Welp, long time coming, but an update is here at last

This is not like the usual chapters, it's slightly different

This and the next one will be short events happening over a long period of time, two months

We start now and end next chapter. There will be happening some things, some important things, which I hope you guys will understand as they pass by

Without any further ado, dive in

Dark bags noticeable under her eyes, hidden by extra-large, black sunglasses that Laura put on to mislead the paparazzi that might cross their paths, failing as soon as they all stepped inside the building. After a few seconds of snapping dozens of photos, they seemed to be content with what they were given and left them alone.

''You okay?'' Ross grabs her hand tightly as they walk at the very end of the group. Laura pushes her sunglasses on the top of her head, showing her makeup-less face to him. As she studies his face, he sees the slight dark spots under his eyes, resembling hers.

''I barely slept last night, how about you?'' she admits. He rubs his eye sleepily as he pulls her hand towards him so their shoulders bump into each other. Laura smiles, tightening the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

''I'll have to get used to not waking up next to you,'' a chuckle escapes his throat as they both think back to the nights they spent together. The last few nights, Laura had slept in Ross's bed, keeping it a secret from everyone else. They didn't need anyone to intervene, appreciating the privacy the rest gave them. He lets his eyes scan the group walking in front of them for a second before leaning down, whispering in her ear with a low voice. ''And the not-sleeping with you.''

''Shh-shut up,'' she shushes him, shoving her sharp elbow in his side, making him yelp and step away from her. ''Your mom is literally five feet in front of us.''

They arrive at the checkout, checking in their suitcases one by one. Laura awkwardly stands at the side, watching Ross's family and Ellington laugh as they talk about their upcoming tour. Taking a deep breath, she plays with her fingers, diverting her eyes.

''Sweet of you to come today, Laura,'' Stormie appears in front of her, giving her a big hug as she squeezes her body closer. ''Didn't Raini want to come with?''

''No, I wanted to come alone,'' Raini indeed offered to join her, bringing Calum with, but Laura quickly declined. Laura knew herself being horrible at 'goodbye's'. She knew she'd have a hard time with it and some support would help, but she found she needed to do this alone. Smiling at the loving woman in front of her, she lets her eyes scan the group at the checkout. Rydel was just lifting her pink suitcase on the scales as Ellington supported the back, helping her with care.

''Well, I'm sure Ross is happy you're here,'' Stormie gropes inside her purse, bringing out her passport before telling Laura she it's her turn to check in. Laura nods politely, her eyes going to Stormie's bag before shifting to her own. She opens it, her hand disappearing inside it before she stops her motions when two arms sneak around her waist. Hands grab the other arm's elbow to pull the figure in front of him as tight against his chest as possible.

''Missed me?'' Ross mutters in her hair, at the same time kissing the top of her head while swaying her from left to right. Laura giggles as she skips from one foot onto the other, her head leaning against his chest as she smiles brightly.

''Yeah, those were the longest two minutes of my life,'' Laura jokes, trying to hide the tough subject by laughing about it. They follow the rest as soon as they notice they're done with their luggage, inching closer to the point where they have to say goodbye. ''Let alone two months of missing you.''

Everyone stands still in front of the opening of the hall, leading to the customs. This was the point where they had to show their tickets, the point Laura couldn't go through. She steps away from Ross after giving him a sweet look, hugging everyone one by one, telling them to have a lot of fun on their tour. Ellington comes up to Ross, shoving his shoulder brotherly as they watch Rydel and Laura in a tight embrace. As Laura eventually ends up in front of Ross, after hugging Ellington goodbye, Rydel walks up to them, linking hands with Ellington.

Laura's mouth opens and closes right after, not being able to find the right words to say goodbye. She keeps staring at Ross, tired eyes scanning his face before he nods to himself. His eyes leave Laura for a second, scanning the group of people next to him. They get the message as they divert their eyes, telling Ross to meet up with them after customs and walk away from them. As soon as they're out of eyesight, Ross steps closer to Laura, his hands holding her hips.

''I'm not gone forever, you know. These two months will be over before you know it,'' his compelling stare forces Laura to meet his gaze, her eyebrows coming together in a sad frown. ''Last two months flew by too.''

''That's cause you were there with me,'' she shakes her head at his attempt to make her feel better. ''Not being able to see you is gonna be hard.''

''What are you so afraid of? How much can change in only two months?'' he chuckles, trying to lighten the mood. Those words make Laura cringe as she stops him by putting her hands on his chest, narrowing her eyebrows.

''Don't say that,'' she whispers, not wanting him to accidently jinx anything.

''I'm sorry, I just don't want you to be sad,'' touching her check lightly, he tries to comfort her as much as he can. He knows he'll miss embracing her like this, feeling the soft skin on her cheeks, letting his fingers brush against the bare skin on her hips, capturing her lips with his own when there's nothing left to say. ''I hate seeing you upset.''

