Through Pain We Survive

Chapter 21

Once breakfast was consumed, AJ looked to Gwen.

"I was trying to tell you this last night, but more important issues came up. We got a message from Morgan."

"Wait, the girl from the con? Is she okay?"

"Who is Morgan?" Becca looked confused.

"There was this teen girl that was dressed as Serena- a wonderful costume- came up to us the last day of the con and got a picture with us. She seemed really friendly and excited, but when we got into the room, she seemed to avoid us. We were hoping to be able to catch her sometime soon to see if she was okay," Gwen explained. "What did she say?"

AJ handed the message over. Becca and Gwen leaned in to read.

Dear AJ, Nate, and Gwen,

I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Morgan- I talked to you right before the convention got started on Sunday. I wanted to apologize for any ill-feelings you may have towards me. I was not trying to be rude in interrupting your conversation. I know my actions were not the most proper, and I wanted to ask for your forgiveness please. If I have offended any of you, please know it was never my intention, and I appreciate you taking time away from your private conversation to pacify me. I am sorry for the trouble I caused. Please forgive me.

Sorry again,
Morgan

Becca and Gwen looked at AJ.

"Wait, what? No one ever said anything of this nature to her. Why would she think this?" Gwen's brows were furrowed.

"That's the confusing part. I'm going to respond back to her and see what exactly she is referring to. If we ever come across as unapproachable, I'd want to know," AJ stated, looking at the other three.

Nate cleared his throat. "After Morgan spoke with us, Sara walked over to her and returned part of her costume that had fallen off."

Becca and Gwen looked at each other.

"You don't think..." Gwen started, but trailed off, then looked to AJ.

"I don't know what to think. But I am going to respond and hopefully get more information. I just wanted to bring it to your attention before I did it, just to show you what we're up against."

All around the table were silent. Gwen had her suspicions, but until they heard back from Morgan, there was no guarantee it was Sara.

AJ looked to Nate. "Have you had any luck tracing who posted that picture?"

"Not yet. But I think I know who might have. But I can't verify it."

"It really seems like someone has it out for RE. They post intimate pictures, scare away fans, try to hurt Gwen... I'm scared to see what else they do," Becca said, looking fearfully to Nate.

"I'm not. I'm ticked. They had better watch out. When we find out who they are, they will be sorry," Nate said with a scowl.

Becca wanted nothing more than to hug Nate. Just to hold him and calm him. To tell him everything would be alright, that all they needed was each other. But she couldn't. All she could do was sit there helpless.

Nate's phone rang. He looked to see it was Sara calling. Looking over to the group, he said "I'm going to take this outside."

He walked outside to their back porch. Sighing, he answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi Nate. How are you?"

"I'm tired. You?"

"I'm okay. Listen, I wanted to stop over later. I have a surprise for you."

"Oh? How about this— we can do dinner tonight. I can come pick you up around 7. That way you don't have to come all the way over here. The restaurant is closer to you anyway."

"Oh, uh, okay, yeah, sure. 7 you said?"

"Yes. I'll be there at 7."

"Okay. See you tonight. Bye."

"Bye."

Nate walked back inside. AJ could tell he wasn't happy about something, but didn't want to push it. Becca and Gwen had left the table. Nate sat back down and cleared his throat. "Sara wanted to come over here. She said she had a 'surprise' for me. Is it bad I don't trust her?"

"Well, you should always trust the one you're with. If you don't, then you need to ask yourself why you don't."

Nate took a deep breath. "I think we all know why I don't. I told her I would pick her up at her place and we'd go to dinner. I just— I have a bad feeling."

"You need to trust your instincts. You are the only one who can decide what you do. We've given our opinions but ultimately it's up to you."

"Yeah." Nate looked around. "Well I have some work to do before tonight. Thanks for the talk."

"No problem."

Nate headed upstairs and went into his room. Becca came out of the spare room with her things and headed downstairs.

"Hey, I have some things I need to do, I'll see y'all later on!" Becca said to AJ.

"Bye!" AJ headed up to his office. He had been wording in his head how to respond to Morgan. Sitting at his computer, he put his thoughts to paper.

Morgan,

I am not sure why you think you need to apologize. If we did anything that made you feel like we did not appreciate you stopping us, we owe you an apology. We love when fans stop us, and encourage it! 😁 Please, if you would, tell us what indicated you to send that message to us, so we can make your experience (and others') better than this time. Please message us and let us know.

~AJ

AJ read over what he put again and called for Gwen. He could only hope Morgan would respond to him and would enlighten him to her whole situation.

"Hey Baby. Whats up?"

"I'm responding to Morgan. How does this sound?"

Gwen read over the message. Her heart broke thinking over Morgan's message. "That looks good. I just hope she responds so we can know what happened."

AJ sent the message, stood, and hugged Gwen. "I know. Me too."

"I mean, she was completely excited one minute, then the next she wasn't even participating. She kept glancing towards us then she would put her hand down."

AJ thought a minute. "I saw her doing that too. I am not sure what prompted her to do that."

Gwen sighed and held tighter to AJ. He kissed her on the forehead.

"I'm sorry." Gwen mumbled to him.

"What? Why are you sorry?" He leaned back to look at her.

Gwen looked down. "About yesterday. I should have listened to you about going to that cafe with Damien. I was just focused on something for me, I wasn't thinking about any repercussions."

He lifted her chin with the crook of his finger. "No, don't do that. You're here, you're fine, that's all that matters."

"But I—"

"No." He cut her off with a kiss. "I just want to focus on now. You're here with me. You're healthy." He looked down. "I was so scared." The last part came out barely as a whisper.

Gwen caressed his cheek. "I know. I was too. But like you said, focus on now. I'm here. I'm with you. I love you." She kissed him.

AJ wrapped her in a hug and held her close. "I love you."

AJ paused for a moment, and looked to Gwen.

"What?" Gwen said curiously.

"How about I take you out to eat. Someplace nice. How does that sound?"

"Let me see..." She mocks thinking. "Mmm, okay, I accept." She giggled. "I'll go get changed."

She kissed him again, and left the office.