, overthinking only leads to a depressed Laura. Her eyes are not bright like they usually are, but instead are sad, and cannot seem to look any place else but the floor.
"Hey, what's wrong, Laur?" Ross asked, as he went to sit next to her on her couch.
"It's nothing, I'm fine."
"I've got a sister, so I know that when a girl says she's fine, she really isn't. What's up, dude? You know you can tell me anything."
She hesitated a moment before finally speaking up,"I saw your tweet."
He thought for a moment, because he had tweeted a lot since he had last seen her, until he thinks he knows what she's talking about.
"I did mean it. That was for you," he confessed.
"What? No, Ross, not that tweet," she says, frustrated.
He straightened himself up on the chair, confused, until he finally realized what tweet she was talking about. "Laur, it wasn't like that. Don't be jealous," he teased, slightly smiling.
"I'm not jealous, Ross. I'm really not. But..." Laura trailed on.
There's a pause, before Ross asked, "But?"
Laura sighed, frustrated with her own feelings. "I feel like its obvious how I feel about you-"
"And the feelings mutual," Ross cut in.
"But that's not the problem!" Laura suddenly yelled.
Ross was taken a back, then slowly asked, "Then what is?"
"It's... this," she said as she motioned between the two of them. "Were so different. I can't flirt to save my life, I'm surprised you've picked up on my flirting toward you, but you can date any girl you want. I feel like if we were to ever date, I wouldn't be happy in our relationship knowing that your kissing girls for VIP fan photos."
"Laura..." Ross started. "You know that I-"
"I just don't want to get hurt," Laura finally admitted, with tears at the brim of her eyes.
Ross scratched the back of his head, because he could hear the pain and fear in her voice. "The last thing I would ever want is to hurt you," Ross said.
"Ross..."
"No, let me explain. The last thing I ever want, in this entire world, is to ever be the reason for your pain. I know that I can be a flirt sometimes, maybe all the time, but things would be so different if I were with you. I know it's so easy to promise things, but you know more than anyone that I keep my promises. And the whole New Years Eve kiss, that wasn't even my idea! Riker came up with the idea, Ryland was enthusiastic just because he's Ryland, and Rocky agreed because of Alexa, and Ratliff and Rydel agreed because they're dating each other. They figured it was a way for everyone to get a New Years kiss somehow, as weird as that may be. But that kiss, that girl, I didn't even know her name! My arms were around other girls as I kissed her, and as much as I may have bragged on set today about it, I would have much rather kissed you when the clock stroke midnight."
Laura closed her eyes. "I just-"
"That's why I tweeted it, you know. That's why I tweeted it before I tweeted about the kiss. You were the first thing that was on my mind after that kiss, but to be completely honest, you had never left it in the first place."
"It's just, it'd be so hard-" Laura confessed.
"It doesn't make sense."
"What?"
"It doesn't make sense, it's hard to do, but in the end, it's worth it. Isn't that what you said?"
Silence.
Laura didn't know what to say, and for the first time, she was going to lose in this argument.
"I literally love you, Ross." Laura whispered as one tear finally fell from her cheek.
Wrapping his arms around her after wiping the other tear from her eye, he rested his head on hers and said, "I literally love you, too."