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It all started in London. She and Courtney had gotten along well, and at this point it felt like they really, really clicked. Things went wrong when they found Duncan and returned him to the game. First there was that look over Courtney’s shoulder at her. Then later on she was in the confessional excited her friend was back. Sure the elimination hadn’t happened yet, but there was no way Chris was going to get rid of Duncan when he’d only just come back.
The lock on the door had been broken. So Duncan had come in and they’d been talking about her hand. The next thing she knew Duncan was kissing her. For a second she froze in shock, but quickly she pulled away. “Duncan! You’re dating Courtney!”
“Are we? I don’t remember getting back together with her after our last break up. Just because we made out in the bus that one time doesn’t mean we’re back together.” Duncan said.
“Yeah, but Courtney clearly thinks you are together!” The goth snapped. “I can’t be part of this.”
“Pasty-” Duncan began but Gwen turned from him and ran. Back to first class where Courtney was waiting for her. Still in a good mood. “Hey Gwen! I can’t believe Duncan’s back.”
“Uh, yeah, sure is exciting…” Gwen trailed.
“But I’ve been thinking lately. There’s so many things I want to change about him. That’s not how relationships work right? Like if I have to change him so much than maybe we’re not meant for one another.” Courtney said.
Gwen had been thinking something similar for a while, but was surprised to hear Courtney admit it. “What brought this on?”
“Well, recently I’ve started to develop feelings for someone else.” The Type A admitted. “And I don’t want to change anything about them.” She sighed. “But, I don’t wanna break Duncan’s heart.”
Gwen’s mind flashed back to the kiss in the confessional. She wasn’t sure whether her next decision was because of guilt, or a desire to feel okay about what happened, or simply because it was the right thing to do. After all, Courtney had just admitted to falling out of love with Duncan, and the punk clearly didn’t care about her if he was willing to kiss Gwen. So…
“I think you should break up with him. I mean, you deserve to be happy right?” Gwen told her.
Courtney smiled. “Yeah, I do. That’s it then. I’m breaking up with him tomorrow.”
Gwen spent the rest of the night feeling bad about the spontaneous kiss with Duncan. The next day they all gathered in the main area. Gwen noticed Tyler was gone. Strange considering Alejandro’s reaction to Noah last night. After they all corrected Chris on where the Olympics actually originated from, seriously rome, Sierra started to trash talk the other team. Gwen wasn’t focused on that, rather he was focused on Duncan and Courtney talking to one another.
Alejandro’s taunt about Heather borrowing one of the gold medals was interrupted by a huge scream. Apparently Sierra had been listening in on Courtney and Duncan. “Duncaney is breaking up!”
Everyone looked at the two of them. Duncna scoffed, and Courtney huffed. “Uh yeah? Our time apart showed us we’re totally over each other.” The Type A said.
“Yeah, this spilt is completely fine from both sides. So lay off.” Duncan warned.
Everyone left with a lot of talking. Gwen was about to follow Courtney when Duncan grabbed her arm. “This is perfect. Princess broke up with me and everyone knows about it. This can totally work out!”
“Work out? Duncan, what about your actions last night?” Gwen frowned.
“No one needs to know. I found out Tyler saw, so I worked with Owen and Noah to get him eliminated. So the only one who knows about the kiss is us! We can totally get away with it!” Duncan smirked.
“Uh, yeah. Great. Look Duncan, I think there might have been a mix up? I’m really not interested in you romantically.” The goth explained.
“What?” Duncan blinked, surprised. “Then why didn’t you pull away sooner?”
“I was in shock Duncan. My best friend randomly kissed me. You’d freeze up too.” Gwen told him.
“I guess. Well whatever. We still don’t have to tell anyone about last night.” Duncan said.
Right. Right. They totally didn’t. No one had to know about it. The last thing Gwen wants is anyone to know about it. Courtney would hate her right? And she doesn’t want that. She really likes her.
She made her way back to first class where Courtney was waiting. She sighed happily. “I feel so free now! I can finally see if the person I like likes me back!”
“Yeah, well, I’m sure they will Courtney.” Gwen smiled.
Courtney took Gwen’s hands into hers. “I’m glad to hear you say that.”
They were both silent, but while Courtney seemed to be enjoying the moment Gwen was definitely not. Here she is, sitting in first class, holding hands with Courtney, when her ex boyfriend had kiss her last night. Before the break up. How is she supposed to enjoy this, when her mind is replaying the kiss over and over?
“Gwen? Are you okay?” Courtney asked.
Gwen swallowed. “Fine.”
Luckily for her they landed in greece soon afterwards, so she could focus on the challenge instead. Chris explained it was going to be a series of one on one challenges, and the first was going to be searching through a maze of columns to find a bear with tusks tied to his mouth with a medal around his neck. Then he asked for volenteers.
“I’ll go!” She said at the same time as another. She froze when she realized who it was. Duncan. No. No this wasn’t happening. How is she supposed to get that kiss off her mind if the living reminder was there with her!
