The Day, yours truly, Raura. (On hold till further notice)

23. The Invite

It was a great night. Laura and Ross confessed to each other and nothing better could have compared to that moment. After Ross dropped her off at her house, he drove back to his, where everyone was sleeping soundly, except fro Rydel who was waiting Ross' arrival anxiously. Little did she know that Ross had invited Laura and the never present Jack to his blind date with Hope. 

Ross opened the door to the house carefully, trying not to wake anyone, then cautiously tiptoed through the dark living room as he tried to find the bottom of the stair. Silently, he went up the creaky wooden stairs hoping that his family's bedroom doors were closed. When Ross opened the door to his room, the lights were turned on and Rydel was sleeping soundly on his neatly made bed. While she was waiting she had gotten sleepy and had fallen asleep. She wasn't so used to staying up so late. Ross took quiet steps towards her then shook her shoulder gently. She awoke and looked around, then at Ross and she sighed as if she had remembered what happened before she fell asleep. She sat up and rubbed her eyes with her fingers, then yawned. 

"I'm sorry," she began, "How did your date with Hope go?" 

Ross sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "It was total disaster." He told her as he fell on the bed beside her. Rydel winced. "That bad? What happened?" She asked as she rested her head on her hand. 

"Well, the night began okay. I went to Laura's house to--"

"You did what? Ross, I thought you were supposed to get over her!" Rydel exclaimed in a hushed voice, careful not to make a sound that would disturb her family's sleep. Ross blushed with embarrassment. "The heart wants what the heart wants, Rydel." Then he shrugged as if he had no further explanation for it. 

Rydel shook her head. "I knew it. I knew you couldn't stay away from her. I had a hunch this would happen. That you'd go crawling back to her again." 

Ross laughed in mockery of his sister after what he heard her say. Rydel placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. "What's so funny?" She'd ask then stare at her brother. "Why is it such a surprise that you were disappointed in me?" Ross asked and chuckled. The tight line that her lips had been set in broke into a smile and she shoved him to the side.

"Okay, okay," he surrendered. "Things went better than okay with Laura. But things didn't go so smoothly with Hope."

"I picked Laura up from her house with Hope because... I guess I still had feelings for her. Jack was supposed to go too, but he was sick. Anyway, we went to Carrabbas because I remembered how much Laura loved Italian--"

Rydel flinched as she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, that's my bad. I forgot to tell you that Hope hates Italian, but loves Chinese."

"Don't worry, I eventually found out. I asked her what she wanted to eat and all she said was that she hated Italian food. Then, a little while into the date she went crazy. She started yelling at me and called me an asshole, then slapped me. But, then, she stood up, yelled at Laura and called her an attention seeking slut, and dumped her water on her."

Rydel was speechless while listening to Ross' story. She shook her head, unable to believe her friend's actions. "Ross, I swear she's nice, most of the time."

Ross shrugged. "But I'll admit. I wasn't exactly the best date in the world. But that still doesn't justify what she did."

"Well, if it's worth anything, I'm sorry." Rydel apologized on behalf of her friend, and then shrugged. Ross grinned like an idiot, thus confusing Rydel. She raised a brow flirtatiously, "Then what happened?"

"Laura was soaking wet, top to bottom, so I helped her dry off. And we connected for the first time since... well, a while." Ross felt the burning of his blushing cheeks and stared at his hands. Rydel struggled to contain a laugh, but failed and began to jubilantly laugh. Watching her big little brother who always kept his cool and whom was the stud of the family, smile like a toddler and blush red as a cherry was priceless.