Chapter Nine
" BUT ALREADY, YOU'RE RAINING ON MY PARADE! "

When Sydney woke up, she wasn't expecting herself to be buried underneath a maroon duvet and she wasn't expecting to be in different house entirely at all, either. She suspected that it was the ice cream that put her in a food coma.

Turning over, she saw Cheryl sleeping soundly next to her. She looked so at peace and like someone who hadn't gone through what she had. Sydney could sit and watch, but she had to get home soon at some point so she could continue editing her film. The film festival was in a three weeks and she was close to finishing but she had footage that needed to be imported from her SD card and edited.

Carefully sliding out of bed, Sydney made her way to the kitchen and started sifting through the cabinets for pancake ingredients. "What're you looking for?" Cheryl asked. Sydney turned around and saw her rub the sleep out of her eyes. She had also traded her jeans for a pair of black leggings. "Uh, pancake ingredients," Sydney answered, feeling embarrassed for having gone through Cheryl's cabinets. "Do you have any?"

Cheryl shook her head. "We can just go to Pop's for pancakes. Are you driving or should I?"

"I'll drive. I gotta get home, anyway."

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"What looks good?" Cheryl eyed her menu, looking at the different pancake options. "The chocolate chip ones look promising." Sydney was looking at her menu, as well. "Or maybe the blueberry ones."

"You gotta pick one, Syd." Cheryl chuckled at her indecisiveness. They both settled on chocolate chip pancakes and when they arrived, Sydney pulled out her camera and panned over them and then panned over to Cheryl who was wearing an eager smile.

This is who I want people to see, Sydney thought, not the "loveless monster" everyone thinks she is. She then put her camera away so she could enjoy her breakfast.

_____

"See you soon, Cher. Call me if you need anything, okay?" Sydney said as she dropped Cheryl off at Thistlehouse.

"Will do." Cheryl waved goodbye and Sydney was off. She had work to do and was not slowing down anytime soon.

After arriving home, she threw her bag down and seated herself at her desk before opening her editing software. She imported and edited a few more for about an hour before saving the project and letting her brain cool off.

She leaned back in her chair and then straightened back up when her phone began to buzz. Looking at the contact name, she answered. "Hey, Cher. What's up?"

"I don't mean to intrude but I was wondering if I could have dinner at your house? My mom's going batshit and I don't feel like hanging around here."

"Of course! Mi casa es su casa. I'll text you the address."

And with that, she hung up.

_____

A couple of hours later, the doorbell rang. "Hey, Reg, can you get that?" Sydney asked as she was in the middle of making, yet again, her town-renowned mashed potatoes.

Skeptic, Reggie went over and answered the door. In front of him stood Cheryl. "Hi, Cheryl. What are you doing here?" he said. "Oh! Sydney invited me over. Didn't she tell you?" Cheryl said, creasing her eyebrows and looking a little hurt.

"No, uh. . .she was busy and probably forgot to tell me. Why don't you come on inside? You can set your jacket on the couch." Reggie directed her towards the kitchen after she took off her jacket.

"Hey, Cheryl!" Sydney said, excited as they both entered but then a little embarrassed by what she was wearing; a cropped, smidge-too-tight Pop's tank top and a pair of yellow Soffe shorts. This was her usual lying around outfit but she didn't have time to change because she was slaving over dinner. "I'll be right back. I'm just gonna change into a more appropriate shirt." She dashed away in search of a new shirt.

"Nice place you got here. It's. . .roomy." Cheryl sat down at the table and waited patiently. "What exactly are you doing here?" Reggie asked slowly, to let her know that he wasn't trying to be harsh. "My mom's driving me up a wall so I kind of invited myself over. Sorry," she answered sheepishly. Reggie shook his head in amusement.

"So," Sydney said as she hopped down the stairs before clapping her hands together. "Who's ready for dinner?"

_____

"Syd, these mashed potatoes are amazing," Cheryl complimented.

"Oh, no, they're not," Sydney dismissed, trying to be humble but failing miserably. "Oh, please, Syd. Try not to be so humble. They won Riverdale's Potato Fest three years in a row," said Reggie.

