room 609 | r.p

f i f t e e n

"C'mon, let's brainstorm," she slaps the notebook in front of me. "Let's start with the basic rundown of questions. What makes you happy?"

"Well..." I bite my lip. "My family, seeing my friends happy and doing what they love— er... music, my fans, the colour green-"

"The colour green?" she questions, sounding amused.

I grin. "Yes, the colour green... leave me alone. Uh— music from the 80's, Australia, my blue electric guitar, Madelyn's homemade brownies, yellow cars, the rain..." I pause and bite my lip— struggling to find proper answers.

What makes me happy?

"Syd," Kelsie softly says. "Be open."

Being open has been hard lately.

I slump in my chair, my energy suddenly leaving my body. "I can't."

She lets out a sigh. "Okay then... we'll move on. What do you miss?"

I think for a second before answering. "My home. Feeling like I'm at home."

She furrows her eyebrows. "You don't feel like you're at home?"

I twist the rings on my fingers, suddenly feeling nervous. "It's complicated..."

I haven't spoken to anyone about this yet and I'm sure as shit not doing it in the middle of a writing session with my PA.

It's quiet for a second until she moves the notebook aside and sits directly across from me. "Syd, what's wrong?"

I bite my lip, now feeling like i'm overreacting. I'm just tired. "Nothing," I smile at her. "I think I'm just brain dead... can we finish up for today? I can come back in tomorrow. I just need to sleep."

She furrows her brows, not believing me. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Kels, promise," I nod. "I think I'm just run down with the fact that they didn't approve of the songs.... I'll get it done."

"Okay..." she gives in after a few moments. "But you have to be back here tomorrow, okay? We need to get this album done."

"Yeah," I say, looking at the ground. "It'll get it done..."

What is wrong with me?

• • •

𝕣𝕦𝕕𝕪

After Syd's rather formal message to the group chat explaining that she was leaving the studio early, I had been waiting patiently on the couch for her arrival. I hadn't seen her for most of the day as she's spent it at the studio, so I was keen to see her.

Madelyn and I also felt bad so we helped her out a bit... we cleaned the mess that Chase left in her bedroom and dried all of her drenched sheets. We knew she'd be tired when she came home, so we decided that it's best if we helped her out.

Once I hear the familiar click of the front door being unlocked, I look across the room to see the head of long, blonde hair walk through the door.

"Hi," I smile as I get up off the couch and walk over to her. "How was the studio?"

She shrugs and places her keys on the table next to her, looking up at me with a small smile. "Hey. It was... okay." she said quietly.

Okay.

"Did they like the songs?" I ask, remembering how she told me last night about how excited she was to show them her new works.

The two of us slowly walk deeper into the apartment together, eventually getting into the hallway that leads to each room.

"Uh-" she mutters. "Yeah, they liked them... I've still got a bit to write though."

Something's off.

"Oh, okay..." I trail off, watching as she picks at the hem of her shirt. I notice the darker circles under her eyes, probably showing how tired she is after working all day. "You tired?"

She nods. "Yeah, actually... I think I'm gonna hop into bed."

Sydney walks into her room and stops at her door, turning to me. "See you tomorrow morning?"

Oh? I'm not sleeping in her room tonight?

"Uh- yeah! Yeah... of course. See you in the morning." I stammer. For fucks sake, Rudy.

"Okay," she smiles. "Night."

"Yeah... goodnight, Sydney."

She shuts the door.

Oh.

As I slowly walk closer to my room that I haven't slept in for the past four nights, my phone vibrates from my pocket. I sigh as I fish it out, eyebrows furrowing when the notification says it's from Sydney.

imessage.com

syd
thank you for drying my sheets.
goodnight rudy.

• • •

hi

that took a turn

it's been like a month, sorry that this one isn't amazing...

how are y'all?

the plot's slowly starting to come together :)