It was pitch black outside as Laura pulled into the driveway after a long day in the studio and having sat in traffic for over an hour, she was ready to lay in bed and relax.
She kicked her shoes off as soon as she walked in the door, turning on the front porch light. As she entered the kitchen she saw their cat, Beatle (yes, named after the Beatles) jump up onto the counter and rub his head against her purse which she had just put down next to him. "Hi baby" she cooed at the cat, scratching him behind the ears.
Ross was hesitant about getting a cat; he had always wanted a puppy. But when they saw the little kitten that was only 4 months old sitting in the animal shelter, he couldn't say no to her. And now Ross is absolutely in love with this cat. Beatle will rub his head against the neck of his guitar whenever Ross plays it. He's also changed the way Ross watches hockey. He used to jump up and scream at the TV whenever someone scored and now he is always silent, not wanting to wake the kitty that is always cuddled up next to him on the couch.
Remembering all of this just makes Laura miss him more.
She grabbed a bag of goldfish, not in the mood for an actual meal, and went into the living room and curling up on the couch.
Grabbing the remote, she turned on the TV to find it set on the Disney channel. It was a commercial, but Laura couldn't bring herself to change the channel. Watching all these new faces do projects to help the environment and promote their shows, brought back so many nostalgic feelings.
Once the break was over and it went back to the show, she was surprised to see that it was an episode of Austin & Ally. It was one of the last few episodes that they had filmed. In fact, it was the episode where they had had their last live taping ever. She watched as she and her now boyfriend and their best friends (who are also now dating) brought the characters who changed them all for the better, to life.
She thought back to how messy life had been back then. Sure, the four of them were closer than they had ever been at that point, but it was different. She had been dating a guy who she had known for a little over a year and he was dating a girl he had met through a mutual friend.
The show had wrapped in April. Their last day on set was one of the saddest days of her entire life. After the wrap party they stayed up all night, talking, crying, reminiscing.
The day after they wrapped was spent cleaning out their dressing rooms, deciding who got to take what props from set and rehearsing and coordinating outfits for the Radio Disney Music Awards, which were the next day.
At the actual awards, they wouldn't leave each others' sides. Even when all four of them were doing separate interviews they either had their arms around the shoulders or their hand intertwined tightly with whichever costar was closet to them. They even switched spots with family members so that they could all be seated together during the show, in case another wave of emotions overtook any one of them. When Ross and Laura got up to go backstage, him to get ready to perform and her to get ready to present, they never let go of the other's hand, gripping it tightly as of their life depended on it; despite both of their current partners being present.
The day the awards aired they had a watching party at the Lynch residence, which had been where the four of them had tried to stay up all night talking after the show on Saturday, but ended up falling asleep around 4am, never leaving each others' side.
After they had wrapped, the four best friends spent every day together. They would go to Disneyland, have a beach day, go to universal studios, see countless movies, spend an entire day in Ikea (yes, they really did do that), they made it a tradition to watch every new episode of the show at someones house with the entire crew, have sleepovers at each other's houses and do livestreams for all their fans that lasted well over 2 hours and went way into the night not ending until after midnight on the west coast, they even took a road trip to San Diego one weekend.
But then June came, which meant Ross had to leave to do movie promotions. They all went to the premiere together when the movie came out, Ross leaving his solo interviews to hang out with his best friends who had come to support him and he couldn't have been happier.
Not too long after the movie premiere was Raini's 22nd birthday, aka the last day the 4 of them would have together for a very long while, due to Ross' tour and Laura going to college. They had a huge party for Raini at her house that ended with the four of them sitting up in her room, reminiscing in old memories before they were forced to part ways.
He and his girlfriend broke up in July. The long distance thing was just too hard; especially when both of them were traveling the world. It was a mutual decision. They agreed that they were both too focused on their careers to be in a committed relationship. That didn't stop him from being heartbroken. She was his first REAL girlfriend, of course he was hurt.