''I'm not upset,'' she tells him her first real lie, swallowing with difficulty as she disconnects her eyes to stare at their feet in-between them. A feeling of terrible guilt washes over her when she hears his confession. He should be happy, looking forward to his tour, doing what he loves most. Who is she to take that away from him? Instead of trying to make her feel better, he should enjoy these two months to the fullest. She felt extremely selfish, clingy, an obstruction for him to have fun without her as she makes him forced to miss her.

''You're a terrible liar,'' he sees right through her as he lets his thumb go over the dark circles under her eyes, the clear sign of a sleepless night. A small smile appears on his face, making Ross's eyes light up, feeling happy he managed to make her slightly happy. Not wanting to hold him up any longer, she pats his chest while nodding to the other side of customs where the rest was watching them subtly.

''You should go,'' the longer they would wait, the harder it would get. She just didn't tell him that was the reason she wanted him to go. ''They're waiting for you over there.''

''I don't want this to be a sad goodbye,'' he knows she's still not as okay as she wants him to think she is. ''Great things are happening for both of us and we should be happy.''

''I am. I'm happy,'' second lie. She's trying to be, she's trying suppress her own feelings of hurt to make sure he can go without worries. He was happy without her, he can be happy without her again the next two months. And so can she.

''I love you,'' he rolls his eyes at her second attempt to make him believe she's fine as he lifts her chin. Her endless want to put other's needs before her own never ceases to amaze him. ''Don't forget it.''

''I won't,'' the first genuine smile appears on her closed lips as she covers his with her own. ''I love you too.''

She wraps her arms around his neck as she raises herself up on her toes, meeting him halfway. With the last kiss, they try to say everything they didn't manage to put into words, all the loving things they weren't able to word. Everything they would miss horribly was said as they moved their lips against each other in their last kiss for a long time. They know they have no other choice than breaking it after a few seconds, leaning their foreheads against each other in silence.

''I'm gonna miss you,'' Laura repeats her statement from the day before, knowing this time it has more meaning.

''Promise me you won't be sad these weeks,'' Ross wraps his arms around her frame as he lets out a chuckling breath.

''Promise,'' three time's a charm.

She stumbles forward as he lets go of her, watching him walk away from her after he kissed her cheek one last time. She keeps his eyes on him as he passes through customs, joining the group. High-fiving Riker, he walks with him, laughing loudly, clearly excited for the trip laying in front of them. At the back of the group, Rydel turns around one more time to wave at Laura, who smiles in return.

She stays in the same spot for a few seconds before opening her bag. Bringing out a small teddy bear, dressed in a New York shirt, she clutches it to her chest, closing her eyes with a sad smile. Her other hand goes to her chest, rolling the small bottle between her fingers before gripping the pick with two fingers.

''Laura!'' Ross greets her happily, seeing her for the first time in a week. He smiles at his girlfriend adoring, wearing her glasses and loose curls fall over a hoodie. She waves at the camera, clapping her hands in excitement. She was laying on her stomach on her bed, her Ipad standing in front of her as she watched Ross sitting in his bunk.

''Hey, you! How are you, how is everyone there?'' her loud, recognizable voice was clearly audible through the whole tour bus, making Rocky approach Ross curiously. As soon as he recognizes Laura, he waves at the screen.

''Hey, everyone, come say hi to Laura!'' Rocky yells, making the rest assemble on Ross's bed. He turns his laptop so the screen was facing them. After a quick greeting, they all scattered again, running around in chaos.

''Tour has been amazing so far, I wish you could be here to experience it all!'' Ross starts talk about the past week enthusiastically, making wild arm gestures. Laura nods as she follows his stories, laughing at the occasional funny anecdote. After a few minutes, he falls silent, a big smile plastered on his face, one she missed seeing so much.

''So, I actually wanted to talk to you about something,'' Laura coughs, debating on how to introduce this painful subject. A few days ago, she had flown to Italy to meet some people from Cosmopolitan Magazine. She would do a small shoot to convince them to put her in one of their issues. But that meeting didn't go as she thought it would.

''Your chin a bit up, Laura,'' the man directs her pose, making a shot before Laura moves a bit to show him a different posture. After a couple more shots, he stands up straight to tell them they're taking a break to look at the photos they had so far. An assistant comes up to her with a small makeup box and a brush to fix some spots on her face. She closes her eyes to let the girl add some more blush on her cheekbones.

''This one is pretty good,'' she hears the photographer discuss with one of the heads of the company. She lets out an agreeing sound as he points at a few more. ''These one's, though. We can edit that later.''

