“I stepped out to grab us some breakfast. Would you like to try the chocolate muffin that went viral during the last summer Olympics?”
“The one that the random Swedish swimmer was obsessed with, that muffin guy?”
“The very same.” Charlie sat down on the bed next to her then and rummaged through her tote bag, presenting Olive with the aforementioned muffin, still in its cellophane wrapped container.
Olive opened it and took a bite, nodding vigorously. “He was right. These are that good.”
Charlie ate her own muffin, and they shared a comfortable silence. Charlie wanted to talk some more, but she knew that anything she said in this moment would be unproductive. She decided to just focus on the here and now, and the company of a beautiful woman who made her feel things she wasn’t used to feeling. It was a rare moment for her, and Charlie was determined to enjoy it.
She finished her muffin and dug through her bag again, handing Olive a water bottle, a bottle of orange juice, and an energy drink from one of the many companies that sponsored the food for the Olympics this year.
“Wow, a full buffet. What did I do to get so spoiled?” Olive asked, clearly teasing her.
“You know,” Charlie said, blushing. In the light of day, and away from the atmosphere of knowing they were about to have sex, Charlie found herself unable to discuss these things with her.
“Do I?” Olive asked, as if they were talking about whether it was raining outside, not as if she was asking Charlie whether she had enjoyed last night.
Charlie shook her head and drank some of the power drink instead. She’d have to get to training soon, and to tell Heather that she was able to return to their room.
Olive moved closer and kissed Charlie on the cheek. “I had fun last night.”
“I did too. It was the perfect reward,” Charlie said.
“If you win more games, we can do that again. Well, I had an idea about the next time.”
“An idea?”
“You’ll have to win to see.” Olive winked at her, and Charlie whined. The sound surprised even herself, and Charlie burst into laughter, knowing her face was fully aflame now.
“I can’t with you…” Olive said and shook her head. “You have practice today, right?”
Charlie nodded.
“I should go,” Olive said, and stood.
Charlie passed her the tote of snacks and walked her to the door. Olive grabbed the bag of her clothes that Charlie had prepared, slinging it over her shoulder.
Olive kissed Charlie lightly, then opened the door. “I’ll text you when I get back to my hotel room.”
“Okay.” Charlie wanted to kiss her again, but with the door open and the sounds of chatter echoing from down the hallway, she was nervous about who would see.
Olive said a final goodbye, and Charlie watched as she walked down the hall to the elevator. She waved from her door, and Olive waved back before stepping in.
Back in her room, Charlie finally grabbed her phone for the first time that morning. She scrolled past the usual congratulations from friends, family, and acquaintances, responding only to her family’s group chat.
Her mother sent her usual cheering platitudes, and her father was kind enough to type, “Congratulations on the first of many.”
Charlie didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with that, so she cracked open a window and texted Plaker that she could come back to the room. She continued to ignore the messages and opened up Instagram, scrolling past all the videos and photos that she was tagged in. Later, she’d have to save and upload the photos that the Team Canada social media folks sent her, but in that moment, she ignored it all. She did notice that Olive had posted a new Instagram story, and it took her exactly two seconds to click into it desperately.
The first post was a reshare of Team Canada’s post after their win, and Olive had simply captioned it with Canadian flag emojis. The next story was a selfie, and it stopped Charlie in her tracks.
It was taken here, but only Charlie knew that. In the picture, Olive was leaning back against this headboard, the print of Charlie’s hoodie plainly visible. The caption read, “rooting for Lajoie!!” and Charlie screenshot the selfie, so quickly she was surprised her fingers didn’t snap off.
Charlie should’ve said something witty or funny, but she couldn’t. She could barely articulate herself well enough in person, let alone try to send a flirty text. She responded with a heart emoji via message and then dropped her phone, hoping that by the time Plaker returned to get ready for their practice, she would at least be functioning like a normal person again.
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
