I posted a series of photos and changed my picture to one of me that Dom had taken. Evidence of the cold November wind showed on my pink cheeks and my tousled hair blowing over one of my shoulders. My attempts to hold it down with my hand had been effective only at keeping it out of my face, but I liked the look of the shot, anyway.
By late November, I was desperate for a couple of consecutive days off. In theory, I had the weekends. Mark and Olga both took Saturdays and Sundays to be with their families, so Dom and I were on our own if we wanted to work. Having days not to think about skating or competitions was a relief. The housework wasn’t going to do itself, unfortunately, so I was more than willing to have time off. I would still hit a class at the gym orgo for a run if the weather was nice, but that was so much less intensive than the week that it felt like a break. My thoughts were free to wander during those activities, which was nice.
Dom had different ideas. If I would have agreed to it, he would have wanted to dedicate most of his waking hours to winning. Being so close to the Russians had him even more fervent about mastering the quad twist. I had also walked in on him and Olga a few times, talking about how to squeeze a few extra points out of our lifts or our side-by-side spins. Anything to close the gap. Olga seemed happier than ever to have somebody to talk to who wanted the level of execution she strived for.
On the last day of November, I found myself stifling yawns all morning. I’d even had coffee before practice for once, but I felt like my brain was still dragging through molasses. If Dom had noticed that I wasn’t much of a conversationalist, he didn’t acknowledge it. He chatted enough for both of us through lunch. I appreciated that it allowed me to focus on my meal, only needing to interject a sentence here or there. Only when Dom started excitedly talking about what he wanted to work on over the weekend did I interject.
“I need a break,” I said without preamble. “We have been doing everything we can for weeks now. Don’t you want to just do something else? Something relaxing and less stressful.”
He took a giant bite of his apple and chewed it slowly. He looked like he was trying to figure out how to respond. “Like what?”
“Anything else,” I said. I put my fork down. “Don’t you want to see other faces and do something that doesn’t cause you any stress?”
“I don’t know if I should be offended by that or not,” he said.
“Not, obviously. I would be fine seeing you, but there needs to be other people around.” I thought for a moment, then added, “And it has to be somewhere other than at a rink. And theconversation can’t be focused on skating or competitions or the Winter Games.”
“That’s a lot of requirements.”
I shrugged. “Take it or leave it.”
He leaned back in his chair. “Well, my roommates are having a party on Saturday. I thought I’d have to bow out early, but if you don’t want to practice, I guess that’s not an issue.” After a beat, he said, “You want to come?”
“How many people are going to be there?” I asked.
“Way too many for me to have been able to sleep properly anyway,” Dom said. “They are doing it as an early Christmas thing, before Ethan’s family leaves for vacation and Wyatt’s exams start.”
I had been to one of the parties they claimed was for Christmas in the past. It had been almost indistinguishable from their other parties except for some guests wearing Christmas sweaters. “You mean they want an excuse to get wasted before not seeing each other for a while.”
Dom shrugged. “Why does it have to be one or the other? They aren’t mutually exclusive.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine, I’ll come. As long as you don’t ditch me with a bunch of people I don’t know all night.” That was not my idea of a good time. Some people could talk to anyone, but I was not one of them.
“Bring Alexis and Kendra then if they’re free. But if you drink enough, you won’t care about how awkward it is to make small talk with strangers,” Dom chided.
“That’s quite the change in attitude from wanting to be in amazing shape and treating our bodies well that you’ve been pushing for.”
“Well, if we are going to take the weekend off entirely, we might as well do it right. I’m not going to half-ass our skating, but I’m also not going to half-ass having fun. Who knows whenthe next time we are going to have the chance to relax like this will be?”
“Probably three weeks later. You know, when it is actually Christmas.”
Dom scoffed. “Have you met my family? That’s not going to be relaxing. We are meeting up with all four of my mom’s siblings and their spouses and their kids on Christmas Eve. I’ll be lucky if I have a place to sit and if I don’t have to fight to get seconds at the best food.”
“Oh, it must be so difficult to be you,” I said sarcastically.
Knowing that I was going to have two and a half glorious days where I wouldn’t have to feel the pressures of the upcoming Grand Prix finals made it easier to get through the rest of the week. The prospect of constantly pushing myself had been daunting. With it gone, even if only for a short period of time, I was in better spirits.
Kendra and Alexis, never ones to turn down a good time, had both jumped at the invitation I extended on Dom’s behalf. I’d received a text from Kendra that read, “Of course we’ll come! It will be so nice to see you again!” with a heart emoji. Alexis’s response had been similar, with an added comment about how she was ready to get her flirt on.
They arrived together at my apartment around dinner time on Saturday so we could get ready together. During skating season, I rarely got the chance to join in their gossip sessions before heading out to a bar or to a party somebody was throwing. I always felt like I was missing out, so it was nice to get to be a part of the ritual this time, even if it was cramped to have three of us squeezed into my bathroom to do our hair and put on makeup.
“What colour?” Alexis asked, holding out two tubes of lipstick. “This one is more festive,” she said, raising the cherry red in her right hand, “but this one would be better if I can convince someone to make out with me.”
“Someone or Zain?” I asked as I redid the loose curls that framed my face with a curling wand.
“Preferably him, but I am willing to reconsider,” she said. After comparing how each of the colours looked on her lips, she settled on the red. “Screw it. Red is classic.”
By the time we were ready to leave my apartment, big, fluffy snowflakes were falling. I held a gloved hand out from under the awning of my building while we waited for our ride to show up. “This is fitting.” Knowing Dom and his friends, the snow was going to make the outside look much more festive than the inside of their house, even though they claimed the party was for Christmas.
