*On Hiatus* Unexpected - A Ross Lynch FanFiction

Part Four

The following two weeks were a busy blur of packing and making arrangements of all kinds in preparation for the tour. The band spent hours on end in rehearsal and spent three long days going over the full set, including sound and lighting, at a nearby performance hall in order to smooth out all of the details.

In the midst of all of the busy days, Ellington still went out of his way to rattle off stories about their previous tour experiences to Jessica and give her tips on what to expect. Truthfully, Jessica didn’t have the heart to tell him that it was only making her stress out all the more, to point that she would have killed to get a hold of some anti-anxiety pills of some sort. She was far too busy trying to wrap things up at her job and make sure that all hell wouldn’t break loose during her absence to think about road trip shenanigans. 

All of the chaos finally culminated in one large sleep over at the Lynch residence for all of the band members and close friends the night before they were scheduled to leave. Considering there was a 4 am wake up call the next morning to head to the airport, it was logistically more sensible for everyone to be gathered already and ready to go right at the start of the morning. 

That night Jessica decided to bunk with Rydel since all of the boys had quickly taken over the other bedrooms in the house, not to mention the fact that it made sense for her to share a room with the only other girl, for proprieties sake. 

Eventually everyone slowly got ready to sleep and made their way to bed. A few of the boys decided to take showers the night before so they could sleep in as long as possible and avoid the insanity of the fights over the bathroom in the morning.

Jessica dug into her bag and pulled out what she needed for the night. She had already set up a makeshift bed on the floor right next to Rydels bed decorated in plush pink and black skull and crossbones and covered in a large collection of various pillows.

“Oh my gosh, tomorrow is gonna be insane.” Rydel commented as she threw her long hair up into a messy bun on top of her head. “You would think that with all these boys that there wouldn’t be any drama, but that is so wrong.” 

Jessica gave a small chuckle and rolled her eyes, “I don’t want to even think about it.”

“I’m just warning you, Jess. Get ready for the ride of your life. Crack of dawn and everyone will already be all up in your space. Like, they have no concept of privacy or personal space.... or time for that matter. Theres like, always at least one person that is awake at all hours in this house.”

“Well, I’ll tell you a secret, I am actually really glad that there is at least one other girl thats gonna be there for this. I think I’d go crazy otherwise.” Jessica got into her bed and adjusted the pillows. 

“Oh, I know, right?” Rydel smiled and climbed under the covers. She reached over and flipped off the lights. “I’m so excited that you’re coming.”

“Me too...” Jessica pulled the covers up to her chest and starred up at the ceiling into the darkness. Her mind immediately began to review all of the personal effects that she had packed earlier that day, trying to remember if there was anything that she mistakenly forgot. Even though it was probably just the nerves, she still couldn’t help but feel like there was something that was missing. She struggled to calm herself and distract her thoughts. Besides, it was already past the point of no return. There was no going back now.

After tossing and turning in her bed for almost an hour Jessica finally threw the covers off of herself, carefully crept out of the bedroom, and proceeded out to the living room. As she rounded the corner from the hallway she froze in her tracks when she discovered a light was still on the the corner of the room. 

“Oh, hey. What are you doing up?” Ross looked up from the guitar that he was holding, his brow furrowed a bit. She noticed that he sat shirtless on the far couch. Papers were sprawled out all around him as if a hurricane had recently hit. 

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know anyone was out here still. I was just getting something to drin-”

“No, it’s cool. Don’t worry about it. Help yourself.” He nodded towards the kitchen. She started walking to the fridge, “Actually, I’m kinda glad that you’re up. I could use a second opinion if you don’t mind.” 

She poured a small glass of milk. “On what?” She placed the carton of milk back in the fridge.

“Well... I’m not gonna be able to sleep unless I get this song finished. It’s killing me and I guess I need.... a girls perspective.”

She walked over to him with her glass in hand. “A girls perspective? Wait, don’t you have a girlfriend for that kinda stuff?”

“You mean Cassidy?” he replied. “Yeah, well I guess you could say she’s not really good at this kinda thing.”

“Oh, is that so?”

He snorted, “I don’t think she’s emotionally capable beyond anything like... shopping and lipgloss, or something.” 

She gave half a smile as she sat next to him and took a sip. “Okay, then.....Lay it on me.”

He handed her a single piece of paper with notes scribbled all over it, most of which were practically illegible. She skimmed the page over once. There were all sorts of combinations of lyrics, with various guitar chords scrawled across the top of them. As she read over the words that spoke of unrequited love and heartbreak, she remembered just what a deep soul Ross had for someone his age. It was surprising the level of maturity and complexity of emotion that came from such a young person. It was almost...manly, in a way. She often forgot just how much of an age difference there was between them. 

She nodded slowly, “This looks.... really good, Ross.”

He brought his hand to his face and chewed on his finger a bit. “They’re not all mine. Most are Riker’s, too.” 

Her eyes moved from the paper to meet with his, “No, Im serious. This is really good.” 

His eyes squinted slightly, “Wait... theres something you’re not telling me.” he nodded in her direction. “Whats wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing, I mean...” she looked back down at the paper for a moment and then back at him. She handed it to him. “It’s fine.”

As he took the paper from her his eyes squinted further. “You hate it.”

She rolled her eyes, “I don’t hate it.”

His eyes widened and he held the paper up, “Then what? What is it? Whats wrong with this?”

She took another sip of milk and then took a deep breath. “Well I mean...” she thought for a moment. “I just think there are a ton of songs out there about teenage love. I think there needs to be more song about... I dunno, something more.” she gave a quick shrug and brought the glass to her lips. “You know?” she took one more long sip, finishing the glass. Ross looked down at the paper again and read it over. “But it’s still good.” she reached over and ruffled his hair a bit before getting up, walking back to the kitchen to place the glass in the sink and going back to her room.

Ross watched her leave the room, thinking over her comments. He grabbed the pen that was stuck behind his ear and began crossing out the words on the page. Giving an exasperated sigh he crumpled up the paper into a ball tossed it on the ground.