Sorry it took me eighty years to update this. But rest assured, I did not abandon it.
I decided to split up their eighteenth year into two parts because it was getting kinda long. I mean, this is long, but it was getting super long so, Ross' birthday celebration and the continuation of everything will happen in the next one.
For now, enjoy this one :)
I don't own anything.
The moment they returned to set after their trip, they were literally bombarded with millions of questions, like "how was Australia?" "Was it beautiful?" "Did you meet a kangaroo?" That last one came from Rocky.
Ross looked at his brother, "I saw you when we got back, why are you asking questions?"
He looked behind him at Raini and Calum and then shrugged, looking at his brother. "It looked like fun and I wanted to get in on it." He winked at him and then walked down the hall towards Ross' dressing room.
"Oh…kay?" Ross said, watching him walk away. He blinked and then shook his head, looking at his costars. Laura was excitedly telling them about Australia, so he decided to do something… nonchalantly. He put his arm around Laura's shoulders and then pulled her against him. She smiled up at him, her fingers reaching up to play with his and then she continued to tell Calum and Raini about their adventures as though nothing had happened.
Calum though, had a knowing smirk on his face, deciding that it was best he talked to Ross about it later.
"I'm exhausted!" Ross declared as he fell onto his couch, his feet up on the arm rest. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh.
"Dude, all we did was a read-through." Calum reminded him, taking a seat on one of the chairs in Ross' dressing room, Rocky taking the other one.
He opened one eye, "reading can be exhausting you know." Ross responded matter-of-factly.
Rocky rolled his eyes, "whatever you say bro."
"Look at that, you're sounding like Austin more and more everyday," Calum teased and Ross sat up, glaring at him. He then stuck his tongue out at him and then he and Calum laughed.
"You two are the weirdest friends I've ever met in my life," Rocky said, but then he shook his head. "Actually, your friendship with Laura is the weirdest friendship I've ever seen in my life." He said to Ross as he leaned over to pick up Ross' guitar.
"What's so weird about it?" Ross asked, getting up to walk across the room. "She's a girl, I'm a dude. We're friends. Boom." His eyes lit up, "that almost rhymed!"
"And there's Austin," Calum pointed out. "Nice to see ya."
"Very funny." Ross responded, picking up a bottle of water, he brought it to his lips and drank it.
"But seriously," Rocky said, with a thoughtful look on his face. "You two aren't just friends anymore. Did something happen in Australia?"
"Uh, well… you know, we just… hung out a lot and um, she's cool. Just us, it was cool." Ross answered, looking everywhere but where Calum and Rocky were.
"I knew it, something totally happened!" Calum stood up, "about time, man." He slapped Ross' shoulder with his hand and Ross spit out the mouthful of water he had out all over the floor. He gave Calum a look, "oh, my bad."
"Come on, Ross, tell us. Give us the deets," Rocky waved his eyebrows suggestively. "Did you guys join the mile high club?"
"The what now?"
"It's when you have sex in the airplane bathroom… I think. I don't know. I've never had sex in an airplane before," Calum explained as he went to sit down beside Rocky again.
Ross just grinned, "let me put it this way… what happens in Australia, stays in Australia."
"That's Vegas." Rocky responded flatly.
"Same shit, different place." Ross waved his hand dismissively in the air. At that moment, he saw something out of the corner of his eye, and looked to see Laura was waving her hand to get his attention. She put her finger to her lips and Ross nodded, he turned to Calum and Rocky. "On that note, I'm… hungry. I'll see you guys in a bit." With one last wink, he walked out of the room.
Calum turned to Rocky.
"Something totally happened," Rocky said as Calum just nodded.
"For sure."
Ross kicked the door closed to her dressing room and within two seconds, Laura's lips were on his, pressing him against the door as her hands traveled up his body to tangle in his hair in pace that was so fast, Ross didn't see it coming.