They all reunited in August. Austin & Ally and Ross and Laura were all up for Teen Choice Awards, which they all won. Instead of attending one of the many TCA after parties there were, they picked up some in 'n out and went back to the Lynch's house to watch the new episode of Austin & Ally that had just so conveniently been on at the same time as the awards.
Laura left for college a week later. She packed her bags and moved all the way across the country to attend NYU. The day she had to say goodbye to her best friends at the airport was another one of the saddest days of all of their lives. The girls didn't even try to hold back the tears, they just let them go. The boys however tried to remain "macho" but ended up breaking down and crying more than either of the girls did.
He filmed a new movie in September. He had fun doing it but it was very strange for him to do a film outside of Disney, especially one that required him to be shirtless quite often and have some pretty steamy make out scenes with his costar; he had to say, making out with a costar you have no feelings for whatsoever is a lot less fun than making out with a costar you have a not-so-secret crush on.
She broke up with her boyfriend in October. It just was't working. They were going to to separate schools on opposite sides of the country.
The last week of November couldn't come soon enough. She was so excited to return to LA to spend Thanksgiving with her family, closely followed by her 20th birthday. She was the only one out of the four of them who was in California for Thanksgiving. Ross was somewhere in Europe, still on tour. Calum had gone with Raini to Texas to celebrate the holiday with her family. What she didn't expect was for the three of them to show up at her house at 6am on her birthday with 20 balloons, surprising her. She couldn't have been happier.
Returning to school was difficult that time around because it was only for 2 weeks before she was off of school for Christmas, and the entire month of January and the beginning of February for work. That was the first of many Christmases they would spend together. Sure, it wasn't your typical Christmas celebration (they, along with all of their families, had gone to see the new Star Wars movie, complete with costumes and all), but it was the best Christmas any of them had ever had.
4 days after Christmas was Ross' 20th birthday. They spent all day relaxing at the beach, as per his request.
Disney Channel threw a huge New Year's Eve party that year, which was televised. Thank god they had been the ones hosting the countdown to midnight or they probably would have done some things that the network would not have been pleased to hear about as opposed to the innocent pecks on the cheek both boys gave the girls as they rang in the new year.
In January, they spent the entire month leading up to the series finale doing interview after interview. What was different about these interviews was that they had done them as a group instead of the solo or sometimes paired interviews that they had done in the past.
For Calum's 25th birthday they surprised him with Taylor Swift tickets for that weekend. It was kind of a joke but they all ended up having the time of their life.
February 14th, 2016. Valentine's Day. The day of the final episode of the series. Instead of watching it at someone's house like they had wanted, Disney had insisted that they have a huge watching party with every cast and crew from every other show on Disney, held at their old set (which were still up and we having tourist visit them every day due to the success of the show). The episode itself aired at 8pm. The Disney social event that their series finale had become began at 3pm (why so early? They had no idea).
By 3:30 they were tired of pretending to socialize with people and they snuck off to Calum's old dressing room like they always used to do. They decided to do one last livestream for their fans since it was the last time they would be together as the cast of Austin and Ally; after that night they would become those people who used to work together but are still best friends.
After the episode aired, people (being everyone but the cast & crew) continued to socialize as if what they had just watched hadn't affected them in any way. The show ending was like someone had taken out a pin and popped the balloon that was the sexual tension that had been building between this cast for almost 5 years.
Ross and Laura were in his old dressing room, lying on the couch, making out like there was no tomorrow. All the tension that had been building was finally being released.
Funnily enough, the exact same thing was happening between Calum and Raini across the hall in his old dressing room.
As soon as the writers and producers had found out what was going on, they all exchanged the money they had bet (Sam and Kevin won. They bet the four of them would hook up with each other by the time the show ended, everyone else assumed it was gonna happen the night they wrapped, which it didn't).
The next day they had to deal with the aftermath. I mean don't get me wrong, making out with your best friend can be fun but there are a lot of complications that go with it.
