Chapter Text
“There you go, you rascals.” Gwen leads a few small puppies back into their playpens.
Almost two years had passed since she was last on Total Drama, and things had finally felt like they started to calm down. She took up a job working at a pet store to save up money to pay for her university tuition. The job gave her a bit more self-assurance and was pretty easy for her to land with her past experience with animals.
“They sure like you, Gwen.” Another employee said while Gwen closed the gate.
“I guess it pays to have obedient lizards.” Gwen shrugs with a smile.
“Hey, ya think you could take over the register for now? I know we aren’t super busy, but I promised the boss I’d finish managing the stock in the back while she’s on vacation.”
“Sure thing!”
Gwen gets settled at the cash register and checks out only a few people within an hour. Whenever the store wasn’t busy, working at the cash register was boring. She usually just sat around waiting for someone to show up.
She let a couple more minutes go by. Still no one. The girl was growing insanely bored.
She leans over and pulls out a book from her tote she picked out on her last visit to the bookstore. It seemed cheesy; she’d never admit out loud how much she enjoyed dark romance novels. After her failed relationships that took place during Total Drama, it was nice to just unwind and read about a romance that didn’t involve her.
The door chime suddenly rings, indicating that another person entered the store. The cash was close enough to the door, but Gwen doesn’t bother looking up from her book to see who came in. She’d end up dealing with them once the time came for them to check out anyways. She continues reading intently, submersed in her book.
Eventually, the person who walked in approaches the goth at the cash.
“Gwen?”
She could’ve sworn her heart stopped. Gwen instantly recognizes the voice and looked up. Her relaxed eyes lock with the other person’s and widened upon seeing who it was.
Courtney? What was she even doing here? And why was she here? She tries convincing herself that this was just her mind making up this crazy scenario. However, she takes a breath and got a hold of herself. She ponders for a split second about how she wanted to respond, but a bunch of words and jumbled thoughts came rushing to her at once she didn’t even know where to start.
“Did you… find everything you were looking for?” was all she had managed to say, given her current position. It was so, incredibly stupid.
“I… what?”
Gwen takes the items from Courtney and starts scanning them, trying to get the girl through the cash, out the door and out of sight. “ It’s probably best if we just don’t see each other ,” Gwen tells herself. Even if she did want to see Courtney, some kind of heads-up would’ve been nice.
Gwen’s lack of response and each beep annoyed Courtney further. She huffs and places her hands on her hips. “You are a lot of things, but you don’t have the memory of a goldfish. I know you remember me!”
“Mhmm…” Gwen says slowly. She was still focused on scanning Courtney’s items.
“So can we talk then?”
“About?” Gwen hands her a POS system so she could pay. “ Please don’t bring up the last time we–”
“The last time we saw each other? Doesn’t that ring a bell?”
Of course.
The receipt prints out and Gwen hands it to her. Miraculously, she finally finds her train of thought again. “Look, Courtney, I don’t know what else to say about it, and there’s really nothing more to it anyways. We can just–”
“If you want to leave early, Gwen, you can.” Gwen’s co-worker speaks up from a distance, interrupting the reunion.
“What?”
“There’s only 30 minutes left before closing time, and I doubt you’re gonna get any more people coming in. Besides, I think I can handle the store myself. There’s not much to do.”
“Thanks, but it’s okay, really,” Gwen raises her hands to protest. “I don’t have anything else to be doing right now.”
“I insist! No need to repay the favor for me either. And your friend’s here too, I don’t want to have her waiting.”
“We’re not really–”
“Thank you, ma’am!” Courtney politely spoke, interrupting the girl. “I really appreciate this.” She turns and starts walking to the front door. “Come on, Gwen.”
Gwen tries to interject but her coworker had already started walking away. She groans and grabs her stuff before following behind Courtney.
The two of them walk side by side in silence until Gwen suddenly makes a turn around the corner, staying on the same sidewalk. Courtney then becomes the one following behind her.
The air feels awkward. It was too quiet for Gwen’s liking. She stares at the cement road as she walks and listens to Courtney’s footsteps behind her. “Fuck. Come up with something to say. Anything.”
“So… exactly how did you find me again?” Gwen starts but continues her pace. “I mean, coming to where I work? That’s not creepy at all.”
“I didn’t come to find you on purpose.” Courtney explains. “Actually, my cousins are staying over for the week and they brought their dog with them. They sent me out to get a few things.”
Gwen recalls the squeaky toys and ropes she had bagged. “Gotcha.”
“And you were the only one that was working… I guess it was just a coincidence.” Courtney shrugs.
“I guess it was.” Gwen’s reply is almost monotone, looking ahead at the other houses down the street. “Do you… live around here?” she asks. Considering what had happened between them the last time they saw each other, it felt weird to engage in casual conversation like this.
“Oh no, I came from the opposite direction.”
“Oh?” Gwen replies confused. “So how come you’re following me then?”
“Honestly? And this is probably weird to admit–”
“Just spit it out.” It came out harsher than Gwen intended, but she was curious for an answer, and Courtney was already very used to the goth’s occasional sharp tongue for her to take it personally.
“I just… I didn’t want to leave after finally seeing you again.”
For some inexplicable reason, Gwen’s heart skips a beat. She glances at Courtney. “Yeah?”
“Y-Yeah…” Courtney sighs, as if saying that was her finally getting the weight off her chest. “I know that sounds stupid after everything that… happened before…”
The two of them turn a corner down another street.
“Are you… still mad about it?”
Gwen ponders for a brief moment.
“No… not mad…” The goth thought back on the situation and how she felt when it occurred. “mostly disappointed.”
