"About time." Rocky said with a smile when Ross and Emma came into the kitchen. "Sorry, we were changing clothes." Ross said. Emma looked at Laura, Raini and Samantha, who were sitting at the Lynch family's kitchen table along with Calum, Noah and Rocky. Laura and Raini smiled at Emma, and Emma wondered what Riker had told them that she and Ross were doing. Either way, chances were the girls would be asking her later on what actually happened. For now, though, Emma just smiled back. She remembered that when she left the following morning, she would be leaving the Lynch family and the Austin and Ally cast.
"You want coffee?" Ross asked Emma. Emma nodded. "Please." she said with a smile. Emma felt herself beginning to drag. It was about ten o' clock at night by then. As Ross walked over to the coffee machine, Emma took a seat beside Laura. Emma did feel a bit awkward about wearing sweats while her friends were still wearing their formal attire. 'At least my hair still looks nice.' Emma thought as she pushed some of her curly hair out of her face. "What's up?" Laura asked Emma when she sat down. Emma was pretty sure Laura, wanted to know what had been going on upstairs, but Emma just said, "Nothing. What about you?" Laura smiled. "We were talking about the episode we're shooting tomorrow. I'm going to be singing a song." Emma smiled. "How cool. You'll do great." she told her friend. "Thank you." Laura said with a big smile. "I'm pretty excited for it. I don't get to sing entire songs too often. Say, you and Samantha should stay and watch us shoot some of the episode. We usually start shooting around ten in the morning." Samantha looked up at Rocky, who was sitting next to her. "I'll probably be hanging out with this guy until I have to leave. But we could come for a little while. My flight won't leave until four in the afternoon." Emma wished that her flight would be leaving a little later. "My flight is leaving at noon, but I'll have to get on the road at ten. Sorry." Emma said. Laura and Raini smiled at Emma. The three of them felt the same. They weren't ready for Emma to go home.
Laura suddenly gasped. "Shoot, I just remembered I have a homework due on Monday!" Noah laughed. "How could you be thinking about homework? It's a Saturday night!" Laura responded by sticking her nose up in the air. "Excuse me for caring about my grades." Calum responded by saying "You are not excused. I'm sure one missed homework assignment isn't going to destroy your grade in- what class is it? Never mind, you have A's in all of your classes." The table started to laugh. Emma guessed that this teasing often occurred among the Austin and Ally cast members. Laura smiled, but said, "Whatever, you guys just don't understand."
"Don't worry, Laura. I understand." Ross said as he put a mocha in front of Emma and took a seat. "Thank you, Ross. See guys, some people realize the importance of grades." But Ross just shook his head with a smile when Laura wasn't looking. Noah and Calum laughed. "So how do you guys fit in acting and school?" Samantha asked the group. Emma had been wondering the same thing. "We were all home-schooled except for Laura." Raini said. "But we've all already graduated. Laura's in her senior year." Laura nodded with a smile. "I'm almost done! It kind of makes me sad, because I love school." Emma smiled. She could tell that Laura was a "good girl," but Emma liked how dedicated Laura was to her school work. "Wow, so you guys already graduated? That sounds awesome." Emma told her friends. "I'm still in my junior year. And I want to go to college." "Good for you!" Laura told Emma. "I want to go to college someday, but once I graduate I'm going to focus on acting. Where do you want to go to school?" Laura asked Emma. Emma had put little thought into college. She wasn't sure why she had been putting off her college search. Perhaps it was because she didn't feel ready to go to college. Emma also was only in her junior year, so she still had time to think about college. Fortunately for Emma, her parents cared about her education, and they had been looking into colleges for her. "My parents told me about a few schools in Indiana that they thought I'd like. That's where I'm from." Laura told the group, unsure if even Ross knew what state she was from. "Wow, Indiana? That's pretty far." Laura told Emma. She frowned after the words left her mouth. Emma tried to smile at her friend. "Sorry." Laura said, but Emma shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It's really just a long plane ride away." Laura started to smile. "What do you want to study?" Laura asked Emma. "Elementary Education, I think. I'd like to be a teacher." She told her friend. Ross stopped sipping his coffee and looked at Emma. "You'd make a great teacher." he told Emma. Emma smiled. She was so glad to hear that someone thought she could be a teacher. When she was growing up, She was never too sure of what she wanted to do with her life. But Ross's encouragement helped her feel like teaching would be a good career path for her. "Really? Thanks, Ross." Ross smiled back. "A teacher? I couldn't do that. Those kids would drive me crazy." Raini commented, getting the entire table to laugh.
