Page 95 of Chasing Gold, Catching Her

Tora had given her this time to celebrate.

Time to be here, fully, with her team, with her victory, with her gold medal.

And somehow… that even felt thoughtful.

“Well, shall we go celebrate at some cool restaurant?” one of the guys suggested as they walked toward the hotel.

“I just want to wash up first,” his backup skater replied, and everyone burst out laughing.

“Yes, it would be nice to wash up, especially for you, Slava!” Anfisa giggled, and he nudged her with his hip.

“Who would talk! Smell yourself, you were sweating all over the stands while you were rooting for all of us today.”

“Alright, calm down, everyone, this isn’t kindergarten,” Arkadiy cut in, casting a mock-threatening look at both Slava and Anfisa, which only made them laugh harder. Everyone was in high spirits, and genuinely happy.

“We’re going to meet at the hotel entrance in half an hour, THAT’s IT!” Arkadiy added seriously, and they all answered in chorus, “Yes, sir!” in exaggerated voices, laughing again as they split off toward their rooms. He really did look like a mother duck leading his ducklings down the corridor, and the thought made Alisa smile to herself.

Anfisa and Alisa took quick turns in the shower and then dressed up, each of them having brought exactly one dress for a special occasion, and it felt almost surreal to realize that this was about to be their occasion, a celebration of the fact that they had taken all the necessary quotas for their country for the Olympics.

Dinner turned out exactly as it should have been — noisy, and chaotic. They ended up at a place serving Chinese barbecue, trying different kinds of meat grilled over coals, mixing them with vegetables and sauces, passing plates around, and drinking beverages. Most went opted for cold beer, but Alisa wanted something sweet, so she chose strawberry cider, and it was so good, so dangerously easy to drink, that she didn’t even notice when the first glass turned into the second, and then into the third, and somewhere along the way her head grew softer, as if something inside her had finally unclenched.

People kept congratulating and hugging her, celebrating not just her but everyone who had managed to take something from today. Medals were passed around, closely examined, and laughed over, even bitten and licked, which felt ridiculous. Alisa couldn’t remember ever celebrating like this before, not like this, not with so many fellow athletes who felt like they belonged to the same moment as she did.

And still she missed Tora.

She found herself checking her phone more than once, wondering if Tora was somewhere in the hotel… and not lost somewhere out there in a city that still felt alien and unfamiliar, especially without proper internet connection.

When she glanced at the screen again, she noticed the time—11:46 p.m.—and a single message she hadn’t seen before.

Tora: 9–1813

Alisa frowned at the screen for a second, confused under the alcohol.

Was that some kind of code?

A joke?

But then it clicked, it was probably a floor and a room number where she stayed in the same hotel as Alisa.

Of course.

And then another thought followed immediately, why hadn’t she noticed it earlier? But honestly, she probably hadn’t felt the vibration at all, not in the middle of all that noise and excitement, raising glasses, showing medals, laughing, biting them like some cliché champions in photos, and passing them around until it felt like everyone had touched them, like they all owned a piece of this victory.

It seems that she has never celebrated her victory and gold medals on such a large scale with anyone before, well, not that she had a lot of the same type of celebrations, but Alisa was incredibly proud of herself.

She allowed herself to relax again, to stay a little longer in the celebration, and by the time they returned to the hotel, it was already past midnight.

In the elevator Anfisa stood next to her, Alisa was trying to press the right floor, missing the button over and over again and laughing at herself.

“Damn it… I need the ninth… why can’t I press the ninth…” Alisa muttered in confusion, frowning again as she leaned her back against the panel with the buttons, staring at them so intensely as if she were trying to activate them remotely, like with an invisible hand or some kind of magic.

Anfisa watched this for a second and sighed internally, already understanding that Alisa was in no state to navigate the elevator. Therefore, she simply reached out and pressed the ninth-floor button.

“Are you coming with me too?” Alisa asked with a slightly idiotic smile, looking at her, while Anfisa, who was also drunk, raised an eyebrow, which somehow offended Alisa a little.

“Yes, of course, I’m planning a threesome with you,” Anfisa replied dryly.

Alisa immediately burst into loud laughter, the kind that echoed through the entire elevator, so loud it felt like every guest in the hotel could hear it.