No Fear (Red Gerard)

Chapter 7 (part 1)

Chapter 7
(pt. 1)

(Set one year after last chapter: Feb. 19, 2019)

The last year had been a whirlwind. Scotty and I were stronger than ever, even though it was a long distance relationship. Red and I had become very close friends, but our relationship was purely platonic. I had become decent friends with Scotty's snowboarding friends (Mark McMorris was probably my favorite) as well as Red's girlfriend Hailey Langland. I was studying to earn my Bachelor of Arts in Digital Photography degree at the Art Institute of Colorado. I was slowly becoming overwhelmed.
I was sitting on the couch of my apartment, curled up under a blanket and editing a picture I'd taken of Red for my sports photography class. I glanced down at my watch, anxiously awaiting my nightly facetime call from Scotty. The whole long distance thing was a challenge, but we made our "weblationship" work out as best as we could. I'd visit him in Australia on my breaks from school, he'd come visit me as often as he could, or when he was in the US for competitions. I hadn't seen him in person in almost three months though, neither of our schedules had allowed it.
Right around 8:30 AM, I got a facetime call from Scotty, interrupting my editing. A smile instantly spread across my face as I hit the accept button to be greeted by my shirtless boyfriend's tired smile. It was 10:00 PM there.
"There's my princess," he groggily said.
"There's my prince," I responded before continuing, "I miss you so much Scotty, we need to figure something out soon,"
"I miss you like crazy, Ro. I promise we will figure something out soon. I'll be there as soon as I can," he frowned. I loved him so much that it physically hurt sometimes.
"Anyways, how was your day?" I asked.
"Tiring. I worked out this morning for a couple hours, went for a hike, then had press stuff in the afternoon. I'm exhausted."
"Awww, poor baby, you had to go do stuff you enjoyed," I mocked, with a joking frown.
"Oh can it," he said, laughing his adorable laugh that I loved so much. "Hello?? Rowan??" he asked, bringing my back to reality. "Look I know I'm just sooooo hot, but I like to hear your voice rather than just have you stare at me for an hour over the phone!" he said, getting a laugh out of me.
"You're just too cute," we said simultaneously. He knew what my response was going to be, I'd never met someone more suited to me in my life. Everything about him made me happy.
"So, how's school?" Scotty asked me, changing the subject.
"Stressful," I quietly said.
"Are you doing okay? I want you to be honest."
"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied.
"I don't believe you," he responded, a concerned look on his face.
"Trust me, Scotty. I'm fine, I promise I'd tell you the minute something was wrong."
"If you say so."
I smiled a big, cheesy grin into the camera, and Scotty grabbed his phone to take a picture of it from his laptop screen.
"Hold it, right there. Yes. Perfect, darling, perfect," he giggled, pretending to be a photographer as he turned his phone different angles and took multiple pictures.
"I know, I'm gorgeous, you don't have to tell me," I sarcastically said, lifting a hand to below my chin and smiling again.
"That you are. Well babe, I'm exhausted. I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight Rowan, I love you," he said. A frown grew onto my face before I responded.
"To the moon and back," I recited our nightly saying.
"Forever and ever," he kept it going
"Goodnight, Scotty. Love you. Talk to you tomorrow," I said, blowing a kiss into the camera.
"Absolutely. Love you, Rowan." I shut my laptop as he hung up the call, the silence in my apartment returning, spilling in all at once. It really was a lonely place when nobody was around.
Everything about Scotty made me happy, except his absence.
I stood up from my couch and walked out onto the balcony of my apartment that overlooked the mountains. The cool breeze blew through my hair as I opened the screen door, still wrapped in a blanket.
Truth is, what I had told Scotty was a lie. I was lonely. I was stressed. I was constantly worried about him. I wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in his arms. I began to cry on my balcony, wishing he was there to hold me. I let all of my frustrations spill over my cheeks. Eventually, I sat on the ledge like Scotty and I always did together when he visited, looking at the mountains and crying even more. I'd been crying for about 15 when I heard a knock at my door inside. I hastily dried my tears, knowing that my cheeks were still stained and my eyes were still red and puffy, and walked to answer my door. As I opened it, a voice immediately filled my apartment, it just wasn't the voice I wanted.
"Hi Rowan so uh I need a fav -- woah hey what's wrong?" Red stopped in the middle of his sentence as he saw my appearance.
"Red, I miss him," was all I could manage to squeak out before I started crying again. He walked into my apartment and wrapped me into a tight hug, just letting my cry into his shoulder. He was the greatest best friend a girl could ask for. He moved over to the couch and sat us both down, I sniffled and dried my tears once again before we started talking.
"So what's going on?" he asked me.
"I'm just really stressed out with school and I really miss Scotty and I'm worried about him because he's always tired when we talk and I don't want him to over work himself and I just really, really miss him Red. I know that makes me sound clingy, but I haven't seen him in three months and I could really use one of his hugs right now," I responded, picking at my fingernail as I spoke.
"Well let's start with school. Why is it stressing you out?"
"It's just a lot to handle right now and they're more critical of my work than anyone has been before," I said.
"Well look at it this way, if they're supercritical now, when you go off and work for some big company or on your own, nobody will have anything to criticize. It'll all work out, I promise," Red always had a way of turning the negative situations positive. "Now about Scotty, there's not much I can do there. Did you tell him any of this?" he asked.
"No..." I quietly responded, knowing I was about to get scolded by my best friend.
"Why not? The only people who can help with this situation are the two of you," Red said in a slightly condescending manor.
"Because I don't want him to stress over me, he's got enough on his plate,"
"Trust me, Rowan. Scotty is one of my best friends. He's always stressing about you whether you know it or not. He would do anything to be sure you're happy."
There he went again, hitting me in my feels like he always managed to do.
"As for the hug, I can't give you a Scotty hug, but I can give you a Red hug and take you to breakfast,"
"That'll do for now, I guess," I said with a slight smile. I opened up my arms and leaned into Red's embrace, happy to have someone that was there for me like he was. He was right, it wasn't a Scotty hug, nothing could compare to those, but it was pretty close.
"Now, as your best friend I feel like I should tell you that you might want to go change clothes and fix your face. You're looking a little rough," he laughed, cringing as he looked at my outfit. I glanced down, noticing I was wearing grey joggers and the sweatshirt Scotty had given me the first night I stayed in his Hotel room at the Olympics. I punched his arm, changed, threw on some make-up, and left for breakfast at my best friend's side.
His may not have been the voice I wanted, but in that moment I guess it was the voice that I needed.

(Red's POV)
I had to figure something out to cheer her up. I had to get Scotty here. I had to tell him. She'd hate me for it, but it was necessary. I only wanted to see her be happy.

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Heyyyy another update cause I procrastinated again! It's a time hop and not my best work, but it's half ways decent and I have some good ideas for what's to come! (Also it's not edited so sorry for errors that I was a little to busy/lazy to fix 😂)
THANKS FOR OVER 1.1K GUYS I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! I really never expected this book to go anywhere, and it astonishes me that you all like it so much.
As always, keep reading and enjoying! Comment and tell me what you think!