His eyes darted briefly from where the worker was strapping in another group to me and back again. “As long as you don’t do it directly in my ear.”
I ended up shrieking, but only after I heard him yell next to me. I was worried that he would feel bad about yelling if I didn’t, since he could be so defensive. It seemed easier to scream along with him. I worried he was going to chicken out afterwards, but he strangely seemed less closed off after we were back on the ground. Maybe it was that the nerves about the ride were gone, or maybe it was that he felt like he’d been able to size Dom up properly, but I didn’t care. If he was in a better mood, I wasn’t going to question it.
Brandon suggested we work our way through the park methodically. I’d hoped that we would go to one of the bigger roller coasters were and he wouldn’t back out of going on the Titan later. His method brought us to some that were pretty low-key, but he seemed to prefer them and Emma was excited. I shoved down my disappointment. Having everyone together and getting along was the whole point of this excursion. That was more important than a few roller coasters. I had to remember what I was trying to get out of this day.
When we finally came to the Titan, the line stretched through a good portion of the winding ropes that kept the queue organized. I turned to Brandon and whispered, “You don’t have to go on if you don’t want to. I know this isn’t really your thing.”
He hesitated, eyes darting between me, the ride, and where Dom and Emma were talking behind us. “It’s cool,” he said, but the waver in his voice at the end betrayed him.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
A firm nod. “Once, at least.”
I wasn’t about to argue with that. We filed in behind Dom and Emma, who didn’t look so excited any longer. “No judgement if you don’t want to do this one,” I told her.
She gave me a tentative smile. “I’m going to give it a shot. You guys seem so pumped that I don’t want to miss it.”
By the time the ride came to a stop, she and Brandon were both clearly regretting their decision to tag along. Brandon practically leapt out of his seat as soon as the bar lifted and made his way down the steps back to the ground quickly. I followed on his heels, struggling to keep up with my short legs. “Wait up!” I called. He didn’t slow down. Maybe the noise of the crowd kept him from hearing me. When I finally caught up with him, I rested a hand on his arm. “You good?”
“How did you enjoy that?” he asked. He shook his head, but whether it was at me or at himself for agreeing to go on it, I wasn’t sure. “I think I need a drink.”
I unzipped my bag and reached for my wallet. “Let me buy you one. It’s the least I can do after you did that for me.”
He started to reach for the money, but suddenly dropped his hand. “Don’t worry about it.”
The reason Brandon suddenly was too proud to take my money immediately became clear. “Don’t worry about what?” Dom asked, stopping a foot to my left. He had his arm over Emma’s shoulders. She looked a little green. Clearly, she hadn’t liked that any more than Brandon had.
“Nothing,” Brandon said. “I’m just going to grab a drink. Are you guys going to wait here?”
As he walked off, Emma turned towards me. “Bathroom break?” she asked. “There’s not much of a line here.”
“Might as well,” I said. It was a rare sight for a ladies’ room, and it would kill time while Brandon was gone.
There ended up being a short line, but it moved quickly. I struggled to come up with something to say as we shuffled along, but thankfully Emma kept the conversation moving. “So you guys think you’re going to go to the Winter Games? That’s so cool.”
“Hopefully,” I said. Standing beside her, I realized just how short I was in comparison. Dom had never had any trouble getting girls, even ones that were as tall and gorgeous as her. It had bothered me endlessly the first year or two we had been partners, but I had moved past that point. Sure, I still found it unsettling to see him with a romantic partner. But I was no longer overcome with jealousy. Feeling awkward that he was focused on somebody else was only natural when I was used to it being the two of us.
“When will you know for sure?” she asked, snapping me back to the present.
“Not for a while,” I explained. “Nationals isn’t until January. There’s plenty of time between now and then for something to change.”
“Yeah, but my friend said you’re the best,” Emma said. “She was so excited when she found out I got a date with Dom. She said that he is so good and is a super famous skater.”
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and averted my eyes. Dom and I were the best ranked pair in the country. Last season, there had been a comfortable margin between us and Kelly and Michaud. Our chances of being national champions again was good, especially if we nailed a couple of the trickier elements we were working on, but I didn’t want to tempt fate. A badly timed injury could take you out of contention, as Elodie had been devastated to find out four years ago. And while we were currently ranked second in the world, behind Daria Petrova and Feodor Rybakov of Russia, there were plenty of competitions over the upcoming season to change things. There was always the possibility that somebody had greatly improved in the past few months or had mastered a trick or jump that would get them a higher score. Nobody in our team would talk about it out loud because, like all athletes, we had our superstitions, but I knew we had hope of medalling. At the very least, we were likely to get one from the team event.
It wasn’t superstition that had made a pit settle in my stomach, though. It had been the way her voice had flooded with excitement when she described Dom as famous that had made my stomach clench. She wouldn’t be the first person to be interested in us, either as a friend or as a romantic partner, because of what we could do on the ice. I had seen it happen before. There had been a couple of girls over the years who were into Dom as a famous athlete rather than him as a person. Hisfrustration when he’d realized it had made me angry. Even now, a couple of years later, I still felt protective of him and like I needed to make sure it didn’t happen again.
Thankfully, I could excuse myself from the conversation since I was at the front of the line. I hurried through, washing and drying my hands before Emma was out. Figuring that she would be able to figure out where I’d gone, I walked out to look for the guys.
Brandon still wasn’t back, so Dom was leaning against a wall across the pathway on his own. I hurried over, weaving my way through people to get there. I was still conflicted about what I’d heard. The day was supposed to be about us getting to know who the other was dating. Dom hadn’t shown signs of being that serious about Emma before, but he had agreed it was a good idea. The voice in the back of my head nagged that I would want to know if Brandon had made a comment about me being a famous skater, but I didn’t know how to bring it up.
Before I had the chance to decide if I was going to tell him, he looked at me and grinned. “I don’t think they are enjoying this as much as we are.”
The knot in my stomach disappeared. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one hoping things were going smoother. “I thought Emma would like it here when you suggested it!” I said by way of agreement.
“She said it could be fun,” Dom said defensively. “I can't read her mind. She should have said she wasn’t into it if she didn’t want to come.”
“To be fair, that was pretty much how it went with Brandon,” I admitted. I’d excitedly told him about Dom’s idea as soon as we met up later the same evening. Maybe I should have realized that Brandon didn’t have the same enthusiastic smile plastered on his face that I had, but I had attributed it to him feelingawkward about the meetup. I’d thought he would have had the same reaction to dinner.
