Nick Viall Finally Settled Those Rachel Bilson Dating Rumors

If you're a fan of both The O.C and Bachelor Nation, I'm so sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Nick Viall's response to Rachel Bilson dating rumors is kind of a bummer. After dating rumors swirled between them earlier this fall, Viall reportedly told Us Weekly on Nov. 9 that Bilson is just "a friend." Elite Daily previously reached out to reps for both Bilson and Viall for comment on their rumored romance, but did not hear back.

While his latest comment makes it clear that there's definitely not anything romantic going on between them, both Viall and Bilson have played it coy when asked about relationship rumors in the past.

“I’m not really defining any relationship these days, but Rachel is cool," Viall told Elite Daily on Sept. 17 when asked if he and Bilson were dating. In the same interview he also noted that the public attention on his love life often leaves him feeling "overwhelmed" when it comes to trying to figure out his own feelings about people he's seeing. “People want answers fast," he explained. "People want answers before I even know I have answers, you know?”

When asked if that meant they were seeing each other but just weren't official, Viall continued to play it cool. "All I’m saying is I haven’t defined any relationship I am or am not in,” he said.

Bilson also kept the possibility of a relationship open when speaking to Us Weekly on the red carpet of the Freeze HD Gala on Sept. 28. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, inherently implying that there's an "it" to be talked about. Then, her BFF Jamie King chimed in to say, "That’s private; we’ll keep that private, for now.”

Rumors of a possible romance between Viall and Bilson first came about when Bilson appeared on Viall's podcast, The Viall Files, on July 24. The two were pretty blatantly flirty throughout the episode and then, to get fans' hopes up even higher, they continued the banter after the recording by continuing to comment flirty inside jokes on each other's Instagrams. Oh, and did I mention that Viall told Us Weekly back in September that he'd "always had a crush" on Bilson?

So, yeah, you could see why people thought they were dating. But, alas, they appear to be just friends right now.