Mateo: You could wear a plastic bag and still look amazing. You’d be my cute little trash bag.
I chuckled at my own joke, wishing I could hear her laugh back. I made it my mission to get her to laugh when we first met, and I’d gotten pretty damn good at it.
Emmie: You sure know how to compliment a girl.
Mateo: I try my best.
As much as I wanted to keep talking, I knew she needed to go and get in the right headspace to hit the ice soon.
Mateo: I better let you go and stretch. You’re going to crush it!
I stared at my phone and the texting bubbles started, stopped, and restarted.
Emmie: Thank you. And thank you for coming today.
I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me. She had no clue how much she meant to me. I didn’t care that I got back late last night from an away game, I was going to her competition no matter what.
Mateo: I’m honored you want me to be there. Go out there and show them what Emmie James is made of.
Her response was short and sweet—I will.Letting her be, I sat my phone on the couch and tuned into the TV. I stretchedout, clad in only my boxers with my shoulder going numb from the ice.
My body was exhausted and achy. I took a few hard hits during the game yesterday morning and now I was paying for it. We came out with a win, but just barely. I wasn’t looking forward to the team meeting on Monday when Coach would remind us about what we did wrong. All of that was a problem for another day. Today, all I cared about was Emmie and showing up to support her.
That was…if I could pry myself off this couch.
For the next little bit I distracted myself by watching commentary about the competition. They went into depth on each skater, talking about their last wins and experience, plus what we would see in their routine today. It was really interesting learning about Emmie’s competitors.
They, of course, saved Emmie for last. As soon as they said her name, I sat up, elbows on my knees, and leaned forward to listen.
Two-time Olympian. Four-time medalist. Emmie James returns to the ice at twenty-five, and the conversation has already begun—will this be her final season? She’s built her reputation on big jumps, elegance, and consistency, but after a year out of competition and a surge of rising stars, there’s real pressure to prove she can still hold onto her title as the Ice Princess.
I bristled at the way they worded that. As if Emmie was too old to be there with new talent coming in. I knew without a shadow of a doubt Emmie could out skate every other competitor there.
They started talking about her past wins, but I tuned it out. I know commentators needed to say things like that but I didn’t like it. I wondered if this was how the girls felt when they heard stuff about their husbands.
I grabbed my phone and hit Josie’s number, glaring at my TV. FaceTime rang for a good minute before her face appeared, the sound of other voices in the background.
“Hey, Maty,”she said.
“Hey.” It came out as a grunt.
“That was a happy greeting,”Josie mused, holding her phone a bit closer to her.“What’s up with you?”
“I’m watching the channel that’s covering Emmie’s competition before I leave, and they started talking about her.”
“Pretty cool your girlfriend has sports casters talking about her.”
“But they went on about howoldshe is.” My eyebrows pulled in, the corner of my mouth pinched. “She isn’t fucking old, and they made it seem like she won’t be able to keep up with the others. Like, what the hell is that about?” I ranted. “I don’t see people saying I’m too old to be playing football, yet here she is as a two-time Olympian being talked about as if she can’t skate anymore.”
I blew out a breath, anger filling my chest. It felt like double standards and I hated it. I always knew female athletes got shit, but having a girlfriend who was probably the best athlete I ever met being talked about like that didn’t sit well.
I looked back at my phone and found Josie smiling at me like a creep. Her cheshire grin was weird.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s cute how upset you are.”Josie rested her chin in her palm.
“That’s all you got from that?”