He broke the kiss and looked at her, panting, "what-"
"Are those wardrobe ladies, people, persons aware of what they put you in?" She asked him as they also had a fitting in addition to a read through that afternoon. "Just what you're wearing right now… it's so…"
"Austin?" He asked.
"You." She finished and then she put her hands on his shoulders and jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist, he caught her, falling against the door again and before he could blink, she pressed her lips against his again.
"Why are you being so feisty today?" He asked her, unsure of what the correct word to describe her in that moment was.
"I missed you," She answered.
"I picked you up this morning, took you to work and we were twenty minutes late because we were too busy making out in the car," He responded, his tone somewhat flat, but also teasing.
"That was a long few hours," She answered, kissing him again and he kissed her back, pressing his lips against hers harder.
He then laughed and it caused her to giggle as they broke apart. He looked at her, "your hair is messed up."
"Your fault," She answered, her voice breathless. "I blame you."
He heard a knocking on the door and then gently put her down, before she answered it, he put his hand on top of hers and then kissed her quickly. "Come over after work today." He said and she nodded. "If you'll excuse me, I've got a problem to take care of and uh, no time to fix it." He grinned at her and then she stood there, breathless again, before she finally caught herself from imagining exactly what he was doing in the bathroom (if it was anything like when they were fifteen, then she had a pretty good idea already).
The knocking came again and then a shout of her name. She opened the door and smiled, adjusting her clothes and running her fingers through her hair.
"Hey, Raini."
"Really?" Laura glared at Ross as he splashed her with the pool water. "We're back to that?"
"It's where it all started, isn't it?" He asked her and she thought back to the year before, realizing he had a point.
"But I thought it all started when you would wake up with your friend…" She trailed off, laughing at his look of shock. "You always seem so surprised when I talk about your… friend."
"Well, that's because you're you," He answered, tilting his head to the side. "Why don't you come in here and join me?"
"Because I'm cold," She answered.
"You're already wet." He pointed out and she felt a shiver go down her spine with his words. She felt a very different kind of wetness at that moment and wondered if it would be appropriate or not to tell him about it.
She sighed, "fine," She said, her tone shaky and hoping he didn't notice it. "You're so lucky I like you enough to do something like this."
"Do something like…what? We're just swimming." He pointed out as he then got out of the pool. She looked up at him and he softly smiled at her, holding his hands up, "don't worry, I won't throw you in this time."
"Right." Laura nodded, but still she just stood there. "I um, I don't have a bathing suit."
He looked down at his suit and then started to untie it. He then let them fall at his feet and she saw he was wearing boxers underneath them. Her eyes widened as she looked up at him again.
"And now neither do I."
"What are you doing, your family-"
"Is gone for the night," He told her. "Dinner and a late movie."
"And you didn't go? Why?"
He shrugged, "I spend all my time with them, I barely get to see you anymore and picking you up, taking you to work and then being at work together and taking you home doesn't count."
She felt her heart flutter with his words, "you're so sweet."
He nodded, "I get told that a lot you know."
She playfully shoved him and he just grinned at her.
"So…"
She sighed and he stepped closer to her. He then kissed her, pressing his lips against hers as his hands went around her waist and pushed her against him, causing her to lift herself up just slightly so that she could kiss him back. Then he did the same thing he did a year before, he put his hands on the hem of her long sleeved shirt and bunched it, lifting it up so that it was almost over her head, he broke the kiss and the threw it to the side. He looked back at her and then noticed that all she was wearing was just her bra.
"Are you checking me out?" She asked, lightly panting.
"I'm not denying that."
She closed her eyes and then felt him press her against him again. She could feel him against her, like really feel him and it made her heart skip. His body was so warm and comforting.
"Wait," She said and stepped back, she saw the look on his face (was it disappointment?) and then reached down to unbutton the shorts she was wearing. She did so, watching him as he watched her and then took them off, throwing them to the side.
They were almost naked now, with the exception of their underwear.
But they both knew they weren't going to go that far. It was too early to go that far in their… well, sort of relationship. They hadn't labeled it yet exactly and they hadn't made it official either.
