He spots her in the crowd almost immediately. Of course he does; he's always had a strange ability to find her anywhere, even if he maybe doesn't want to. He watches her jump and sing and smile and laugh while she sees her favorite band live – the band he took her to see on their first date.
He hasn't spoken to her in weeks.
She sees him – worse, catches him staring – and tears her eyes away almost immediately. He can't.
Then, the band plays their song. Their song. It's been their song since the beginning of time (as far as he's concerned, at least). He remembers blasting it in his room and jumping around, dancing with her, looking like a complete idiot but loving every second of it because he was with her.
Finally, he can't take it anymore. He walks over to her.
"May I have this dance?"
She looks up at him, gives him a small smile. "Yeah."
So he takes her hands and they dance, almost like they used to. He thanks his lucky stars that the song is so long, because as the two of them get lost in the music, they get lost in each other. Suddenly it's like they never broke up and they're just on another date, having the best time ever and enjoying it together.
He spins her a few times and she laughs, so he laughs, and then it's even more than them being together again; it's him loving her again. (Although if he's being honest, he's never not loved her.)
But all too soon the song is over, and he expects things to immediately go back to the way they've been lately, but that isn't what happens.
"We should hang out after the concert," she yells over the music.
And that's how he finds himself sitting across from her at IHOP, sharing a plate of chocolate chip pancakes and catching up on everything that's happened since they stopped speaking.
"I miss this," she says after a while.
"I do, too. No one else likes late night IHOP runs."
She chuckles. "I miss you."
His face softens. "I miss you too. We swore this wouldn't happen."
"But it did. It was bound to. I mean, we loved each other."
"Laura, I don't think I'm done loving you yet."
She sighs and leans back in her seat. "We can't keep doing this. This is the fourth time we've broken up."
"That doesn't change how I feel," he says.
"Well…I still love you too. Of course I do. But if we're just gonna keep breaking up, then what's the point of trying anymore?"
"If we're just gonna keep getting back together, what's the point of breaking up anymore?"
She presses her lips together, and he knows he's caught her.
"I'm better when I'm with you."
"That sounds like an Austin line."
"Maybe it is. He's better with girls than I am. And he isn't real."
Laura chuckles a bit and rolls her eyes. "I don't know what we're supposed to do. We can't ever stop fighting."
"We also can't stop making up. Think about it. We haven't talked in weeks, and then Walk the Moon plays Anna Sun and suddenly everything feels normal again. It shouldn't be that easy."
"Then what do you suggest we do?"
"Keep trying till we get it right, I guess."
"I don't know if I'm cut out for that."
"Then let's stop breaking up."
She stares at him for a while, the pancakes long forgotten. "Ross…" she finally begins.
"What?" he says. "It's stupid, Laura. We're happy together, aren't we? Why deny ourselves that happiness?"
"Because we're also always fighting and unhappy together."
"Well, it'll never be rainbows and unicorns all the time," he tells her. "I'm willing to deal with the fights at three in the morning if it means we can kiss and make up like we always do."
"I don't know."
"What's the worst that could happen? We break up again? We kind of have a record of missing each other too much for that to matter, anyway."
"I just don't want there to ever be a last time."
"Then we won't have a last time. But this will be the last time if we never get over it. I want to be with you, Laura. I'm sick of – of wondering whether or not I'm ever going to get back together with you. I want people to know that you're mine, and with no 'until when?' tacked on the end of it. I'm done with all this pointless breaking up."
"You're hopeless," she mutters. "A hopeless romantic. That's what you are."
"Maybe. So what do you say?"
She takes a deep breath. "Fifth time's the charm?"
"Let's hope."
She smiles slightly. "Is it bad that this has become such a normal thing for us that getting back together isn't really that big a deal anymore?"
"Probably. But as long as we're together…"
"No more breaking up over dumb fights, okay?" she says. "Promise me."
"Promise. And I promise not to break that promise."
Then he kisses her, and underneath the chocolate and syrup, he tastes her, and her name rings throughout his brain until he goes to sleep when he gets home.
"Ross, I can't deal with you when you're like this!"
"When I'm like what?!"
"A self-absorbed, cocky, idiotic, rude, obnoxious – "
"Are you done yet?!"
"You think you're so much better than everyone else, and you're not!" she exclaims.
"I do not – "
"You do! Maybe if for once in your life you'd get your head out of your – "
"Don't act like you're Miss Perfect! You're so condescending, like every mistake I make is so – so juvenile that you wanna laugh at me!"
"What are you talking about?!"
"You know what, Laura? I'm done. I forgot how much of a brat you are."
He starts leaving, but he feels a small hand grip his arm.
"Ross…"
He stops and swallows. She doesn't even have to say anything and he knows she's right. He promised that they'd stop doing this. And even if he didn't…they'd get back together anyway, so why deal with the heartbreak? Also, he knows that the fighting means that they care, that if they didn't fight then their relationship wouldn't be real. But that doesn't mean he likes it.
"I'm sorry," he whispers.
Two simple words, yet something about the sincerity and the silence and the reality of them finally trying causes something to snap in both of them.
His lips can't seem to find hers fast enough.
He holds her tightly to him, leaving no space between her chest and his. Her hands are in his hair and her nose is poking his cheek and her lips are setting his on fire, spreading warmth to his entire body.
She pulls away too soon for his liking, but then she hugs him as tight as she possibly can and buries her face in his shoulder. He sighs and kisses her hair before resting his chin on the top of her head.
He rubs her back gently under her shirt, and she shivers a few times before relaxing into him.
"I hate this," she says, her voice muffled by his shirt. "I hate fighting with you."
"Me, too," he replies, pressing another kiss to her head. "But this is progress, right?"
Pulling away from him, she looks up into his eyes with a small smile gracing her features. "Progress," she says with a nod.
"We can do this," he tells her. "I think we finally want it enough."
"You sound like someone in a lame chick flick."
He rolls his eyes. "Such a nice moment, ruined. By you. For no reason."
"Hey." He looks at her. "I love you."
He smiles gently. "I love you too."
"I don't think I'd trade this for the world."
"Even the fighting?"
"Well, without the fighting we can't kiss and make up."
"That is true," he agrees. Then, he kisses her one more time.
"You know, Ross, if the show ever gets a movie we're gonna have to break up again. You don't date costars."
Ross rolls his eyes. "I think we can make an exception. And besides, Gary would never give us a movie."
will i ever stop being raura trash i mean really (reviews are GREAT) ((ALSO HAPPY HALLOWEEN BE SAFE I LOVE YOU))