Back To You ✦ Rudy Pankow

liv. second first date

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔
FIFTY FOUR — ( SECOND FIRST DATE ! )

IT WAS SYDNEY'S IDEA TO INVITE RUDY OVER TO HER APARTMENT AND COOK FOR HIM. She thought it was a nice romantic gesture and that it was the least she could do when they were unable to actually go out for dinner on a proper date. Because if they could then she was sure Rudy would've asked her out for dinner the minute he kissed her.

The two hadn't actually seen each other since the kiss. But had been texting, calling, facetiming each other all day and every day since. Yet the two were yet to talk about what was going on between them. Were they still just friends who kissed? Were they now dating? Or were they just seeing each other? Waiting to see where it leads to? Neither were quite sure what and were too afraid of asking in fear of getting an answer they didn't want to hear.

Although Rudy hadn't asked Sydney, she'd told him that they were just waiting to see what was going on between them, waiting to figure it out. But Rudy didn't need to wait to figure anything out, he knew what he wanted and that was Sydney. He wanted to be with her. He just didn't know how to tell her that without scaring her off. But was hoping that the conversation would come up when he saw her again and he could get some clarity on their situation.

But Rudy wasn't going to jump straight into a conversation like that when he first arrived at Sydney's apartment that night. Especially not when all he wanted to do when he arrived was kiss her. And not that Sydney minded at all. She had felt the exact same way and the two were definitely trying to make up for lost time.

And the conversation of labels wasn't brought up for a while. Rudy completely avoided asking Sydney the whole way through dinner, even when the two migrated to the sofa and were cuddled up watching a movie. The Amazing Spider-Man had been playing and although it was a movie both Sydney and Rudy enjoyed, he hadn't been able to concentrate much. And neither had Sydney really, not when she knew that one of them had to bring it up. Maybe not that night but eventually. Sydney still wasn't sure what she wanted yet.

Halfway through the movie, just after Sydney had laughed at something Andrew Garfield had said on screen, Rudy had decided to take a chance and ask Sydney what had been on his mind since the day before. He'd turned his head to look at Sydney, staring down at the side of her face as she leaned against him. "Hey, can we talk about something for a second?" Rudy's voice gained Sydney's attention as she sat up and turned to face him.

"Yeah, of course." Sydney sounded unfazed by his words, but that wasn't how she had felt. She had reached for the remote to pause or mute the movie so they could talk as she tried not to panic.

"Yesterday, when we were talking, you said that we shouldn't tell anyone about us till we know what this is." Rudy reminded her, remembering back to how she'd worded her messages. "Do you not know what this is?" He then asked her, ripping off the invisible band aid. His eyes searched her face for any hint to what she was thinking or feeling.

What Rudy couldn't see, thankfully, was Sydney panicking. "I didn't mean it like that..." Sydney hadn't meant for her message to come across that she wasn't sure about her feelings for Rudy, because she was sure. More sure than she ever had been before.

"Because I know how I feel about you and that's not going to change." Rudy had told Sydney as his fingers traced the bare skin on her shoulder while his arm was around her still.

Sydney felt her heart clench in her chest at Rudy's words but there was still some hesitation. Which she needed to tell him about. "How do I know this isn't just because you've spent the last month seeing me every single day?" Sydney was worried that maybe there was a chance that their feelings, more specifically Rudy's, weren't as genuine as they thought. And that they had just developed because of the close proximity.

But they definitely hadn't. "Because I've been feeling like this ever since your first day on set when I saw you again." Rudy's told Sydney, his words almost taking her breath away. And she could tell by the look on his face that he was being truthful which made all of her hesitation float away.

"Really?" Sydney's voice was quiet, almost like she had lost it. She couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.

Rudy smiled softly. "Yes, really." He nodded as he watched a smile appear of Sydney's face too. It was clear to him that she was happy with his confession.

And she was, extremely happy. So happy that she couldn't help but kiss Rudy, rather forcefully too. Which had caused him to laugh against her lips before he kissed her back. Sydney reached up and held Rudy's face in her hands, her soft skin against his as his own found their way to Sydney's waist.

Then when the two pulled away to catch their breath, pressing their foreheads together, Sydney decided what she had wanted. "I'm all in if you are." Sydney wanted to be with Rudy, despite their messy history and the fear of that history repeating itself. She wanted him and she wasn't going to change her mind.

And neither was Rudy. "Of course I am." He was all in, a thousand percent in.

"I know the smart thing to do would be take it slow but I really don't want to." Again, Sydney's voice was quiet but it didn't matter. Their foreheads were still pressed together, Rudy could hear every word loud and clearly.

"Me either." And as soon as the words had left Rudy's mouth, Sydney was pressing her lips against his again, more forcefully than before and they didn't stop till their lips were numb and the credits of the movie were rolling.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

AUTHORS NOTE
HELLO! it's been a while, again.
but cute little chapter for you guys
sydney and rudy are officially together now! WE MADE IT! and there's lots of cute chapters to come before i start the sequel

i'm sorry for again not updating in a while. i feel like a big reason why i get writers block for this book a lot now is because rudy literally goes into hiding for months on end (plus she's always with him which just pisses me off i can't lie) and it's not that i don't stan him anymore, i do, just maybe not as much as when i started this book
but i still love him and i still don't plan on ending sydney and rudy's story anytime soon but yeah don't expect regular updates for a while

thank you guys for almost 500k reads. that's just insane. and i hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though it wasn't very long :)