To her surprise, instead of kissing her like she thought he was going to do, he instead held his hand out to her. "Ready to go skinny dipping?" He asked and she smiled, taking his hand in hers.
"I would love to go skinny dipping… sort of. Since you know, we're not completely naked."
He shook his head, "you're really good at being technical you know."
"I know, it's a quality I love and hate." She said and then he led her to the stairs of the pool. He let go of her hand to jump in and then he surfaced again, looking at her.
"Come on, it's warm in here. If it's not, then I'll keep you warm, I promise." He winked at her. She felt her heart skip again.
Damn you, Ross. She thought.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and then jumped in. After she had surfaced, she saw Ross grinning at her.
"You're right it's not so bad," She answered and then looked down and pouted. "Though my underwear is officially wet."
"Yeah, don't say that, you're going to make my head go into a place we both probably don't want it to go."
She laughed and then wrapped her arms around his neck, he put his hands on her waist and then leaned in and kissed her. It didn't take long for her to respond back because her hands soon went into his hair and she was pressing herself against him, kissing him deeper. He kissed her back just as intensely and then they broke apart, breathing heavily for a few seconds, they just stared at each other.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
Ross pressed his lips against hers in five seconds and she squealed at the pressure she felt from it. It was hard, it was rough and it was deep. He broke it and just stared at her.
"Sorry?" He tilted his head and said it as more of a question.
"Sorry? Sorry for what?" She asked, her heart pounding fast, she looked up at him.
"I'm sorry for…" He trailed off as he tried to come up with an answer. Finding that he couldn't, he just shrugged and adorably smiled at her. "I'm not sorry for anything." He finally answered.
She smiled back, "me neither."
And then she kissed him and tightened her legs around his waist, bringing him even closer to her. His response to that was to wrap his arms around her waist and hold her in place. They broke apart for air, then they were back at it, kissing like they were never going to kiss each other again.
Laura walked into her room, a smile on her face as she put her bag down on her bed and then sat down beside it, leaning over, she took off her shoes and then fell back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She reached her hand into her hair and ran her fingers through it, giggling when a few drops of water fell onto her baggy shirt that Ross let her borrow.
She covered her face with her hands and then shook her head, giggling again when she felt her heart skip. The thought that Ross could make her turn into a giggling thirteen year old girl made her so happy.
If only she'd known him when she was thirteen.
"What's so funny?" She took her hands off her face and then looked to her left to see her sister was standing in the door way to her bedroom.
"I don't know," She admitted.
"Why's your hair all wet?" Vanessa asked, stepping further into the room.
"I went swimming with Ross today…" She answered, giggling again when she remembered everything that had happened that day. While she was giggling, Vanessa smiled at her and then went to lie down on her bed the same way Laura was.
"You are the cutest thing ever," Vanessa said a moment later, her hand going on top of Laura's for a second. Laura turned her head to face her and then smiled.
"That's what Ross always says to me."
"It's true." Vanessa squeezed her hand and then let go. "So, tell me, are you two a thing now?"
Laura scrunched up her nose, like she always did when she was trying to think or remember something. She nodded, "sort of, maybe. I don't know. We haven't labeled it yet."
"Oh my god, Laura, are you wearing his shirt?" Vanessa touched the shirt and Laura broke into giggles again.
"He's making me turn into a love sick preteen in love with Justin Bieber," Laura said, covering her face with her hands again.
"And it's possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life." Vanessa smiled at her.
"Is it cheesy?" Laura asked.
"A little, but it's normal." Vanessa giggled and then Laura giggled again.
It was silent in between them, before Vanessa spoke and it made Laura burst into harder giggles.
"You know, if he were to dye his hair darker, like a little darker, he'd totally be Justin Bieber."
Not much happened in the few months after they had gotten back from Australia. All they did was work, make-out sometimes, work more, continue on with school and of course, work.
It was now the endish of November. To be more specific, it was five days before her birthday.
