Chapter Text
Sydney and Carmy stood side by side, both feeling themselves get more and more irritated as the place started to get crowded, both whispering under their breath for the old lady to move faster so they could leave.
After their fight in the alley, Natalie convinced them to go to therapy. They both refused at first, thinking it was ridiculous and would only ruin their relationship further, but Jimmy basically threatened them so they had no choice but to go.
They went to two sessions before either of them truly opened up and once they did it was like they let out every demon that lived within them. It was really bad for them, especially for Carmy, but they were able to make progress once both had been clear what their problem with the other was.
Carmy’s problem was that he felt Sydney kept him at arms length while Sydney’s problem was that she felt like she couldn’t trust Carmy.
The therapist assigned them different tasks that had the goal of helping them to actually get to know each other and go beyond the surface level that they allowed the other to see, one of those tasks was hanging out away from the restaurant at least once a week, so that’s what they were doing.
It was hard to stay away from the kitchen though, so one of their hang outs was going to the farmers market and then going to one of their houses and trying out new recipes that they have sent each other during the week.
So now there they were, in the middle of the hottest summer Chicago had ever seen, buying tomatoes from an old lady that definitely had trouble seeing as the place started to fill up due to rush hour.
They finally finished shopping and found their way out of the market, pushing people around to be able to walk.
They both saw stars and thanked God once they saw the car. Carmy already looked like Larry the lobster and Sydney couldn’t have picked a worse day to wear her new flats, her feet were burning.
“Excuse me, are you two a couple?” They heard someone ask from behind them. Carmy turned around and stood in front of Sydney, answering before she could.
“Who’s asking?” He asked with a scowl.
“I’m Johnny, sorry, I have a tiktok show, I ask people if they’re dating and then ask them about their story” Johnny said with a smile.
“Oh!, yeah, I showed you one of his videos a few days ago” Sydney said with a smile before offering him a hand shake. “Hi, no, we’re not dating, sorry”
“We’re best friends” Carmy said, which earned him a side eye from Sydney.
“Oh, well, would you guys mind telling us that story?”
“Umm, sure” He said before looking at Sydney for approval.
“Yeah, well, umm, I had just shut down my business and I needed a job. I saw that his restaurant needed a new chef and I saw his name, he was super famous and incredibly talented so I showed up and the rest is history” She said with a shy smile.
“She had a crazy resume, I couldn’t believe she wanted to work at my dump” Carmy said, his eyes never leaving her face. “I think she’s the most excellent chef I've worked with and I’ve worked with a lot of greats”
“So how long have you guys known each other?”
“Three, four years?” She said.
“Yeah, around four, but it feels like an eternity, like we always knew each other in the back of our minds”
“So, what’s your favorite thing about him?”
“Umm” She said while looking at him. “Well, he’s incredibly talented, of course, umm, he really cares about people around and he does the things that he needs to do to become a better person everyday”
“And you?” Johnny said, turning to Carmy.
“Umm, I mean, where do I even start? She’s everything, you know? Everything that’s good, and interesting and lovely, she’s super smart, super talented, a great friend and daughter, really, I…I thank God everyday that I can have her in my life”
“Great, umm, what are your names?”
“I’m Sydney”
“Carmy”
“We work at The Bear, you should come by” She said with a smile.
“Oh, I would love to, thank you guys for your time. Bye”
“Bye” They said in unison before finally getting into the car and driving away.
Despite no longer being CDC, Carmy had convinced Tina that she didn’t need to worry about closing up and he would do it with Sydney, so there they were, putting things away and getting everything ready for the next day while everyone else went home.
“Hello, can we talk to you guys?” Said Natalie, while coming out of the office with Richie trailing behind her.
“Sure, what’s up?” Sydney responded.
“So, there’s this video-” Natalie said softly.
“Of you giving an interview, it’s all over social media, everyone thinks you’re secretly in love” Richie interrupted.
“Richie!”
“What? You speak too slow” He said before turning back to Sydney and Carmen. “Anyway, a lot of people are saying they’ll come to restaurant because of that video and they want to see your love story evolve, so-”
“We want you to make more videos together for The Bears social media”
“You want us to pretend to date?” Sydney asked, flabbergasted.
“No, no, honey, we just want you to be you, just like you always are, you’re just gonna be on the pages, together, a lot"
“This is fucking stupid Sugar, why would people come just because they think we’re in love?”
“I don’t know, but people are saying they’re going to do it,” she said.
“Yeah, the place is already booked out for the rest of the week and a bunch of influencers want to come and film” Richie continued.
“And we may and or may not have got a comment from your favorite publications Syd” Natalie said in a sing-song tone, hoping to be able to bribe her.
“Bon Appétit left a comment?”
“Yup, what do you say? You don’t have to pretend to date or anything you just have to be yourselves and that’s it”
“Wh-what about Tina?” Carmy asked.
“What about her?” Natalie said.
“She’s the cdc, shouldn’t she be the one in the videos? Getting some, umm, love on social media or whatever?”
“We have plenty of videos of her, they love her, you don’t have to worry about that, she gets plenty of attention. I know you don’t like being on videos but think about it, this could be really good and we could pay off our debt faster than expected”
“Why don’t we do this?” Richie said “You guys think about it overnight and come back to us in the morning, just think about it, good and hard, cause like Natalie said, this could make the difference between losing the restaurant and paying our debt”
Sydney and Carmy finished closing up in silence and then went their separate ways, Sydney turning down his offer for a ride for the first time in months.
Sydney found the video and watched it over and over on her way home. She read the comments and saw a pattern, everyone thought he was secretly in love with her and she had no idea. A side of her felt happy because it meant she had truly mastered her poker face and no one had any idea about her feelings but the other side was hurt thinking about something that would never happen.
For as long as they’ve known each other, Carmy’s behavior has barely been that of a friend, the idea that he could be into her seemed absolutely ridiculous to her, still, she scrolled through the comments and a smile started to spread on her face.
@barbie32: omg, look at the way he looks at her…i think i would melt.
@jessice000: it’s giving friends to lover
@midnigths2: he’s totally in love with her and she’s totally clueless… im sat
@ari2020: "i thank God everyday everyday i can have her in my life"?????? how can she not be in love, omg
She logged off tik tok and put on her headphones for the rest of the ride, not wanting the delusion in the comments to get to her. Carmy wasn’t in love with her, they were seeing things and that was that.
Meanwhile, Carmy drove home in complete silence. He hadn’t seen the video but he was sure this was all his fault. Tina had mentioned once that he looked at Sydney like she hung the moon and ever since he had tried to make it less obvious, but clearly, he hadn’t been successful.
He’s pretty sure he fell in love with Sydney the day she walked into The Beef and everything he did since was in some way him trying to keep her away because he was poisonous and he knew it. At some point he realized having her as a friend was better than not having her at all, so he took a step back, got on his best behavior and made sure that he would have a place in her life even if it wasn’t the one she wanted.
He got home and immediately threw himself on the couch. He hated the idea of being on video but he loved the idea of paying off Jimmy but he also hated the idea of exposing his feelings for everybody to see and worse, being rejected by Sydney and losing her if she realized what was going on.
He was drifting away until his phone buzzed.
“Hey”
“You home?”
Two messages from Sydney.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“I’m in if you are” The text simply read. Carmy let out a deep breath, he knew this was a bad idea, there was no way he could get the girl, but there was nothing in the world that Sydney could want and he wouldn’t try to give it to her, so he just said.
“Of course I am”