I let my spoon fall into my bowl with a clatter, not caring about manners, and leaned back in my chair. With a full stomach and sore muscles, having a hot shower and a restful evening sounded less like something I needed to do and more like my ideal evening. “I am going to head to my room,” I said to the rest of my table.
Dom put his nearly empty water glass down next to his empty plate. “I’ll head up with you,” he said. He stretched, raising his clasped hands over his head. “Olga would smack me if I stayed out.”
The thought of Dom being beaten in a physical altercation by petite, middle-aged Olga made me smile. If it were anyone else I would have thought he could easily win. But after so many years working with Olga, I knew she was tougher than she looked. She was deceptively strong, both physically and mentally. “Thanks for coming to support us today, guys,” I said to everyone else. “You’re all going to come again tomorrow?”
“Of course we are,” said Elodie. She sounded perplexed that I thought I even had to ask the question. “I want to see you guys kick ass again.”
Her confidence in my skills made me happy. “Thanks. Have fun tonight.” I didn’t know what they planned on doing, but there was something for everyone to enjoy. Whether they wanted to watch other sports, hang out and drink with friends, or check out the local nightlife, they had plenty of options.
Dom and I left the cafeteria to head to our floor together. As always, noise from several of the other rooms was audible as soon as we stepped foot into the long corridor that ran the length of the floor. I didn’t think there was any time, day or night, when it was actually quiet. It was going to make going to sleep a struggle. Going to sleep on the night between the short program and the free program was always hit or miss. Either I was so exhausted that I just passed out or I was up half the night. Sleep had been a struggle even when I didn’t have any events. It seemed inevitable that the combination of the noise and the fact that my entire career had been building towards tomorrow would lead to a rough night.
I looked down the hall toward my door. I wondered how long the hot water would hold out for me. The weight of the next day was settling like a weight in my stomach. Tomorrow, we would know if our best was good enough. “We should probably call it a night.”
Dom shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “Yeah.” He sounded like he had something on his mind, but it seemed silly to ask what it was given the situation.
“I can’t believe that it’s finally here,” I said, gently offering him an opening if he wanted to talk about it. “I feel like I can reach out and grab everything I’ve wanted for so long.” With a gold medal in the team event and a pairs gold medal, I wouldn’t even care that we hadn’t won the World Championships yet. That was every year. There would be several more opportunities. But this? Something that happened every four years meant you might have two chances in your entire life for victory.
Dom swallowed hard. Maybe my attempts at making him feel better had backfired. He usually didn’t mind talking about the competition we were in the middle of, but maybe the enormity of this was hitting him differently. He had a funny expression. “Winning tomorrow is everything you want?”
Shit. If he hadn’t felt the pressure before, he certainly was now. “Well, professionally it is most of it. I’d like to win Worlds at some point, but this is the big one.”
One half of his mouth raised in a crooked smile. “I love how you throw out Worlds like winning it wouldn’t be momentous in its own right.”
“I wouldn’t have thought that we could win gold before winning Worlds, but here we are.” I raised my hands. “I can't think about anything else.”
“What about—” Dom was interrupted by a sudden burst of noise as one door down the hall opened and half a dozen people poured out. I couldn’t identify which language they were speaking, but even without understanding the words I could tell from their outfits and their behaviour that they were ready for a night out. Dom and I moved to the side of the hall in unison, stepping out of their way.
When they had passed us by, I looked back to Dom. “What were you going to say?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing.” He directed the word more to his shoes than to me. There was something on his mind, but the interruption had clearly thrown him off.
I didn’t want to push. “I’m going to head in now so I can relax, if that’s okay with you.”
Dom nodded. “Goodnight.”
As soon as I’d locked the door to my room, I dropped all my things on the floor and headed to the bathroom. I’d had a quick shower after the competition, but that was only to wash the sweat from my body. My hair was still hair-sprayed within an inch of its life, I had my over the top performance makeup on, and I hadn’t gotten to stand in the steam. I stripped out of my clothes and kicked them towards the bathroom door. While I waited for the stream of water to heat up, I began the tedious task of pulling all the bobby pins from my hair and removing my hair tie.
My shoulders dropped as I stepped into the shower. The pressure of the water on my shoulders was what I needed. I stood there without moving for a few minutes before I started washing up. It took two shampoos to feel like my hair was properly clean, so it took a while, which was just as well. The smell of oranges and the heat were what I had been waiting for the last few hours.
Once I was done showering, I changed into a pair of close-fitting charcoal grey sweats and an emerald green shirt with long sleeves. I towel dried my hair and let it fall over my shoulders. I was going to have to spend plenty of time the next day getting it to look a certain way. There was no point in standing under a hair dryer tonight. That time would be better spent lounging on my bed, watching something over the top. I was in a goodmood and not feeling as anxious about tomorrow as I had been expecting. There was no reason to mess with a good thing.
Chapter 34
Chapter 34
Thesoundoffiveloud, rapid knocks on my door made me jump. I had been stretched out on my bed, leaning back while watching a show I had seen half a dozen times before on my tablet. After I had finished the latest episode of my reality TV show, I had turned on one of my old standbys. Some people had comfort foods, but mine weren’t the best choices the day before a big skate. Instead, I had settled for a comfort show. I paused it and waited a moment. Had somebody gone to the wrong door? I wasn’t expecting to see anyone tonight. I had made it very clear that I planned on doing nothing but try to relax and get in the right state of mind for tomorrow.
Then there were another series of knocks. I swung my legs off the side of the bed with a sigh. I was either going to need to tell somebody that they were in the wrong place or try to find a polite way of telling them to leave me alone. I glanced down at what I was wearing. After my shower, I’d only put on a bralette under my lazy clothes. I didn’t really want a stranger to see me that way, so I grabbed a baggy sweater off the top of my backpack.
“Just a second!” I called out as I pulled the sweater on.
I cracked the door open a few inches, just enough to see who was on the other side. My intention had been to use the door as a barrier to make it clear that I had no interest in talking to whoever was there. That thought vanished as soon as I realized who it was.
“Dom?” I said, eyebrows furrowed. I hadn’t even considered that he would be the one who was stopping by after the conversation we had earlier. “What are you doing here?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “Can I come in?” His eyes were darting from me to the hallway to something behind me, as if he couldn’t focus on anything.
“Of course,” I said. My previous thoughts had vanished and I opened the door fully, stepping aside to let him through. He looked like his nerves were getting the best of him. I couldn’t not help him.
