Moving In With R5
~Chapter Six~
"Ssh!" Ratliff pushes the Lynch's front door open as quiet as possible. He ushers Laura inside and then closes the door behind, as it squeaks shut. "Everyone's probably asleep."
Laura nods her head and then yawns, outstretching her limbs before she falls onto the couch, too tired to make the trek up the stairs. "Too tired. Too many stairs. Sleeping on the couch," she says sleepily.
Ratliff laughs, and then a silence falls upon the house. The only sound that can be heard the sound of snoring coming from one of the boys, probably Rocky.
Laura slips out of her shoes and wraps herself in a blanket that had been hanging on the back of the couch. "I really liked your zombie costume, even if you did a crappy job with it."
"Thanks," he chuckles, "I, uh, liked your costume too." He pauses for a moment. "You looked beautiful."
"Thanks." Laura plays it off nonchalantly, but she's sure her cheeks are a deep crimson by now. Luckily it's dark in the room.
"No problem," he says quietly, rocking on the balls of his feet. Another moment passed before he speaks again. "Can I ask you something?"
Laura nods, positioning herself on the couch in an upright position, while Ratliff takes a seat next to her.
Silence again.
Laura doesn't think he's gonna speak, until finally he blurts out:
"I think I like you."
Laura is afraid he can feel the heat emitting of her face because of their close proximity.
"I think I like you, too." She says simply, even though on the inside she's kind of freaking out.
"That's cool."
"Yep."
Laura looks up expectantly at him because this is rather awkward she thinks and she's wondering if any moment now he's gonna get up and leave, giving her a half-hearted wave and a "well, see you tomorrow."
But he doesn't, instead he looks straight ahead with a look of deep thought throughout his features.
He turns to her then. "So, um, what now?" He asks sounding rather clueless. "I'm not very good at this."
Laura just shrugs. "I don't know. You could ask me on a date, I guess." Her voice is full of laughter, but it's also kind of hesitant, like she isn't sure what she even wants to happen. Does she want to date Ell? Up until this point she hadn't really thought about it much. Yeah, she likes him, but sitting here with him talking about it is slightly awkward.
"Um," he turns to her more, giving her his full attention, he opens his mouth as if getting ready to say something, but then closes it again and sighs. "I'm sorry, I can't do this."
"Do what?"
"Laura, look, I like you, I do, but it's just," he shrugs, "I think I like someone else more."
Her smile falter a bit, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't relieved.
"I mean, don't get me wrong, you're awesome, but if we can't even sit here and talk about the possibility of us dating without it being awkward, then I doubt us actually trying to have a relationship would work out. I'm sorry. Please don't hate me."
"I don't hate you, Ell. I actually agree with you. I like you too, but, I don't know if I'd want to date you. I think I like you in more of a best friend kind of way."
"That's good, I wouldn't want you to hate me because of something stupid."
She smirks and then nudges his arm. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, don't think I haven't forgotten about what you said before. You said you liked someone else. Spill this beans, Ell. Who's this girl you have the hots for?"
He laughs, noticing that the air suddenly seems more comfortable around them now. Ratliff turns his whole body, sitting Indian style.
"I don't have the "hots" for anyone. Gosh, Laur, you make it sound like I'm some kind of perv."
She rolls her eyes at his stalling. "Just tell me her name would you?! You've got me on the edge of my seat here!"
"She's just some girl," he answers breezily.
"Obviously not. You're so flustered over her, it's adorable."
Ratliff blushes.
"Come on, just tell me. Is she someone I know?"
"... Yes."
"Okay, um, tell me about her then. Like why do you like her?"
He shrugs, leaning back in his seat. "She's just... I don't know... It's hard to explain why I like her. She's not like a lot of girls. She's different, but in a good way, and I like being around her, and I like who I am when I'm around her-
Does that make sense?"
"Yes, it does," Laura confirms, then gestures for him to continue.
"She's genuine and just, like, amazing, and beautiful, and-"
"Wait a minute," Laura interrupts him when sudden realization strikes her. "You said she was someone I know."
"Yeah..."
"And the only girl that I know, that you know is Rydel."
"Y-yeah.."
