The next morning, Ross woke up with a smile on his face. Today he would be going to the bowling alley with Laura.

At breakfast, Rocky prodded him suspiciously. "Mom?" he called. "I think there's something wrong with Ross, he's not eating his cereal!"

"I'm sure he's fine!" Mrs. Lynch called back.

"But you know how he is with his Lucky Charms cereal(1)! He always eats it all; it's like his personal brand of crack!"

"What?" Mrs. Lynch rushed in, looking comically concerned. "You didn't say it was Lucky Charms cereal(1)!"

"I'm fine, guys. Just a little spacey's all. I was thinking about what Laura and I are going to do on our second GTKEO activity. I know I told her we were going to the bowling alley, but... Is that too simple?" Ross turned to them questioningly.

Mrs. Lynch looked honestly shocked. She adopted a motherly sort of smile. "It's perfect, Ross. I can't believe you're pushing aside Lucky Charms(1) in favor of Laura! Oh, that's just too cute..."

"Um, thanks? I guess..." Ross hopped down from the counter and made his way down the hallway. "See you later!" he called over his shoulder as he left.

The whole time he was walking to Laura's house, he was smiling and helping out random passerbys with their daily nuisances. As he passed a bakery store window, he stopped to check his reflection in the window. However, his attention was quickly captured by the display of croissants and various other pastries in the window. Quickly, he popped into the bakery and bought a box of assorted treats: chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate croissants, normal croissants glazed and dusted with sugar, cake pops, and whipped-cream-and-blueberries-and-raspberries-and-blackberries-on-sweetened-graham-cracker-crust. He ended up buying two full boxes of treats, and with a satisfied smile, he exited the store.

Humming under his breath, he pressed the doorbell to Laura's house. A few moments later, Mrs. Marano opened the door. "Hi," greeted Ross. "Is Laura here?"

Mrs. Marano shook her head. "I have no idea where she is. You could ask Raini, though. She probably knows where that wayward daughter of mine is."

Ross, more than a little shocked by Mrs. Marano's tone towards her own daughter (and the fact that she didn't know where her daughter was), could only nod and thank her. He turned around and started walking out their driveway, when Mrs. Marano called out, "Tell her she has an important function to go to for her sister!"

Ross waved a hand behind him in acknowledgement, then disappeared around the corner.


Knock. Knock. Knockity-knock-knock—

The door swung open. Ross's hand was frozen in midair, prepared to knock on the door again. An agitated Raini greeted him.

"Hey, Ross— no, Calum, DON'T BUY HER CARAMEL-FLAVORED ICE CREAM!" Raini ushered a confused-looking Ross in. "Oh my god, Calum, I'm hanging up." And true to her word, she promptly pressed the END button, rather angrily. "So, what's up?" she asked Ross brightly.

Ross, looking slightly scared, sat down slowly on a couch. "I went to Laura's house to pick her up so we could go to the bowling ally, but her mom answered the door and told me she wasn't at home. Also, she had no idea where her own daughter was. So, she redirected me to you. If you know where she is, can you give me an address or something?" He sat, waiting expectantly for Raini to give him directions to wherever Laura was. Instead, she let out an angry sigh.

"The nerve of that woman..." She muttered hotly.

"What?"

"Nothing!" She bit her lip, eyes dropping to the phone she had in her lap. "Oh yeah! That was Calum on the phone, by the way. He was getting a present for this girl that he likes— of course, he won't tell me who it is... Anyways, he was trying to find a present for her, and he was all 'Hey, maybe I should get her caramel-flavored ice cream!' He loves anything caramel, so of course he though his girl would like it too... I was like 'No! Don't get her caramel-flavored ice cream, you idiot! Not everybody likes caramel!' Mainly me, but there are definitely people in this world who don't like caramel... In the end I got so frustrated with him I hung up. And then I started talking to you." Raini shrugged, like what can you do?

"So... you don't know where Laura is?" Ross still looked confused, trying to pick out the important information from Raini's long rant.

"Oh, is that what you wanted? Here." Raini scribbled down an address in her bubbly, rounded handwriting. "Why didn't you just say so?" She handed the slip of paper to Ross.

