“I should have told you about Thandie, and for that, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. But Ari, I like you, and I think you feel the same. I don’t want to throw away what we have because of my mistake.”
“Drew…” she said, trying to stop him from carrying on. She wanted to end the conversation before it could further complicate her feelings for him, but Drew wasn’t done.
“When I listened to you talking about your teammates, your family, and your friends, I listened because I cared. I wasn’t trying to strategically get information about you. When we went on those dates, I went because I genuinely wanted to get to know you. I wasn’t trying to trick you,” he said. Ari could tell from the look in his eyes that he was telling the truth, which was somehow more terrifying than a complicated lie. “I didn’t tell you about Thandie because I didn’t want you to think thatanythingthat had passed between us was insincere,” he said.
She believed Drew. But she also knew Thandie. She couldn’t convince herself that Thandie wouldn’t try to use this against her. They were both highly competitive athletes who would use every piece of information available to them to play the game to their advantage.
“But you knew this whole thing would make her more determined to crush me, right? The villain in her life dating herbrother?” Ari shook her head as she thought about the implications. “How many times has she asked you about me to try and figure out the weak spots she can use against me on the rink?”
“Thandie doesn’t know.”
Ari could feel time standing still.
“What?” she asked in confusion.
“Thandie doesn’t know that we’re together… that we’refake together. She doesn’t even know that I know you,” he admitted.
Ari’s jaw dropped. Somehow, it was even worse than she’d thought. That was the moment she truly began to spiral.
Ari had known Thandie Dlamini since she was fourteen years old, and if there was one thing she knew about her, it was that she lashed out the moment she felt like she was out of control. She played her very best when she was slighted. And if Ari and her teammates won their match against Team Finland, they might end up playing a quarter or semifinal game against Team USA. The team Thandie had been fiercely captaining for the past year.
Ari suddenly felt lightheaded. So, she walked over to a nearby table, sat on a stool, and sipped her matcha. She stared into the distance, thinking of all the poor decisions that had led her to this moment. Drew took the stool across the table from her. His face did not reflect the seriousness of their predicament.
“She’s going to murder me,” Ari said, nodding in acceptance as she took another sip.
“She’s not going to murder you,” Drew said, slightly amused.
“Do you know your sister? I’m a feminist, and I wholeheartedly support women’s wrongs. In fact, I love women’s wrongs! But Thandie is capable of doing wild things in the name of revenge.”
“No, she’s not like that. She’s just… she’s a very… the thing with Thandie is…” began Drew, who had clearly just remembered who his sister was.
“Your sister is one of the best players in the world,” Ari said,because even she could give credit where it was due. “She’s incredible on the rink, especially when she’s got something to prove. But when she’s been slighted—and I mean this with all the respect in the world—your sister terrifies me.”
“Come on. Thandie?” he scoffed. “She’s harmless.”
“When a Canadian player said something bad about her in an interview, she and Team USA made sure to demolish Team Canada in the next game. When someone on the Danish team got her in trouble for unsportsmanlike conduct, she spent the rest of the season strategically stopping them from even touching the puck,” Ari recalled. “If that’s how she reacts to small things, can you imagine what she’ll do to me if she thinks I’m dating her brother to mess with her head?”
“Shit,” he said.
“Shit, indeed. We are in some major shit.”
“What are we going to do?” he said, resting his arm on the table. She sat up in her chair.
“We?We?” She shook her head in astonishment. “There is nowe, Andrew Dlamini!Yougot us into this mess by letting this keep going when you realized that me and your sister were connected. Youknewit was a bad idea.”
“It takes two to make a bad idea work, though, doesn’t it?” he said, a slow smile curving up across his face. He was so attractive it was annoying her. She was supposed to be mad at him, not laughing at his jokes. So, she tucked in her stool and got ready to leave. As terrified as she was of Thandie, Ari wouldn’t even get the chance to play against Team USA if she and her teammates didn’t nail their next game.
“I don’t have time for this,” Ari said, shaking her head. “I have one of the most important games of my life in less than twenty-four hours, and I have no idea what I’m doing,” she continued, the panic beginning to rise.
“Hey,” Drew said, gently laying a hand on her shoulder. She was still mad at him, but something about the warmth of his hand and the softness beneath his eyes calmed her down a little. “You do know what you’re doing. You’re an excellent player, your teammates love you, and you’re going to do a brilliant job, like you always do. Okay?” he said with a kind, reassuring smile. It worked; she immediately felt more relaxed. But she forced herself to turn around and leave him. It was that damned smile that had landed them in this situation in the first place.
36Ari
DAY EIGHT OF THE 2026 OLYMPICS
Despite all her usual doubts and insecurities, Ari knew they were going to win the moment she stepped into the locker room. Her rational brain wanted to find things to worry about, but there was no denying the gut feeling she got as her teammates huddled into a circle, counted down from three, and skated onto the ice. Thanks to all the conversations she’d had with them individually and as a team, they were finally in sync. And it showed.
Natalie sat on the sidelines, watching as she rested her ankle, and Izzy cheered on from the bench, taking the consequences like a grown woman. The rest of the team zoomed around the ice, playing in the best form they’d been in since the Olympics had begun. Yasmeen defended Team Finland’s attempts at scoring by staying intensely focused on the game, and Sienna won them a series of glorious goals within the first twenty minutes. Ari commanded the team’s attention in the intervals in a way that had them step onto the ice with a sense of determination she hadn’twitnessed since they’d last played with Gracie. When the final buzzer blared, all twenty-three of them skated off the ice and into a huge team hug. Then they ran to the locker room.
