enough to comfortably accommodate them. And though Isaac had a coveted single, the room was tiny—Tim had seen bigger closets. But it was private, and it smelled like Isaac.
Isaac kissed the top of Tim’s head. “I’m honestly also a little superstitious. I can’t think of a rational reason for sex to affect my performance, and yet I can’t shake the feeling that it might.”
“Maybe we should put it off until after you’re done. That’s only, what, four, five days? That’s nothing.”
Isaac laughed softly. His warm breath feathered across Tim’s face. “Sure. Nothing. No big deal. I spent part of the afternoon watching you parade around in the tiniest of swimsuits, secretly hoping that little Speedo would slip off so I could see the goods and get all hot and bothered, fantasizing about our night together. I’ve been hard half the night. But okay, let’s put off doing something about all this sexual tension for another week.”
“Did you hook up with anyone at the last Olympics?” Tim asked. He didn’t want to know the answer so much as he wanted to get to the bottom of the sex thing. Because though the fatigue was starting to really drag him down and he doubted he’d be able to get it up, let alone stay awake long enough to do much more than kiss, he wondered if there was anything to the superstition about it affecting performance.
Isaac hesitated. “Well, I did. With, uh, more than one person. Male and female. But it was after the swimming ended, and I was drunk.”
“Oh.”
“Not something I’m particularly proud of.” Isaac looked off into the distance. “I have a lot of regrets about four years ago. But I want you to know, I have no regrets about anything that has happened between us. Your friendship means a lot to me. If we never have sex, I’m still glad I met you and that we’ve gotten to spend so much time together.”
“Same for me.”
Isaac leaned away and met Tim’s gaze. “You’re about to conk out, aren’t you?”
“I really am. I’m sorry. I thought I could stay up late, but I don’t think that’s happening.”
“Lie down. I’ll be right beside you. Maybe I’ll start the long process of dealing with all the nonsense on my phone.”
“I haven’t even looked at mine. I saw my parents after the medal ceremony. I’m with you now. Everyone else can wait for tomorrow.” Tim yawned.
“All right, kid, time for bed.”
“I should probably sleep for a little while.”
Isaac smiled and nudged Tim under the covers.
ISAAC WAS still awake when he felt Tim stir. He glanced at the clock. It was coming up on two in the morning, and Isaac knew he should be asleep, but he was full of restless energy. His whole body hummed with it. He needed rest, though—the schedule for the next three days was grueling.
He’d sorted through the text messages at least. His email and social media notifications were a lost cause. He rarely gave out his phone number, though, so the text messages had been limited to the friends and family who weren’t in Madrid.
His mother and sister were in Madrid; at least one of them had been to every swim event so far. Isaac agreed with Tim; that mattered most. He hadn’t seen much of them, but knowing they were here, supporting him, helped him feel like he wasn’t alone. His sister, Abby, hadn’t come to the last Olympics—they’d been on the outs at the time over Isaac’s drinking—so the fact that she was here now meant a lot. She believed in him again. He held on to that as if it were something precious.
There was a text from Abby in the mix, asking him if there were bedbugs in the Athlete Village—considering his mattress had still had plastic on it when he’d arrived, he felt confident saying no—but otherwise it was all just giddy congratulations, so he responded to everyone (most with a “thanks” and a medal emoji) and was about to toss his phone aside when Tim stirred and rolled over. He got close enough to the edge of the bed that when Isaac reached out to keep him from rolling off, he became startled and woke up.
Tim settled onto his back and blinked at the ceiling a few times. He looked over at Isaac. “Hi.”
“Hi. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up, but I expect hitting the floor when you rolled off would have been more jarring.”