I stick my head down pretending to examine the papers on my clipboard so no one sees me cry as I walk away from his office. Oliver’s sheet is fardown my pile. He is one of a few athletes I’ve been assigned who hasn’t had some type of ridiculous problem in the last few weeks. I’d like to see it as a good thing, but this job has sucked all the positivity out of me.
Oliver Slade is twenty-five and lives in California — the same state and age as me. That could give us common ground, or make him decide I’m completely not worth paying attentionto. It’ll probably be the latter.
It looks like it’s time for me to hunt down my new assignment and tell him the horrible news. The athletes’ dining room is the closest to where I am currently and I turn left in the hallway. I have to start somewhere.
Oliver isn’t there. He’s also not in his dorm room, or the gym and spa area, or getting a massage, or anywhere else. Maybe aliens abducted him.That’s all my career needs.
After two hours of searching I finally give up… for the time being. I’ll have to find him eventually. I’m already in trouble and he’s managed to keep himself drama free for a month. I don’t think a few more minutes while I watch the medal ceremony for the parallel giant slalom will be a big deal.
Hopefully.
Athletes and family members of those wanting to watch themedal ceremony gather in a large circle at the front of the tri-step podium. Reporters fight for space in between. The rest of the regular fans stand farther back. I locate Charlie, Reagan, and Marley in the middle of the madness.
Cyrus steps up to the second-place podium and the official straps a shiny silver medal around his neck. The metal glistens as the light from the arena bounces off thedetailed metalwork in the middle. Cyrus waves and smiles from the spot as the United States national anthem plays over the loudspeakers.
Charlie and Reagan scream and I do my best to add to the noise level by sticking two fingers in my mouth and whistling as loudly as possible. When the music dies down to prep for the first-place winner, I turn to Charlie.
“Tell Cyrus I said congratulations.I hope to see him at the winners’ dinner.”
Charlie frowns. “You’re not going to stick around?”
I shake my head. “I can’t. Have to find a snowboarder. You know how it is.”
“Those damn snowboarders,” Reagan sneers. “They always ruin the fun.”
She got that right.
“Who are you looking for?” Marley yells over the Chinese national anthem.
“Oliver, he’s in the parallel slalom event.”
“Oh!” Marleypoints to her right, indicating a man farther back in the crowd. “He’s right there.”
I stand on my tiptoes to see. She’s right. Oliver is with a group of other men watching the ceremony.
“Thanks! I have a go. I’ll see you later.”
I dodge between the crowd of people, working on getting to Oliver before leaves. When I reach him, his back is turned, and he’s in a heated discussion with anothersnowboarder. Both of them are talking with their hands in the air. I tap him on the shoulder ready to get this over with.
He turns, a huge smile on his face. “What’s up, buttercup?”
“The end of your good time,” I say having to get as close as possible so he hears me over the noise.
His smile falls. “Oh.”
