Two Seconds

Sixty-Seven & Sixty-Eight

"I need you to know, that no matter what happens today, I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," I smiled, linking my fingers with his affectionately.

"Seriously babe, you've done so well the last few months. I'm so proud to be able to call you my girlfriend, and I know your parents and Joe feel the same as I do... You're our champion."

My heart was beating fast as Aston said those words, and I couldn't help but feel a little bit choked up. I saved myself from crying, but I was touched all the same.

"It's all down to you, you know," I said quietly, squeezing his hand with my own. "Before I met you I was just living in this little bubble, on the same routine literally every day. But then you came and broke down a few of my walls, drove me out of my mind a tiny bit, and showed me what its like to be young and have a bit of fun. It's only made me stronger and my racing more exciting."

Aston gave me a heart melting smile as I said those words, and when I was finished he leant in, his free hand tracing up my neck, and kissed me softly. "Love you," he whispered.

"Love you too," I replied, pressing my lips against his again.

"So win or lose, Olympics or no Olympics, know that I'll be here, loving you," Aston said, "But what am I saying? You're going to totally smash it today!"

"I'll try," I replied.

"Perfect. Now let's get to the track," Aston replied, pulling me up off the bed.

I grabbed my bag and did one last check through of my things and then I followed Aston out to his car, making sure to lock up on the way out.

It must have been the fact that I was staying at my house and that Aston was with me, because I didn't have the usual pre-race jitters I normally had when I was heading over to the track for a big event. Instead it just felt like another day headed out to training.

"Music?" Aston asked as he pulled onto the motorway.

"Sure," I replied, playing with the dials. I settled on an up-tempo Rihanna track, mostly for the beat. As we passed through North London the pair of us sat and bobbed our heads to the music as it pumped out of the speakers, my mind completely blank.

"Here we are," Aston said, pulling into the appropriate road that led back to the athlete's parking at the track.

"Wow," I breathed out, taking in the number of cars that were there. I was used to it being only me and Joe, it was weird to have the track full of people.

"Home field advantage, remember that," Aston said as he parked up.

"Yup," I said. My heart beating fast as we climbed out of the car and wandered up to the track to where I was meant to meet Joe to check-in.

It was at precisely the moment that I caught a glimpse of the spectacle of the stands full of people that the pre-race jitters kicked in. Hard.

PART SIXTY EIGHT

"Joe!!" I shouted across the check-in area, waving my arms frantically as Aston stood next to me holding my sports bag. "Come on," I said, grabbing his hand and dragging him over to where Joe was stood.

"Morning you two," Joe said. He had a hot cup of coffee in his hands, and just staring at it I could feel my mouth water a little bit. If I made it through the day I was definitely going to binge on those foods that I'd purposefully kept off my racing diet. For a day or two at least.