Finally Us

Meet Me At...

He was in ambedo. Complete ambedo, a melancholic trance where you're completely absorbed in vivid details. Right now, he was remembering tingles, and not just any tingles. The tingles that her whispers had produced down his spine during that night in Cape Town. Closing his eyes, he replayed the scene over in his mind. Her arms slithering over his own as he pulled her closer and swaying to soft drum beats in the distance. He remembered the feel of her thin shirt across his hand as he held her close, his forehead leaning on hers tenderly. He remembered the cool breezes passing them by and feeling so much happiness in one moment that he didn't think was possible. It was the moment he knew, he truly knew that he was heart over head in love with the crazy brunette that when he actually first met her, kind of scared him at just how outgoing she was.

In fact, he was actually doing the same thing that he was doing then, when he met her, right now. His guitar in his hands, fingers strumming randomly over the strings, and producing chords that didn't exactly flow together. He usually did this when he was stressed or overthinking something, at least according to his mom. It was true. He was overthinking everything as of three nights ago. Three nights ago, things changed. They changed.

He had been spending the past few nights at Rocky's place since their fight at the press conference...which hadn't gone that well after she told him about everything. He had three other interviews after that and he was distracted in each one. They had asked him questions about the movie and all he could give them was one word answers because he was too busy being mad at Laura for what she said. A part of him actually wished she had waited or even better, didn't say anything at all...but then that would go against their whole relationship. They both believed in being honest in everything they did - together and apart. Honesty and trust were the two things he definitely had with Laura that he hadn't had in any other relationship in his past. He loved that they had that...until this fight, of course.

Blowing out his frustration about the situation, he let his head fall back, not noticing his sister arrive back at her place. He had been over at Rydel and Ellington's to work on some base stuff with Ellington for a new album earlier. Ellington had to run a few errands, but Ross stayed behind, doing nothing instead of going back to Rocky's or even back to his own apartment. It was safer, he told himself, even though he was dying to be a part from Laura this long. Especially when she was just blocks away. A smirk creeped up on his face, imagining her doing something so incredibly adorkable that would just make him fall in love with her more, or her dragging him to do some kind of household chore that needed to get down and enticing him with something fun to get him to do it. She did stuff like that all the time and it always worked.

"You must be thinking of Laura."

Rydel's voice startled him, as he jerked a bit and his eyes shot open urgently. The guitar slipped in his arms, but he didn't make a move to let go of it.

"Did I scare you?" she started to laugh, throwing the real mail on the table after tossing the flyers and junk that she didn't need to keep.

"Scare me? No..."

Rydel scoffed and rolled her eyes, knowing very well he was lying. "Want to tell me what you're doing here and why you're not back at your place making up with Laura?"

Ross averted her gaze, readjusting his position from almost laying down to sitting straight up again. This was his avoidance stage. He knew he probably should be over there making up with her, but that anger was still with him, and he didn't want to be mad around her. He didn't want to fight with her and get even madder that he'd be saying things he'd regret the moment after. Ross knew couples had to fight, and Laura and him did, but not about this. They fought about the tiniest little things - like him actually doing a load of laundry or cleaning the shower or putting the seat down on the toilet.