The way they all felt about each other was never a secret to anyone; but none of them were in the position where they could commit to a relationship. So they didn't. They had always said "after the show ends, you don't date a costar you're working with". But here they all are. The show was over; and nothing had changed, no matter how badly they had wanted it to.
Ross went back on tour. Laura went back to school. Raini went to film a movie. Calum went to work on a pilot for a new show. They all stayed best friends; well, best friends who are in love with each other and know they are but are still choosing to not do anything about it. Pretty much the same way it had always been.
Laura's album came out that June. Ross couldn't have been more excited for her. Music had always been this special thing between the two of them that only they could understand. He was still on tour the days leading up to and the actual release day of her debut album, but that didn't stop him from tweeting and mentioning in every interview he did about how excited he was and how proud of her he was and how everyone should go buy her album because it is awesome.
His movie came out in August. She canceled a show on her tour just to be able to go to the premiere. Sure, Calum and Raini went too but nothing could ever compare to the joy he felt when he saw her arrive.
Laura stayed in New York for Thanksgiving that year and everyone just came to her. They went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Dag Parade then to a fancy restaurant for dinner.
Her 21st birthday was spent studying for exams, not that she minded. They had celebrated over Thanksgiving.
His 21st however, well that's a different story. Everyone was back in LA for Christmas. The day Ross turned 21, Calum and Raini decided that they were all going out. This would be the first time they could all drink as legal adults so they obviously had to celebrate. The four of them ended up getting totally wasted and hacking each others twitter accounts, tweeting random things and pictures that would soon be deleted in the morning.
They spent all of New Year's nursing hangovers, but at least they were all together and there to make fun of each other and the situation. R5 broke up in May of 2017. It just wasn't working anymore. They were all too different.
A number of things contributed to the break up. One of them being that Rydel and Ellington went through a pretty nasty break up and could no longer be in the same room without yelling. Rocky and Riker were both looking to get more into the producing side of music and Ross wanted to get back into acting full time. Oh and Ryland had moved back to Colorado to grow and sell marijuana, but that's besides the point.
Ross wanted a change in location, he just didn't know where. He just knew he wanted to be on his own for a little bit. He was 21 years old and had never lived away from his parents.
He and Laura were video chatting one night when they decided: Ross was moving to New York. They were going to get an apartment together because she was tired of paying the outrageous fees of living on campus; plus living in New York City with your best friend that you're also in love with would be fun, right?
He moved in July. They found an apartment in downtown Manhattan that they adored. Moving in together was such a surreal thing because they weren't dating but somehow they always knew this would happen.
They decorated the apartment with any musical thing they could find. They hung records on the walls and the third bedroom was used as a music room for all their instruments and whatnot. The apartment just screamed "them"; you could tell Ross Lynch and Laura Marano were the ones living there.
Living together was literally the most fun thing ever, Ross and Laura absolutely loved it. Sure they argue a lot but they never actually fight which makes things a lot easier.
In February of 2018, Ross was cast in a broadway show. He was going to play Kristoff in the highly anticipated stage production of "Frozen". Laura was beyond excited when she found out. Sure, she teased him a little for it but really she was more excited than anyone. His rehearsals started in April and the show would open in July.
It was at the beginning of June when he had the day off from rehearsals and she had just gotten out of school when they revived a call from Raini; she explained excitedly about how she and Calum had been cast for the next season of "Saturday Night Live" and were moving to New York in July. To say Ross and Laura were excited about their two best friends moving to the city where they lived would be an understatement. After they got off the phone with Raini they started jumping and screaming in excitement.
Calum and Raini found an apartment just across the street from Ross and Laura's apartment that they fell in love moved to the city a week before Ross' opening night. In a way it felt weird; all four of them being back together as adults living in New York City, still best friends. But it was a good weird; almost as if nothing had changed.
Ross' opening night was a smash hit. Everyone loved it. After attending the after party with the cast and crew and other important people, Ross and Laura made their way back to their apartment. They were about to go to bed when Laura stood in front of him and looked him in the eye and told him how proud of him she was. They started into each others eyes for a few moments, then Ross did what he had wanted to do every single day since the show had ended: he kissed her.
