✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔
FORTY EIGHT— ( OUTER BANKS ! )

"FIVE MINUTES!" The voice of Madelyn had shouted from Sydney's living room where she had been sitting on the sofa with Drew. Sydney, Chase and Rudy had been in the kitchen grabbing everyone drinks and snacks.

Outer Banks had just been released on Netflix and Madelyn wasn't going to let any of them sleep till they had watched it.

"Alright, alright!" Sydney had called back to her friend, grabbing as much as she could with her hands before walking into the living room with Tank following closely behind her.

"We're coming." Chase had then added as he followed after Sydney and her dog.

Madelyn had already set up Netflix on Sydney's television and was ready to play the first episode of the show as soon as everyone had sat down. "Do we really have to watch the whole thing in one go?" Sydney had asked as she sat down beside Drew, Tank immediately jumping up on the sofa beside her and lying across Sydney's lap.

"Yes." Madelyn was quick to answer.

"What if I fall asleep?" Sydney asked, looking at Madelyn who had been taking a sip of her drink that Rudy had handed her before he'd sat down the other side of Sydney, where Tank was curled up. Half of her body lying across Sydney's lap and half across the sofa.

"Then I'll wake you up." Madelyn replied, looking back at Sydney. She didn't appreciate the lack of enthusiasm from her friend. But Sydney was excited, just as excited as everyone else. She just enjoyed teasing Madelyn.

"What if you fall asleep too?"

Madelyn had rolled her eyes. "Then you can wake me up." She told Sydney, who was holding back a smirk.

"No." Sydney retorted, keeping a straight face, but with a struggle.

"Okay, can we at least watch like the first 3 or something?" All Madelyn had wanted to do was binge watch the whole season. She was way too excited but the others were also tired. Although they were stuck inside with nothing to do, they still felt exhausted for most of the day, everyday.

"It's not like we don't know what happens."

"True."

"You are so miserable." Madelyn told Sydney, shaking her head and laughing.

Sydney couldn't keep a straight face any longer, cracking a smile and rolling her eyes. "You know I'm kidding." Sydney told Madelyn as she reached forward to grab her drink from the coffee table. "We can watch as many as we can stay awake for." And that was what they did.

The five adults watched the first four episodes of the show before they all started to fall asleep one by one. Madelyn had fallen asleep first and the group had turned the episode off as soon as they noticed the blonde girls eyes closed.

But when they had all been awake, the excitement had been bubbling inside them all, so much so that they couldn't keep quiet when the first episode had begun to play. All shouting over each other in excitement but luckily, the subtitles had been turned on so they didn't miss a thing. 

Sydney couldn't lie, she didn't enjoy watching herself in anything she was in. And it was even worse when she was watching herself in something that her ex-boyfriend was also in, even more so when they were kissing. It was quite awkward when scenes with Sydney and Rudy played but Sydney managed to play off the awkwardness with laughter.

Then when Madelyn had fallen asleep and they had to turn the show off and watch something else, more of them started to drift off. Drew had fallen asleep after Madelyn and the lights in the room had been turned off. Sydney didn't want to disturb her friends, wanting to leave them.

But the dark room had encouraged a certain someone to be a bit braver than usual.

Tank hadn't been lying across Sydney's lap anymore, instead was curled up between her and Rudy. And both of them were giving Tank attention. Sydney had been rubbing Tank's ears while Rudy's hand was further down Tank's body, scratching across the fur on her back. And the girl hadn't even noticed her hand move further down, closer to another. Not until their hands touched.

But neither flinched or moved their hands away. Instead Sydney was running her fingers over his, the pads of her fingers brushing his skin sending shivers down her spine. Rudy's skin was soft under her own, only making her want to keep her hand there forever. Sydney's finger had then started to fiddle with the rings placed on Rudy's fingers.

Neither of them glanced in each other's direction, not even acknowledging that they were practically holding hands. And didn't pull away till Drew and Madelyn had woken up after Chase had laughed rather loudly at whatever was playing on Sydney's television. The movement beside Sydney had caused her to retract her hand rather quickly, blushing as she realised what they were doing in plain sight. Chase could've spotted them at any time. Luckily, he hadn't and the two pretended like it hadn't even happened.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

groupchat
( golden trio )
sydney — syd
madelyn — maddie
madison — mads

mads
guys

syd
hi baby

maddie
hi
why are we using this gc
what don't we want the boys to know

mads
did you two see that the interviews we did before quarantine have come out

maddie
they have?
omg that's exciting they were so much fun

syd
aw they were cute

mads
yeah so people are watching them
syd
people are going crazy right now

syd
over what?