Ross had done a few tours and his current one was just about to end. Laura was excited because it meant that she was going to see him the next day and he told her he had something important to ask her.
He wasn't going to see her until the next day because that was when he was going to be back.
The doorbell rang and since nobody was home, she went down to answer it, wondering who it could be. Letting out a yawn as she opened the door, her eyes widened and she let out a loud squeal.
"Ross!" She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. He smiled and hugged her back. Then he stepped back and waved at her, wiggling his fingers.
"Hi." He boyishly smiled at her.
She giggled and then hugged him again, standing on her tiptoes, the tank top she was wearing with her shorts moved up a bit and Ross had to close his eyes so that he didn't get any inappropriate visions of her.
"Wait," Laura pulled back a bit, "I thought you were supposed to come home tomorrow."
"Surprise?" He shrugged and then she rolled her eyes, "so um, I have bad news, sort of, kinda, actually, it's pretty bad." He looked down for a moment and Laura looked at him, her eyes telling him she was worried. "Iwontbehereonyourbirthday." He mumbled really fast.
"What? I didn't catch a word of that at all."
Ross sighed, "I'm not… going to be here, on your birthday."
"What?" Her eyes began to water and she stepped away from him. "Why not?"
"Because I'm going to Japan, actually, the band is going to Japan, it's a part of our tour."
"But I thought it was over."
"It got extended." He said.
"But you, you promised me you'd be here with your family for Thanksgiving and then my birthday. Why are you going back on that promise?" She demanded, her hands going to her hair. He saw a tear slip down her cheek and then immediately rushed over to her, taking her hands in his.
"It's not me, it's for work, Laura. I'm sorry."
"Yeah…" Laura stepped back, "me too." She took her hands out of his and then opened the door. She stood by it, and he just gave her a sad look, before leaving it. She then slammed the door and slowly slid down it, her head going to her hands, she just sat there, almost emotionless.
"Still haven't heard from Laura huh?" Rocky asked Ross, as Ross threw a small beanbag in the air and caught it again.
"No." He answered back, "she's ignoring all my texts and calls."
"I'm sorry bro, that really sucks."
Ross just looked at him, "you really gotta work on your pep talks."
Rocky just shrugged.
"It's her birthday on Friday," Ross said.
"I know."
"I just wish I could do something for her, you know? To show her that even though we aren't officially together yet, I still really care about her." Ross tried to think for a few more moments.
"What are you gonna do…surprise her?" Rocky asked.
Ross turned to him, his eyes lit up a bit and Rocky smiled at him.
"You're going to surprise her." He said.
"Yeah and everyone's going to help me." He said.
"Help you with what?" Ross turned around to see Rydel walk into the room, she sat down beside him on the other side of his bed.
"Plan an epic surprise for Laura's birthday." Ross told her. She smiled.
"Oh count me in, this will be fun." She clapped and then Ross sighed, looking up.
Now to come up with the perfect plan for Laura's birthday surprise.
Laura was wondering why Vanessa had offered to take her out for an early birthday shopping spree. More so because Vanessa hated shopping. She was even more surprised when they got to the shopping center and Rydel Lynch of all people was there to meet them.
Rydel hated shopping more than anybody Laura knew, even more than Vanessa did.
"Hey birthday girl!" Rydel hugged her. Laura hugged her back.
She had no reason to be upset with Rydel, it was Ross, she was upset with after all. Rydel had nothing to do with it.
"So, ready to go shopping?" Vanessa asked Laura.
"I'm going to say this again, because it still hasn't completely processed in my mind yet, but you hate shopping Vanessa. And you," She looked right at Rydel, "hate it the most out of anyone I know, what is going on?"
"It's your eighteenth birthday," Rydel told her. "I can put aside my hatred for this for one day. Just this once."
"For me?" Laura asked.
"For you, yes." Rydel answered simply and then turned around, "Ready to go?"
"I guess so," Laura mumbled and then followed the two very excited girls in to the shopping center.
