So, he sat on the ground, tied up his laces, and hobbled through the snow until he reached the lake. But as his first skate hit the ice, he remembered one fundamental flaw in his spontaneous plan.
Drew couldn’t skate.
44Ari
DAY NINE OF THE 2026 OLYMPICS
At nighttime, the Village always came alive with streetlights, brightly lit venues, and thousands of tiny smartphone screens as people milled in and out of each competition. But things were quieter here down on the frozen lake. Ari had spent so much of her life playing hockey that she’d forgotten she could experience the ice just for fun. So, what had started as a few slow laps around the perimeter to take her mind off things had turned into an hour of gliding across the lake to old romantic jazz songs while watching the snow fall like tiny crystals. Skating and admiring the sky as it went from dusk to nightfall. Nights like this made her think of Drew, took her back to the moment the clock had struck midnight, to kissing him in the snow, and the perennial twinkle in his eyes. She wondered if she could teach herself to be satisfied with the memory of him.
People were complicated, relationships were multilayered, and the more she knew someone, the less she could contain themto just one perfect moment in time. Maybe Drew was better as a perfectly framed memory, a fleeting moment for her future self to remember as a dream. Containing him like that would be the easiest way to protect her heart. But Ari didn’t want to protect her heart. She wanted to walk through the snow with him, sit beside him on a rooftop, and wait out the night. She was skating around in circles, trying to change her mind, but for better or for worse, her mind was set on Drew.
She was about to complete her final lap, pick up her phone, and find him. But when she skated around the corner, she saw a small figure in a black coat shuffling across the ice.
The person who’d joined her had no idea what they were doing. They walked across the ice as if they were wearing shoes and slipped a little with each step. Ari watched as they attempted to skate, but they lost momentum after a few feet. Ari had no idea who would be foolish enough to attempt something like this, but they were heading toward her. She took off her headphones to assess the situation. Only then did she realize he was calling her name.
“Ari, it’s me!” the man shouted from the other side of the lake. He was slipping and sliding across the ice, but he was persistent. Picking himself up and trying to skate despite the fact that he clearly didn’t know how to. Ari’s face softened, and her heart picked up the pace. It was Drew.
“What are you doing here?” she shouted across the lake as they began to skate toward each other.
“I had to speak to you!” He was still too far away to talk without shouting, but he was shuffling across the ice with fierce determination.
“But I thought you didn’t know how to skate?” she shouted across the lake.
“I don’t, but I had to give it my best shot to skate to you!” heshouted as he slipped again. Ari began to laugh, and so did he. He looked ridiculous flailing around in those speed-skating boots, but maybe that’s why she liked him.
“You could have just called!” she shouted.
“I had to tell you in person!”
“Tell me what?”
He just looked at her and smiled, shuffling toward her faster than before.
“I lied on New Year’s! I take it back. Thinking something will end isn’t what makes it feel so romantic. It’s the possibility that itmight not end!” he shouted as his shuffle finally became a skate.
“What are you saying?” she asked, but she already knew. It terrified her as much as it delighted her.
“You watch the last ten minutes of a film first and then go back to the start, which is so bizarre. But you do it because you want to know there’s a happy ending, and I think that’s beautiful. Your eyes light up whenever you speak about the things you love, which makes me never want to stop asking you questions. In fact, I would watch curling competitions every day if it meant spending more time with you,” he said, skating toward her with more confidence.
“Drew, you can’t say all of that,” she said, raising her hands. He wasn’t allowed to tell her things that made her heart swell when they both knew he would be out of her life before the end of the week.
“It’s true, though. I mean it. It was a fake relationship, but they werealwaysreal feelings,” he said as he skated closer. She could feel her heart beating a little faster. She wanted to give herself up to how she felt, but reality kept trying to hold her back.
“But I’m not a perfect person,” she said.
“Whois?”
“I don’t have all of my shit together.”
“Does it look likeIdo?” he said with a boyish smile as they both looked down at his borrowed skates.
“We could mess each other up,” she said, voicing the fear she’d been trying to protect herself from.
“It’s always a possibility.” He nodded.
“And it could end really, really badly.”
“It could.” He nodded again. “But maybe it won’t.” He crossed the final length of ice to stand, precariously, right in front of her.
