Moving In With R5
*** HALLOWEEN SPECIAL***
"Explain toe again why you're having a Halloween party in July?" Laura asks her best friend Maia Mitchell as she rummages through the five dollar decoration bin full of plastic spiders, fake vampire teeth, and big, goofy cob webs.
"Because," she drags out the word, irritatedly. "I won't be here in October, remember? My family's going back to Australia to visit some relatives, but we all really wanted to have our annual Halloween party. So, we just moved it up a couple of months."
"Oh, right." Laura, bored with the cheesy decorations, makes her way to the aisle with Halloween costumes.
"You better get one of those. You'll need it for the party, and also if you decide to go trick-or-treating."
Laura snorts. "What makes you think I'm even going to your party?"
"Because I'm your best friend and it's my party," Maia replies in a "duh" tone of voice. "Plus, it'll be a great opportunity to show off that new boyfriend of yours." She says cheekily.
"Pfffft. What?"
Maia raises an eyebrow at her best friend of three years, with that sly smirk on her face.
"Ratliff is not my boyfriend. He's just my... boy...friend."
"Who are you trying to convince her Laura?"
The American brunette only rolls her eyes at the Australian one. Even when her sister is out of the country she still gets teased about boys. Although Maia is basically just like another older sister. They'd first met in sophomore year of school, back when Laura still wore braces and, what Maia liked to refer to as, "grandma shoes".
So what if she'd found them in the orthopedic section? They were comfy and sensible.
But once Maia came along she swapped those shoes for sneaker wedges, was introduced to the concept of actually wearing make-up, and had been forced into getting the tips of her hair dyed. Laura was pretty sure Maia would have ripped those braces out of her mouth too, but fortunately she let those be.
Laura's mom had called Maia a "miracle-worker", but Laura had a few other choice words for the girl. Either way, that was the begging to a beautiful friendship.
"Just admit it, babe. You can't keep anything from me," Maia wraps her arms around Laura's neck, hugging her from behind and lays her head affectionately on Laura's shoulder.
"Maybe that's just what I let you believe," Laura giggles, "you better get your hands off me or else people are gonna think something off this." She gestures between the two of them.
"Let 'em stare! There just jealous because I have the best wifey in the world!" Maia declares rather loudly and this comment doesn't go unnoticed by the other shoppers.
"Hun, you're so strange," Laura snickers and finally the other girl releases her grip.
"Seriously though. Pick out a costume. I'll even buy it for you if it gets your ass to my party."
Laura just shrugs, trailing her fingers through the rack. She wasn't really paying attention to anything though. She was mostly focused on why Party City had their Halloween stuff out so early.
"Ooh," Maia squeals, "get this slutty nurse outfit. That'll really make your boy-toy drool!"
"Maia!" She shrieks.
"Kidding. I'm kidding," she explains while simultaneously laughing like a maniac. "I know how much of a prude you are anyways."
"Oh my gawd!" She moans while pinching the bridge of her nose and her face heats up like an oven.
"He's not like that anyways," Laura says, "he's sweet and I don't know, like, not like a lot of guys are now a days. Like he actually wants a relationship, not just some worthless booty call."
"Booty call?" Maia laughs again. "Yeah, I'm adding that too the list of words you should never say!"
Once again that day, Laura rolls her eyes.
"But seriously, he sounds really cool. And I can tell you totally like him."
Laura blushes again, this time lowering her head and letting her hair fall over her face, almost like a mask.
"Come on," Maia delicately grabs her wrist, "I have a Halloween costume that would be perfect for you."
…
"What's this amazing Halloween outfit that you have for me, and why are we looking for it in your dusty old attic?"
"Because this is where we keep all of my mom's old junk. This was a costume that she wore in one of her performances. It was the first time she had a starring role in the theatre. She did such a good job that they let her keep one of the outfits."
"Okay? But what does that have to do wi-"
"Oh, here it is!"
Maia grabs a box and sits in on a conveniently placed desk. She opens the lid and pulls out a beautiful scarlet red dress with gold trimming.
"Mai, your this dress wouldn't happen to be from your mom's performance of Romeo and Juliet, would it?"
"Why Miss Capulet," she quips, adorning the worst British accent," it's funny you should ask such a question."
…
Laura's never seen the Mitchell household so packed full of people. In fact, she's surprised there aren't people busting out of every opening of the house.
She walks timidly into the place. It's full of strange people, all wearing costumes and she can't help but feel self-conscious in her Juliet get-up.
Once she passed the group of obnoxious teenage boys wolf-whistling and chugging beers, she feels a lot more relieved, but the amount of people is still making her skin crawl, even if they aren't even paying any attention to her.
