(Rachel's POV)
"Let's go for a walk, Rach." Ross held out his hand. I gave Riker his controller and moved to Ross and we walked hand-in-hand out the front door.
"Did you ask them?" I couldn't think about anything else as we walked along the side walk. He squeezed my hand tighter and looked away without answering. We walked all the way to the Starbucks before he said anything. The sun was almost finished setting by the time we stopped.
"Wanna take a picture?" Ross asked, taking out his phone. I nodded and he positioned us in front of the yellow and orange sunset. "Here you take it." He handed me the phone.
I held it out in front of us and he moved his hands around my waist. I smiled and looked at us on the phone screen. I watched as he moved in to kiss me. "Wait..." I said, turning away from the camera.
"It's okay. Trust me." He whispered as he guided my lips to his. I touched the camera button mid-kiss but he didn't pull away after the flash. I moved to put it in his pocket, my mouth still occupied, then filled my hands with clumps of his loose V-neck shirt. Our lips continued to moved in unison just like they were made for each other.I finally pushed on his chest, showing him I needed a breath. Our lips separated and his eye looked straight to mine.
"I love you." I said and rested my head on his chest.
His arms folded around me, pulling me even closer and placing his chin above my head. "I love you, too." I felt his chest rise and fall with each breath he took. I heard his heart beat in perfect time. His hands moved rhythmically across my back in a calming fashion. We stood like that for another minute, in complete silence until I couldn't bare it any longer.
"Ross..." I took a step back to look at him. "I need to know what your parents said."
He brushed his hand through his hair and stepped back a little farther. "Rachel, I told them what happened. Everything, like with your dad."
"Yeah, and?"
"They didn't believe me. They thought I was making it all up!" My heart sank, I couldn't believe it.
"How...why...I don't understand. What am I suppose to do?!" My voice broke on the last word. I felt tears starting to come.
"I don't know. We could run away. I have some savings we can use."
"What? How? Where?!" I couldn't understand a word he was saying.
"That's the thing! We could go pretty much anywhere you want! I was kind of thinking Florida sounds fun." He chuckled and moved for my hand. "We can sneak into both our houses tonight and get a few things. Then hop in your car and go. Easy."
"Ross we cant just run away!"
"Why not?" He started walking forward, pulling me with him.
"What about your family? Your tour? School? Austin & Ally? We have so much here. We cant just leave it!"
"Damn it. You're right...okay running away, bad idea."
"Yes Ross, very bad." It was easier to talk him out of it than I'd thought.
"So...now what?" He asked.
"I just wanna be with you for as long as I can." I held his hand tighter.
"You wanna go see if your dad's home? Maybe you can grab a few things if he's gone or asleep or something."
"Sure." I said turning to go back. We walked in silence all the way to the Lynch house, then drove the few minutes to mine.
I parked about a block away. I didn't want my dad to see my car in case he was home.. We walked slowly to the house but it didn't take long until I saw the lights. There were three police cars waiting in front of my house and about 10 people in my yard. The front door burst open with my dad leading and two officers behind, his arms behind his back. "What the hell are you doing? This is my house you can't just come here!" His drunken words were slurred together. I watched as they guided his head into one of the black and white cars.
"What's going on?" I asked when I was finally in hearing distance of one of the men.
"Are you Rachel?" He ignored my question.
"Yes, where's my dad going? What happened?" I watched the tail lights of the car drive away with my dad inside.
"We have video evidence of your father's truck voluntarily causing a near-fatal accident." My mind raced to Rydel's limp body and the dents I noted on dad's truck.
"Oh God. No. He couldn't have." The man nodded. I turned to Ross. "He hit Rydel."