''These too, but this one has potential, if we fix this and this,'' the important looking woman points out a few aspects on one of her shots. They stand in front of the monitor, making it unable for Laura to see which one's they're talking about. She knows exactly what they're talking about, though. It's pretty clear they're planning on photo shopping her photos, and what she's hearing, a lot of it. She frowns for a moment, a feeling of insecurity washing over her before the assistant taps her cheek, reminding her to relax her face. The woman gazes over her shoulder before leaning closer to the photographer. ''Why do we even want a Disney girl on the cover?''

''You should ask Annalisa, I'm just doing my job,'' he responds, whispering. Laura doesn't miss those two last sentences, but pretends she didn't hear anything as he turns back towards her. ''We're gonna do a few more and then we're done.''

Laura swallows as she nods with a fake smile, trying to hide her hurtfulness. As they continue the shoot, another woman enters the room, walking straight to the other head of the magazine. They sit on the couch facing her as they start to whisper while watching Laura.

''This was your idea?'' one asks the other, most definitely the Annalisa the photographer talked about. Annalisa shrugs as she looks over to Laura.

''You know how many of those Disney girls eventually grow out to be huge? This could work, Julia'' she tries to convince her colleague. Julia snickers, shaking her head.

''She's fine, but do you know how much we have to change in the photos? I don't even know how we're gonna make her get tall enough to reach the top of the cover,'' she giggles behind her hand, making Annalisa smile, trying to hide it by biting her lip and hits Julia on her arm.

''It'll be fine, our editors are miracle workers,'' they get up from the couch to walk out the room, shooting Laura a smile in the progress. Laura smiles in response, her eyes watery and lips trembling. Luckily, the photographer finally calls it quit, thanking her hurriedly before pointing her to her dressing room. Did he hear what they said? Did he know she heard? Did he care? She practically runs to the door, shutting it closed before sitting down in a big, red chair. She takes her phone from her bag to rapidly typing a combination of numbers without thinking or hesitation.

''It's Ross, I'm unavailable right now, but leave a message and I'll call you back.''

''Hey, it's me. I-I just, just wanted to hear you. Ehm, could-could you call me back?'' she sniffles softly, taking a long pause before continuing. ''I kinda need you right now. Okay, bye. I love you. I-''

A long beep tells her the time to record a message is up. She closes her flip phone, dropping it on her bag before leaning backwards to let her head hit the stone wall behind her.

''miss you a lot.''

''Any chance you checked your messages the last few days?'' Laura gives him a subtle hint, trying to see if he listened to hers yet. Ross smiles at her apologetically, holding up his phone to the camera.

''Sorry, not really. Everything has been so chaotic, we haven't had a lot of free time yet. Why, did you leave something?'' he unlocks his phone, going straight to his messages, which tells him Laura did indeed leave him a voicemail. Laura's eyes widen as she quickly stops him.

''NO! I mean, no, nothing important. I can just tell you now, I guess,'' she didn't think it would be a good idea to let him listen to her message, hearing her shaken voice and scaring him unnecessarily. She stretches her arms, trying to prevent him from opening the voicemail through the screen. When he looks at her confused, surprised by her stressed out form, she shakes her head reassuringly. ''You can just delete the message.''

''Oh, okay. So what was it about?'' he shifts his position in his bunk, focussing all his attention on Laura. She sighs, trying to pick out the best words to tell him about what happened the other day. She's quickly cut off when she hears Ross laugh. ''Fuck off, man. Just go and I'll come later,'' his smile falls when he sees Laura unsure and confused smile. ''I'm sorry, it was just Rocky messing with me.''

''Oh, are you going somewhere?'' Laura now realizes everyone in the bus could probably hear their conversation and she wasn't sure if she wanted his whole band to hear about her shameful experience. Ross's eyes light up as he runs a hand through his hair.

''Yeah, it's our first free night, we're going out,'' loud cheers are to be heard in the background, mainly Rydel's high voice as they let Laura know they're as happy about it as Ross is.

''Well, I don't want to keep you. Go with them,'' she smiles sweetly as she encourages him. He stares at her for a second.

''Are you sure? I mean, I wouldn't mind going a little later. What about the thing you wanted to talk about?''

''Oh, that can wait. Really, it's not that important,'' lies seem to flow easier with every attempt, she notices as he seems to believe her. A heartfelt smile warms her heart as he moves the laptop off his lap.

''You're the best, Laur. Remind me to tell that story another time,'' winking at her one last time, he cuts off the connection after his final comment. ''Love you.''

''Love you too,'' she tells the black screen on her Ipad before closing the cover.

