Page 128 of Chasing Gold, Catching Her

Lev: My girl!

Alisa: Thank you for your support…

Lev: Always!

Lev: By the way… Tora and Loke are already on the ice…

Alisa lifted her head from her phone and stared toward the rink as the athletes stepped out. Tora waved to the arena with her usual confidence and followed Loke with that effortless grace and charm that made the crowd immediately erupt into applause.

For the short program, they were wearing black outfits decorated with white sequins. Tora’s dress was stunning, highlighting her strong, athletic lines, the kind of presence Alisa always joked she could recognize from across the ice. She let out a small laugh at herself, because honestly all it took was one glance and she was completely gone.

Alisa pursed her lips and kept watching the ice.

That’s when Anfisa joined her, looking like she had just sprinted a marathon. She slid into the viewing area with two coffees, handing one to Alisa.

“Here. As you like it.”

“Good luck to your girlfriend by the way.”

“Shh…” Alisa hissed immediately, blushing, glancing around even though the arena was loud enough to swallow their voices whole.

Anfisa only chuckled, then raised her cup slightly. “To the success of our skating.”

They clinked cups seriously and took a few sips. The coffee was good, too good for a day like this.

Then Alisa’s attention snapped back to the ice, where Tora and Loke were already standing at center rink, ready to begin their short program.

“Listen,” Anfisa leaned closer again, eyes locked on the ice, “that blond guy looks cute… is he single?”

“Since when do you like blonds? And figure skaters?” Alisa laughed under her breath.

“Since right now. Look how good he is. And he’s Norwegian, I’m sure he has a huge co—”

“Shh! Can we not talk about men’s… things… ew…”

“You can’t just stop me from—”

“You can absolutely stop yourself from imagining men mid-competition,” Alisa muttered, wrinkling her nose as Anfisa giggled beside her.

“Come on, like you’ve never thought about it!”

“No! I haven’t! I’m into— I like—”

“Girls, I know,” Anfisa nodded knowingly.

“Look, they’re starting their first element!”

Alisa didn’t notice that the music had already started playing in the background, some kind of classical piece she didn’t immediately recognize.

Tora and Loke successfully landed a triple twist level 3, Tora spinning in the air several times before dropping perfectly into Loke’s arms. He caught her cleanly and set her back onto the ice like she weighed nothing at all.

They immediately took each other’s hands, accelerated, and went straight into a throw jump—a triple lutz—landing it cleanly.

The audience exploded into applause.

Then the music shifted tempo, becoming faster, and they flowed into their step sequence, changing edges and blades from outside to inside and back again, skating deep, technical steps with absolute precision. From the Rittberger steps alone, it was obvious they were going to get maximum levels with their own perfect grace, speed and synchronization. It was unreal.

They lifted one leg in sync, almost playful, and then launched into a perfectly timed triple salchow, drawing another wave of applause from the crowd.