Work Text:
He hears the phone ping faintly from his jeans pocket. Taking the phone out, Scott sees it’s a Twitter notification. Sighing he puts it back, thinking Tessa must have turned his notifications on again in an effort to get him to be more engaged with his social media. The entire walk to the car is accompanied by constant soft pings. Sitting in the driver’s seat and annoyed by the endless bells, he finally opens the app to see if he can silence the noise once and for all.
Normally he would just ignore the bell icon on the bottom of the screen but something makes him change his mind. While scrolling through the notifications his eyes begin to get wider.
“No, no, no,” he mutters quietly, “She’s going to kill me.”
The drive back home is only fifteen minutes, and the entire time he is praying that Tessa decided to not wait up for him and is in bed. If she’s asleep maybe he can somehow turn this screw up into something positive. He’s not sure how, but he knows he needs the time.
Turning into the driveway, Scott sees the lights are still on downstairs. A sight that would normally fill him with joy, is now causing his stomach to form knots.
Placing his head on the steering wheel, Scott takes a couple of deep breaths. He knows stalling won’t help. He knows she heard the garage door open. But a thought pops into his head—it’s only been an hour since he left the rink. Tessa might not know yet. If he can distract her, he might not have to tell her until the morning. Smiling at the thought, he grabs his bag and enters the house.
Scott sees Tessa sitting on the couch. He calls out to her tentatively, “Hey, honey. How was your night?”
Tessa doesn’t respond back. Instead, she gets up from the couch facing him. Her gorgeous green eyes are lit with fire.
Shit, she knows.
“Hi…” he meekly tries again.
“Don’t you ‘Hi’ me.” Tessa grits through her teeth pointing her phone in his direction. She gets up from the couch and starts moving toward Scott.
She points her phone at him, “I have to get back to Tessa?”
“T, I can explain—” Scott begins to plead his case.
But Tessa moves her hands signaling it’s her turn to talk. “Why can’t you stick to the script?” she bitterly asks, smacking her right hand with the phone into her left to emphasize the point.
“It’s a simple script, Scott. You could have said anything else, literally anything. God, I can’t leave you alone for five minutes. Do you know how frustrating that is?” she questions.
Normally Scott would apologize for his screw up but something about the accusation in her eyes breaks him.
“No but I know how frustrating it is to keep the most important thing in your life a secret. To hear your girlfriend lie about your relationship. Fuck, I love you Tessa, and I don’t like to hide it. I’m sorry that lying about my feelings isn’t easy.”
Tessa softens at this confession. She reaches for Scott’s hand and gives it a comforting squeeze. “I know this isn’t easy for you. I forget that sometimes. It’s just…”
Scott finishes her sentence, “We agreed.”
They did agree on keeping this part of their relationship only for them. Close friends and family know but they just aren’t ready for the world yet.
They had talked about the pros and cons of confirming their relationship. But with it being an Olympic year, they knew if they confirmed their relationship, the news would dominate the headlines. Interviews wouldn’t be about their training or preparation. Instead, they would be asked about first dates and anniversaries. They didn’t become famous because of their personal lives; it was because of ice dancing. Both would talk about ice dancing till they ran out of breath. But their romantic relationship was off limits.
Tessa pulls him into a hug. “Once we go public, people think they have a right to comment and they don’t. I want to keep all the chatter to a minimum. Okay?”
“I do too,” Scott whispers in her ear.
Tessa places her hand on his cheek and kisses his lips gently.
“I love you.”
“I love you, T”.