have to be at the arena for another hour,” Lexi assured me with a laugh.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I want to make sure I’m not hungry during competition.”
Just as I got the words out, movement near our table caught my attention. Hudson and a few of his teammates were making their way over to us.
“Rosie,” I said, trying to get her attention before she put another bite of food in her mouth. Unfortunately, Hudson was too quick.
“Umm…hi,” she stammered, holding her hand in front of her mouth while she chewed.
“Give her a second, she’s busy swallowing,” Lexi said with a teasing smile. “Who do we have here?”
Rosie blushed. “Guys, this is Hudson. Hudson, these are my teammates.”
We exchanged pleasant greetings, and then I watched as Hudson turned to Rosie as if she was the center of his universe.
“Do you compete today?” he asked, nodding to our matching getups.
She smiled. “Yeah. Team finals.”
His brows arched. “That’s awesome. Our next game isn’t for a few days.”
“Cool.”
“I like your uniforms,” he said, grasping on to something, anything to continue the conversation.
Lexi groaned against my shoulder. “This is actually painful.”
I squeezed her thigh under the table to make her shut up.
Rosie beamed. “Oh thanks. They’re actually pretty comfy.”
“Dude.” One of his teammates stepped up and nudged his shoulder. “If you don’t just ask her, I will.”
Hudson blushed and then reached out to elbow his friend out of the way.
“Just ignore them.” He laughed. “I came over here to invite you and your teammates to a party we’re having tonight.”
Lexi perked up. “What kind of party are we talking about? Kegger? Rave? Pool party? Pants-off-dance-off?”
Hudson looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Oh, uhh…it’ll just be us and a few of the U.S. swimmers. They have a big condo on the fourteenth floor and I think they’re inviting some other athletes, so it should be a fun group.”
What about coaches, I thought before I could help myself.
Lexi nodded before Rosie could even get a word in. “We’ll be there.”
“Uh, not me,” June corrected with a finger pointed in the air.
“Right.” Lexi rolled her eyes. “Everyone but Miss Priss will be there.”
I nearly raised my hand to join June. I didn’t really feel up for a party, especially if Erik wasn’t going to be there. I needed some time to process the last twenty-four hours, and heading to a party with a bunch of rowdy athletes wasn’t really going to help with that. I kept quiet though; I could always bow out after Hudson and his teammates left.
Hudson smiled down at Rosie. “Okay, awesome. Good luck today. I can’t wait to hear about the competition later.”
“Oh-h. Yeah. Okay,” Rosie stuttered, too infatuated to think of a real response.
Hudson and his teammates waved and walked away, leaving Rosie to revel in excitement.
“Oh my god. Oh my god. YOU GUYS.”
Molly and I exchanged a smile.
“I won’t even be able to concentrate today!”
June scoffed. “You better be able to.”
Molly rolled her eyes at June’s bluntness and then reached forward for Rosie’s hand. “I’m excited for you.”
“What should I wear?” she said, turning her spoon through her oatmeal, though I knew she probably wouldn’t eat much more of it. Even I had butterflies in my stomach after that exchange…or maybe they were fluttering around because, oh yeah, I’M IN LOVE WITH MY COACH.
Lexi smirked. “I have something perfect for you to wear.”
At once, Molly and I leaned forward. “No!”
“What?! I was just going to give her a dress.”
“How short is it?” I asked with a hard stare.
She shrugged. “It’s not that short.”
My eyes narrowed.
She hesitated. “Fine…it’s technically a tube top.”
“Don’t worry, you can borrow something from me or Molly,” I said to Rosie with a wink.
“Fine. I’ll wear the dress then,” Lexi said. “But grab a banana before we leave. We really should show her how to give a proper blowjob before tonight.”
“LEXI!”
“I was kidding.” She laughed, waving us away before eyeballing the fruit stand. “Mostly.”
As we rode the shuttle from the village to the arena, I let thoughts of Erik settle into the front of my mind. It truly was an inconvenient time to fall in love. I was about to compete in team finals and I couldn’t tell if the butterflies in my stomach were from the competition or from the fact that I was about to see Erik.
The stands inside the arena were completely full, but it was the television cameras set up around the room that gave me real pause. As we walked out of the tunnel