Courtney felt as if she was once again face to face with the consequences of her actions. She hung her head. “I know I wasn’t a good friend to you… I let a dumb competition get in the way of our friendship. If I’m being honest… I’ve felt torn up about it for a while. I’m sorry.”
Gwen knew Courtney meant her apology. It was a surprise to have her here all of a sudden like this, but she wanted to trust that maybe this was happening for a reason. She thinks about her words for a second longer before a smug grin crosses her face. “Wow, the Counsellor-in-training actually apologizing? Never thought I’d see the day…”
“Hey!”
“Kidding.” Gwen laughs as the girl nudges her playfully.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear half of that and accept it as a compliment.” Courtney tries to hide the smirk on her face. “Not gonna lie, I thought you’d be a lot more adamant about not wanting to see me…” Her tone becomes more serious. “I guess I thought you’d still be like… seething with rage or something.”
Gwen laughs again at that. “Well, I was pretty pissed with you, but once I left I was mostly just bummed out about it.”
Courtney shifts her gaze back to the sidewalk under her. Gwen’s words made her regret even thinking of the idea to go behind her back.
“Honestly, I don’t know…” Gwen continues. “I guess a game like that is bound to bring out the worst side in people… I treated you shitty too.”
“C’mon, that was so long ago,” Courtney notices her voice waver slightly as the words left her. She shakes her head. “I’d rather not mull over the past, especially not over some guy that wasn’t even worth it in the end.”
“You and me both.”
Both of them look either down at their shoes or at the neighborhood ahead as a way to avoid eye contact. Silence fell over them.
“I missed you.”
Gwen says it softly but loud enough for Courtney to hear. She sees the girl turn to her from the side of her view which prompts Gwen to lower her head further, her blue streaks covering her face.
The goth suddenly felt Courtney’s arm against her own. She links them together and moves closer to her, catching Gwen by surprise and simultaneously elevating her heart rate.
“I missed you too.”
Her words made her relax. She lets herself lean more into her and a breath escapes her.
“Promise we’ll stop saying that to each other from now on?”
“Promise.”
“Good, because I really don’t want us to have to say that to each other again… in this context I mean.”
Courtney nods.
Without acknowledging it out loud, the two of them continue their walk with their arms linked. It crosses Gwen’s mind at one point and she replays the moment in her head when Courtney took her arm into her own. She smiles to herself.
Maybe this was okay.
The girls continue walking a few more blocks until Gwen takes a turn down a pathway of a house. Courtney follows Gwen walking up the property, eyes gazing up and down the place. “This is where you live?” She asks, though that much was obvious to her by that point. “It’s nice.”
“Oh, yeah, I guess so.” Gwen replies, busy trying to find the key to the house before a realization dawns on her.
“You walked all the way here?”
“Yeah..?”
“And now you have to walk to the nearest bus stop, which is all the way back that way.” Gwen points her thumb in the direction they just came from. “Do you want me to drive you home?”
“A nice offer, but no thanks!” Courtney happily declines. “I could use the walk anyway.”
“Are you sure? It’s no big deal.”
“Positive, but I really enjoyed seeing you again!”
“Yeah, same here.” Gwen forms a smile that she hoped wasn’t as noticeable as she thought. Then, a thought crossed her mind.
“Listen… I don’t know if… well… I’m sure you’re busy with school, but depending on what your schedule’s like, maybe we could catch up some more? ”
Courtney’s face lights up, as if she was waiting for her to ask something like that. “Y-Yeah! I’d really like that a lot… and I could use a nice outing.”
“Really? Cool! Did you want my–”
“Number? That’s probably a good idea.” Courtney says as she moves closer to Gwen. “What’s yours? I’ll put it in my phone.”
“459-0128.” Gwen tells her as she intently watches Courtney enter the digits.
“Okay! All good. I’ll… text you first, okay?” Courtney flashes a smile and waves at her.
“Sounds good!” Gwen waves back as she watches Courtney walk back down the pathway away from her house and out of sight.
She closes the door and leans against it, processing what just happened. “Does that mean we’re friends again?” She asks herself. “Wait, don’t get too ahead of yourself. There’s still a lot more to be talked about but… this is good for now.”
Gwen finally notices how quickly her heart is beating. Was it excitement? Nerves? Both? She lets herself slide down against the door, eventually sitting on the floor with her knees close to her chest. She didn’t want to admit it, but a part of her was unsure about Courtney being back in her life. Not because she didn’t like her, but she wondered what could potentially go wrong. “ We haven’t exactly had the most stable relationship” , Gwen thought. As much as the idea of her being in her life again made her feel a little uncertain, she was also thankful that this happened.
“Don’t start assuming the worst, Courtney,” she tells herself as she walks further down the street away from Gwen’s place. “ This is a new start… and I’m not going to fuck up things between us again.”
Gwen lays in bed later that night when she suddenly receives a notification from her phone. She quickly reaches over for it on the table next to her and turns it on to see what it was, hoping it was from Courtney.
Her wish was granted and Gwen read the text to herself:
Hey Gwen, it’s me! You can add this number to your phone too. Are you free this Saturday at noon? I know of a nice place downtown with coffee… ☕️ - C
Gwen smiles at the message. Not just because of the fact that Saturday was approaching quickly, but also because Courtney’s text had perfect grammar and sentence structure. It was exactly how she pictured her messages would look like. The smile on her face remained as she typed up a message to send back:
For sure! Can’t wait :)
Gwen puts her phone back down and shuts off the light next to her. She gets comfortable in bed and thought about what could happen once they hung out again. She soon found herself drifting off much quicker than she anticipated. Maybe she wanted Courtney back more than she realized.