Old Lovers ll Rudy Pankow

003: Bonfire Conversations

*Vanessa's POV*

We were all sat around the campfire, laughing as Austin grilled me on how I could play volleyball so well.
"I just don't get it! You've been playing volleyball since you were little?" He asked. I chuckled, "yep" I said, popping the 'p'.

Rudy decided to jump in at that point and say "She won the national championships for volleyball like three times in a row." He said, smiling at me.

I smile and look down to hide my blush. When I ran into him earlier today, it really took me by surprise. I didn't think I'd ever see him again. When we broke up, I was broken. Rudy was the love of my life and I was loosing him. It took me a long while to get over him, but I eventually met someone who helped with the process. I haven't dated many people over the years, but Charlie was one of the first. He helped me move past my feelings for Rudy, so I could truly enjoy my life without being sad about not having him around. Me and Charlie were together two years, and then we had a mutual break up over lost feelings. We're still friends, and I still go to him with most of my problems because he's great with advise, and he does the same for me.

Austin's mouth fell open, "That was your team!" I laugh while shaking my head in a yes manner. "What the hell V, you could've told us we were playing against a pro!" JD said, joining in on the conversation. I laugh again and bring my beer to my lips. Before I take a drink though, I say "Where would the fun in that be?"

Rudy chuckles, I can tell he's planning something. "Fun like that one time you broke a girls nose with your serve?" He asked. I dramatically gasped, trying to keep my laughter in check. "You know that was an accident. It's not my fault she was standing where I usually serve!"

Rudy gave me a look saying that he didn't believe me, while Austin was staring at me again. "You broke someone's nose!"

I laugh, looking at Rudy I say, "See what you've done?" He just shrugs his shoulders. I then look at Austin, "It was just one time, there was nothing else to it." Everyone is now listening, abandoning their own conversations. "No no no! We gotta hear the story! C'mon!" Chase yells.

I laugh once again, "There's no story to tell" I say. Rudy looks at me, and says "If you don't tell the story I will. It is absolutely hilarious."

I roll my eyes and gesture to the group, silently telling him he could start.

Rudy starts, "Okay, so it was back when we were in high school. Ness had a game so I wanted to support her. Anyways, the girl she hit was like, I total bitch, Ness and her had this ongoing rivalry because they played each other a lot. The girl did something to Ness's boyfriend and made her jealous, so when Ness was serving, she aimed to injure the girl."

I roll my eyes, "That is so wrong! I was not jealous of her and my boyfriend."
"Oh but you were! You should've seen the look on your face when you saw her all over him. Even though you know he would never do something like that."

Before I could retaliate, Maddie cuts in "So you broke a girls nose because you were jealous? Awesome." Everyone laughs at this statement. I just roll my eyes, something I seem to be doing quite a lot today. Maybe I was a little jealous, I mean who wouldn't be seeing your rival all over your boyfriend. It doesn't help when you see all the flaws of yourself and can't fathom why anyone would even want to be with you. Rudy helped me with my insecurities the best he could, but I still had doubts. I knew he would never cheat or anything, I just couldn't help thinking. The girl was all over Rudy that day, and I could tell it was purely to piss me off. Hey, she got what she wanted.

After a little more arguing about the topic, we kind of dropped it. Everyone wanted to know a little more about our high school days, seeing as I was such a 'wildcard' in JD's words. A few hours later, with the help of a lot of drinks and some puffs from a JUUL, we were all effectively drunk and high. Everyone was laughing as I was telling them a story about the time Rudy got blackout drunk in celebration.

"And that, is why I 10 out of 10 recommend getting Rudy blackout drunk" I tell them. Everyone was practically in tears from laughing so hard. Drew finally gets control of himself and holds out some more beer to Rudy saying, "Drink up Ruds" let's just say, we were definitely going to be hungover tomorrow.

After a few hours Mads checks her phone and sees that it's 1am. "Oh shit" she starts, "We should get going, we have work in the morning." I nod at her, understanding. I started my new job in the morning as well, so I really needed to get some sleep.

"Yeah, we should probably get going too, today was so much fun though!" Mads nodded in agreement, grinning from ear to ear, "Oh totally. We should definitely hang out again some time!"

"Yes, that would be amazing!" I agree with her. We talk for a little more and than we all leave, going our separate ways.

As Sophie and I are walking, she starts, "So... what happened between you and that Rudy dude? I know there's more to it than you're letting on."

I knew I would have to tell her. Sophie is my best friend, she knows me better than I know myself as cliché as that sounds. I sigh, looking straight ahead as we walk. "Me and Rudy dated in high school. We only broke up when he decided to move to LA. A long distance relationship wasn't going to workout because we were both going to be so busy, so we called it quits."

She sighs, "So that's the guy you were telling me about, huh?" I nod my head yes, not really having the energy to talk. "Oh baby, come here." She hugs me and I hug her back. I told her about the guy I dated in high school a few years ago. I didn't really tell her who he was though, that would've brought up too many memories for me.

We make our way back to where we're staying. It's a nice little place. I do my nightly routine and go to bed, seeing Sophie passed out on the couch. I laugh and shake my head, put a blanket on her, and go to my room. As I lay down, I think back over today. I didn't think I'd ever see Rudy again, but now that I have, I'm glad. I'm happy to see that he has friends, is in a good relationship. I love seeing him happy.

I'm also nervous for my job tomorrow. I almost went to the Olympics to play volleyball, but I had a really bad accident and couldn't. I haven't played professionally in a while. Since, I've kind of turned my focus to other things. I didn't expect to get this job, especially since it was really last minute and sudden, but I really want to make a good first impression on everyone there. I close my eyes and slowly drift off to sleep, not really knowing what tomorrow will bring.

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A/N:

This chapter is done! What'd you think? Next chapter will be the instagram posts from the last couple chapters, so that should be up soon.

Have a great day/night ;)

Thx for reading, The Author

1290 Words