They both tried to backpedal but Chris wouldn’t let them take it back. So Gwen entered the maze, hoping against hope that she wouldn’t end up alone with Duncan. She’d rather be alone with the boar-bear.
So of course she has to run into him. And Chris has to make them sing a duet. A duet that had Duncan apologizing but saying he didn’t regret what happened, while Gwen desprately tried to convince herself that no one was going to find out. Eventually she did snag the medal and they all went on to the next challenge.
Alejandro vs Heather in hurdles. Heather wins, they go to a tiebreaker. Heather loses, they lose. Heather did manage to win the challenge, leading to the flight of icarus tiebreaker. Cody vs Noah. As they were getting ready Gwen found herself approached by Alejandro. “I must say Gwen, I’ve noticed you’re rather tense today. Is there something you need to get off your chest?”
Gwen swallowed. Did he know? He couldn't, right? He didn’t see them kiss. The only person who saw that was Tyler right? He’s just digging for information. That’s all. Yet somehow it felt like he did know. Like he was staring into her soul and could see the kiss in real time like she was.
“Hey! Lay off Alejandro! Go play with your own team!” Heather snapped at him.
Alejandro backed off. Gwen couldn’t believe it. Heather had helped her? “Oh stop looking at me like that. It’s not that I care about you, it’s that I can’t let him have anything over us.” The queen bee scoffed.
In the end Noah won the tiebreaker. Courtney pulled her aside afterwards. “Listen I know we both hate Heather, but Sierra attacked me today! There would have been no need for a tiebreaker if she hadn’t taken me down! And it’s not like Heather’s going to last much longer anyway. So can we vote off Sierra?”
Gwen agreed. Heather had helped her earlier and Gwen believed in karma. So not voting her out should make them even. Needless to say Cody was ecstatic that she was gone. They all went to economy class. Gwen sighed.”It’s been a while since we got stuck back here.”
Courtney sat next to her and interlaced her fingers with Gwen’s. “Yeah, but the company makes things a bit better.”
Gwen wanted to feel good about that. Part of her did, but a much larger part of her was hung up on the kiss. She sucks as a friend.
“Ugh. If you’re gonna kiss just kiss.” Heather scoffed.
“Heather!” Courtney blushed. “I just broke up with Duncan.”
“Yeah? So what? I can feel the tension between you over here.” The queen bee said.
Gwen on the other hand was trying to process what had just happened. Courtney had blushed at the idea of kissing her. Oh no. Was she the one Courtney was crushing on? Part of her feels amazing at the thought, and Gwen realized with a start that she liked Courtney too.
An overwhelming sense of guilt came over her. Courtney likes her, and Duncan kissed her last night. What would she think if she knew?! How betrayed would she feel? Feeling incredibly nauseous Gwen removed her hand from Courtney’s. “I need to use the bathroom.”
Courtney seemed disappointed but Gwen can’t focus on that now. She rushed to the confessional, opened the door and began to hurl her guts out into the toilet. All of dinner was leaving her mouth. She can’t stop thinking about the kiss, and Courtney’s wide earnest eyes as she interlaced their fingers.
When she finally finished she still felt nauseous, but it wasn’t like she had anything else to barf. She cleaned herself up, and looked at the camera. At the red light on the camera. Oh. Oh god. Sure the people on the plane didn’t know. Sure the kiss was a secret between her and Duncan on the plane, but the entire viewing audience had seen it. They knew. What must they think of her now?
She opened the door to the confessional only to see Alejandro standing beyond it. “Gwen, I couldn’t help but hear. Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”
Gwen swallowed. “Uh fine. Dinner didn’t sit well with me.”
“I see.” Alejandro said. “You know Gwen.” He began cupping her cheek tenderly. “If there’s anything on your mind, you can tell me about it.”
Gwen couldn’t breathe. The kiss replayed in her mind again. Her thoughts repeating, ‘He knows, He knows, he knows,’ That look in his eyes of non judgemental understanding. Oh no. “I, I’m fine.” She managed to choke out.
The look of disappointment on his face was almost enough to make her crack. “If you’re sure. I do hope you know you can confide in me.”
Gwen slowly reluctantly walked back to economy class. While Heather and Cody are asleep Courtney has stayed up. “Do you feel better?” Courtney asked, a look of concern on her face. A look Gwen felt she didn’t deserve.
“Yeah. Much better.” She lied, before sitting on the bench and pretending to fall asleep. Eventually, she actually did.
She was woken in the middle of the night to alarms going off. Chris told them all that it was fine, but there were snacks in the common area if they didn’t believe him and wanted a last meal.
As they all made their way there Courtney movedDunc to hold her hand. Gwen pulled away instinctively. The hurt look on the Type A’s face made her feel even worse.
As soon as she saw Duncan she ran over to him. “Duncan.” she whispered. “I can’t do this. I think Courtney likes me, and every time she tries to do something I feel bad about it!”
Duncan sighed. “Pasty you can’t tell her, that’ll make everything worse.”
“Don’t you feel bad?” She asked.