The group of teens continued to talk for half of an hour before Laura finally said, "Okay, this is going to drive me nuts. I have got to go get my homework done." Everybody laughed at Emma's comment. Noah agreed that it was getting late, and Calum and Raini decided they ought to take off as well. "You'll come in the morning, right? Before..." Laura started, but Emma knew what Laura wanted to say. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll be there. Before you guys start shooting, I'll come by." Emma told her with a smile. Laura smiled back, though Emma could see that Laura looked sad. The next time they saw each other, they would have to say goodbye- at least for a while. She said goodbye to Laura, Raini, Calum and Noah. "I should probably head out soon, too." Samantha told Rocky, who frowned. "Aw, I don't want you to go." Rocky told Samantha, giving her a kiss despite Ross and Emma still sitting at the same table as them. "Aw, I don't want to go either." Samantha said. "I wish I could sleep over here." Emma was grossed out. 'Did she just say that in front Ross and I? Really?' Emma thought. She looked at Ross, who looked like he was trying not to laugh. "Maybe you guys should take this conversation back to the living room?" Ross suggested, but Rocky shook his head with a smile. "Nah, we were saving that room for you two." Rocky smiled at Emma, who just shook her head and laughed. "Let's go upstairs." Samantha told Rocky before getting out of her seat and kissing Rocky again. "Uh, okay." Rocky said. "We'll see you guys later." Rocky said with a smile before following Samantha down the hall. "She's quite the character." Emma commented once the two were out of earshot. "Yeah, she seems interesting." Ross said with a laugh. "Rocky's never had a girlfriend like that. I don't think he's ever had a girlfriend who was younger than him either, at least not by a couple of years like Samantha is." Emma nodded. "You ever have a girlfriend like that?" Emma asked. "I mean, you don't have to tell me. It's really none of my business." Ross took the last sip of his coffee. "Uh, yeah, actually." He admitted. Emma began to wish that she hadn't asked. "I think Brittany was getting pressured by her friends to take our relationship to the next level. I didn't want to, though. Brittany tried to tempt me, but I made my mind up a long time ago that I wanted to wait." Emma nodded. She started to laugh. "Just think. Jackson was probably with so many girls before he dated me. He probably was getting with girls while we were dating." Ross scooted his chair closer to Emma's. His face because serious. "Don't." Emma frowned. She wished she hadn't brought up Jackson. "I am done with him, by the way. I texted him yesterday. I told him that it was over." Ross nodded. "Good. Now stop thinking about him." Emma looked in Ross's eyes. He looked upset, and Emma knew why. She then hoped that Ross would never meet Jackson. She had this feeling that Ross would give him a piece of his mind.
Ross and Emma looked up at the sound of the back door, which went from their kitchen to their back yard, opening. Riker, Rydel, Ellington and Ryland walked inside. Ross started to smile again and the sight of his family and friend. "Where'd everybody go?" Rydel asked, noticing the near empty kitchen table. "Home." Ross said, then added, "Samantha's still here though." Riker rolled his eyes. "Great." "What do you guys think they're up to?" Ryland asked his older siblings. "Whatever you do, do NOT use your imagination." Rydel said. Everybody laughed. "Are Mom and Dad still outside?" Ross asked his band mates and younger brother. "Yeah. We've all been looking at the stars for the past hour." Ryland said. Rydel looked at the clock. "Whoa has it really been an hour? It's past my bedtime." The clock read that it was almost eleven, and Emma wondered if Rydel went to bed early often. "I swear, if those two keep me up..." Rydel said before telling everyone good night and going upstairs. Ellington decided that he ought to go to. "My parents hate when I get home too late." Ellington told Emma with a smile. "It was nice meeting you today." Emma smiled. "You too." she told him before he said goodbye as well.
