Our Song || Raura

16

Our Song | 16

The Same Day
Monday
December 20th, 2021

"Are you gonna say something?" He asks, looking at her face. Even though her gaze is on his family, he's still trying to examine her side profile, hoping to get an insight on what's going on inside her head.

"Shouldn't we be having this conversation in private? So your family doesn't think I'm pulling you back into your Disney image?" He jerks his head back. Okay, so he deserved that jab.

"That's..." He doesn't even know what to say. "I shouldn't have... fuck, okay, give me a minute." He runs his fingers through his hair.

"I shouldn't have to." She begins to scoot away so she can leave, but Ross grabs her arm and pulls her back.

"Wait wait wait, seriously. I'm thinking, okay? I know what I want to say but I just don't know how to say it without fucking up and making you angry or whatever. Just... one minute okay?" She sighs and leans her head back. She guesses this is a good thing. He has a habit of saying what's on his mind and not really taking a moment to think about it.

"Fine." She crosses her arms. "Can I ask you something first?" She finally looks at his face. Yup, he's got his thinking face on. He only nods. "Are you like, embarrassed of hanging out with me? Like, does the chance of getting caught by fans together embarrass you?" He immediately shakes his head.

"No, not at all. You'd never embarrass me, Laura. You never have." She furrows her eyebrows and nods slowly. "The whole Disney image... it isn't that I'm not proud of how I started. I fucking love what we made of Austin and Ally. We were a hit and it opened so many doors. I think... I think the rules we had between Disney and the old record label kinda... I don't know, it's like PTSD in a way, but not so extreme. The thought of being controlled doesn't sit right with me. Where I'm at now, I'm free. I'm free to make music I want to make. I'm free to audition for any maturity role, you know? Disney was so strict and so was Hollywood Records. And you're right, we're both independent artists now, so I shouldn't have to be worried about not being in control." He clears his throat. "Does that make sense?"

"Yeah." She shrugs. "It does. Being controlled the way we were definitely brings negative... shit. I understand why you feel that way." Her voice is soft. "But if you're not embarrassed of me, why do you hate the Raura shippers posts and likes and comments so much? They help boost us, Ross. Without them I really don't think we'd be where we are today."

"You're right. I don't think we'd be where we are today without them either. But... they've put bumps in my relationships. It's caused fights in my relationships." She sighs. That's totally reasonable. "You can't tell me it didn't fuck with your two major relationships like it did with mine."

"Thom didn't have social media. So... no, not really." Ross nods. He forgot Thomas wasn't a social media mogul. "But Andrew and I fought about it a little."

"Honestly, though, if we decided to put out a single together... we're both single so it wouldn't fuck with anything. We could potentially... get bigger with the amount of shippers we still have." A small smile forms on her face.

"That's a point I made this morning." She whispers. He nods.

"I know. I've been thinking about it nonstop said you said it." Her smiles slowly gets bigger.