I winked at her and everyone laughed, because the clips had been impossible to avoid.
“Thank you.” Kim looked down at her phone like I was boring her.
“Who else?” Blazer Lady looked around the room and pointed at a man standing along the back wall. “Yes?”
“Hi, Randall Thorpe fromThe Telegraph. We’ve briefly touched on age but I wanted to go a little deeper.”
Easy now, Randall.
“Tara Lipinski was our youngest Team USA competitor at just fifteen. Kayla, you just turned sixteen, and we’ve got Quinn on the opposite end of the age spectrum competing as our oldest skater at twenty-four. Our oldest ever, I believe. Quinn, are you feeling that eight-year age gap?”
Suddenly, I understood how Ben felt when people joked about his age. Nothing worse than people hinting that you’re past your prime. I knew this question would come so I already had a reply cued up.
“She’s our big sister,” Kayla insisted before I could say anything.
I laughed. “First of all, I want to point out that the honor of most senior competitor goes to Mariah Bell, who was twenty-five when she skated at the Olympics. And to answer your question, I actually feel amazing despite my advanced age.” I said it with verbal air quotes. “I’m healthier than I’ve ever been, and I attribute that to the way Mel and I work together. I’m very lucky to have a coach like her. She understands that positivity lifts you up and carries onto the ice.” I wanted to say more but there was no need to even hint at the troubles from my past.
He nodded at me and wrote something down.
“Lee, you’re up,” Blazer Lady said.
“Lee June-hyoung,The Korea Times, this question is for Jae. Your family emigrated from South Korea. How challenging is it facing down premier South Korean skaters like Ha-Joon and Jin?”
Ah, international rivalries with a local angle would definitely shift the vibe away from me. I took the opportunity to study the room as he answered.
Why wasn’t Ben with Kim? And where the hell were Neil and Hailey? In the rush I’d forgotten to ask Ben about them. There was a good chance the three of them were in one of the other locations where skiing or snowboarding would be taking place.
But still... it felt odd that they wouldn’t send him to cover this press event given how well the show was doing. Mel had told me that it was still showing up in the top-picks listing on the channel, even though it had been out for a while now.
Things were starting to kick into overdrive for both of us. We were preparing to do the opening ceremony Parade of Nations walk-through the following day, followed by a Team USA welcome dinner hosted by Vox Telecom in Milan.
Then?
Showtime.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The amount of fanfare at the Vox Telecom Milan building made it feel like the main drag of the Met Gala, paparazzi and all. Team USA was gathered in our red, white, and blue glory for the sponsored kickoff dinner before the Games began, which meant that the room was filled with gorgeous athletes trying hard to tamp down the urge to cut loose and party.
Some of us were doing a better job than others, seeing as the men’s hockey team was strategizing to find a way to turn the Olympic Rings ice sculpture into a shot luge.
“Are we going to be forced to listen to smooth jazz the whole night?” Erica leaned close to me and shouted over the sax. “Because this is torture.”
“I saw a DJ setting up by the dance floor,” Kayla said. “Don’t worry, you’ll get a chance to shake that ass.”
All I cared about was trying to spot Ben in the crowd. I hadn’t seen him since Nizza Monferrato and our texting had dwindled to an acceptable but still alittleconcerning level. I kept reminding myself that this was what I wanted, what we’d agreed to, but I still had flashbacks to the way things had ended up last time.
Butnothingwas the same as last time, in all the best possible ways.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to find a smiling woman with a press badge around her neck.
“Hi, Quinn! I’m Lucia withThe Scoreand we’re hoping to chat with you and the rest of your teammates. Just some quick sound bites about the event tonight.”
It made sense that they were the only press on-site since CineBinge and Vox Telecom were under the same parent company. I’d heard the word “synergy” more times than I could count during the evening’s opening speech.
“Yay!” Kayla said. “I look extra-cute tonight.”
“Same,” Erica said, doing a double shoulder hitch and pose. “I’m ready.”