"You two should go outside. We've got a pretty good view of the sky." Riker told Emma and Ross. Ross turned to Emma. Ross's eyes had softened, and Emma was pretty sure Ross had stopped thinking about Jackson. "You wanna check it out? It is pretty incredible." Ross told Emma. She smiled. "Yeah. Let's go." As Ross and Emma got up, Riker added, "I have a feeling Samantha wouldn't be interested."
The air felt refreshing. There was a cool breeze. Ross's parents were lying side-by-side, looking up at the stars. Stormie sat up. "Hello, kids! Are you going to enjoy the view as well?" Emma smiled. "Yeah, I thought Emma would like to see the view." Ross told his parents. They smiled. "And you will love it! Here, you two can take the blanket we were using. I think it's time we hit the hay. Wouldn't you agree, darling?" Stormie asked Mark. Her husband nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready to call it a night." Before Ross's parents went inside, Stormie turned to Emma. "And if you feel too tired to drive home, you are more than welcome to sleep in our guest bedroom. Oh, I do enjoy Samantha, but I'm not too sure we could trust Rocky if his girlfriend slept over." Emma was surprised that Ross's parents had told her she could sleep over. She supposed that Ross's parents felt like they could trust Ross if Emma stayed over. Maybe it was because Ross and Emma were not a couple. Then again, Emma was pretty sure that the majority of the Lynch family thought they were dating.
"Do your parents not know that you've slept in my hotel room twice in the past week?" Emma asked once his parents went inside. "No, Riker has been covering up for me." Ross told her. "Don't worry, though. I'm going to tell them." Emma frowned. "And then they're going to hate me, right?" Emma asked. Ross shook his head and sat down on the blanket. "They could not hate you. My parents think you're really sweet." Ross patted the blanket, and Emma sat down next to Ross. "And they said you can sleep over. They really like you, Emma." Ross laid down and put his arms behind his head. Emma wondered if Ross trying to flex his arm muscles, get comfortable, or both. "Come on. You've gotta see this view." Emma laid down. There were a few inches between her and Ross. "Wow. This is awesome." Emma said. She saw a sky full of stars. It was a clear night, and there must have not been a lot of light pollution nearby. "Isn't it great? My family and I come out here a lot." Emma stopped looking at the stars and looked at Ross. He smiled every time he talk about his family. He looked genuinely happy. Seeing Ross happy made Emma feel happy. Emma hoped she would never cause that happiness to disappear. "What?" Ross asked, noticing that Emma was looking at him. Emma looked at Ross. She felt like the luckiest girl in the world. She was laying next to the boy of her dreams. "Promise me that... no matter what happens, you'll stay positive, okay?" Emma told Ross. Ross looked at Emma. "Stay positive, huh? Okay, I can do that. But you have to tell me something." Ross turned onto his side. "How do you feel... about me?" Emma looked as Ross. She looked up at the stars again. She knew how she felt. Emma hadn't felt this way about anyone before. She was almost unsure what the feeling was, but she had an idea.
"Look, Ross." she started. "I've never loved anyone before. Just my family and friends, you know? That kind of love." Ross looked at Emma. Emma had used the word "love." She wasn't too sure how else she could describe how she was feeling. "Yeah. I haven't loved anyone besides my family and friends either." The two looked at each other. Emma laughed lightly. "It's kind of scary. Don't you think?" Ross smiled. "Yeah, but... I think it's supposed to be." Ross laid on his back again and patted his chest. "Like that first night, remember?" Emma smiled. She rested her head against Ross's chest and looked up. Just like the first night in her hotel room.