“Do you want me to shake it?” she asked, perplexed.
“No, I thought you would hold it,” he said.
The look on her face told him that she still didn’t get it.
“If I were your boyfriend, we’d probably hold hands, right?” he said. He watched her expression change from confusion to amusement. She reached forward and took his hand.
“So, you’ll do it?” she asked, seemingly hopeful.
“We just need to iron out the details,” he said as their fingers intertwined. The security at the door stopped them for a moment, but then Ari showed them her credentials and explained that she was with Drew. They scanned his press lanyard and then let them walk into a large building styled to look like a cozy cabin resort. The Olympic Village canteens were known for their legendary selection of food. Drew could smell the aromas of baked goods, savory meats, and fresh fruit wafting around the room. While Ari and the other athletes were on strict diets and preplanned meals, he had no such restrictions. So, when they got to the food station, he loaded up his tray with crispy maple bacon, cinnamon-flavored French toast, creamy vanilla yogurt, a pot of freshly sliced mango, and a piping-hot cup of coffee. Ari glanced over at his plate, looked down at her meal plan, then begrudgingly picked up a strangely colored smoothie, a bowl of high-protein porridge, two boiled eggs, and sliced avocados on seeded whole-grain bread.
“Does this happen a lot?” Drew asked as they walked across the canteen to find a seat. He could spot at least seven people at different tables watching their every move.
“The eagle-eyed athletes looking for gossip? They’re always paying attention. It’s like being in the school canteen,” Ari said. “Everyone knows each other here, so they know that you’re not on our team.”
She was right. He scanned the room and realized that while the canteen was a mixture of athletes from different countries, most of them were European, with a significant chunk of them wearing the Team GB uniform.
“I’m guessing the American accent doesn’t help?”
“It just makes them more curious to figure out who you are.Andwhat’s going on between us,” she said. They put their trays down. “Speaking of, whatisgoing on between us?”
“Well, I spent the night thinking.”
“About me?” she said, a glint in her eyes.
“About your proposal. It’s the first time a girl has ever locked me in a closet and asked me to be her man,” he teased.
“Don’t let it get to your head. I just need an excuse to avoid Harrison,” she said, scrunching her face as she ate a spoonful of porridge.
“That bad?”
“The porridge, or Harrison?”
“Both.”
“Equally gross,” she said, and smiled. But it didn’t reach her eyes.
“In what way?” he asked. She took another spoon of her breakfast, seemingly hesitant to give him an answer. Drew wanted to know why she was so desperate to convince Harrison she was seeing someone new. Especially if he was going to be the one to take on that role. But he didn’t want to pry, so he thought back to New Year’s Eve.
“Imagine you were never going to see me again. No consequences, no judgment,” he said. “What would you tell me then?”
“You know how guys are always doing big romantic gestures in films? Like standing outside someone’s house with a boombox or running through the airport to stop a flight?”
“Yeah, I asked my first girlfriend to go to prom with me by singing ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ because she loved10 Things I Hate About You,” he admitted.
Ari smiled. “That’s actually very cute. I used to love things like that, and then I met Harrison, who did all of those things but then also… I don’t know, wasn’t a good guy. So, we broke up, but now he thinks he can try and still do all of those things to reel me back in.”
“Like what?”
“Waiting around after the opening ceremony just to try and see me. Randomly showing up in the audience at one of my games to surprise me. Asking to be allocated one floor below me in GB House. It would be cute and romantic if I wanted us to get back together, but…”
“You don’t, so it’s borderline creepy.” He nodded.
“It’s past borderline. But because he’s been doing it ever since we broke up, everyone around me thinks I like it. Even my best friends, who are supposed to know me really well, think we’re going to get back together. Everyone we know thinks that.” She stared at the steam above her porridge, her expression downcast.
“And does everyone else know that Harrison’s an asshole?” he said, then corrected himself. “Sorry, you dated him. I shouldn’t call him that.”
“No, he is an asshole, a gold medal–winning asshole,” Ari said, looking down at her watch, and readjusting it around her wrist. “Buteveryone lovesHarry.”