Ross rolled his eyes to heaven.

Oh, good lord.


"145th Street..." Ross peered at the building in front of him. Shrugging, he opened the glass door and stepped in. "If Raini gave me a fake address..." he muttered, while ascending the free-floating stairs. "Laura?" he called out. He was met with silence. But wait... Ah! He heard music coming from down the glass hall. He walked down the hall, sneakers squeaking against what looked like freshly polished glass- wait, glass?- floors.

The music got louder as he approached a room with a heavy-looking glass door barring his entrance. He pushed the door open and heard it close gently behind him as he stared in shock and awe. In the room, which looked to be a giant, airy dance studio, Cee Lo Green's Wildflower(2) was blasting on full volume. In the center of the dance floor, Laura was performing what looked like a complicated hip-hop dance. She was dressed in hip-hop sneakers, red dancer's spandex, and a black leotard. All in all, she looked like a very serious dancer— a fact that Ross was completely unaware of five seconds ago.

The song finished and Laura ended in a painful-looking leg-lift behind her head. Her leg was straight, her toes were pointed, and her supporting leg was not buckling under imbalance. She looked professional. Extremely so. With a sigh, Laura jogged over to the other side of the studio and turned the music off. She picked up a water bottle from the ground and chugged it. Finally, she turned around and nearly spit out her water.

"Ross?" she spluttered. "What are you doing here?"

Ross, who had been leaning against a wall, pushed himself off said wall and started walking towards Laura. Shrugging, he said, "Well, I went to your house at 8, but your mom said she didn't know where you were and redirected me to Raini. Then, after I got the address for this place from Raini— which took a long time, by the way— I came here. So, what is this place?"

Laura sighed and beckoned him onto the dance floor. She started a series of ballet technique combos, talking as the music— some 17th century classical piece— played. "Well, this place is basically my home. Second home. Whatever. It has a dance studio," she grande-plied three times, "a recording studio," she paused in the middle of her relevé, holding the position, "and everything else I need." She came back down from her relevé and tendu-ed to the back in fourth position three times. For the rest of her technique combos, she was silent, and Ross could only watch in admiration as she executed the moves gracefully. When she was done, she jogged over to a monochrome stand on the other side of the studio and turned the music off on the touch-screen top. She jogged back over to where Ross was standing, in the middle of the dance floor, and started talking. "This place... It's probably where I spend seventy-five percent of my time away from work and school. I mean, I have food here, and I have a bedroom here stocked with clothes and stuff. I've been coming here since I was eleven. My— um, father designed the place— he was an architect— and he hired some contractors to build it. By the time I was ten, it was finished. Then I got it from him. It was probably the only good thing he ever did for me."

Ross nodded, choosing not to ask about her last statement. He knew that Laura's father did not live with them— maybe her parents were divorced? To be honest, Ross didn't know much about Laura's family, or even Laura herself. At that moment, he resolved to get to know her better. And that thought, of course, brought him back to the matter at hand— their second GTKEO activity: the bowling alley. "So, I was thinking we should go to the bowling alley today," he said, hoping she couldn't detect the apprehensiveness behind his smile.

She nodded. "Sure. Just let me get some food first."

"It's cool, I brought food." From behind his back, Ross drew out the two plastic bags of pastries. Opening one box, he said, "Ta-da! Treats from my new favorite bakery!"

Laura's eyes widened. "Wow, that's really nice of you! Is it the bakery on Village Street?"

Ross nodded. "How'd you know that?"

"It's my favorite bakery," explained Laura, picking up a cake pop from the box and taking a bite out of it. "Silver Linings, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one." Ross himself dug in and started munching on a chocolate croissant. "Vif if amaving," he said, through a mouthful of croissant.

Laura nodded amusedly. "I bet it is." She decided not to mention to him the light dusting of sugar on his cheek. How it got there, she had no idea; he hadn't exactly been stuffing his face.

"Okay, I'm good to go." Dusting off his hands, he stood up, pulling Laura up along with him. "Let's go bowling."

"I'm totally gonna win."

"Yeah, keep dreaming."

"Ross, you can believe whatever you want, but remember, the best part of the believe is the lie."

