"Rudy," Nova whispered, leaning closer to him, they both fell asleep in the roof, she was wondering how they didn't fall, the roof didn't come to a complete peak though. His arm was lazily draped around her.
"Rudy," she shook him a little harder.
He groaned and barely opened his eyes, he grinned and looked at her, "Hey Nova."
"Good morning," she replied quietly.
"The sun here is just something else," Rudy mumbled, his voice was hoarse and it was extremely distracting to Nova.
"You're right," she wrapped a blanket around her, pulling her knees up.
"They're all probably wondering where we went," Rudy sighed as he watched the sun break the line in the ocean.
"Wanna make them wonder even more and go get breakfast?" Nova asked, it was her favorite meal of the day.
His face broke out into a wide smile, "Absolutely. There's a place called Village that I love, if you'd like to go there?"
She nodded, "Yes."
"Come on," he carefully stood up and held a hand out to her.
"So I know you're worried about surfing, you will have a stunt double to do the surfing and stuff like that for you, if you want,
but I'm still going to teach you today, you can swim?"
She nodded, "Yeah well enough to save myself."
"Don't worry, we won't let anything happen. Surfing is fun, you'll get the hang of it."
"I don't know if you know this, but I'm a walking accident," Nova laughed.
"Oh I've caught on, but you'll be okay, I promise," he pulled his hand from his pocket and opened the restaurant door for her.
"Thank you," she walked in.
The place was very retro themed and Nova was living for it, they were told to pick a table. Rudy studied her as she watched the ocean from their booth.
"What are you thinking about?" Rudy asked, playing with a straw wrapper.
"This is insane to me," Nova answered. "Like, I literally got dragged out from my last job by Sarah and I was worried and now I just...feel like this changed my life."
"That's how we all felt when we got cast and the show blew up. Like, I went from a few thousand followers to three million, it was wild. That's why we were worried Riley was going to tank this for us."
"I can understand the resentment if that happened. I just, I've always wanted to do something like this and I never knew how, I just feel so unreal."
"Somethings are meant to be," Rudy answered.
"I guess you're right," Nova smiled, taking a menu. "So do I want sweet breakfast or not sweet?"
"I want both," Rudy said, scanning the menu as if he didn't know he was getting the cinnamon roll French toast with an unhealthy amount of bacon.
"Same, I'm thinking waffles, they are top tier," she scanned through the menu.
Just then, their cellphones both began to ring. "I'm surprised these are still charged," Rudy said, glancing at his phone, it was JD.
"Hello?" Rudy answered, putting it on speaker as Nova did the same, it was Sarah.
"Where did you two disappear to?" Sarah questioned.
"What Sarah said. I'm hanging up," JD laughed.
"We're getting breakfast," Rudy answered.
"All night?" Chase added.
"Yeah, we didn't know where to go," Nova joked.
"You scared us!" Bailey yelled.
"Shut up," Rudy laughed. "We're gonna surf so don't wait up for us."
"We're taking a boat out, Jonas is waiting for Nova's paperwork to get through so we have a few more days," Drew explained.
"That's sick, we will meet you guys out there later," Rudy hung up her phone.
They sat and ate their food, Rudy was persistent on a UFO being outside, and as soon as she looked, he stole some of her waffles.
"I'll stab you," she said while still looking outside.
"Worth it," he said with a mouthful.
"I'm trying this," she said, taking some of the French toast. "Oh my god, yes. This is it."
"Right? This place is so good and so cheap, I love it," he said, stuffing more food in his mouth.
"So what scares you the most about surfing?" Rudy asked as they made their way back to his apartment.
"The board."
"Okay."
"The water."
"Uh-huh."
"Falling."
"Makes sense."
"Drowning."
Rudy let out a laugh, "Don't worry, it won't be as scary as you think. I've been doing this for a long time and I won't let anything happen to you."
"You can't control the ocean!" She shouted.
"I can control how you react to the ocean,". He looked up at her as he grabbed the things that they would need.
"So fun fact," he began talking and explaining how he got into surfing and how he loves the sport.
Nova wasn't totally scared, he showed her where to stand and what to do in certain situations. He spent an hour alone on the beach with her.
"Can I like, touch you? That sounded weird, I just want to show you how to stand," he awkwardly asked.
Nova nodded, she was dying from the heat and nervous as hell, she was afraid that she would puke.
He stood in front of her and put his hands on her hips, looking into her eyes to make sure he was okay, she gave him a gentle nod.
When it came time to the water, her heart began to race. She looked over at Rudy and felt like she was going to puke. Again.
"You look pale...er," Rudy pointed out. "Come on, just sit in the board and we can just ride the waves like that for a while, so you get used to the motion."
She was glad that he was patient with her, because she was having a hard time with the entire thing. "So how do I know when to stand?" She looked over at him, his hair was dripping from the ocean water and the sun was shining on him in a way that could only be described as perfect.
"When you feel ready. Obviously with smaller waves, try to stand when I do," he instructed.
She watched as he stood up on the board, he made it look effortless and she was just an idiot. "Rudy, I'm scared," she laughed.
"Don't be, I'm right here," he assured her.
It took Nova a few more minutes of sitting on the board before she finally stood up, it was about as graceful as a giraffe learning to walk, but she did it, and she was proud.
"Look at you!" Rudy cheered.
"Yeah it's no so-" Nova then proceeds to plummet into the water, her board flying from under her.