Aii, things are happening. What did you think of Laura's experience? Pretty heavy, right? Let's hope something like that never happens

Sorry updating is taking longer than usual, things are stressed and chaotic, but this is my first week of spring break so if I can get the inspiration and ideas, new chapters should come soon!

alexandra66 chapter 32

I think I'll just about kill myself if you don't update soon... - Oh my, I was honestly a bit shocked when I read this. I mean, I like how you like my story enough to review about wanting an update, but there's a limit in how you express yourself. Please don't review these kind of things, honey! It's a serious subject we're talking about. I'm sorry about the waiting time between chapters, but they'll come with patience!

kristen chapter 32

Hey hey! I was out for long time. Mist like 6 chapters. But caught up so. Hahahah loved it all. Can I ask you something do you like every imagine what will Ross and Laura's reaction be when they read your. Fanfiction. Honestly I think this one is the best - Hey Kristen! Awesome to hear from you again, ah that's okay, I'm glad you liked i! Aww of course, I love questions! I actually haven't given it much thought, cause ever since I read Up&Away (re reading it every week tbh) I can only imagine them ready Austin and Ally fanfics, not so much Raura ones. Nevertheless, wouldn't it me AMAZING and slightly awkward if they ever found this? I can only imagine how weird it would be to read about myself.. Sure, I'd love if they read a fanfic sometimes, assuming they never have before, but I think there are so many amazing Auslly stories out there, I can't even get close. A girl can dream.

Lauren chapter 32

OMG your fanfic Roles Of A Lifetime is AMAZING! First time reading it and I will probably read it again, really amazing job. - Thank you so much, Lauren! Can I call you Lauren? I feel like you became my friend by reviewing so I feel like it's okay. Can't wait for you to read the rest!

missmia10 chapter 32

Ah no worries you dont have to give me a shout out in the next chapter cuz if you read my review for Work Things Out i said tht I was glad you didn't pick mine because this one was way better! This chapter was really long. It was ok... I really liked the Instagram posts and the Q&A. Sorry this update is late but I cracked my ipod (yes I dont have an iphone but im getting one soon ik its really sad) and then i lost my ipod and i just found it. Cant wait for more! - Ahahah I did, it's all good. It was, was it too long for your liking? Cause I'm planning on making them even longer to get the least amount of chapters in the end. Aww, can you tell me what you disliked? I really value your opinion!

sicklscaler chapter 32

This is not the end is it? I totally think you could continue from here please! I loved this chapter and how it went. Thank you for the update and I hope to see more real soon - Nope, there's waaaaay more coming. Don't worry, if I end, you'll know. I'll throw a freakin party to celebrate and invite every one of you. It'll be big. Thank YOU for reading darling!

dreamitdoit chapter 32

O.M.G. NOW I'M PREPARED FOR TGE REAL ENDING.

NOOOO I'M NOT!

SRY I'M SOOO FREAKING OUT BECAUSE RYDELLINGTON IS REAL!

BTW I LOVED THE CHAPTERS. I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE!

BECAUSE I'M SOO HAPPY RIGHT NOW I'M GONNA TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU AND HOW MUCH THIS STORY CHANGED ME.

I LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH FOR WRITTING THIS AMAZING STORY AND ALWAYS GIVING ANSWERS TO OUR REVIEWS.
I JUST LOVE YOU! - ME NEITHER, GIRL! ISN'T IT GREAT! I'M SO GLAD I INCLUDED RYDELLINGTON IN MY STORY BEFORE THEY GOT OFFICIAL, I FEEL LIKE A FORTUNE TELLER. MY STORY CHANGED YOU? HOW? TELL ME! THAT'S TOTS AMAZING WHAT. THIS IS SOMETHING FANS TELL THEIR IDOLS, THE BANDS THEY LOVE FOR FOREVER. I FEEL WEIRD INSIDE. I LOVE GIVING ANSWERS TO YOU GUYS, YOU'RE ALL AMAZING OMFG HAVE A LOVELY DAY

Bols123 chapter 32

Was Andrew mentioned in earlier chapters? Because I forget things very easily whoops, so yeah I'm kinda like who's this then. Just to make sure I think I'm gonna read the first few chapters again to see if he was mentioned to make me less confused. By the way I really really liked this chapter and the whole Instagram that Calum posted of Ross with his middle finger up made me giggle - He sure was, he was pretty important and I can spoil he'll come back as a big part of the story again. Make sure you read at least chapter 7, where he's introduced, chapter 13 and 14, where he's a pretty big deal, chapter 18, where he makes an important comeback and chapter 27, where he's mentioned at the end. If you could, the chapters in between too, cause those might be important to know where he's at, but these are the main ones. Ahahah thanks girlie! I honestly had a huge grin plastered on my face while writing that scene. I had a sketch of how I wanted the chapter to go but that part was totally improvised and written on the spot, I loved how it turned out.

raura-everlark-feels chapter 32

This chapter was brilliant and very emotional, and to be honest it made me crykeep up the amazing work! This is my favourite fanfic I have ever read! - Aww thanks for the amazing compliments, I hope those were happy tears!