“No? I mean I feel bad about kissing you without asking if you liked me that way, but not about Courtney.” Duncan said.
Gwen huffed and turned. Courtney was talking to Alejandro. What was he doing with her? Was he telling her she wasn’t trustworthy? As she approached her team Courtney turned to her. “Hey, so I was thinking, we should team up for this challenge. I mean look how well it went the last time we did!”
Gwen swallowed. On the one hand she didn’t want to be around Courtney at the moment, but if she kept doing what she was doing, Courtney might get suspicious. Not to mention sad. “Sure! Great idea.”
The plane dove down and just before it hit the ground it stopped, then they fell the last few feet. Somehow they were all okay, and the plane was unbroken. They exited and Chris revealed that they were in…area 52?
“Area 51 is the place with all the cool alien stuff.” Gwen scoffed.
“This show’s so broke we have to fake an area now?” Duncan smirked.
“No this really is area 52, we’re all just across the border, except Duncan.” Chris smirked.
Duncan was hit with a laser and Gwen felt Courtney squeeze her hand. “It’s okay. Duncan’s tough.”
Chris explained the situation. The challenge was simple: break into area 51 and bring back a working alien artifact. Oh and try not to get caught. That last part was probably important.
They found an entrance easily enough but it looked too open. Obviously something was up. They should be careful. Of course a lizard getting its clammy hands on Heather’s leg meant they all ended up running towards the door. Then the lizard exploded revealing they were on a minefield. Luckily Cody figured out how to get them across using his candy. Soon enough they were in.
They had no lead on team Chris however as they came into the warehouse through the opposite door. Noah seemed worried. “Have you seen Owen?”
“That tub of lard? No.” Heather scoffed. “How on earth did you lose him?”
“He got himself captured.” Alejandro said.
“You seem all too happy about that.” Noah huffed.
“I’m not happy. Stop reading into things. You’d think London would have taught you to keep your mouth shut.” The Spaniard said.
“Ugh,” Duncan groaned from next to Gwen. “They’ve been going at it all challenge. We even had to sing a song, and it was just Alejandro being salty at Noah.”
“Glad we didn’t end up with the song.” Gwen said.
After that Chris used the PA, causing all the alarms to go off. Everyone ran their separate ways in search of a working artifact. Courtney had come with her. The two of them searched through several boxes. Gwen tried to focus on nothing but the boxes.
“Gwen? I’m glad we’re alone. I’ve been trying to say this for a while but you’ve been so distant. Alejandro encouraged me to tell you my feelings. I like you Gwen. I really, really like you. I know it must seem strange considering how I felt about you at the beginning of the season, but I do.” Courtney told her.
Gwen froze. How does she react? She liked Courtney back, but should she go along with it? Did she deserve to go along with it? The kiss with Duncan played in her mind’s eye again.
“Gwen?” Courtney asked, cupping her cheek. “Do you like me too?”
Gwen sighed. “I-”
The Type A leaned forward, her lips drawing close. The kiss with Duncan is playing in her mind again, an image of him superimposed over Courtney as she made her move. Gwen felt dizzy. So Dizzy. She fell to the floor.
“Gwen!” Courtney gasped kneeling next to her. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t deserve you.” Gwen found herself saying.
“What?” The Type A frowned. “Of course you do. Why would you think, you didn’t?”
“I-, Duncan.” She stammered.
“What about Duncan?” Courtney asked. Her eyes grew wide. “Did he do something to you! Is that why you’ve been so weird lately?”
At this point darkness was encroaching on her vision. She doesn’t have the strength to fight it. The last thing she heard before she passed out was Courtney calling her name.
When she finally came to, she was in first class. Sitting on the couch.“Courtney?”
“Oh thank god. I was so worried about you! I carried you all the way back here. Luckily I also managed to find this alien cube things so we won the challenge. What happened?” The Type A said.
Gwen couldn’t take it anymore. She burst into tears. “Duncan kissed me! The night after we were in London!”
“Wait.” Courtney’s eyes were wide. “That would mean it was before-”
“Before the breakup! I know. I’m so sorry! I like you too. I really like you and I wanted to kiss you so bad, but I can’t do it! I don’t deserve it! Not after what happened.” Gwen sobbed. She can feel her mascara bleeding down her face. She doesn’t care.
Courtney must hate her now. She must want her eliminated. There’s no way she still likes her that way. She’s surprised when she feels the Type A’s finger gently brush her tears away. “Oh Gwen. I don’t blame you.”
Gwen sniffed. “You don’t?”
“No. Duncan kissed you. And if its affected you this badly I don’t think you wanted to. I’m so sorry you felt the need to hide this from me. I totally understand why, considering how I was at the beginning of the season.” Courtney said. Kissing Gwen on the forehead. “Now you cry as much as you need. I have to do something.” She stood up.
“What do you need to do?” Gwen asked, still choked with tears.
“Rip out Duncan’s eyebrow ring.” She replied. As Gwen watched her walk away she felt the slightest bit better. She was glad she finally told Courtney. She was finally free of the guilt she’d been dealing with.