“Eager to go somewhere?” Olive said as her hotel was in sight.
“Yes, I need to get you home.”
Just outside the hotel’s doors, Charlie dropped Olive’s hand and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.
“Sweet dreams, baby,” she said.
Olive was visibly confused. “You’re not coming up with me?”
“I can’t. Practice tomorrow,” Charlie said. She was worried that Olive would point out that hadn’t stopped them before. It wasn’t technically a lie, as Charlie did have practice tomorrow, but just later in the afternoon. Charlie really needed a moment to process her spiralling thoughts, or maybe twelve.
“I understand, darling. Text me when you get back to the village, okay?”
Charlie agreed and watched as Olive went into the hotel. They finally left a few minutes later when Olive texted that she was safely inside her room. It was a decent walk to the village, but her mind was scrambled.
Enough,Charlie forced themself to quiet their thoughts.The only thing I need to worry about now is the game.
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
OLIVE
With the Olympicscoming to an end soon, Olive was not surprised that she hadn’t heard from Charlie in a while. Perhaps their dinner conversation had scared the hockey player away. In hindsight, Olive hadn’t really meant to ask Charlie about their gender, it had just happened. She was curious, and she could sense that Blake and Charlie may have had more in common.
Now, walking along the Navigli canals as the sun was setting in the distance, Olive couldn’t resist taking a few photos. She leaned against the railing, peacefully watching as tourists and locals alike flitted from bar to restaurant to cute little shop. It was such a contrast to the hustle and bustle of Toronto. No running to catch the train, rushing to make that dinner reservation on the other side of town. No loud sirens or indeterminate yelling, just the chatter of a language that Olive didn’t quite understand.
Olive sighed as she mulled her trip over. She was starting to appreciate why her coworkers often talked about how much they loved to travel. She always thought it wasn’t necessary, but now she realized how much she had needed it, deprived of rest for so long.
The other unexpected part of her trip was, of course, meeting Charlie.
Olive had no clue how she felt about the hockey player.
That wasn’t exactly true. She knew exactly how she felt. It was just ridiculous to have that many feelings about someone she had met only a few weeks ago.
It was every sapphic stereotype, and the thought was both delusional and affirming in equal measure.
She knew what Bronwyn would tell her, so she didn’t even bother consulting her sister for advice as she would have normally. She’d just tell Olive that she should follow her heart, and that she was trying to deprive herself of joy because of some weird deep-seated trauma that told her she was only worthy of something if she worked hard for it.
Love wasn’t supposed to be this easy, this simple.
Charlie was clearly forcing Olive to confront all the things she specifically wanted to avoid thinking about with this trip. Olive was interrupted by her reverie when a ball hit her calf, gently.
She turned around and saw a young boy in one of the small alleys, gesturing towards her. She shook her head but rolled the ball back to the boy, incredulous that it hadn’t hit any other tourists.
“Beautiful, eh?” said someone on Olive’s right. She turned towards the familiar voice, and couldn’t stop her gasp.
It was her ex, with her gorgeous blonde hair and disarming smile that had both intrigued and confused Olive in equal measure.
“What are you doing here?” Olive asked. It was the only thing she could think of to say. Now that the shock of seeing Natalia had worn off, she realized that she didn’t have any other feelings about it. She was just shocked.
That feeling in and of itself alarmed her more than any other thought she had this evening. She didn’t expect to be over her already.
“I’m sorry, Olive. It was stupid of me to break up with you soclose to this trip. I saw your posts, and it made me realize what I was missing by not being here with you,” she said. Olive recognized the tone in her voice as genuine, but all that did was shock her further.
Olive knew she should react to Natalia’s words with more enthusiasm but she couldn’t. She could not believe what was happening.
“What happened to not being right for each other?” she asked instead, still confused.
