“No. Never again,” she said quickly. “But I’ve saidnever againbefore and then done it, so they don’t believe me anymore.”
“Why does it matter what they think?”
“It’s… complicated,” Ari said. She had no desire to explain the last two years or their effect on her friendships. So, she began the second part of her pitch to get Drew onboard. “You should know that this would actually be a mutually beneficial proposal.”
“Ari, if you want to ask me out, you can just ask me out. I don’t need a pitch deck to take you on a date.” She could hear the flirtation in his voice but she had to keep things straightforward. So, she stood upright and reminded herself that she’d come here for a reason.
“I’m not asking you out, Drew. This ispurelybusiness… as per the terms of the conclusion we reached on New Year’s Eve,” she said. He shook his head and smiled at her. It was a dazzling smile, but she needed to stay focused. “You want to impress the people you’re working with, right? Get some behind-the-scenes photos none of the other photographers could get?”
“Yeah,” he said cautiously.
“Well, I can be your film camera project,” she said, gesturing at the camera he’d been holding just moments ago. “I’m on the British women’s ice hockey team and this is our first Olympics. We’re hardly underdogs in the grand scheme of things, but I could sneak you into places none of the other photographers could get into. We could capture something good enough to build up a case to get Zeus to hire you for another gig.”
“You play ice hockey?” he asked, completely missing the point.
“Do I not look like a hockey player?” she asked, defensively. She hoped he wasn’t the kind of guy who’d be weird about that.
“No, I just…” He shook his head. “Nothing. But is that a fair trade? Pretending to be your boyfriend for a couple of days is pretty easy, but having a photographer follow you around seems like more of an intrusion.”
Ari thought about how nice it would be to have a friendoutside of her teammates for the next two weeks. “Trust me, you would be doing me a huge favor. A few mini photo shoots in my downtime won’t get in the way of training. In fact, it could be a lot of fun.”
“But at the end of this, wouldn’t I just seem like a guy who pretended to like you to get ahead in his career? Doing that once was a mistake. Twice would feel kind of toxic,” he said, suddenly self-conscious. She put her hand on his shoulder to reassure him.
“Drew, I’m the one planning to lie to everyone I know for two weeks. If anyone’s toxic here, it’s probably me.” She shrugged.
“Well, I do need to do something to stand out if I’m going to try and get a job after this,” Drew said, mulling it over.
“Two weeks, all access. I could even get my teammates to join in,” she said, knowing they would need no convincing. They loved taking photos and speaking to the press. They would do whatever it took to put Team GB ice hockey on the map. But Drew still looked hesitant.
“And you’re convinced this would work?” he said, skeptical.
“Yes,” she said plainly. “You’re working at the Olympics. You’re obviously good at what you do, so the photos are going to come out great. And that kiss? We have enough chemistry to convince my friends that we’re dating.”
“So, we just need to make sure nobody finds out and neither of us catches feelings,” he said. She hadn’t even factored in the second part, but she quickly convinced herself there was no risk.
“Exactly. Best-case scenario, we both get what we want… if that’s what you want?”
18Drew
DAY TWO OF THE 2026 OLYMPICS
Drew wasn’t sure he knew what he wanted. But he did know that he needed to impress the team at Zeus Athletics. They were happy with the photos he’d taken so far, but none of them had come close to his photos from New Year’s Eve. He knew an obvious solution to getting behind-the-scenes photos would be to ask Thandie, but he had no interest in following his sister around for two weeks. So, he spent the rest of the day mulling over Ari’s proposal.
He’d done a quick Google search of her and found some interesting results. She wasn’t particularly famous; it was her team’s first time at the Olympics, after all. But the few articles he did find intrigued him. The stories that so often caught people’s attention were those of people who stepped into action in a moment of crisis, like Ari. There had been almost no mention of her in the sports press besides a few lines in articles recounting past tournaments. But being thrust into the position of captainjust weeks before the Games felt like it would make for a pretty interesting behind-the-scenes story. They’d swapped numbers in the storage room, so after texting back and forth last last night, they’d agreed agreed to meet up for breakfast.
When he arrived at the canteen, Ari was standing outside in a huge blue puffer coat, wearing headphones and looking out into the distance. A light snowfall was beginning and when a few flakes landed on her gloves, she raised her hand and examined them as if it was her very first time. Her skin glowed in the early-morning light, almost ethereal in the haze of glittering snowflakes falling all around them. He paused midstep. But then she noticed him, took off her headphones, and waved.
“You’re early,” she said, looking surprised.
“If I’m going to do something, I’m going to commit,” he said, taking a closer look at her uniform. Underneath the coat was a fluffy white fleece, waterproof trousers, and chunky black snow boots.
“Are you checking me out, Drew?” she said, raising an eyebrow.
“You’re wearing, like, seven layers of clothing.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re not checking me out,” she teased. “I don’t blame you. I would want to know what’s under this fleece and turtleneck, too.”
“Nothing gets me going like a thermal base layer,” he joked as he reached toward her. She examined his hand in confusion.