"..."


"Good morning and welcome to Fairway Bowling. How may I help you?" the guy at the desk asked them boredly.

"We'd like to have two pairs of bowling shoes, please," Laura asked politely.

"What size?" As Laura and Ross gave their shoe sizes, the front doors swung open and a wave of paparazzi came flooding in.

"Oh my god." Laura could barely believe her eyes. She thought that since she was a Disney star, the paparazzi should only be around when they were supposed to, in order to portray her in the best, most kid-friendly way possible, right?

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," groaned Ross, turning his back to the paparazzi, as if that would make them magically disappear.

"No, Ross, turn around." Laura grabbed his arm and physically turned him around. "The best way to deal with paparazzi? Face them head-on."

Ross raised an eyebrow. "And you know this how?"

"C'mon, Ross, didn't you read up on me before we met? I was on a couple of TV shows, I starred in a couple of movies, and my sister is Vanessa Marano. I got thrown into the spotlight at an early age." Laura smiled as the paparazzi started snapping pictures. "Put your arm around my waist," she hissed to Ross.

With a confused look on his face, he complied. "Why? And no, I didn't read up on you. Did you read up on us?"

"Standard photo protocol," Laura answered, addressing his first question. "As for the reading; duh! You're supposed to read up on your cast mates, it give you an ice breaker, and you can assess their abilities." She smiled for a JustJared(3) camera as she continued, "Shouldn't you know all this stuff? I mean, your siblings are in some pretty well-known productions, aren't they?" (Read: Riker's a Warbler on Glee.)

Ross grinned at the camera, drawing Laura closer to him so he could reply, "Yeah, I guess. But still, they're my siblings. Not me. They never told me about this stuff."

"Well then, I guess you've got a lot to learn," returned Laura smartly. The rapid-fire flashing of cameras started to fade out, and she prepared to answer some questions.

"Hey, Laura!" A JustJared(3) reporter grabbed her attention by shoving a microphone in her face. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"Bowling," she replied simply.

"Cool, cool! Now, Ross, are you a good bowler?" The reporter turned to Ross.

He shrugged modestly. "I try my best."

Laura smiled and shoved him playfully. "So conceited," she whispered, to the reporter.

"Hey!" protested Ross, returning to Laura's side. "I totally heard that," he informed her.

The reporter just laughed. "Well, thanks, guys! This'll be going into an article soon— just pictures and words, no video. Now, the guy at the desk is glaring at us, so we're just going to make our discreet exit..." He and the rest of the paparazzi mob slowly backed out and away from the bowling joint. He might've gotten the story first, and the other reporters might resent him for that, but as any good paparazzi knows, the single most terrifying thing in the world is not going back to your boss empty-handed and with no story, but rather an angry civilian who owns the place you're snapping pictures of.

As soon as they were all gone, Ross joked, "So, tell me about standard photo protocol."

"There's not only standard photo protocol, but also standard interview protocol, standard fan protocol, etcetera." Laura grinned. "You've got a lot to learn, but first, I'm going to win at bowling."

"You're on. Loser has to go to set tomorrow in a chicken costume!"

"Okay— wait, chicken costume?"

"Oh yeah."


"Ha! I win!" Laura grinned triumphantly.

Ross was standing hunched over, hands on his knees, over exaggerating his loss. "Man, you are competitive!" he exclaimed, sounding surprised. Straightening up, he added, "And good at bowling!"

Laura shrugged. "You either got it or you don't."

"Well, I guess that means I'll be going to set in a chicken costume tomorrow..." Ross sighed, shrugging like what can you do?

It was late now, and though Laura didn't have any family dinner obligations, she knew that Ross and his tight-knit family did. "C'mon," she said, tilting her head towards the door. "Let's go."

"I'll walk you home, but you have to tell me about standard photo, interview, and fan protocol." Ross smirked. "If there even is such a thing."

"Oh, believe me, there is," promised Laura as they walked out onto the street. October in LA isn't cold, per se— at least, not to Ross, who grew up in Littleton, Colorado(4)—, but to Laura, a native of LA(4), it was chilly. There was a night breeze blowing, and Laura was dressed in only jean-shorts and a tank top. She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering slightly as they walked.

