Old Lovers ll Rudy Pankow

002: Surprising Wins

*No One's POV*

It had been a couple hours since the group first met. They had spent those hours drinking, talking, goofing off, and getting to know each other better. Drew and Sophie had really hit it off, having disappeared not too long ago. No one was particularly worried though, they were both adults and could handle themselves. Plus, they knew better than to stray off too far.

Vanessa was sitting on the sand talking to Chase, Rudy, and Elaine. Mads and Maddie were taking pictures, and Austin and JD had wondered off somewhere.

Vanessa's little group looked up once they heard yelling, and weren't at all surprised when it was Austin and JD running towards them. Austin stopped as soon as he reached them, so suddenly that JD crashed into him and they both ended up on the sand, groaning.

Everyone who saw started laughing, Austin and JD eventually joining in too. All of a sudden, Austin pushed JD off of him and got up all excitedly, while he was hiding something behind his back.

Chase asked, "What's got you so excited Austin?"
Austin tried to hide his smirk while he pulled out the object from behind his back, a volleyball. Chase, Elaine, and Rudy immediately started groaning. Whenever they went to the beach, Austin always found a volleyball and he always ended up winning every game he played against his fellow cast mates.

Everyone knew that he was the best volleyball player in their group. That was, until now.

Vanessa looked at everyone confused, and Rudy, seeing her confused expression, started to explain, "Austin is the best volleyball player in the cast, no one has been able to beat him."

Vanessa smirked to herself, she knew exactly what she was going to do. Turning to Austin, she said, "Seeing as no one else will play with you, why don't me and you play each other?"

Austin immediately smiled and started nodding his head, "but you're gonna need someone else on your team, me and JD are a packaged deal."

As soon as Austin finished talking, Vanessa and Rudy shared a look. Back in high school, Rudy would help Vanessa get in a little extra practice. They worked great together. Rudy smiled, "Guess it'll be like old times then, huh?"

V giggled, standing up, she took no notice to the confused looks of Chase and Elaine. Instead, reaching out and helping Rudy up. At this point, the Maddies, Drew, and Sophie had come back, reuniting their new friend group.

Drew, not really knowing what was happening, asked "Wait what? What's going on?"
Sophie giggled at his lost expression, but otherwise roller her eyes and didn't answer him. Mads, knowing Drew wanted an answer, told him "Austin wants to play volleyball but no one wants to go up against him. Vanessa and Rudy volunteered though."

Drew gave a look of understanding, before clapping his hands together and yelling, "Well what're we waiting for?! Let's get this game started!"

They found a volleyball net and each team chose their sides. While Austin and Rudy were playing a very intense game of rock paper scissors to see who got to serve first, JD tried to make conversation with Vanessa.

"So, have you ever played before?" JD didn't know how hard he should take it on the girl, her and Rudy seemed pretty confident. He was trying to get a feel for his competition.

"I've played a few times." V answered. She didn't want to sound too full of herself and brag about her experience in volleyball. Plus, she thought it would be hilarious if she acted like she was a beginner while actually being the complete opposite.

Rudy shot his hands straight in the air in celebration when he finally beat Austin in their game. He grabbed the ball and childishly stuck out his tongue in a mocking way. JD sighed and said, "Well, good luck with that one, you're gonna need it."

Vanessa laughed lightly, returning the good luck wish before making her way over to Rudy. There, they made up their game plan. V would serve first, doing a jump float serve just to show everyone her skill. Then her a Rudy would occasionally switch off and take it much easier on Austin and JD. Rudy was giddy, he couldn't wait to wipe those smug smirks off of their opponents faces.

Just before Vanessa was walking back to serve, Mads called to her "Hey V! What's your instagram? I wanna post something!"

Vanessa told the blonde her instagram, then continued walking back to the serving position. Everyone started cheering her on and encouraging her, all except Mads, who had found her instagram account and exclaimed "Holy shit!"

Everyone looked at the girl weirdly, all except Rudy, Sophie, and V herself, who just smirked to herself lightly. Vanessa went a little further back then most people would when attempting their serves, and Austin thought it was on accident.

"Hey! You might wanna take a couple steps forward! That way at least you'll be certain the ball will go over the net!"

V smiled politely and said back, "I'm good right here!"
Austin muttered some things that she couldn't quite make out, but she didn't really care to anyways.

Chase whistled as a sign that she could serve, and she did. To say that her serve took Austin and JD by surprise would be an understatement. They were completely shell shocked. Austin especially, he didn't think she would be that good.

Everyone was a little awed at the brunette's serve, not expecting it to be that good. Her and Rudy started laughing at all their faces, walking towards each other to do their handshake they used to do for everything.

Austin was having trouble forming complete sentences, stumbling over his words out of shock. JD was the one to ask, seeing as everyone else probably wouldn't.

He asked, "How did you do that? I thought you've only played a couple times?" Before V could even open her mouth, Rudy was there saying "She has played a few times, if a few means playing volleyball since she was a kid."

Everyone was just looking at her now, which made her slightly uncomfortable under all their gazes, so she changed the topic. "Are we gonna play some volleyball or stand here gawking all day?"

Austin shook out of his trance and nodded, slowly backing up back to his spot. V made her way back to the serving spot, this time a little further up because she no longer needed the added space for jumping. On her way back, Rudy gave her a high-five, silently encouraging her.

After a few more rounds of volleyball, (Austin was very cranky because Rudy and Vanessa had beaten them by a long shot) they finally called it quits and sat by the bonfire the others had made while they played volleyball. They all sat around drinking, joking, and telling stories, just enjoying the moment with their newfound friends.

¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥

A/N:
Wtf?! This chapter is way longer than I initially intended it to be. I have some things planned for next chapter, it'll be what they do at the bonfire, so stay tuned for that.

I hope you have a good day/night and don't forget to vote and comment ;)

Thx for reading, The Author

1169 Words