mads
over you and rudy
like even people who have no idea who either of you are, clips and screenshots from the video are going all over twitter
lots of people are talking about you

maddie
oh my god
you're kidding

mads
absolutely not

syd
oh

maddie
well
the people have eyes
they're not stupid

syd
what does that even mean

maddie
it means that people are seeing how you two acted in those interviews

mads
there is one screenshot going around that's just of rudy looking at sydney
people are obsessed with you two

syd
oh god

mads
and i have a feeling it's only going to get worse once more people watch the show and see how you two act together too
i just wanted to warn you

syd
how lovely

maddie
everyone say goodbye to privacy
or in sydney case, the rest of it she had

syd
but we're just friends
we didn't do anything in those interviews
and what about chase and madelyn! i mean

maddie
we wasn't the ones who sat in an interview together with our knees pressed together the whole time

mads
omg i saw that one

syd
we did that?

maddie
yes!
us three and JD
me and jonathan literally watched you do it the whole time

mads
how about when we did the interviews where rudy sat behind you
the holding hands after high-fiving
rudy literally gave you a hug in one of them
you kept turning around

syd
to look at all of them behind us, not just him
and the other things were nothing

mads
and the buzzfeed interview
i mean, i never noticed while filming them because i was sitting in front of you but
i watched it back. i don't know how you explain to people any of that
the looks, the subtle touching

maddie
people are not going to believe you at all when you say that you two are just friends

syd
but we are

mads
well

maddie
i mean
you're not just friends though are you
you're friends who used to be in love

syd
we are just friends

maddie
madison
you should see them now

mads
oh i can imagine what's going on now
living together

syd
i'm sorry
what the hell do we do

maddie
i know you think that no one notices but i do
chase and drew are clueless as hell
which i'm surprised by because i thought drew would notice at least because
well
you know
but
i see
always sitting next to him
standing too close to him in the kitchen
always making sure to ask who wants to go grocery shopping with you when he's in the room

mads
oh my god

maddie
and thinking i don't notice that you two are touching when you sit with a blanket over you
the other night, his hand was resting on your legs the whole movie. the whole movie

syd
oh

maddie
didn't think anyone noticed did you

syd
i'll be honest, no
but it didn't mean anything
we do it with all the guys

maddie
not like that we don't

syd
well then i don't know how to explain it
we are just friends

mads
old feelings haven't come back?
you know you can tell us if they have

maddie
yeah
you know we won't tell anyone
and i promise i will not say a word
or even make it obvious

syd
no
my feelings have not come back
whatever i feel towards rudy is strictly platonic
we're just closer than we are with the others
cant help that we know each other as well as we do

maddie
okay that's fair enough
i just thought maybe you did like him again

mads
but we believe that you don't
we understand why you two act the way you do

maddie
^^

syd
well thank you for believing me

mads
i'm just not sure everyone else will

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

SYDNEY HAD FELT AWFUL FOR LYING TO THE GIRLS, ABSOLUTELY AWFUL. But she couldn't tell them the truth, no matter how much she trusted them both. Even Madelyn. Sydney had trusted that girl with her life but she couldn't admit what she felt to her, especially not when they were living together.

And Madelyn had felt bad for lying too. Not that her lie had been as big as Sydney's, but she had still felt bad about it. The girls didn't lie to each other. But they both had and felt terrible about it.

Madelyn didn't believe Sydney, not in the slightest. Not when she saw what she did every day. How could she not think that Sydney had feelings for Rudy again? Or vice versa? The actions of them both were quite obvious to Madelyn, or maybe she was just looking too much into it. Hoping that the two had dug up old feelings for each other.

But she didn't need to hope. Not when Sydney was absolutely positive that she had feelings for Rudy again. There was no doubt in her mind that she felt those things again for him. She hated that she had but she couldn't help it. Especially now living with him. Maybe if they had all quarantined separately but they hadn't and Sydney was trying her hardest to not make things obvious.

And Sydney had no idea what Rudy had been thinking or feeling. But she was adamant that he couldn't be feeling the same way that she was. And he wasn't doing anything that told her otherwise. It was Sydney who kept sitting beside him every night, it was Sydney who kept standing too close to him when they were in her kitchen at the same time and it was Sydney who usually instigated anything between them so he wasn't giving her any reason to believe that her feelings weren't one sided.

Which was also why Sydney decided to keep it all to herself. She didn't need to tell the girls or Rudy about what she felt when nothing was going to come of it. She didn't need the embarrassment and definitely didn't want to ruin whatever was going on between her and Rudy. Their weird friendship. She was enjoying it way too much.

But she knew they would have to talk about it soon. Especially now after Madison had let Sydney know that everyone was seeing their interviews and thinking that there was something going on between them both. Or that they were secretly dating. Rudy would eventually see it and they'd have to at least talk about it. Even if they just laughed about it together. The conversation was coming and Sydney wasn't looking forward to it.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

AUTHORS NOTE
as doctor strange once said. we're in the endgame now

so sydney has finally admitted her returned feelings, only to herself, but is adamant that rudy does not feel the same way.....i guess we will find out if she's right in the next few chapters!

hope you guys enjoyed the chapter 😌
don't forget to vote and comment!

and just a reminder that i did publish a drew starkey fic that is crossed over with this book (or will be crossed over with the sequel to this book) and the first chapter has also been published so go check it out! it's called Something There