The Girl Inside (Raura)

Chapter 5: I'm Going Out of My Mind

Laura's POV

Amidst all the chattering, I could barely get a word in. It didn't help that I was the shortest person in the kitchen.

"We could tell Courtney we all got really sick and it's not safe for her to be around us!"

"All of us could be indisputably rude to her and she won't be able to stand it here anymore!"

"Everyone has to hold fake grudges against each other, and Courtney would never want to be in a house full of upheavals!"

"We could dump a bowl of mac n' cheese on her head!"

That last one was unmistakably Rocky's. I concluded the time to gather facts regarding the devil's scheme is now. Courtney's after a prize that can't be bought. Only earned. And she's taking the easy way out. Her scheme fooled all up until that day three months ago when everything fit into place. Courtney has been thriving at the top of the food chain for many months now. Her strong will to keep up an act couldn't be conquered by something with such obvious intentions like one of the aforementioned plans. It would have to be something unexpected, something original, and almost impossible.

Courtney's faking something, and the only way to fight fire is with fire. I have to fake something to match her maliciousness. I began thinking out loud, "I'll pretend to be... a fake, just like Courtney. But how? I could... fake my feelings for something. But what?" By now I had drawn everyone's attention. Their staring pressured my mind to automatically surrender a proposal. "I could fake my feelings for you guys!"

Their narrowed and widened eyes was evidently explainable. "I know it seems peculiar, but Courtney acting like she wants to be Ross' girlfriend is an almost impossible concept to us. We thought we knew her even though she's the adverse option. We have to fight fire with fire. I can pretend to hate you guys, Courtney would never suspect a correspondent backfire. I would return a week or so later disguised as Courtney, as a fake. You guys would have to ensure her absence though. It's a small fraction of the risk I'm taking."

Riker spoke to oppress, "It's safe to say that I speak for everyone here. Why would you be willing to do that to prove her falseness? All of us here, we know how much of a phony she is. What good would this do except bring down her royal reign?"

"Ross would never believe one of us if we told him about Courtney's true self. He's utterly love blind and can't see past skin. If he's going to realize what a personality is, then he'll hear it from Courtney herself. We have to let him know in our perspective that beauty is more than a look. It's assumed that Ross is a shallow person, based on his methods of choosing a girlfriend. I have to let 'Courtney' tell him what a deep thought is. The one person he would believe is her."

Rydel reasoned, "If you think you can pull this off, then we fully support you on it. We'll make sure Courtney is missing from this house next week. But self-confidence, proving you can fool yourself, is more important than making sure your audience is fooled. If you don't believe what you're saying, neither will Ross."

Ross is the other half of me, I better be able to fool myself.

---

Ross' POV

I parked the car in the driveway and continued eating my butter pecan ice cream. Courtney and I stepped out of the car while she continued describing something that happened to her when she was younger. Half of my focus was on the ice cream and the other half on her hair, so I don't have a clue on why Courtney just said "Australia." I didn't care to bore myself to death in the event of paying attention to Courtney's story, but I occasionally added in an "uh huh" or "that's cool," so she wouldn't suspect anything. I try to be fascinated in what I hear, but usually I lose focus on her dialect and concentrate on her appearance.

Luckily Courtney can't see what's inside of me.

With that thought we walked from serenity, through the front door and into abrupt chaos. "Everyone! Stop leaving the kitchen in a mess! We're not animals you know! Put your food away after you scrounge in the fridge!" I was speechless at the sound of my sweet, innocent Laura yelling like she never had before.

"Sometimes we forget okay! It's not like it's our number one priority! We have to work hard every day, writing lyrics and melodies! Sometimes there's hardly enough time for eating!"

"Well you boys always scatter your dirty clothes on the floors. I'm the one who ends up having to wash it to get the path clear! I'm fucking sick of it! I'm going out of my mind!"

"Okay! Fine! We're sorry! We'll pick everything up from now on," that phrasing was one of the few sets of words I could make out in the yelling coming from every direction.

"Sorry or not, I'm done. I'm tired of being the only responsible one around here. This isn't my first warning, but it was my last. I'm leaving for good. Packing up and forgetting about you Lynch's. It's over. I'm talking about maybe even changing-my-name-and-moving-to-North-Dakota-over."

I found my voice while everyone else was doing the opposite. "Hold on. There's a North Dakota? And Laura, you can't leave. W-What about us? I'm your best friend. You wouldn't ever leave me, would you? Think of all the great times we had."

Laura frowned, I knew she couldn't hinder the pain. "I'm sorry Ross, but I'm done here," she quickly hugged me and ran upstairs to pack while her tears ran as well.

I'm not sure why, but I was pretty sure I saw, from the corner of my eye, Courtney smirking. At first it was enchanting to watch, but nevertheless, I strained myself to divert my focus to Laura.

She locked her room for the rest of the day, her best friend wasn't even allowed in. Time dragged on and soon enough, I left the closed door to go to sleep. It was a restless night full of doubt, worry, and compassion. I didn't know if Laura was faking her desire to desert us, I didn't know anything.

Early the next morning when it was still pitch dark out, I heard the shuffling of zippers and suitcase wheels. She was really leaving me.

Half asleep and heavy hearted, I almost didn't hear my door creak open. I think Laura was standing there. She was out of my range of view since I was facing the other way. I don't recall much of what was happening, but I knew Laura was watching me for a while. Eventually she sighed, closed my door, and closed the front door.

---

Within twelve hours of her outburst, every trace of Laura had vanished. I ached everywhere at the thought of never seeing her again.

I ached everywhere, thinking Laura may never think of me again.

***

Oh hi I updated. I'm so tired lol

Who noticed that A&A reference? ;) Whoever correctly guesses the episode that the reference was from will get a shout out

No shout out for this, but someone guess which R5 song I took the chapter title from

The Raura is coming eventually lol I'm evil maybe it'll be in the next chapter or maybe at the very end who knows? ;)

Vote/comment!

Steph (yesifeelgoodr5)