"So, tell me about it." Ross draped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him so that she could absorb some of his body heat. For reasons she could not fathom, Ross's body was perpetually warm; like her own personal heater.

"Standard photo protocol," she started. "If the paparazzi get up close and personal with you, just smile and pose. If they're far away, doing that ninja-picture-snapping thing where they, like, camouflage themselves, then just act natural. If there's a guy and girl together and the cameras come close, the guy has to put their arm around the girl. It just looks better," she explained.

"Ninja-picture-snapping thing?" Ross laughed, while Laura blushed hotly.

"Shut up! Do you want to know about standard interview protocol or not?" she huffed. At Ross's amused nod, she continued. "Don't give away any details that you're not allowed to give away. Movies, TV shows, albums— it's all the same. Until you're given the 'okay', you can't say anything. Also, be yourself. Like you and me, joking around back there. People love that kind of stuff. Just— don't be too much of yourself."

"Be yourself, but not too much of yourself?" Ross shook his head. "Laura, you know, I've found it's easier to just go with the flow. And show off a little."

Laura rolled her eyes. "Standard fan protocol. If you give one of them an autograph, you have to give all of them an autograph, unless you're at a premier or something, in which case there are too many people to take pictures with and give autographs to."

Ross could only blink at her. "That doesn't sound like a lot of fun. You should enjoy yourself, Laura. Being famous? It's a good life."

"If you say the right things, wear the right clothes, act the right way, and know the right people," Laura argued back.

Ross held up his hands in mock defense. "Okay, okay! I'm not gonna argue with you, but I'm gonna make you see: this is fun."

Laura shrugged, but there was a gleam in her eyes. "Try your best," she challenged. Looking up, she sighed. "And, we're home." Her voice had a disappointed tone to it, as if she would miss Ross's arms around her shoulders, keeping her warm, and his sunny smile, and his playful banter. Oh well, all good things must end, right? "Thanks for today," she said, surprised to find that she genuinely meant it, despite getting attacked by paparazzi.

Ross smiled. "No problem. So, is your family home?" He motioned towards the lights on in Laura's house.

Laura shook her head. "They probably just forgot to turn the lights off," she explained, inserting her key into the door and twisting it. The door swung open, to reveal an empty foyer. "It's just dinner by myself tonight. Par-tay!" she joked weakly.

Ross hesitated to ask, "Is it always like this? Dinner by yourself, I mean."

Laura nodded. "We try to eat together sometimes, but most of the time, it doesn't work out. Christmas and Thanksgiving, though, we're always together, so at least we have that." She smiled weakly.

"Oh." Ross was momentarily stunned into silence. He couldn't imagine life without his family around, and it seemed like Laura's life was exactly that. Suddenly he wanted to stay with her, just for that night. At least she'd have some company. He spoke up. "Hey, Laura?"

"Yeah?"

"How do you feel about me coming in with you for dinner tonight?"

Laura looked genuinely surprised. "Really?"

Ross nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! You can cook and I'll eat."

Laura rolled her eyes with a smile. "Come on in."

They entered through the door and the foyer, in all of its marbled glory, lit up by the chandelier hanging up in the ceiling of the second floor. However pretty it was, the house felt cold and empty, like it needed some people to warm it up.

Laura noticed Ross staring at the foyer and sighed. "Looks fancy, doesn't it? Mom always wanted to appear rich, famous, and elegant. Now she's got all those things, because of Vanessa and me."

"What do you mean?" Ross followed her as they made their way to the kitchen.

"Take a look at what Vanessa and I do. We love it, and we get paid loads for it. And since she's our mom, we give her the big house, the feeling of security, and a stable life. It's everything we didn't have ten years ago." There was an obvious finality in her tone, and although Ross was aching to know more, he held himself back, knowing that he shouldn't push whatever fragile truce he had created with Laura. The thing was, she had always been rather removed from him, and it wasn't until they started this GTKEO thing that they actually, well, got to know each other.

The only thing he could think to say that was appropriate at the moment was, "So, what's for dinner?"


