My Half Brother - A Ross Lynch/R5 Fanfic

Chapter 15 - Fights and Realizations

Chapter 15

Ashley-

Yesterday was Carter's first birthday. Ross and I have already moved to the house Mom and Dad had gotten us two months ago. Ever since then, though, we've been fighting like crazy, like everyday. Most of the fights are about how much time I'm out of the house, which is barely any compared to how much Ross is out with R5.

"Carter, come see Mommy," I say to our one-year-old, trying to get him closer so I could dress him.

"Mommy!" Carter babbles, falling into my arms.

I start to dress him, and once he's dressed, I walk down to the living room, putting him in his playpen. I walk down to Ross' music room - which was the basement - and see his back toward me as he plays guitar. I sit beside him on the couch, and he turns to me.

"Yes?" Ross says in an impatient tone.

"C'mon, don't be like that," I say. "So we fought last night, but can we start over?"

"But Ashley, you know why I'm acting this way," he stands, putting his guitar on its stand. "You keep saying I'm out of the house all the time. What about you going out with Rydel?"

"You can't compare that to how many times you've been out!" I raise my voice a little. "I'm barely out with Rydel, and you always leave me here!" I stand, and we face each other.

"It's for the band, and you know that!" His eyes meet mine. "Why are you being so selfish?!"

"I'm not, Ross! All I want is to spend some time with you! That's it! But no, I can't have that because you're always out!" I feel tears stinging at my eyes, but I choose to ignore them.

"Babe, I didn't know that's-"

"No, Ross just - I'll be upstairs." I walk up the stairs, tears blurring my vision, and I head up to our bedroom, sitting on the bed, head in my hands.

My tears spill over, but I hear footsteps coming into the room, so I quickly wipe my cheeks, and meet Ross' eyes.

"Babe, I didn't know that's what you wanted. Why didn't you just tell me in the first place?" Ross sits next to me, brushing my out of my face, and drying any stray tears.

"I dunno," I mumble. "I didn't want to be the girlfriend that got in the way of your career."

"You'd never get in the way," he pulls me onto his lap. I look up at him, and he cups my cheek in his hand. "I guess I should've been aware that you would've wanted to spend time together, and that's totally fair."

We hold each other's stares for a moment or so, then Ross connects our lips in soft, short kiss.

"I'm sorry," I whisper once we pull away. "No, no. Let's just put this behind us, okay?"

I nod against his shoulder, leaning my head against it. Ross starts to play with the ends of my hair, and all I can hear is our quiet breathing, and then I remember Carter's downstairs.

"Carter!" I exclaim, jumping up suddenly, startling Ross.

"Wait," he holds me back. "Let me get him. You've been working your butt off every night I've been gone, and I'm going to make it up to you."

"Thank you," I breathe, as he kisses my forehead in response, walking out of our bedroom, and I lay down on our bed.

I close my eyes, but open them again, staring up at the ceiling. I sigh contently, happy to finally being able to get some rest.

"He's down for nap," Ross walks in, closing the door.

"Thanks, Ross," I stand, wrapping my arms around his torso. "Don't mention it. I'm going to make it up to you for the next few days." He wraps his arms around my waist, his chin resting atop my head.

We lay down, my head on his chest, arm draped across him.

"This is all I wanted," I whisper, looking up at Ross. "Just to lay here with you, just to be with you."

"And I'm sorry I didn't realize that sooner," he kisses my hair. I lay my head back on his chest, my index fingertip tracing patterns over his clothed chest.

I feel my eyelids droop, and then all I feel before I fall into a deep slumber is Ross' lips against my hair.