All she wants to do is find Maia or Ratliff or someone so she can stop feeling like an awkward little girl who doesn't belong here.
"Hey boo!" Maia says when she finally finds Laura.
She's dressed in a cat women costume, which isn't very surprising since she's a huge fan of super heroes, and is definitely rocking it.
"Hi Maia."
The two girls hug and then Maia steps back to take in the shorter girls appearance.
"Gosh, Laur! You look beautiful!" She gushes.
"Uh, thanks," Laura blushes and fixes her headpiece shyly.
"Laura!" A far away voice shouts.
Laura and Maia both turn around to see Rydel and Ratliff behind them. Ratliff is waving enthusiastically while Rydel glances around the place with a tedious look on her face.
Laura gestures for them to come over, and Ratliff proceeds to drag Rydel along with him.
Rydel has on white face make-up on and is wearing a long black dress with a cape. Laura supposes she's dressed up as a vampire.
Then there's Ratliff who looks adorable in his half-assed zombie getup.
"Hey Laura," he greets cheerily. She smiles friendly.
"Hi Ratliff. Rydel."
Rydel offers a sideways smile. "Hey Laura. I, uh, like your dress."
"Oh, thanks."
"Are you suppose to be Juliet?"
"Um, yeah," Laura answers, swaying her dress back and forth a little.
"Hmm," she inspects Laura up and down, "interesting."
"What? Why do you say that?" Laura asks with genuine confusing.
Ratliff and Rydel share a look before Rydel replies with a quick, "Oh, no reason. I think I'm gonna go get some punch." And then she rushed off in the direction of the punch bowl.
…
Ross walks up to his vampire sister who's currently playing a game on her iPhone, bored with the so-called "party".
He and his brothers had just now arrived to the party and Ross was already on the same page as his sister.
"Yo, sis!" He shouts.
She turns her attention and giggles, shaking her head and returning to her beloved Fruit Ninja.
"What?" He stalks over to the snack table and snatches a pumpkin cookie.
"Nothing," she replies nonchalantly.
He rolls his eyes, "whatever," and continues to munch on his treat.
"Have you seen Laura?" She asks simply.
"No," he pauses and then smirks, "but I bet Ratliff has."
Rydel does nothing, except solidly sock him in the shoulder.
"Shut up, you little poop!" She shrieks.
"Then stop being so obvious why don't you?" He returns and rubs his now sore shoulder.
Rydel crosses her arms over her chest and frowns. "I have no idea what you're talking about.
Ross snorts. "Yeah, sure whatever." He then leaves his sister alone to slump against the wall and pout.
…
"Okay, okay, okay!" Maia stands up on a stool above the crowd of teenagers before her. "It's almost midnight, which means we are about to name the king and queen of the party!"
Laura sits down at a vacant chair and takes out her phone to text her mom. She honestly can't wait to just leave this party, go back to the Lynches house, and go to bed.
"Alright, so it's eleven: fifty-eight. Lets go ahead and crown the winners!" Maia's over excitement was brought out by the squeal at the end of the sentence.
Ross looks with glazed eyes over the crowd, as sea of people he doesn't know. Nothing holding his particular attention right now. He just sits there music blaring out of his earbuds. Honestly, he's about ready to pass out from exhaustion.
He's mindlessly lip-syncing the words to his favorite Maroon 5 song when he hears his name be called.
Called by an odd voice, with an unfamiliar dialect.
Was it Australian?
"Ross Lynch and Laura Marano! Get your asses up here! We don't have all night ya know!"
Neither teen makes the attempt to move, so instead of waiting on them, they are ushered to the front of the room by total strangers.
"And look at that! You two even match! How sweet is that?" Maia squeals!
That's when Laura notices, because this actually the first time that night she had even seen him, what he's wearing.
'God, why do you hate me?' She asks.
Because here she is, in a Juliet dress while he's standing in front of her dressed as Romeo, and she has to admit if it hadn't been her and him, it probably would have been the the cutest shit she'd ever witnessed, but it wasn't.
Because Ross and her were currently dressed up as one of the most popular couples in history and what Maia said next only amplified her intense irritation.
"Alright guys, you won. Now dance."
"Excuse me?"
Maia smirks, definitely enjoying herself right now. "You heard me. You two," and she gestures between the two of them. "Dance. Now."
She takes one look at Ross and one look at Maia before her glares go back to Ross again and she gets a flashback of the other day in the kitchen.
"Oh, hell no!"
"I'm not dancing with her," Ross pipes in. "That'd be disgusting!"
The large group that had gathered around them was now fully engrossed in the interactions between the two. They could literally feel the tension radiating off of Ross and Laura.
