Author's note: After a brief period of writer's block, I'm back! Not sure if anyone's seen the thing on Twitter, but basically a fan wanted to meet Raini and Ross, Ross agreed, and then Calum asked to join, so Raini tweeted that they should have a cast reunion road trip! Not sure if that's actually happening, but as a fanfic writer, I'll take it as inspiration. This is a oneshot, and it doesn't really follow the same map as it would in real life, but it's just the concept. I hope you like it!
Laura's POV
I'm having so much fun! I love being with my Austin & Ally friends again; I haven't seen anyone in ages! But finally, we're on a road trip, on our way back to LA. It's funny how we're on a road trip back to where we live, but I'll take it! After all, it means that I get to be with my friends again. Ross is driving, after Raini nominated him and Calum insisted that neither he nor I should drive. So we all agreed that Ross should drive. Calum called shotgun, but I jumped into the front seat and Raini dragged him away. So now me and Ross are sitting in the front, and Calum and Raini are arguing in the back.
"I wanted to sit in the front seat!" he complained.
"Yeah, but Laura got there first!" she countered.
"But I called it!"
"Too bad! Now you're stuck in the back with me!"
"But I wanted to sit in the front!"
"Guys, I'm trying to drive!" Ross called. "You're very distracting!"
I laughed. I love Calum and Raini, they're always so funny! And Ross is such a sweetheart, I missed him the most! It's no secret that I like him, a lot, but I deny it anyways. Plus, there's Courtney. Ross's supermodel girlfriend. I might've been a tiny bit jealous, but I'm just glad that I'm with my friends again.
"Ross, I need to go to the bathroom!" Calum shouted.
I looked at my watch, surprised. I thought we had just left our last stop! To my surprise, it had already been an hour and a half since we started driving! I must've drifted off while Calum and Raini were arguing.
"Fine," Ross said, "there's a rest stop in half a mile. We can stop there for a little bit."
"And we should get food!" Raini suggested.
"If you want," Ross replied, "but I'm not that hungry."
"Yeah, me neither." I added.
"Well, I'm hungry!" Calum announced.
"Okay, Calum and I can stop at the rest stop so that he can go to the bathroom and we can get food. Then we can keep driving." Raini decided.
Ross and I agreed, and after driving for a few more minutes, we arrived at the rest stop.
Calum hopped out and ran inside, and Raini followed. I looked at Ross, and he shrugged. We knew that they would take forever inside.
"How's life been?" he asked me, as he unbuckled his seat belt.
"Busy," I replied, unbuckling mine to turn to face him. "I haven't seen you since you surprised me on my birthday!"
"Yeah, I wish I could've come visit you more, but I knew you were busy and I was really busy, too." he replied.
"How's R5?" I asked.
"It's great! I mean, leaving Austin & Ally was really sad for all of us, but I have way more time to work with the band." he told me. "The only thing is, Rydel and Rocky keep teasing me!"
"About what?" I asked.
"About you! You know how they always wanted us to get together."
"But I thought they liked you with Courtney!"
To my surprise, he just shrugged. "I dunno...they were definitely more of the Raura shipper type."
I laughed casually, but I felt kind of uneasy. What did that mean?
"Well, how's Courtney?" I asked.
"Not sure, I haven't seen her in a couple of weeks." he replied.
"What do you mean? I thought you were just with her a few days ago." I said, confused.
"Well..." he replied. "We kind of broke up a couple weeks ago, but no one knows except my family."
Inside, I was freaking out, and if I was alone, I would be squealing like a fangirl, but I just played it cool.
"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" I said, playing the part of the sympathetic friend. I'm an actress, and I think a pretty good one, too! He won't suspect a thing.
"Well, it was okay, it wasn't like it was really painful anyways." he replied, more nonchalantly than I had expected.
"I thought you really liked her!" I said, surprised.
"Kind of, I guess...but I was never really into it." he told me. "It was more for the publicity, anyways."
"You mean you had a girlfriend for a year and a half just for the publicity?" I asked, baffled.
"Yeah, I kind of had to." he said.
"What? Someone forced you into it?" I asked, still shocked.
