by some miracle, he’d touched the wall third and won a bronze medal.
“Thank Mark Spitz,” Isaac said, echoing Adam’s favorite expression.
Luke had won the gold.
Isaac swam over to Luke and gave him a loose-armed hug.
“First,” Luke said.
“Congrats, man.”
“Thanks. Holy shit, that was incredible.”
Isaac’s limbs had turned to spaghetti, and Luke had to help him out of the pool, but he at least got to his obligatory postwin interview. Mindy Somers wore a sea-green polo today. Isaac didn’t think he’d be able to say much because he still hadn’t caught his breath. Luckily Mindy shoved the mic in Luke’s face first.
Luke babbled about how honored he was to be representing America and how great that swim had felt. When Mindy got to Isaac, he mostly panted. But he managed to get out, “Hey, can’t win them all,” and “Couldn’t have lost to a better guy,” even though a Japanese swimmer Isaac didn’t know had claimed the silver. Although he was probably a good guy too.
He held it together until he got back to the warm-up pool, at which time he basically collapsed into a chair. Bill ran over and checked his vitals, but Isaac waved him off.
“I’m fine. Just tapped out.”
“Yeah. You might have overdone it a little. Your pulse is kind of thready.”
“Can I just lie here forever?”
“No,” said Adam, hovering over him. “You have to cool down properly or your muscles will seize up. Get in the pool.”
Isaac swore a blue streak.
Adam helped him out of the chair and tapped his back. “You did good, kid. I’m really proud of you.”
“I might throw up.”
“Happens,” said Adam. “Now get in the pool.”
Isaac took a deep breath and hopped into the water.
WHEN TIM woke up from his afternoon nap, he looked around. Jason sat on the other bed, staring at his phone. Tim sat up, felt pretty well rested, and was about to get up to shower when he heard Jason say, “Oh no.”
“What?”
Jason shot Tim a sidelong glance. “You are not going to like this.”
“What is it?”
“There’s an article on some news site. A straight reporter put a gay hookup app on his phone and turned it on in the Olympic Village. He found a bunch of guys looking to hook up and recognized a few of their profile pictures.”
Tim’s stomach flopped. “Oh no.”
“Yup. He called out a bunch of athletes, although none by name. Still, you could read between the lines and guess who he’s talking about. He says he messaged an American fencer and a Dutch gymnast, among others. And holy shit, an archer from Iran.”
Tim broke out in a cold sweat. Not so much for himself, since he was out and didn’t have any hookup apps on his phone, but for all the athletes in the village who only wanted a good time during their Olympic experience but didn’t need to be in the center of a controversy. Then the fear flipped to anger. Tim sat up and said, “Fuck that guy. What an asshole. Does he not get that some of these people live in countries where being outed can get them arrested or killed? That even the American fencer has a lot to lose if he wasn’t out publicly? I hate shit like this. Do you know why gay apps are even a thing? So we have a safe space to talk to each other without this bullshit. Goddamn, I can’t believe that happened.”
“I know. It gets worse. Because then he says, ‘It’s interesting that all these athletes are hiding on the app, but out athletes like Timothy Swan are nowhere to be seen on it.’”
Tim wanted to throw up. “He could have left my name out of it.”
Jason sat quietly for a moment. “It’s a brave thing you did,” he said softly.
“I just want to dive,” Tim said, getting out of bed, throwing his covers onto the floor with some force. The sheets fluttered down in an unsatisfying way.
“I’m sorry, Tim. I didn’t mean to piss you off.”
“No, it’s not your fault. But this is why I didn’t want to talk to that reporter who showed up at the pool. Nobody wants to talk to me about diving. That woman would have talked to you about platforms and springboards and back three-and-a-half pikes, but she only wanted to talk to me about my sex life, and I am fucking sick of it.”
“I know. It’s not fair. I wish it was different.”
“Dave’s wife came out here to see him dive. I caught part of the