One bold spectator decides to make their opinions known and chants the word, "dance!" over and over again until others have joined them.
Soon the whole room is shouting the same one worded-mantra. "Dance! Dance! Dance!"
Ross, irritated and ready for the night to be over with, grabs Laura's small wrist and walks her to the center of the floor. A slow song pours out through the speakers as he does, and everyone erupts into cheers.
"I hope you know I'm only doing this to shut everyone up so I can leave," he takes her hand and places his hand respectively on her side with a light touch, careful not to go too high or too low.
"Really? And to think I actually thought you wanted to dance with me. You really had me fooled, Ross."
He laughs. "You're such a sass master, you know that Marano?"
"Same to you, Lynch," she replies easily, with a teasing smile, "same to you.
"Gosh, I hope you know you're just embarrassing yourself right? You're an awful dancer," Ross comments after she steps on his foot for a fourth time.
Laura awkwardly holds onto him, just following his lead and clearly not having any idea what she's doing.
"I'm sorry I'm not as skilled a dancer as you are. There's a reason you always called me 'Two Left Feet Laura', remember?"
"Oh yeah, because at our sophomore dance you completely embarrassed yourself in front of that guy you liked with your horrible dance moves. What was his name? Brandon? Brenton?"
"It was Brendan, and thanks for bringing up yet another embarrassing story of my past."
"You're so welcome," he says in a playfully sarcastic matter.
Laura manages to step on his foot a fifth time. She mumbles a quiet "sorry," and tries again but ends up marking a sixth time.
"Didn't your dad ever do that thing where he'd let you stand on his feet and he'd teach you how to slow dance?"
"No," she says and shrugs. As if that was something that was suppose to have happened. "My dad was always working anyway." That statement comes out more bitter than meant to.
Ross's face softens at hearing that and he puts an end to their dance. "Here. Get on my feet."
"What?"
"Do you want to learn to dance or what? Get on my feet and I'll teach you."
"Ross, I'll probably break your feet."
He rolls his eyes. "Are you serious? Laura you way like 80 pounds. You're not gonna hurt me. Besides this way you'll add some height. I won't feel like I'm dancing with a Keebler elf."
She swats at his arm for that comment, but ultimately accepts his offer and hops on his feet.
They resume their dance only to be faced with even more complications than before.
"Oh my gosh! This is even worse than when I was standing on my own feet!" She says.
"Whatever! You're learning though, right?"
"Couldn't you have just taught me the other way? Why are we doing this again?"
"Because it's funner!"
"Funner's not a word, Ross!"
"Shut up! It is now!"
Both teens are in fits of laughter by the time the song is over with.
Laura gets off of the tall blond and calms her giggling.
"That was pretty bad," she admits.
Ross just shrugs his shoulders. He'd honestly forgotten they'd been dancing in front of people.
"But thanks for the lesson. I appreciated it."
"Whatever. You're welcome."
Laura grabs his arm when he's about to turn away from her.
"I was being serious. Not sassy," she informs him.
He just gives a small smile. "Yeah, I know. I was too."
Laura smiles as well and lets go of him. He walks away from her and she can only process one thought out of the millions she's having right now.
She actually had fun with Ross tonight. And that, was a pretty scary thought.
A/N:
Woo hoo! I'm back!
You're in luck, the holidays brought me a whole crapton of inspiration so the hiatus is over and updated should be more often. Not only for this story, but also my other one. (Celebrity Status. Which if you haven't read yet, you really should.)
I was originally gonna publish this chapter on Halloween, but I decided not to make you guys wait that long and just publish it tonight. I hope you enjoyed this bit of Raura Halloween cuteness! I have to admit thought that I got the idea to make Ross and Laura dress up as Romeo and Juliet from another fanfic of an author I do not remember the name of. Anyways, her Raura story was cute and I kinda stole her idea (sorry) so yeah.
Big thanks to We Are Timeless, sonnenplayera, RauraR5Forever, Jackie is Grey, 1DR5, romzworld, Lilyfanficlover, writermeAL, Screw-calm-n-get-LOUD XD, UselessScottishtigergirl556, leo-jasper-ilove-vampires, AustinAllyAuslly, ljitrackrunner12, BatFink, and all the guests who reviewed. I love you guys! You make me smile! Keep it up, please!
Oh my gosh you guys! 72 reviews on this story already! I'm like freaking out! I can't believe I've already got that many reviews, it's unreal! I just wanna give every single one of you all a great big bear hug. I'm so honored that you guys enjoy my story, because I love writing it for you all :) so once again, thank you!
Kthanxbai!