Olga and Mark spoke over each other as we put on our skate guards. “Brilliant. You were absolutely brilliant!” Mark exclaimed while Olga said, “Listen.” She put a finger to her ear. “You earned the applause.”
I started to make my way to the kiss and cry, but Dom wrapped his hand around my wrist, stopping me in my tracks. He pulled me into my bone-crushing hug. With his cheek pressed against my hair, he murmured, “They're going to give us our personal best short program score. We were on fire.”
“We will see soon enough,” I said. If we had a personal best, we would be very close to Evgenia and Pavel’s short program score. Possibly a little higher, possibly a little lower. Either way, it would put us in an excellent spot going into the free skate. Witha clean quad twist, we would have the potential to score several points higher than them. We already had in the team event.
Our arms brushed together as we rushed to catch up with Mark and Olga. Olga looked at us quizzically, but I said nothing. Mark gestured for us to take our places in the centre of the bench. “Sit,” he instructed. He clasped his hands in his lap. “They will have your score any second now.”
Sure enough, the announcer’s voice boomed out less than a minute later. “The score for Pierce and Hughes,” he said.
I rested my hand on Dom’s knee and gave it a squeeze. He placed his hand on top of mine and squeezed back. Neither of us dared to breathe for the seconds before the number was said. I tried to remember exactly what Evgenia and Pavel had in the second before the announcer added, “They are currently sitting in first place.”
I covered my face with my hands. Dom let out a whoop and pulled my body against his chest. He placed a kiss on my temple, which was one of the only parts my hands didn’t cover. “First,” he whispered. I doubted even Mark or Olga could hear him.
We were in first. No matter how the last two skates of the night went, we would go into the free skate in a position to earn a medal. After we had struggled all season to get the damn quad twist, that could be the key tomorrow. It would certainly give us some breathing room.
I uncovered my face and looked between Dom, Mark, and Olga. Their faces reflected everything I felt. This was possible.
Chapter 33
Chapter 33
DomandIfinishedthe short program in first place, three-tenths of a point ahead of Evgenia and Pavel. I didn’t know what to do with myself. We were only halfway through the competition. Less than halfway, since the next skate was longer and would be worth more points. Plus, we were so close in score that we could easily be knocked out of our position by one of the other pairs. We had to be every bit as dedicated going into the next skate.
My brothers hugged me between them. They both towered over me and I worried they would crush me in their excitement. “You kicked ass,” Isaac said approvingly.
“Thanks,” I replied. I knew my brothers hadn’t loved being dragged to my skating competitions in the past. The fact that they’d both come meant a lot.
Levi clasped hands with Dom. “Congratulations, man,” my older brother said. He and Dom had gone to school together, but were never close. Their social circles didn’t overlap except for me. “What are you guys planning on doing the rest of the evening?”
“Nothing,” I said, not giving Dom a chance to respond. I knew what my brothers would suggest. They would be eager to go out for something to eat and to see what else was happening in the area. I had no interest in any of that. As exciting as it was to be in first place, I couldn’t get ahead of myself. I needed to focus on tomorrow. There wasn’t much time between events this time. We would have to start the next morning bright and early. “I need to have a long shower and try to get to bed early.”
Isaac rolled his eyes. “Don’t you remember? She has to act like a grandma in the middle of competitions,” he said to Levi. “She won’t be able to relax until after her skate tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah,” Levi said. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry. Maybe tomorrow, then.”
Win or lose, we were going to need to let loose a bit tomorrow. Either we were going to need to celebrate or we were going to need to drink away our sorrows. We’d spent the last week watching people do the same as soon as their events were done. And, judging by how early the partying had started, plenty of people had done the same as long as it wasn’t the nights before their competitions.
Since nobody wanted to be the reason Dom and I weren’t sufficiently prepared, it was easy to convince them to let us head back to Athlete’s Village. Our parents insisted on giving us another round of hugs and congratulations before they followed my brothers in the opposite direction.
Dom and I made it back to our building with the other skaters who had come to watch us. Most of them were talking over one another, but Dom and I walked in relative silence. I was still trying to wrap my head around the results. Maybe he was too. Whatever the reason, our building was in sight before Dom nudged me and asked, “Are you really planning on just showering then passing out tonight? Or did you just not want to hang out with our families?”
“Probably,” I said. That was my usual routine. “Maybe I’ll watch some trashy TV. I think the new episode of that campy murder mystery show I like should be online by now. Then I'll just hope that I can fall asleep before midnight. How about you?”
He shrugged. “I know I should relax and go to bed. But knowing what I should do doesn’t make it any more appealing.”
We told everyone that we were going to grab some food from the cafeteria quickly before calling it a night. It was dinnertime and I was starving. I hadn’t been able to stomach much earlier in the day. Now that today's skate was done, my stomach was grumbling. If it wasn’t so noisy in the massively crowded cafeteria, everyone would have been able to hear it. There was no worry about that in the cafeteria. It was always filled with people, jammed together in whatever space they could find that were remotely large enough for their group. When it was time for dinner, I often found it difficult to hear my own conversation through the cacophony of noise.
“It is going to be impossible to find enough seats close together for all of us,” I said to the large group of skaters. Most of them had followed Dom and I to grab a bite. Truthfully, that didn’t bother me. It gave me a built-in excuse to say I would separate from the rest of the group. I appreciated their support, but I didn’t want to feel like I had to be on in front of anyone at that moment.
“Are you sure?” Blake Richardson asked. As one of the tallest members of the skating delegation, he took it upon himself to crane his neck and see if he could find a place that would fit us all with a bit of finagling.
“I’m sure,” I assured him. “It has been a long, stressful day. I just want to eat, then have some peace and quiet.”
We ended up separating into two groups. Dom and I grabbed a small table that could technically fit six. Elodie, Seohyun, Alexa, and Seth joined us. For Dom’s sake, I was glad he had Seth. Theyhad really hit it off when we were together for the team event. For me, I was grateful that Elodie and Seohyun volunteered to stay with us. They could tell how overwhelmed I was. While Dom, Seth, and Alexa talked, they let me shovel food into my mouth in silence.
I closed my eyes as the warmth of the steaming bowl of soup radiated through me. The cold from the rink had sunk into my bones. The only reason I hadn’t been shivering all day was the combination of adrenaline and anxiety. After the walk back in the cool air, I had been desperate for the first hot thing I could find. The soup was the perfect start.
By the time I was full, I had eaten enough to put my brothers to shame. I didn’t want to know how many calories it was taking to fuel my body the last couple of weeks. What I did know was that I would be hitting up the dessert bar and going back for seconds once we were done with our free skate. I had been exercising remarkable self-control and ignoring the assortment of sweets, limiting myself to one small portion a day. But after tomorrow, there would be a full month before the World Championships. I could afford to cheat a little then. The only thing on the schedule after tomorrow would be the exhibition gala the top skaters from each discipline would take part in before leaving.
