The Only Exception:ETERNALLY

22. Facetime

"right there" Syd pointed at their apartment building and with a small nod , Leone slowed his car down to a halt by the sidewalk.
"Thank you again for the restaurant thing. It really helped," Sydney thanked him as she unbuckled her seat belt .
He sighed,"I'm glad you liked it,"he too unbuckled his seatbelt ,"let me walk you up to your apartment"
"Okay," Sydney simply nodded . Leone got put of the car and walked over to Sydney , opening the car door for you ,"m'lady," he smiled cheekily. That smile that reached his eyes .
"You won't stop will you?" She chuckled accepting his helping hand as she got out of the car.
"Nope"he shook his head,"after you" and they proceeded to walk into apartment building. The ride up the elevator was silent but not in an awkward way. Sydney was actually getting comfortable with him. She could tell by the way he spoke that he was a social butterfly and she liked that characteristic.
|Maybe he isn't as bad as Rose made them seem|
"We're here,"Sydney stated , walking towards their door,"thanks again Leone"she smiled
"Anything for you,"he opened up his arms and embraced her . The hug was warm and comforting .
|He gives the best hugs| she relaxed into his touch.
"I better get going then,"he pulled away , his face still pretty close to hers,"I'll pick you up tomorrow?"
"It's a deal,"she nodded

Out of literally nowhere , Leone kissed her on the lips. It was barely a second , and just a small peck but it was enough to get Sydney's heart to run laps . She immediately pulled away with a shocked expression and a light shade of pink on her cheeks.
"What the fuck was that for !" She punched his shoulder playfully , she was beyond flustered by his actions,"friends don't kiss you dimwit" she scolded, poking his chest.
"I might be your friend but you aren't my friend,"he winked ,"plus it was a harmless little kiss sweetheart"he shrugged
"Leone you're just something else,"she laughed shaking her head,"now go! I don't want Vanessa to come out to find you here." She shoo-ed him away
"Okay fine fine ...goodnight Syd"
"Good night " she stated before opening their apartment door.

Once she quietly closed the door , she leaned against it and took a minute to breathe . Leone's sudden confession had taken her by surprise but she was relieved that he wasn't going to force something on her and just wanted their friendship to work.
The apartment was dark
1. The others might not have been home yet
Or
2. They must already be asleep.
She walked over to the kitchen where she found a sticky note on the fridge

~ left some pizza in the microwave if you're hungry .... V~

So they were asleep. Sydney was actually relieved because she really wasn't in the mood to talk about what went down that night... especially with her overprotective best friend. She wasn't really hungry so she tiptoed to her bed room. She wasn't even in the mood to shower so after changing into something more comfortable she flopped onto her bed and unlocked her phone . There were loads of missed calls from her best friends and some from Luca . But none from Hardin though.
|Ouch|
Even after everything that happened, she still held on to the faith that maybe he didn't mean it , but maybe it was the truth. She laid on her back and blankly stared at the ceiling. She wanted to get some sleep because she had work tomorrow but she couldn't , her mind wasn't in agreement with her body.
A few minutes into staring into space , her phone buzzed under her pillow.
|I swear , if it's one more call from Luca ill -|
But when she opened her phone , it wasn't Luca. It was a message from an unknown number . She hesitantly opened the messages to check who it was.
xxx-xxx
-Hie
- it's Dayn

|Dayn?|

As in Dayn , Leone's friend?

She didn't remember actually talking to him that much, let alone giving him her number. Nonetheless she answered his message
__________________________________
Dayn
-hie
-i don't remember giving you my number