Laura's face breaks out into a huge grin. "No way! You're in love with Rydel!"
"Ssh!" He tackles her, placing his hand on her mouth to quiet her squealing. "Would you shut up? You're gonna wake up the whole house! Ew! Did you just lick my hand?" He pulls his hand away in disgust.
She smiles sheepishly. "Sorry, force of habit. I always use to do that to my sister when she'd put her hand over my mouth."
"It's fine, just don't do it again."
"Don't put your hand over my mouth again and I won't have to," she counters.
"Good point."
Laura then realizes that he's still on top of her, their faces literally centimeters apart. She could just lift her head up barely and kiss him if she wanted to, but it's not like in the movies when you're in close proximity to someone and you all of a sudden have this overwhelming urge to kiss them, while you're stomach is doing summersaults inside of you.
If anything, it reminds her of when she was younger and she'd wrestle with her cousins, pinning them on the floor or sometimes the other way around.
The last thing on her mind right now is kissing Ratliff. It's funny how drastically things can change in such short about of time.
Ratliff wipes his hands on his jeans and then gets off her. They both reposition on the couch like moments before as if nothing had happened between them, because in all reality, nothing had.
"I think you should ask her out,"
Laura suggests when she's gotten back into a comfortable position.
"Are you crazy? I can't do that."
"Why not? You like her right?" Although Laura thinks his feelings toward Rydel border a little bit more on the verge of love.
"It's not that simple," he replies with a shake of his head.
"It kind of is actually."
"Yeah, except for the fact that she's got four brothers who would all kick my ass before her dad would ever got the chance to."
"Aren't you being a little ridiculous?"
"Not even. I've spent my whole life acting as though I only see her as a little sister. Denying my feelings because I figured it was just better for everyone. Trust me, Laura, it's not a good idea. When I first started hanging out with the Lynch's, Riker made sure to give me an "older brother talk" about dating Rydel."
"But you've been friends with them for years now. Surely, they can see that you're a great guy and you wouldn't hurt their sister."
Ratliff shrugs. "I don't know."
"What if I talk to them?" Laura suggests. "I could convince them that you dating Rydel wouldn't be so horrible."
"Would you really do that for me?"
"Of coarse! You and Rydel are both my friends and I want to see you happy," she says sincerely. "Besides, I love romance!"
Ratliff smiles and then leans over to embrace Laura in a big hug. "Thanks Laur, you're the best!"
She giggles. "Oh, I wouldn't say that, but you can."
They both laugh as they pull away from the hug.
"It shouldn't be too hard to convince them anyways. I got the easy job. Meanwhile, you're the one who has to grow a pair and actually ask Rydel out." She teases.
"You're job is much easier said than done," Ratliff informs her.
"Please, just a little bit of this ole Marano charm and I'll have them eating out of the palm of my hand." And then she chuckles darkly for dramatic effect.
"Getting a little full of ourselves are we?" Ratliff jokes, his brow raised in amusement.
"Nah, it'll be a piece of cake. All the boys love me," she pauses and then rolls her eyes, "well, except for Ross. He'll be the real challenge. Then again when isn't he."
"Don't be so hard on him," Ratliff says lightly.
Laura just looks at him in disbelief. Did he not remember the conversation they'd had about the blond the other day. "Why?" She asks a bit rudely. She honestly hadn't meant to come off that harsh, but for some reason, every time Ross was brought up it brought out the worst in her.
"Because," Ratliff said, his voice slightly cracking when he speaks. He swallows a huge lump in his throat before continuing, "when he lived back in Colorado, he was bullied by everyone. His only friends were his sibling."
"Yeah, well now Ross is the bully, so he should be able to take in what he dishes out."
"Laura," Ratliff's voice is soft, barely a whisper, and almost pleading, "he was bullied in school because of his cancer."
"Wait, what?!" Laura's heart stops beating, her eyes widen in shock and her stomach collapses into itself. "W-what did you just say?"
"Laura, he has leukemia. Everyday he'd come to school with bruises because of it and all the kids would think he was weak. They made fun of him all the time. Why do you think they moved? Stormie and all of them loved it there, but they hated seeing Ross be picked on."
