Author's note: For anyone reading Returning Home, I will update that soon, I hope, but inspiration for a oneshot came along and I knew I had to write something (not to mention how obsessed I currently am with Raura).
This is based on two interviews that Ross and Laura each did (separately). If you know anything about Raura interviews, it's that they always ask about the kisses. I have no idea exactly when they did these interviews and whether they were even around the same time, but I'll just go with a similar timespan for the sake of this story :)
Laura's POV
"Ross Lynch talks about kissing Laura Marano." That was the title of the video. It was late on Sunday night and I knew that I should have gone to bed because I had a long work day the next day, but I couldn't help but open the video. I was curious, after all. What did Ross think?
"What was it like kissing your co-star, who is your friend, Laura Marano?" the interviewer asked.
"It was good." he replied.
"It was good?"
"Yeah, it was good."
"Wow, a man of few words." the interviewer laughed.
"It was good."
It was good? Really? I grinned. I couldn't help myself! It was my first kiss, and it was just supposed to be for acting, anyways, so he shouldn't have felt anything...right? Can you enjoy kissing someone, even if they're just your friend? I know I'm guilty of it. I can't help it, Ross is actually a really good kisser! I don't want to know how much experience he's had. But I shouldn't care, we're just friends, anyways. Even if I have some feelings that I can't control. I can hide them, though. I'm an actress, and I hope I'm a pretty good one, too.
I couldn't stop thinking about Ross, which kept me awake for a while, but eventually I felt myself drifting off until sleep took over.
The next day, we were doing table reads for the newest episode. Ross was barely on time, almost late, so we didn't have time to talk to each other before starting work, like we normally would. We were also sitting pretty far away from each other at the table, so there was no opportunity to talk to each other at all until our break. I looked for him everywhere as soon as we went on break, but I couldn't find him. I found Raini, though.
"Hey, Raini, do you know where Ross is?" I asked her.
"No, sorry." she replied. "He's barely been looking at you all day, though. Is he avoiding you?"
Is he avoiding me? I hadn't thought of that. Why would he avoid me, though? If anything, I should have been avoiding him. I was still feeling a bit uneasy after hearing his interview. Did he like me, is that what he was hinting at? "It was good"? What did it all mean?
I looked for ten minutes, but I couldn't find either Ross or Calum. They weren't in their dressing rooms or anywhere else that I looked, and I looked everywhere. Was Raini right? Was Ross avoiding me? And if so, why?
I looked at my watch and realized that we had to be back for more table reads. I sighed and walked back to the room, where I quickly had to run to my seat so that I wouldn't be late. Ross was already sitting at his seat, and he seemed to be avoiding my gaze. I smiled at him, but he just looked down at the table. I frowned. Raini was right, he was avoiding me. This week was already off to a bad start. How could we possibly get through the next four days' rehearsals and filming if he was mad at me? It was like the episode Real Life & Reel Life, where Austin and Ally were mad at each other and couldn't film Dez's movie. But Ross and I could still work together even if he was mad at me, right? He's an actor, he just has to be professional.
I worried for the rest of the morning while we were practicing. I was constantly distracted and Raini had to pinch me when it was my line. Ross never looked my way, which concerned me even more. Even Kevin and Heath looked worried about us. It was probably obvious that we were ignoring each other. Well, I wasn't ignoring Ross, he was ignoring me.
Finally, it was lunch break, and I was determined to talk to Ross. I grabbed my lunch and I immediately found Calum and Raini, so that we could eat lunch together, but Ross wasn't there.
"Laura, where's Ross?" Calum asked.
"I don't know, he's been avoiding me all day." I replied sadly. "I don't know why, I didn't do anything!"
"That's really weird," he comments, "you guys are always being so flirty and suddenly today you're not even talking!"
I blush. "We are not flirty. And I'm going to find him after I eat so that I can see what's up. I'm worried about him."
"He's been fine," Calum says, "he just hasn't been talking to you, which is weird. But he's been acting normal around me. I think you should investigate."
I laugh a little. "Okay, I'll investigate the case of the quiet co-star."
I quickly finished my sandwich so that I could spend the rest of lunch finding and talking to Ross. I didn't care if he didn't want to talk to me, but I at least had to figure out why he was avoiding me.
Just as I was about to head to his dressing room, my phone buzzed with a text message. I quickly opened it up.
Ross: Hey Laur! I'm in ur dressing room so meet me here! I barely got 2 talk 2 u today!
So he wasn't avoiding me! I smiled before quickly putting away my phone and running to my dressing room. I'm not the most athletic of people, so I was huffing and puffing by the time I got there. I quickly opened the door to find Ross sitting inside.
"There you are, Ross!" I exclaimed, running up to him and giving him a hug. "I've been looking for you all morning! Where were you? It was almost like you were avoiding me! Raini said that you were avoiding me, is it true? Wait, why would you avoid me?"