"Not exactly...I mean, kind of...it was mostly a decision on my part..." he trailed off.
I was still really confused and shocked, and it probably showed in my expression.
"I mean, Laura, the thing is..." he said, "it was because of you."
"Me?" I exclaimed. I couldn't contain the shock. "I never told you to do a thing!"
"No, you didn't tell me to do anything." he replied. "I mean, the show was ending, and that meant that we were technically allowed to date. So the fans were going crazy, and I couldn't really take it."
"But...if you only like me as a friend, wouldn't it be super easy just to ignore it and laugh it off? I mean, maybe it would be a bit awkward, but you would know that the fans can't force us to do anything. We're our own people!" I said.
Even as I said it, I understood where he was coming from. After all, the fans were harassing me about the idea of Raura, too. And I totally understood how it was kind of overwhelming. But I really like Ross, and it was a reminder to me that there was a chance that things would work out. Maybe someday we could get together.
"See, the thing is," he said, "it was awkward for me, because every time I saw a mention about...us, I would think of you. But I needed something else to think about, and I kind of liked Courtney, so we started dating."
"I still don't understand," I said, still confused. "Why did you need to take your mind off of me?"
He paused for a moment before replying.
"Let me put this in a simpler way." he finally said. "I...broke up with Courtney because I wasn't really into it."
I waited for him to say more, but he didn't.
"And what does that have to do with me?" I asked, still not understanding.
He didn't reply for a moment. I could almost hear the wheels in my brain turning. Then he sighed.
"Because..." he trailed off and shook his head.
"Because of what?" I asked.
"Because...I missed you. I mean, I missed everyone, but I like you, Laura." he confessed.
My heart skipped a beat. I knew that I liked him, but that he liked me back? Never would I have ever imagined it! Well, I imagined it a lot. I just didn't think it would happen in real life.
"I like you too, Ross." I replied softly.
He smiled and pulled me towards him. I complied, letting him lift me into the driver's seat with him. He pulled me into a tight hug, and I sighed happily.
"I missed you so, so much, Laura." he said.
"I missed you more!" I replied.
"No way, I missed you more!" he argued playfully, pulling me into a tighter hug.
"I can't believe it's been a year and a half since we stopped filming the show," I said softly. "It's been forever."
"It's also been a year and a half since I've got to do this," he replied.
Before I could ask him what it was that he got to do, he leaned in and kissed me. I put my hand on his cheek, pulling me closer to him. I put my other arm around his neck, and he wrapped both of his arms around me.
Pretty soon the length of the kiss was longer than any that we had shared while filming Austin & Ally, and I found myself on his lap, his tongue attacking mine. He mumbled something incoherent, and I just smiled against his lips.
We were interrupted by the sound of our two other friends shouting at each other across the parking lot.
"I told you not to spend all of your money! I'm not paying for your food on the way back!" Raini yelled.
"Well, it's not my fault I was hungry!" Calum yelled back.
I scrambled back into my seat, no time for recovery. I was still breathing heavily.
"What did you guys do while we were gone?" Raini asked when they arrived at the car.
"Nothing..." Ross replied suspiciously.
"Okay..." she replied, probably not believing it.
The whole ride back to LA, I found myself glancing over at Ross and smiling a lot. Sometimes, he would catch my eye and wink, then he would turn his attention back to the road. I don't think Raini and Calum noticed, since they were too busy talking to each other in the back. Apparently they weren't arguing anymore, but I wasn't really paying attention.
When we finally arrived back at Ross's house, where we were all going to hang out, Raini and Calum jumped out of the car and sprinted into the house. Ross went to the back of the car to get all the bags that they had neglected to retrieve, and I went around the back to meet him there. He grabbed my bag out of the trunk and handed it to me, kissing my cheek while he gave it to me. I giggled and kissed him back.
All these years of suppressed feelings between the two of us, and we were finally together. It was all because of a road trip and a reunion.
Author's note: Thanks for reading! I know this wasn't very creative, but I liked the idea of a Raura version of Road Trips & Reunions. (Plus, it's alliterative!)
