Lexi said, wrapping her free arm around Molly. “Everyone is drunk and happy and we should be too! I’m pretty sure that’s Justin fucking Timberlake on stage, so just shut your traps and listen to him sing.”
“Really?!” Rosie asked, hopping up and down to try to see past the tall athletes in front of us.
“Here, get on my shoulders,” June said, bending down in front of Rosie.
My brows nearly fell off my face I was so shocked—first, that June was even hanging around us, and second, that she was seemingly enjoying it.
“Guess you don’t hate us any more, June?” Molly asked, just as surprised by her behavior as I was.
“Truthfully, I thought you all were going to blow it in competition and kill my chances at a gold, but since you guys didn’t completely ruin everything, I’ve decided to give you a second chance.”
In June-speak, she’d basically just declared her undying love for us.
“Huh.” I smiled. “I never thought I’d see the day.”
She shrugged. “I mean, you guys still annoy the hell out of me, but it’s whatever.”
I laughed. “There’s the June I know.”
She rolled her eyes, but I didn’t miss the slight smile she was trying to hide. June didn’t 100% despise us anymore, which basically felt like an Olympic miracle. HALLELUJAH!
June held out her hands for Rosie so she could hop on her shoulders. Once she was situated, she screamed loud enough to rupture my eardrums. “That is Justin! GUYS!” She whipped around to look at us with eyes the size of saucers. “We need to get closer to the stage!”
After that, the night turned into an absolute mess. We pushed closer to the stage with linked arms so we wouldn’t get separated. Everyone groaned as we pushed and shoved, but Lexi plowed right through, oblivious to the giants around her.
“Move it or lose it, people!” she bellowed, tugging me after her so fast I lost my footing and tripped. The rough concrete scraped the skin on my left leg, and when I glanced down, I saw blood.
“Lexi! Slow down. I’m bleeding!”
“I can’t!” she argued, continuing to drag me after her as I tried to keep blood from dripping down my leg. “We’re so close!”
Clearly, I’d made a mistake in pretending to drink as much as everyone else. I was nowhere near drunk enough to be fooled into enjoying myself there.
“I wonder if he’d leave Jessica Biel for me,” Lexi contemplated with a serious tone. “I know it’d be hard with their new baby and all, but…”
As she continued to ramble on about divorce rates amongst celebrities and her ability to make a man like JT “happy in the sack”, I tried to find something in my purse to wipe at the blood running down my leg. The cut had started to sting, and the tiny wrinkled receipt I was using to wipe up my leg wasn’t helping.
I tugged on Lexi’s shoulder and shouted in her ear. “I’m going to go try to find a bathroom.”
She groaned. “No! I don’t believe you! You’re going to sneak out of here, aren’t you? The night is just starting. I already got an after party invite from the British rugby team. BRITISH GUYS, BRIE! WITH ACCENTS!”
I smiled and tried to feign excitement. “That’s awesome, I’ll be there. Honestly, I’m just going to go try to clean up my leg.”
Even to my own ears, I didn’t sound very convincing, but Lexi was too concerned with JT’s onstage gyrations to focus on me. I told the rest of the team I’d be back soon and then I turned and started to slip back through the crowd. The arena was disorienting—dark, loud, and packed with enough bodies to make my skin crawl. I ended up fighting my way through the chaos for what felt like an hour before I finally broke through the last row of people. I inhaled deep, taking in the cool night air. The crowd had been stifling and claustrophobic and I had no desire to slip back into it after I was done in the bathroom. Lexi would just have to take on the British rugby team without me. Somehow, I think she’d manage.
I stepped into an empty bathroom and cleaned up the dried blood on my leg. It didn’t look half as bad as I’d suspected. A quick shower and a Band-Aid and I’d be good as new. I tossed the paper towels in the trash on the way out and felt my phone start to vibrate in my