I laughed when I ran out of breath, finding myself rambling. Ross just smiles a little but doesn't say anything.
"So, um," I said after I caught my breath, "why were you avoiding me?"
He didn't answer immediately but looked off into the distance for a little while, as if he was thinking of what to say. When he finally spoke, he said something that I would never have expected him to say to me in a million years.
"How good of a kisser am I?"
"W-what?" I stuttered, shocked. "What?"
Hearing his words, though, brought back memories that I simultaneously wanted to forget and remember forever. I remembered our first kiss, my first kiss, when we filmed Real Life & Reel Life. I remembered how I told myself that it's just acting, don't get all nervous, but then I remembered how it felt to have him around me, surrounding me, holding me tightly in his arms while he kissed me, and I blushed wildly.
"So, Laura..." he repeated, "how good of a kisser am I?"
I didn't say anything as another memory came flooding back to me. A recent interview. The fans are insane about the idea of Raura, but after Real Life & Reel Life, it's been even crazier. They'd asked about the kiss, asking whether or not it was awkward, which I could divert from and change the topic, but there was one interviewer who couldn't be more straightforward.
"How good of a kisser is Ross?" the interviewer asked.
I laughed a bit awkwardly. "Um, you know, it's very nice...it's good, it's very nice."
I covered my face with my hands so that Ross couldn't see my face, which I felt heating up. No doubt it was bright red.
"Oh my gosh, Ross..." I mumbled, embarrassed.
I couldn't see him, as I was avoiding his gaze entirely, but I could even sense him smirking. He knew about the interview. He heard everything that I had said.
"I was just being honest, okay?" I mumbled as I felt myself blushing even more. "It doesn't have to mean anything."
"Okay, but just so you know, I don't disagree with anything that you said." he replied.
I suddenly remembered the interview that I saw the night before. "Ross, you said it was good." I mumbled.
"So I did," he replied simply.
"Oh my gosh, Ross..." I repeated, this time looking up at him a little bit.
He was smiling a little, probably seeing my reaction to him, and I buried my face in my hands again.
"It's very nice..." he whispered, repeating my words from the interview. "Laura, is that true?"
I still didn't look at him, starting to shake my head, but then nodding vigorously. It was true, and I couldn't blatantly lie to him, especially when he knew it already. He gently took both of my hands in one of his and used his other hand to hold my chin up so that I was forced to look at him. I didn't resist. I couldn't resist. My stomach fluttered when he spoke again.
"Well, then, I can't deny you of what you find very nice, can I..."
I closed my eyes as I felt his lips gently pressed against mine, his hand now moving to my back, which pulled my closer to him. He was still holding both of my hands in his, but I freed myself and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him even closer to me and deepening the kiss. I felt the same butterflies in my stomach, except even more so this time because we weren't "acting". I offered no resistance when he captured my bottom lip between his, parting my lips. I sighed softly and I felt him smile a little. I pulled him a little closer to me, and his tongue slipped inside my mouth, causing me to squeak a little. I remembered everything from the last time we kissed, and it was very nice. I couldn't even feel guilty about it anymore.
"If you want, this doesn't mean anything," he mumbled as we kissed.
I tilted my head a little, changing the angle slightly. "Mmm...okay, this doesn't mean anything."
Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. I don't know. It certainly didn't feel like nothing, but now wasn't the time to complain. I was enjoying myself too much.
"Laura, are you in there?" Calum's voice interrupted, knocking on the door.
I jumped a little and turned my head, causing Ross to kiss me on the cheek. I blushed a little.
"Yeah, I'm in here, Calum, Ross is here, too."
"Alright, I'm coming in!" Calum exclaimed as he opened the door quickly.
"Hey, Calum, I found Ross!" I said, a little awkwardly.
He laughed. "I can see that. Hey, Ross, we were looking for you! Why didn't you come to lunch?"
"Lunch?" Ross repeated. "Oh, haha, right. Um...right, lunch! Yeah, lunch."
Calum raised an eyebrow and laughed. "That didn't make any sense. Then again, neither do you. Anyways, Ross, Laura, Kevin and Heath want to talk to you two in a couple of minutes. They didn't really say anything, but I'm pretty sure it's about a kiss coming up."
He winked as I blushed. Ross just stood there a little awkwardly.
"By the way," Calum continued, "Ross, you have something on your lips. Is it from those raspberries you ate this morning? They look a little red. Anyways, bye!"
He left the room as Ross touched his lips and found some red residue. I felt my face turning red as I realized that it must have been my lipstick.
"Well, I have to go quickly eat my lunch," he said suddenly. "See you in a couple of minutes!"
I waved goodbye as he headed towards the door, but he ran back and kissed me quickly on the cheek before running off. I felt myself blushing again as I ran after him.
Author's note: I hope you liked it! I was debating not saying it, but I'll say it anyways: as always, feedback is appreciated! And I'll update Returning Home...eventually. Hopefully soon. In case you're reading it. And if you are, thanks:)
