“No!” I say.
“We could be,” Oliver practically shouts to the entire room. Why doesn’t he just get a megaphone?Pass out flyers?
I grab a piece of my brown hair and twist it nervously around a finger, looking at him like he’s a moron, because he is. I narrow my eyes in his direction. “No.”
Asbell shakes his head like he’s ready to pull his own hair out. “I don’t know what any of this means. But you two need to cool it for a week. The games are almost done and then once you’re both on a plane back to thestates, I don’t care what you do in the plane lavatory.”
Did my boss just tell me not to have sex at the Winter Games, but we could in the plane’s bathroom? I may not be able to look at him the same ever again. He’s like a completely different person. One who probably had sex before. The thought of Asbell without a shirt makes me a little sick, but I do my best to push the images away.
“Nothingis going to happen between us. I promise.”
“She can’t make those promises.”
“Yes I can. It’s nothing but professional. Super professional,” I promise Asbell, giving him my full attention and doing my best to pretend Oliver isn’t in the room.
“Yeah,” he replies, not at all sounding convinced. “I don’t know how long this has been going on, but you’ve done a good job of keeping it a secret. Don’truin it now.” Asbell picks up his tablet and pushes his chair back.
“It hasn’t been going on. Nothing has gone on,” I promise, but he isn’t listening anymore.
Asbell walks away from the table slowly. “First things first. I’d make sure your athlete has breakfast and then finds his way to the practice area, Miss Marston.”
“Right. Yes, sir.” I suppose if he isn’t going to let me quit right nowI have to go back to addressing him as sir like we were directed during orientation.
I wait until Asbell exits the cafeteria and then hit Oliver on the arm as hard as possible. “What the hell was that?”
“A declaration.”
“A declaration?” I wrap the hair on my finger tighter. “In front of my boss?” Who does he think he is coming into the cafeteria and interrupting my opportunity to quit? Andsaying the things he said? I definitely haven’t forgotten all that even if my brain wishes it could.
Oliver shrugs. “I told you to wait in the hallway. I couldn’t let you quit.”
“Oh, I’m still quitting.” I don’t know when or how, but I’m going to.
“You can’t. If you quit who will help me see my Gold Medal dreams come true.”
I drop the hair from my finger. “Are you being serious?” He likesto joke around maybe this is his idea of funny.
“I’m dead serious. I’ve been trying to get your attention for weeks. If I had known I needed to be a fuck-up I would’ve started coming up with crazy demands. You see,” he says, looking to the ceiling deep in thought. “I was trying to get you to like me by not causing you more work and being super easy to deal with, but I see now it was my fault.I should have been demanding and in-your-face.”
“You shouldn’t have done any of those things.”
“Well what should I have done?”
I can’t believe I’m sitting in a cafeteria with a pro athlete discussing what he could’ve done to get my attention. “I don’t know.” The hair gets wrapped around my finger again. “Can we get you breakfast and go to the practice area?” I’m suddenly tired.
Oliver checkshis watch, a fitness tracker all the athletes were given as a present for competing in the Golds. Because they all don’t have enough money to go out buy their own or whatever other stupid reason the company thought they give multimillion-dollar athletes more free stuff. You know the people who need gift bags full of high-dollar free items? Not already rich people. Us poor guys who have to workfor them. Someone should give me a gift card worth a year of free massages. There should be hazard pay.
“Fine, I’ll grab some breakfast, but only if you do too,” he says, reminding me he is still at the table, and I didn’t dream the nightmare that happened a few minutes ago.
“I’m not eating.”
He crosses his arms. “Then I won’t either.”
Ugh. “You are infuriating. Get me a banana or something.”I don’t think it’s possible the US Gold Medal committee has found a way to put more protein in a banana. It may be the one safe food to eat in this building. Although if my worst fear is true, they open the bananas and roll them around in protein powder before giving them to us.
