Torn

After All This Time

Gwen and Scott agreed to meet at a small café just outside of town. Scott sits in a booth and sighs, setting his hot chocolate down before staring at it with boredom. Suddenly, Gwen appears in front of him. She waves shyly.

"Gwen!" He breaks out into a big grin. "It's good to see you."

"Hey Scott! Its been so long." She smiles. "So how have you been?"

"Life has been great, you know. I'm with Courtney now. Uh, my truck's still breaking down but that's nothing new. Been keepin' the rats away from my new place and I'm happy to say it's going great."

Gwen giggles and sits down across from him.

"What about you?" He asks.

Scott genuinely wanted to know if there was anything special going on in her life. Although he held some contempt for her on Total Drama All-Stars, those feelings had faded. Gwen had been a good friend of Courtney's at one point, after all. He tried to remember if they still kept in touch from time to time. Regardless of her relationship with Courtney, he knew Gwen was a nice person deep down and could help him get through this Duncan mess.

"Oh, you know, same old same old." She waves her hand dismissively. "So why did you want to see me? Your messages online were pretty vague."

"Right...that. Well, I wanted to know...have you visited Duncan lately?"

Gwen shifts uncomfortably in her chair.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Well, you see, Courtney's got this thing going on with him, and the prison's taking her to court. I don't really understand what happened, and I was hoping you could help me put it all together."

Gwen puts a few strands of hair behind her ear nervously. She nods before speaking.

"Yeah, I've seen Duncan a few times since he's been incarcerated. I was just trying to be a good friend, you know? But..."

"But...?"

"But one day he kissed me. We ended up making out during our meeting and almost got caught. Now he wants nothing to do with me. He says I never should have started visiting him in the first place. Because..."

"Because...?" Scott repeats, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Gwen looks down at the table before she continues speaking.

"Because he's still in love with Courtney."

"What?!" Scott slams his hands on the table, nearly spilling the hot chocolate. He adjusts the cup carefully before continuing. "He said that?"

"Yeah, he did. I know I just said we made out but it's not like I still like him or anything. I have no intention of getting involved with him again. He said what we did was a mistake anyway and that all he wanted was to be with Courtney. He basically used me as a distraction. Go figure."

"Do you know what Duncan did to Courtney?"

Gwen meets Scott's eyes and doesn't avert her gaze while speaking.

"You should ask Courtney for the details yourself. Trust me, it's not a pretty picture, but it's not my story to tell."

There's an awkward moment of silence between them before Gwen gets up.

"I'm gonna grab a cup of coffee. I'll be right back."

Scott smiles and sips his hot chocolate. He never did understand Pappy's coffee addiction. To him, that bitter stuff was real gross. But when you wake up at 5 A.M. every morning due to rooster calls, you must need something like coffee to stop you from just ending it all.

Gwen returns a few minutes later, a Matte Black Latte in her hand.

"So is your life really 'same old same old'? I mean, you're not on any T.V. shows anymore, right?"

"Oh, fuck no. If I ever see Chris again he's totally getting a smack down."

Scott laughs as Gwen sips her drink.

"Well...I guess the only interesting thing that's happened to me lately was making out with Duncan and breaking up with my girlfriend."

Scott smiles. "You call your boyfriend your girlfriend too? Wait. I mean, I call my girlfriend my boyfriend, then she calls me her girlfriend. Just to be clear, I've never had a boyfriend."

Gwen chuckles nervously. "Right. But no, I mean I was dating a girl."

"Oh," Scott says. "Ohhh. I gotcha. That's interesting. What was she like?"

"Okay, don't judge me...but it was Zoey."

"Zoey?!" Scott exclaims.

Gwen glares at him. "Keep it down! Do you want everyone to know?"

"Sorry," he says more quietly. "But wasn't she with Mike?"

"Yeah but they broke up for a while. Can't remember why. I told her on the show that I liked her but she said she wasn't into girls like that, plus she was with Mike and everything. I guess she lied or I was just a guinea pig to her."

"That sucks. I'm sorry that happened."

She smiles softly. "It's fine. I knew her and Mike would get back together eventually. Those two really are made for each other."

"Yeah...made for each other."

Scott's mind wanders and he thinks of Courtney. Were him and Courtney made for each other? He thought so, but there's no real way to know. Loving someone else is an act of blind faith. Although Scott has faith in Courtney, he was sure that some of this court case was being kept from him. He didn't want to blindly be in love with Courtney if she was just going to keep secrets from him.

Scott and Gwen continue talking and laughing at the café for hours until it was time for the place to close.

"You wanna head somewhere else and keep talking?" Scott asks as they step outside.

"Actually, I have to go. It was nice seeing you Scott. Don't forget to ask Courtney what happened between her and Duncan."

He smiles as he watches her walk away.

"Ask Courtney myself, huh?" Scott mutters to himself. "I guess I will."

Scott hears a beep and immediately jumps into a defensive stance. He realizes it's his phone and checks the notification. He received a few messages from Courtney.

This is my chance, Scott thinks, bold and ready to confront Courtney. He responds to her messages before heading to her apartment.
-♡-
Note that this story is a somewhat of a slow-burn. It's going to take some time to develop the relationship, and fillers like this to help us understand how the characters feel when they're apart from one another.