It hadn't been as torturous as Laura thought it would be. Rydel insisted on buying everything for her, since it was her birthday and all and had even gotten a few things of her own. Then again, Rydel was a fashion genius.
She was tired, but not completely and as Vanessa pulled up to the house, suddenly, all she wanted to do was take a nap. But she had homework to do and if she didn't do it then, she probably never would.
"Hey, Rydel's coming over," Vanessa told her and she yawned, nodding her head.
Soon enough, Rydel pulled up in the car behind Vanessa's, parking there and then joined them on the street. She locked the car and then together all three girls walked up the pathway to the front door. Laura pulled out her key and opened it, putting her bags down by the door, she walked into the other room to find her phone charger.
"Hey, uh, Laura want to join us outside?" Vanessa asked her.
"Why?"
"Just because we want to hang out with you, duh." Vanessa smiled and then took her hand. "Come on, it'll be fun."
"Fine," She mumbled, "but only for a little while, I'm tired and have a lot of…homework…to do, what is going on?" She asked as soon as she walked outside and saw a bunch of christmas lights were hung up, creating a beautiful glow, mixed with the vines on the posts, it looked like something out of a movie. She then saw a bunch of food was out and that Rocky was sitting in a chair, strumming a guitar. "Rocky?" She asked him. He looked up at her.
"Oh hey, Laura, what's up?" He gave her a hug and then sat down again.
"Why are you at my house?" She asked, tilting her head. She was so confused.
"Turn around and you'll find out why." She heard a very familiar voice and then turned around to see Ross was standing there, holding a red rose. He adorably smiled at her. "Happy birthday, Ketchup." He softly said and then put the flower into her hair, running his fingers through it for a moment, before taking her hand in his. Her other hand went to her mouth as her eyes filled with tears while his other hand went to her waist and then he started to move slowly.
"We're dancing with no music," Laura whispered and then she couldn't help herself, she smiled up at him.
"So, who says we need music to dance?" He asked her, moving away from her he held both her hands in his and then with his right hand, spun her around. She giggled, the sound resonating throughout the backyard.
"What's all this for?" She asked as he spun her back to him and then held her against him.
"It's for your birthday, surprise." He smiled at her and then she couldn't help it. He had planned this surprise for her and all she had done was be a bitch to him just two days earlier. Reaching up, she pressed her lips against his in a sweet kiss, letting go of one of his hands, she put it on the back of his neck and pulled him against her more firmly so that she could kiss him deeper.
"Uh, you know we're all still here, right?" They broke apart, looking up to see that Rocky was waving two of his fingers in the air. That was when Laura noticed both of their entire families were all outside.
"Everyone's here," She said, "your family, my family… why do I feel like there's something else going on?" She asked him.
"Why are you so suspicious?" Ross shot back.
"Because your name is Ross Shor Lynch and you're the biggest romantic I have ever met in my entire life," She looked at him with a look that showed she knew he was up to something. "So, what is it? It's not like in Australia when you kissed me is it? Because that's like one of my top favorite moments of my life."
He smiled, "thanks, I'll have to remember that for later." He then awkwardly cleared her throat as her father was still not too far away. "But if you close your eyes and cooperate, I might have one more surprise for you."
"Is it Raini and Calum?" She asked him, closing her eyes.
"Okay, two more," He joked and everyone laughed. She laughed too.
He then pulled out a necklace from his pocket and motioned for her to turn around by gently doing it himself. She did and then he lifted her hair and put it on.
"Okay, open." He whispered and she did, looking down to see a heart shape necklace.
She picked it up, the front said R+L and the back of it said the same thing he told her when they were fifteen and had repeated since then, timeless.
"We are, timeless," She said, her voice raspy as she was near tears. She turned to him. "You and I are timeless."
"We are."
She then cupped his face with her hands and kissed him.
"Also, I have one question," Ross adorably tilted his head to the side. "Will you consider being some kinda girl to me? You know, like a friend, but who's more than that, like romantic and a girl…type person."
