Take My Hand Again

Chapter Four

Hi to all you amazing people reading this! I can't even believe this little story has 35 reads already! I kinda just assumed it would be the friends I forced to read it and give their thoughts and that would be it! lol so this is a pleasant surprise. I'm happy you're all here along this journey (I have no idea where the end goal is but we'll find out together apparently! However I just wanted to say that this chapter will be a sort of flashback and lead up to Scott and Tessa reuniting and it will be in Scott's pov!! Fingers crossed this goes well! Stay lovely! xoxo. s. 🌹
————————————————————————
Scott's Pov:

I pace around my flat for probably the 17th time in a row. Trying to work up the nerve to do what I've wanted to do for months now.

Normally I wouldn't be such chicken shit, I mean it's not like I'm meeting someone new. It's not like I don't know her favorite movie, her favorite actress, her guilty pleasure or her coffee order (well that ones debatable...she does change her mind a lot). But still. It's been a year. The longest we've gone without seeing each other or at least speaking was two whole unfortunate months in 2008. And we both vowed to never do that again. Yet here we are.
One year later. And I've paced a track into my carpeting that I know Tessa would yell at me about if she saw.

But she's not here. And I'm not there. At least not yet. Maybe I'll never make it there if I don't get a damn grip.

"C'mon Scotty boy."
(Breathe in. Breathe out.)

"You can do this. You've accomplished so much. You're not scared of anything! You're a man's man. The manliest of men. Of all men."

Jesus if Tess heard me right now...I'd be getting an ear-full about this full on conversation I'm having with myself.

"Yeah but at least she'd be here. Talking to you. Which won't happen ever if you don't go talk to her now."

I say, frustrated with myself.

For god's sake. It's just Tessa. It's just Tess. It's just the Virtch Dog, it's just...she's just... my partner. T. At least she was. We had our rough patches, I know but we were a damn good team. We still could be. I mean, we still are. If we can embrace this change in us.

I know she's worried about the emotional aspect. She told me she wanted to take a break from the sport because she thought we should focus on other aspects of our lives and not be "defined by our skating Scott."

But I knew better. I knew Tess better. She didn't want to take a break from the sport, she wanted to take a break from us. Something changed during Carmen. I know she felt it as much as I did.

The chemistry felt more intense than usual. More fire. More sparks. More need. Everywhere I touched on her she seemed to melt into me and everywhere I felt her hands on me seemed to scorch right through my costume to my skin. I let out a roar. A literal roar. I couldn't have stopped it if I'd tried. I was out of control. Completely lost in the the palpable desire of the moment. And if I was lost? I knew she had to be too. And that. THAT is what drove her away. If there's anything Tessa Jane McCormick Virtue can't stand, it's being out of control. Especially in regards to us.

Knowing she felt it too, and knowing she ran because she felt it is what finally gives my feet the courage to leave the flat and give my poor carpet a chance to breathe.

I get in my car with a thousand thoughts racing through my head about what to say, and what to do. How should I tell her that I'm happy that we've changed? How should I tell her that I can't be without her anymore? That she's always been my partner and always will be my partner and that maybe I'm okay, no, ecstatic about the new emotions we have between us. And maybe we could use those new emotions, when we return. For competition. And maybe, just maybe, we could go to the Olympics again with all this uncharted territory now between us, and maybe...just maybe...win. Together. And then stay together. Competition or not.