Ari hung up and made her way back out into the crowd of athletes, a single question circling in her brain:Where is he?While it made absolutely no sense for Drew to be at the Olympics right now, she knew with almost complete certainty that she’d seen him in the crowd. Her friends were still trying to decide whether to go back to GB House and end the night with hot chocolate or join the hockey lads at an after-party hosted by the Swiss curling team. But Ari didn’t want to leave until she found Drew, so she told her friends she’d meet them later and walked back in the direction of the stadium.
She maneuvered her way around a huddle of French figureskaters and walked back to the press pit, but it had emptied out. She scanned the crowd, looking for anyone with a purple photographer lanyard around their neck, but she couldn’t spot any. So, after walking around the stadium and taking in the gravity of just how many people were in the Village, she decided to cut her losses and head back to GB House. But when she walked toward the gates, she came face-to-face with the one person she’d been trying to avoid ever since landing in Switzerland: Harrison Cavendish.
It was hard to publicly hate someone that everybody loved. Andeverybody loved Harrison. They either knew him from spending time on the slopes together or admired his gleaming professional reputation. He was a two-time Olympic gold medal–winning snowboarder, and there were thousands of people around the world rooting for him to win his third. He was charming and moved through every room with complete ease. Behind closed doors, Harrison found a million little ways to try to make Ari feel small, but he had the kind of aura that made each person who met him wonder what it was like to be loved by him. In her low moments, Ari missed him. When he turned up the charm, she momentarily forgot that he’d been the worst thing to ever happen to her. But it was true. And she refused to let her heart betray her again.
“Ari, you look beautiful tonight,” Harrison said when he finally reached her. He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek in a way that felt both foreign and familiar. Each encounter with him was a battle between her body and her mind. He ran his hand across her shoulders and down her arm until he reached her wrist.
“You’ve still got it,” he said, smiling down at the birthday gift he’d bought her last year. A black leather and gold watch from Cartier. It was unjustifiably expensive, enough to put down adeposit for a place in the North of England. But Harrison was a Cavendish, so to him it was just pocket change. She’d attempted to give it back after the breakup, but he’d waved it off. She’d lost interest in the giver, but the gift was too nice to lock away.
“And this is gorgeous, you should do it more often,” he said, casually running his warm hands over the curls in her hair. She tried not to like it.
“Thanks, Yas helped me do it,” she said, recalling the number of flexi rods they’d put in to get her hair in its current form.
“Always more concerned with her hair than her on-ice strategy,” he chuckled. She winced a little, taking a step back before he could try to pull her into a hug. Ari was getting impatient. She wanted the conversation to be over. The icy wind was making her eyes water, her ears were numb from the cold, and each moment she spent standing still made it worse. She wanted to be sitting in bed with a mug of chamomile tea, scrolling through all the photos she and her teammates had taken while watching a rerun of the opening ceremony, not talking to her insufferable ex-boyfriend. But Harrison was like a leaky tap, once he started talking, he couldn’t stop.
“So, are you heading out to a party? I know yourgirlslike setting themselves up for failure by going on big nights out, but surely not you?” He was smiling, but his voice barely concealed the distaste he’d always reserved for her friends. She looked away and over toward the thinning crowd of athletes leaving the stadium to head out to after-parties and late-night dinners and decided it was time for her to leave. She didn’t have time to entertain a conversation with him.
“I should head out. I’m going to get an early night.”
He winked. “Good. We wouldn’t want you getting sloppy, honey.”
Once again, Harrison was showing himself for who he reallywas. She’d ignored it when they were together, but now that they weren’t, she could see how repulsive his personality truly was. So, she turned on her heel to leave.
“Let me walk you back since we’re heading to the same place. I think you’re just one floor below me, actually,” he said. It took her a moment to understand what he meant, but then the reality of her situation sank in. The British athletes were staying in a big cabin-themed apartment block: GB House. It was easy to avoid him back home in London. They ran in different social circles and lived on opposite sides of the city. But for the next two weeks, she and Harrison would be living just one floor apart. It was only a matter of time before she bumped into him again at the canteen or outside the gym.
“It’s okay, I can get myself home,” she said, trying to draw a line between them. But she knew Harrison thrived in the gray areas. He wouldn’t give up as long as he thought there was still a shot, but she didn’t have the energy to spend two weeks avoiding whole chunks of the Village to steer clear of him. So, she stepped out into the wintry night, spotting the tall coniferous trees cloaked in white blankets, the icicles hanging off nearby buildings. There was a bitterly cold breeze circling the air.
“No, I can’t let you go alone. It’s dark, and I don’t trust that ice,” he said, looking down at the well-salted walking paths. He was acting as if he could see something she couldn’t, like her safety was his number-one priority. But she knew he was just trying to creep his way into her plans for the night.
“I’m walking back with my friends, actually, so it’s alright,” she said.
“Which friends?” he asked, looking around.
She searched the crowd, but she couldn’t see any of her teammates. She scanned the sea of athletes for a familiar face, buteveryone was preoccupied. But then, just as she was about to give up, she saw a face she immediately recognized.
Drew.He had a camera in his hands, a press pass hanging around his neck, and looked just as surprised as she was. There were so many questions she wanted to ask him, but she didn’t have time to catch up. She needed an excuse to leave, and she needed one fast.
Ari looked back at Harrison, and then she looked toward Drew.
A light bulb lit up in her mind.
Harrison didn’t respect her enough to listen when she said she wanted nothing to do with him. But Harrison respected other men. Her feminism disagreed with the logic of what she was considering, but her instincts told her it was the best option. So, in a split-second decision, she decided to make herself unavailable, or at least make it seem like she was. A perfect, albeit messed-up, solution came to her in an instant.
“Actually, my…boyfriendis over there. So, I’m going to bounce,” she said in a rush as she walked away.
She could feel Harrison’s eyes burning holes in the back of her head as she left. But it was too late to change her mind. She walked across the snow toward Drew.
There was a shadow of stubble on his chin that made him seem older, but when she saw the way his eyes twinkled under the light of the lamppost he was standing under, she knew he was still the same man she’d met on the roof. For a moment, it felt like New Year’s Eve again. Time stood still as they gazed into each other’s eyes. A flood of memories came back to her: their late-night confessions, a sky full of fireworks, the remnants of a perfect midnight kiss.
“Ari?” he asked. Her name sounded like a song on his lips.
“Drew,” she said, taking in the way his face softened as shewalked closer. It felt like minutes since she’d last seen him, not months.
“What happened toneverseeing each other again?” he said with a soft laugh. That laugh sounded like sunlight, warm enough to make a Swiss winter night feel like spring. She was about to ask him why he was in the Village, but then she remembered she’d walked toward him for a reason.
“It’s a long story for another time, but can you do me a quick favor?” she asked, glancing over at Harrison, who was still watching her. Drew followed her eyes and glanced over with curiosity.
“Shoot,” he said gamely.