She giggled at his humor with asking her out.
"You mean like, go steady?"
"Yeah, but more official and current with the times." He answered back.
"Yes, Ross, I'd love to be your girlfriend," She finally said and then he kissed her, she pulled back only slightly. "If you'll agree to be my boyfriend."
He pretended to think about it, "I guess I could do that." Everyone laughed and then they shared another sweet kiss.
"Yeah!" Riker called, clapping his hands with everyone else. "About damn time, bro."
"He's right," Ratliff spoke next, sharing a look with Calum, "see, he agrees with me."
"Totally, dude." Calum fist bumped his. "And for the record, I totally knew something was going on between you two."
"Hey! I did too!" Rocky pointed to himself and everyone laughed at him.
"Hey where's Raini?" Laura asked, looking around, confused.
"I'm right here, jeez, can't a girl pee?" Raini joked and then hugged her, both girls squealed. "I can't believe it's official!"
"I know!" Laura said and then Ross stepped back since Rydel came and pushed him away.
"Thanks, sis." He rolled his eyes.
"Oh, you'll get over it." She hugged Laura and then Vanessa was next.
"My sister has a boyfriend, ooh la la." Vanessa joked.
"You're lucky we're related," Laura joked back, hugging her. She then picked up the heart shaped charm. "I love this, Ross. Thank you so much."
"Anytime." He smiled at her. She took his hand and led him over to a more quiet spot of the backyard, while everyone began to talk, mingle and eat.
"I'm sorry." She finally said and he tilted his head, confused. "I mean, I'm sorry I got upset with you the other day."
"I don't really blame you." He sighed, "I'm sorry I won't be here on your birthday, I really want to be-"
"No, no it's okay." Laura shook her head, leaning her forehead against his. "It's not a big deal, because you did this. You did all of this and… this alone is more than I could have ever asked for."
"Well, you deserve the best." He whispered.
"You're so cheesy cute." She softly kissed him. "Sometimes, not always."
"Hey, then what am I those other times?"
"Adorable?"
"Okay, keep going."
"Awesome."
"Don't stop yet."
"Amazing, incredible, the best boyfriend a girl could ask for."
"I'm liking this game." He smiled and then kissed her, "just so you know, there isn't a single word to describe you, just… all of the words in the dictionary, except the negative ones. You're amazing, awesome, cute, adorkable, beautiful, incredible, my favorite person ever."
"Right back at ya," She smiled and then kissed him, this time deeper, both their eyes closing as they shared the intimate kiss. Then they broke apart, their foreheads still against each other's as she softly rubbed his cheek with her thumb.
"We should go join the party." Ross said, not sounding like he wanted to go.
"Yeah," Laura agreed, letting out a laugh, she kissed him again, then winked, "there will be more of that later, promise."
"I can get on board with that," Ross smiled and then they both stood up, their hands tightly held together as they joined their families and started to dance again with Ryland acting as the DJ for the night.
"Hey, Mustard." Laura said and Ross looked up at her. "Thanks for an amazing birthday celebration."
He just smiled and gave her a soft kiss, "anything for you, Ketchup."
So yeah that surprise was totally inspired by my boyfriend, Austin. He did this same thing for me last year for my birthday and the best part was, we were in California and he did it on the beach with my cousins, aunt, uncle, mom, little brother and even surprised me with my best friend, Sydney :] It was amazing and beautiful and it made me cry. He also gave me a heart shaped necklace like the one in the story, that said timeless on the other side because he knows I love the song and that I believe he and I are timeless. Don't worry he does too :) So, go tweet him with whatever you want and attack him. It's fun to tweet attack him :) his twitter is austinty211 and if you're interested in following me, mine is jessier529.
Okay, well, that's all I'm saying for now. Stay tuned (haha that's so funny to say) for the next chapter! This time with Ross' birthday celebration. I wonder what Laura's got planned... hmm..
Much love xx