Tears prick the back of Laura's eyes. She feels horrible. All she wants to do is run upstairs, grab Ross, give him the biggest hug, and apologize for everything mean she's ever said to him, about him or even thought about him.
"I-I've known him for years now and I never knew he had..." She can't even say it. It's too awful a word.
"That's cause he didn't want anyone to know. He was afraid if people found out they'd bully him again. Laura, he'd kill me if he knew I told you. You have to swear-"
"I won't say anything, I promise." Laura reassures.
"Good," Ell smiles. "Not a lot of people get to see the real Ross Lynch. Not this jerk that you've come to know him as, deep down inside, he's a really great guy, but he just doesn't like to get close to people."
"I can see why," Laura says. "My whole life people made fun of me because I was the shy quiet girl. It kind of deterred me from making friends, but being bullied because of something like having cancer, that's-that's awful. It just disgusts me."
"Me too."
Laura sighs and suddenly she realized how tired she is. She takes her flip phone out of her purse and checks the time.
1:34 in the morning.
"Crap! Ell it's-" she looks over to she Ratliff drooling on a pillow, small snores escaping him.
She smiles and get off the couch to grab a blanket for him. Laura looks up at the stairs with a frown on her face, then looks back to the couch.
'Oh, what the hell!' She thinks, and then grabs the other blanket and wraps herself in it before laying on the couch and falling fast asleep.
…
Rydel wakes up with a splitting headache from staying up too late the night before. She squints her eyes, adjusting to the sunlight and somehow manages to haul herself out of bed even though all she really wants to do is snuggle down deeper into the covers and lay there for the rest of the day.
She trudges down the stairs not even bothering to change out of her fuzzy pink pajama pants. Her hair is done up in a sloppy ponytail and there are still remnants of her vampire make from last night on her face.
She stops short when she sees the sight in front of her.
Laura and Ellington are asleep on the couch together, with Ell leaned up against Laura.
She rolls her eyes and groans, but doesn't look at it for too long before she stalks away to the bathroom to get some aspirin.
When she returns to the living room, she doesn't even bother to wake them up but instead goes down stairs, plugs in the electric guitar to the amp and turn the volume all the way up, then in one swift motion, the sound of one very off-key note is heard throughout the whole household.
She walks back upstairs to find Laura and Ratliff very much awake, stretching out their tired limbs and giving Rydel matching "wtf" looks.
"Little early for a jam session don't you think, Delly?" Ratliff asks sarcastically.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she says innocently, "did I wake you? My bad."
Laura doesn't question this, she simply shakes her head and gets off the couch, heading to the guest room she's staying in to get some clothes for a shower.
When she gets out or the shower it's a half hour later and everyone is downstairs, dressed and awake. Stormie is cooking breakfast while Rydel helps her and Rocky, Riker, and Ryland are all at the table playing with a deck of cards.
Laura doesn't see Ratliff so she figured he probably went home to assure his parents he wasn't dead or kidnapped, but she doesn't notice the absence of one Lynch and can't seem to find him anywhere.
"Have you guys seen Ross?" She asks, walking into the kitchen where everyone else is.
"Yes, dear, he's outside shooting the basketball, I believe," Stormie answers and smiles friendly.
"Oh ok, thanks."
"No problem."
Laura walks outside and there in front of her is indeed Ross in a yellow hoodie and ripped jeans, shooting the basketball at the basket and missing every time.
Laura smiles before sneaking up behind him. Just as he's about ready to throw the ball again, Laura gets on her tiptoes and reaches over his head, grabbing the ball from him.
"What the-"
Laura giggles as Ross turns around and sees the short brunette in front of him.
"I should've known," he crosses his arms over his chest. "Would you give me my ball back, Marano?"
"Not before," he tries to snatch it out of her hands, but she expertly maneuvers around him, "I show your ass up and teach you how to actually make a basketball."
She lines up the shot and before he can steal it away from her, she shoots the ball and it goes through the net, making a swishing sound as it does.
Laura smiles then looks at the blond boy who just shakes his head muttering, "beginners luck."
"What was that? Oh, is someone upset that they can't make a lay-up?" She asks, mockingly.