After dinner, Ross tried to convince Laura that watching Toddlers and Tiaras(5) would not be traumatizing, dragging her to the TV while he nagged, persuaded, and made a pain in the ass of himself.

"C'mon, please? I promise I'll hold your hand if you get scared," Ross said solemnly.

Laughing, Laura shook her head, even as Ross tugged insistently on her hand. "No is no- whoa!" She toppled forward with him onto the couch. They ended up tangled together in a mess of limbs.

Ross shrugged innocently, reaching across her to grab the remote, turn on the TV, and turn to TLC(5), where Toddlers and Tiaras was currently playing. "Guess I just don't know my own strength," he said, referring to when he pulled on her hand, hard, and caused her to land on the couch with him.

Laura rolled her eyes and poked his bicep. "Liar. You just wanted me to watch this crazy reality show."

"Maybe a little bit." Ross smirked. "But you're here, aren't you? And we are going to watch Toddlers and Tiaras. It's ridiculously funny!"

"And traumatizing."

"I promise it's not as bad as you think it is. I can't say it's not traumatizing because it might be."

"I'm holding you to that promise."

Half an hour later, the episode was over, and Laura was sitting, frozen, on the edge of the couch. "That- that was just... traumatizing," she finished truthfully.

"Oh, c'mon, it wasn't that bad..." Ross trailed off as he spotted the look on her face, which was bordering on horror.

"Are you kidding me? I've just lost all the faith that I ever had in good, nurturing mothers!" Laura lifted a hand to her forehead dramatically and swooned. "I'm scarred, Ross. Scarred for life."

Ross rolled his eyes good-naturedly at her behavior. "I'm sure you'll be fine," he told her, more than a hint of patronizing in his tone.

"And you," Laura got up from the couch and stretched, "have to get going if you're going to sleep at all tonight."

Ross groaned. "But Lauraaaaaa! Sleep is overrated." At her stern look, her gathered himself up from her couch and sighed. "What if you get lonely?"

Laura looked genuinely surprised. "Lonely?" She let out an exasperated sigh. "Ross, I've been by myself most nights..." She trailed off, then gasped. "Is that why you don't want to leave? Because you're worried that I'll be lonely?" Then she smiled slowly, reaching a hand out to smooth Ross's hair down. "Hey," she said softly. "I'll be fine. But thank you for caring."

"Hmm... okay..." Ross yawned, his eyelids drooping, already half-asleep.

Laura laughed softly, taking his hand and leading him to the door. "C'mon, sleepyhead. Can I trust you to get home by yourself without falling asleep in the middle of the street?"

Ross nodded, grinning sleepily. He wrapped an arm around Laura in a tight hug, resting his head on top of hers. "G'night, Laura."

"'Night, Ross." After a moment, Laura twitched. "Hey... You gonna let me go or what?"

He laughed, releasing her from the circle of his arms. He observed her for a moment, then mumbled a soft, "Bye, Laura," as he walked off into the night, never once looking back, but his mind on the very girl who was lit up in the doorway that was disappearing behind him.

A/N: Well, that's it! Phew, this took me quite a while (blame my procrastination). I won't rambled on like usual, to find out my reasons for not updating and info on your favorite things (Austin & Ally, the cast of Austin & Ally, and, of course, ME!), go to my WordPress. You can get directions to it on my profile (as well as a link that's currently not working because is trying to stop spammers), or just type "anythingandeverything.99 (dot) wordpress (dot) com" in the address bar. My reasons for not updating and such are under the post "Please Don't Throw the Tomatoes..."

(1) I don't own Lucky Charms, etcetera etcetera. No copyright infringement intended. (2) That's a great song, but it doesn't belong to me. No copyright infringement intended. (3) JustJared doesn't belong to me (it's a paparazzi site, essentially, like BOP and Tigerbeat); no copyright infringement intended. (4) So yeah, Ross and his family lived in Colorado until fall of 2007, when they moved to LA. Laura is a native of LA, Calum Worthy's Canadian, and Raini Rodriguez was born and raised in Texas. (5) Toddlers and Tiaras, which is a show on TLC, does not belong to me. No copyright infringement intended.