And just like that, Ross and Laura became a real, actual couple. Calum and Raini FLIPPED when they heard the news and the old Austin & Ally crew (who was now producing other quite successful shows for Disney) started screaming while on set of one of their new shows when Ross and Laura called to tell them the good news.
Calum and Raini's first SNL show was in September and they were phenomenal. After Ross and Laura had returned home and gone to sleep they were informed the next day that Calum and Raini had gotten together after the show the previous night. Ross, Laura and the A&A crew all reacted the same way they had when they found out about Ross and Laura. And don't even get them started on the fans' reactions when they found out all of them were FINALLY dating on Halloween of 2018.
They spent Christmas and New Year's in New York City; and they must say the real times square on New Year's Eve was far more crowded than their set was when they replicated it all those years ago. They opted to stay in and watch the ball drop on TV at Ross and Laura's place. 2019 could be summed up in only 3 words: best year ever.
They flew back to LA in February to attends the Grammy awards because Laura was nominated (and won) for record of the year. They stayed in LA for 3 weeks to catch up with family and friends and to attend the Oscars because Raini had been nominated for best director for the film she had done a few months earlier. She then became the youngest person to ever win best director.
Laura graduated from college with honors in June. Everyone flew in for her graduation; her family, Ross' family, Raini's family, Calum's parents and the whole Austin and Ally crew. They were all so proud of her but nobody was prouder than Ross.
Ross was nominated for best actor in a musical at the Tony's, which were back in New York in June. He won and couldn't have been more excited.
They were back in LA in August for the Emmy awards, where Calum had been nominated for the episode of SNL that he wrote, which won.
By September of 2019 the four of them had revived all the highest awards in the entertainment industry (not to mention all of them had received many golden globes, people's choice award, you name it, they got it) and they weren't even 30 yet.
Ross and Laura went on tour together in 2020. They did it to promote their collaboration album. It was the most fun summer of their lives. Calum and Raini filmed a romantic comedy that would soon become a box office smash while they were on tour.
It was February of 2021 where everything changed. The country was at war. It hadn't got to the point where they were drafting people yet but they were really pushing for people to sign up for service.
So Ross did. He joined the air force. Laura was proud when he told her he wanted to, but it terrified her inside.
They moved back to LA which was where the base was. He would get called and leave for a few weeks at a time to defend their country while she stayed and worked on her next album.
And that's how life was now. He would be gone for a while, she would work on her album, he would come back, they'd live life normally, and then he'd just have to leave again. She missed him.
And this was different than when he'd be on tour and she'd miss him; it was worse because she didn't know if he would ever come back, alive at least.
She hadn't realized she had zoned out completely, the episode long over. She turned off the TV and headed for their bedroom. After changing into her pajamas and brushing her teeth, she got into bed with Beatle curled up at the foot of the bed, purring contently.
She lied there and just wish she could feel him next to her. Feel his arms wrap around her tightly as he slept. She was in the limbo between sleep and awake when she heard the bedroom door open and footsteps creep in. She opened her eyes and saw the sight she had been dying to see for weeks.
Her boyfriend. Ross Lynch. Standing in front of her. Uniform and all.
"Oh my god" she whispered softly.
"Hey." he replied just as softly.
She quickly stood up on the bed and jumped into his waiting arms.
He held her close, never wanting to let go.
After a good 2 minutes of just standing there holding each other they broke away so Ross could change into some more comfortable clothes.
He laid down next to her and wrapped his arms around her tightly.
"I missed you" he whispered in her ear. "I missed you so damn much."
"I bet you didn't miss me half as much as I missed you." Laura replied, snuggling into his embrace.
"I highly doubt that but nice try, sweetheart." he said, kissing her head.
She turned her head and looked up at him.
"I'm really glad you're safe." she said. "and I'm really glad you're home."
He leaned down and passionately kissed her lips for the first time in weeks.
"I am too, Laur. I am too."