"Yeah. And it would've won more if Grandpappy Blossom's statue hadn't taken a potato to the face and they couldn't get it out of his eye for three weeks." Hearing that almost made the steak and mashed potato spew out of Cheryl's mouth. "What?"

"You've never heard this story?" Sydney asked before recounting the tale from the beginning.

_____

"Reggie, I'm gonna take out the trash. Do you mind washing the dishes? Although you really shouldn't because there are only three plates," Sydney said, resting the garbage bag on her shoulder.

"And last night's casserole baking dish is still soaking," Reggie said before Sydney left. "I'll help," Cheryl said, grabbing a dish rag and starting on the glasses. The sound of the front door creaked but they figured it was just the wind — but it was just Sydney coming back inside.

"I can see why you talk so highly of Sydney so much," Cheryl continued as she wiped out a glass, "she's such a smart, sweet girl who deserves nothing but the world. She's obviously a hard worker and I'm sorry I said you had to be stuck with that as a sister. Now I can see why you're so lucky to be stuck with her. Which makes me wonder if I was ever the same way with Jason when he was still alive. Everyone knew we were close but I didn't think we were 'brag-about-my-twin-to-the-entire-football-team' close."

Being the clumsy self Sydney was, she tripped on nothing and stumbled into the kitchen. "Were you spying on us?" Cheryl asked, faux-shocked. "What? No. Compliments? Ew. Give me the towel, I'll dry," Sydney said sarcastically as she reached out for the drying rag. Cheryl whipped her leg with it before snickering. "You're a little she-devil!" Sydney grabbed the spray bottle and started spritzing Cheryl with it. "Ah!" she screamed before fighting back.

"That's what you get!" Another spritz. They were both oblivious to Reggie who was recording the entire play-fight. Sydney grabbed Cheryl's towel and twirled her around with it before catching her so she didn't fall.

_____

"Where have you been?" Christie asked. It was the next day and the Film Club was sitting at lunch, discussing Sydney's obvious absence. "You missed 'The Princess Bride.' You never miss 'The Princess Bride.'"

"I was just hanging out with Cheryl and doing some stuff with the movie. So, what? She turned out to be more interesting than I thought." Sydney took a bite into her sandwich. "Losing focus, my friend." Christie snapped her fingers, as if that would get Sydney out of her head. "The festival is in three weeks. This is supposed to be a hard-hitting exposé on the dark side of popularity."

"No, that's what you want it to be. I'm filming a documentary on a girl who no one actually knows and I want everyone to see what I've seen of her. News flash, the weather's predicting a downpour, but already, you're raining on my parade." Sydney picked up her tray and left. Just when she thought things were getting better, things were starting to get worse.

"Hi, Syd," Cheryl said as she caught Sydney outside the bathroom. "Hi, Cher," Sydney sighed. "What can I do for you?"

"You sound tired so I'm just gonna rip the band-aid right off. I, uh, I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime."

"Like. . .on a date?"

Cheryl nodded. Sydney sighed again. "Look, as fun as it would be to go out with you, I don't think I could be able to right now. The film festival's almost here and I really have to hunker down these last three weeks to get everything perfect for it. So, as much as I want to say yes, I might have to take a raincheck on that. You understand, right?"

"Right," Cheryl said dryly. "But you do know I have feelings, too, right?"

"What? Of course, I do, Cheryl," Sydney answered, confused as to where this was going. "Why are you asking?"

"Because you honestly can't just flirt with me, treat me like I'm your girlfriend, offer to make pancakes the morning after, and then say you can't go out with me. I don't even know why I'm hanging around at this point.* Your movie's almost done so you don't need me, anymore."

"I can't go out with you right now because I'm busy, Cheryl. You know I'd love to take you out and do it the right way because you deserve it but my friends are driving me nuts on finishing this movie and I'm doing the best I can to make it perfect. I'd wait forever and a day if you had to do the same thing because you're someone worth waiting around for. I'm sorry, Cheryl. I really am. But I just can't do this right now."

Cheryl was close to tears but then she turned on her heel and walked away so Sydney couldn't see her cry.

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*This line was inspired by madelaine's unsent text in @/cIeopatra's GLAMOROUS
(a fic i love a little too much. not trying to brownnose, i just love it that much)