Ross just rolls his eyes and picks up the ball off the drive way, bouncing it a few times before placing it under his arm. "What do you want?"
"I wanted to talk to you," she says seriously.
"About what?" He responds back coldly.
"About us," she answers and he raising his eyebrows, confused. "Look, I know that you don't like me-"
"Hey, you don't like me either, sister," he interrupts her, pointing an accusing finger at Laura.
"Okay, maybe I should rephrase this. Let's just say that we aren't the best of friends-"
"Sounds like a bit of an understatement if you ask me," he comments.
She crosses her arms over her chest. "Are you quite done yet?"
Ross puts his hands up in surrender and she continues.
"We haven't been the best of friends, and I'll admit there were times when I seriously wanted to push you off a cliff," he looks amused at her comment, let a small laugh escape him," but wether either of us like it or not, we're gonna be living under the same roof as each other for the next month and a half so we might as well act civil toward each other."
He nods slowly, but she's not sure if he's actually agreeing with her or just acknowledging that he was paying attention to her little speech.
"I get what you're saying," he replies after a little while. "Besides, your mom will probably end up leaving the country again for one of her books and she'll drop you off at our place."
"And above all that, our moms are friends, and I think we owe it to them to at least try to make an effort to hate each other less."
He nods again, setting down the ball and approaching her.
"Do we have a deal?" she sticks her hand out in front of him.
He shakes it, finding the gesture somewhat dorky, but keeps his opinion to himself. "Yeah, we have a deal."
"Good," she smiles, looking up at him and feeling empathy from the night before.
She knows that she's not allowed to say anything to him about it. She promised Ratliff she would, and she doesn't intend on going back on her promises, but she can't help but wanna make it up to him somehow.
So she lets go of his hand and hugs him. At first he doesn't do anything, but stand there, shocked. But eventually he hugs her back, and when he does, she hugs tighter.
'I hope this makes up for everything I said in the past,' she silently prays.
They stay like that for awhile neither one of them thinks the other one plans on moving, but eventually Ross clears his throat and they pull away, with Laura slightly flustered.
"I'm gonna.. Go inside now..." He says and walks slowly toward the door.
"Yeah, me too," Laura calls behind him, trailing after him into the house. Her eyes are teary, but the smile on her face is undeniable.
'I forgive you, Ross. Even if you didn't offer an apology, I forgive you.'
A/N
And that's that. Are you completely speechless because of this chapter?
Believe me, giving Ross cancer in this story was a huge decision for me to make. It took some serious thought, and I'm just gonna tell your right now to put the thought out of your mind, ROSS DOES NOT DIE! By this time in the story, he still has it, but it's not as bad as it was when he was a kid.
I decided to go in a completely different direction with this story than I had originally intended. I had originally written this chapter where Ratliff asked Laura out and the went on a date and started a relationship, but somehow writing it was just too awkward, like, I don't know I just couldn't write it without cringing. So, instead I have them a best friend/family member sort of relationship and I got to say I like it a lot better. Laura's not gonna have another love interest because I just can't picture her with anyone else. The Lynch boys seem more like brothers to her than anything else especially Riker (the main reason I don't ship Riaura) and Rocky. And Ryland and hers relationship is nothing but meaningless flirting, cause I can kinda see that actually happening. Plus, the whole date another guys until the other one gets really jealous and admits his feelings things is a very cliche plot line, so I'm not using it. I want this story to be different, not like any other story that you guys could read on this site, so instead I've thought of a whole new plot and I like it alot better.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Sorry, it's 11:13 and I'm tire and I just want to upload this chapter so you can read it and I can go to bed, so I'm not gonna look up all the people who reviewed, but I'm seriously grateful for all the reviews I've gotten on this story. 84! I swear if this gets to 100 reviews working the next couple chapters I will shit bricks! I would be so happy!
Special thanks to Lilyfanficlover who I've been private messaging over the past couple weeks. She's really awesome and it's super fun talking to her.
And also, special thanks to HawaiiBeachBums who is literally one of the sweetest people ever. She's so lovely and you guys should totally check out her story that she wrote because its pretty good and it's an Auslly story so who doesn't love that?
I love you all! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Goodnight!
Kthanxbai!