Rudy jumped into the water as well , making sure he brought her back to the surface. "You okay?"
She nodded, "Let's keep trying." She was determined, she knew she could do it.
He grinned, "We can go as long as you want."
She turned away because she could make a dirty joke, like Sarah would, but she chose the Nova route and went at the waves again and again. It was another couple hours and she was throughly tired.
As soon as they hit the beach, she sighed and laid in the sand. "I'm exhausted."
He laid beside Nova, "It does get to be a lot, but you did so well."
She turned to him and smiled, "Thanks, my teacher helped a lot."
"How did you like it?" Rudy asked.
"It's fun, I'm just about as athletic as a went noodle," Nova joked.
"You're at least those cute bow-tie noodles," Rudy poorly attempted to flirt.
"I think I'm an over-cooked angel hair pasta noodle."
"Stop," Rudy laughed.
Just then, her phone began to ring, she was hoping it was Shawn, she had so much to tell him.
"Nova, what is Sarah telling me? This cannot be true, you're like the biggest weirdo ever," Shawn asked in a hurry.
"I figured she would tell you," Nova rolled her eyes.
"So this is real? You're like, going to be on an actual television show? You're going to finally have a job that doesn't treat you like shit?" Shawn grinned.
"Yes! Also, say hi to Rudy," she panned the camera over to Rudy who smiled and waved.
"Hey man," Shawn greeted.
"What's up?" Rudy replied, he was drawing in the sand.
"Still shocked. So are you going to come back to Illinois or are you just staying there? I want to come visit you, Sarah said when she comes back to get stuff, I'm coming with," Shawn rattled off.
"Honestly, I have no idea what's going on, I talk to Jonas in a few days and I'll know then," Nova shrugged.
"This is the calmest you've ever been, it's surprising," Shawn laughed.
"I know, maybe because things feel better. I am definitely getting an apartment so you can come down here too, I'm sure you can find a job down here," Nova explained.
"I think that'll be good for us," Shawn said aloud. "We can figure it all out when the time comes, have fun, loser."
"Fuck off," she rolled her eyes, saying goodbye to her brother.
Rudy smiled at her, she was close with her family and that was something he liked, "The gang is going to be here soon with a boat."
"Thanks, Scoob," she laughed at the term 'gang.' "Can we run back to the house? I'm going to need a million more layers of sunscreen."
"Yeah, we definitely don't want you to burn," Rudy stood up.
"SPF 150 baby," she joked, running up to the house.
Rudy and Nova walked back to the house, she changed into a bikini and he had a hard time not checking her out when she walked out, she was so attractive and not the usual girl he went for.
"I've been on a boat one time and do I really have to learn how to drive one?" She asked as she watched Chase bring the boat onto the dock near their house.
"I think it's a precautionary thing, but again, you did so great surfing, I wouldn't worry," Rudy nudged her as they climbed into the boat.
"Heeyyyyy," Morgan sang, she was clearly drinking. She was sitting with Bailey, their legs tangled together.
"Hey guys," Nova smiled as she was handed a White Claw from Drew.
"How was the surfing?" Jordyn asked.
"She was great," Rudy nodded, also grabbing a beer.
"That's awesome!" Cline gave Nova's hand a squeeze. Cline was scared to surf too at first, but it got better.
"I feel like I did nothing," Nova admitted.
"I'll push you off the boat, you did a lot," Rudy joked.
"Do it, Pankow."
"Don't tempt me, Copper," he bit his bottom lip.
"Ship," Bailey whispered, but Nova heard it.
"Nova, come here," Chase said, showing her a few things about driving boats and simple things, she found this easier than learning to surf.
"So, will you run some of my lines with me tonight? You and the other two?" Nova went and sat beside Sarah.
"I'd be honored," Sarah nodded. "Why don't you ask Rudy and them?" Sarah wondered.
"I just want to be comfortable fully, not that they won't make me comfortable, but you get me," Nova explained.
"Sounds good," Sarah squeezed her knee.
Hours later, the group had calmed down, they may or may not have gotten a little high and were now sitting in the living room of their townhouse, playing Would You Rather?
"Okay, Jordyn would you rather know when you were going to die or how you were going to die?" Bailey asked.
"Oh shit, I think I'd rather know how because if I knew when, I would be counting the days down, freaking out," he answered.
"Good answer," Chase nodded.
"Okay Rudy, would you rather," Jordyn tapped his fingers together, an evil smirk on his face. "Have sex in an abandoned building or a public park?"
"Oh god," Rudy laughed uncontrollably. "The building, a park makes me feel like a pedophile."
"Nova, would you rather have really shitty sex for hours or great sex, but it only ever lasts for seven minutes?" Rudy asked.
"What he's trying to say is," Bailey joked.
"Yeah man, what are you getting her into?" Drew laughed.
Nova looked down, trying not to smile, a severe blush on her face.
"Fuck all of you," Rudy joked, holding his middle finger up.
"I'm going with seven minutes," she answered.
"I agree," Cline nodded.
"Sorry, buddy," JD clapped his hand on Rudy's shoulder in condolences.
"I hate you," Rudy shoved his friend off.
Nova was growing tired, she looked over at Rudy and rested her head in his lap. "Sleepy?"
She just nodded, feeling an oddly happy feeling, maybe for the first time in her life, she wasn't worried.
Rudy played with her hair until she fell asleep, as the group quieted down, Rudy eventually fell asleep beside Nova for the second night in a row.