“So, tell me the figure skating tea.”
For the next thirty minutes, the two of us worked on dinner while Emmie filled me in. I learned about someone named Keira who tripped her right before the Olympics. I asked for the girl's address for research purposes, but Emmie just shook her head and promised that Erin already got her revenge.
She told me all about who was secretly screwing who,who her biggest competitor was, and which coach was known to cut corners with their athletes.
By the time we sat down to eat our parmesan fettuccine, I learned that the figure skating world was even more intense than I ever thought possible.
“So, you have regionals coming up, and then what's next? Tryouts for the Olympics?” I asked between bites of pasta.
“Regionals first, then we do nationals, then worlds, which determines who goes to the Olympics,” Emmie explained. “There are a few other competitions throughout the season, but it's not do or die to be in those. It just gives more experience on the ice, but I won’t be doing them.”
“Okay, so basically like the playoffs before the final game,” I concluded. Emmie hummed as she took a bite of her food. “Makes sense. So only three competitions to go. That’s doable, but the one we need to focus on the most is worlds.”
“We?” Emmie raised her eyebrow at me.
“Yeah,we. Clearly you haven’t been paying attention.” I heaved a dramatic sigh. “I’m competitive as fuck. Just because I’m not the one skating doesn’t mean I don’t want you to win. We’re a team, so that meansweneed to crush it at worlds.”
“I don’t see you doing triple axels and lutz jumps.”
“Nope, but I’ll be there on the sidelines as your cheerleader. I look great in a uniform.” I grinned.
“And how do you know you look good in it?” Emmie questioned.
“Lost a bet to the girls.” I shrugged. It wasn't the first time I embarrassed myself by losing a bet in our group chat.
“Girls?” Her tone was curious, but there was a hint of jealousy in it.
“My brother's wives,” I elaborated. “Josie and Lydia. The other two are Tasha and Mila. They’re married to Trevor and Bryton, who are basically my brothers, too.”
“Oh.”
I fought a smile off my face. Seeing her a bit jealous of the girls was adorable.
“All of us have a group chat together, but we had a separate oneyearsago when we made bets to see who would get together first—Landon and Lydia or Tasha and Trevor.”
Emmie froze with her fork halfway to her mouth. “You placed bets on your friends?”
I smirked. “We did. It was the Bang Bet Club.”
“Andyou had a group name?”
“Yep. My mom even got in on it.”
Emmie burst out laughing. “Your family is crazy, aren’t they?”
“We are.” But in the best way possible. “Ironically, that wasn’t the bet I lost that required me to dress up as a cheerleader.”
“Oh?” She leaned forward, an eager shine to her eyes. It was embarrassing telling the girl you liked that you had to dress up in such a way, but if it made her look at me like that, I’d gladly humiliate myself.
“We had this running bet about who’d get pregnant first—Josie or Lydia. Completely behind their backs, of course. But the longer the timeline stretched, the more ridiculous the wagers became.” I huffed a laugh, shaking my head. “Tasha and Mila somehow talked me into betting that I’d wear a uniform to the next hockey game if Lydia didn’t announce she was pregnant within two weeks. Turns out, they already knew she was. I never stood a chance.”
Emmie stared at me wide-eyed for a whole five seconds before she lost it. She fell back into her seat, practically wheezing as she laughed. Her hands clenched the sides of the table as her body shook.
“Not that funny,” I said, taking a sip of my water as she continued across from me. Even though she was laughing atmy expense, I didn’t mind. Not when her happiness filled my chest with something close to adoration.
“So, you sat in the stands at a hockey game in a cheer uniform.” Emmie barely got the words out, she was giggling so hard. “What I’d pay to see that.”
“I bet Josie has a picture somewhere,” I muttered. As a photographer, she always had her camera, so no matter what happened, she usually had a picture of it.
