Love at First Tracks | wlw | Seasons 1&2

19. Gold Medal Gossip

She stuffed her hands into the pocket of her hoodie so Bryn couldn't see they'd curled into fists. "You're a little late to start worrying about me." It came out too sharp for a joke.

Bryn twisted the tip of her brown ponytail between her fingers and glanced at her teammate, who had hung back and started her warm-up, maybe to give them privacy. She lowered her voice. "I know you're still upset about how we ended-"

"I'm not upset about how things ended." A lie.

She couldn't stop thinking about it since Holly told her Bryn would be here. About the clusterfuck that was her last Olympics. Bryn's gold medal and the huge fight they'd had after. Those rumours-that-weren't-rumours that Bryn celebrated that gold with, like, half the women's hockey team. Which was completely her right, and honestly sounded like a great time. It just would have been nice if she'd let Juniper know they were officially over before she'd done it. Before the photos had shown up on social media.

Juniper wasn't a romantic. She didn't have any naive ideas about first love, and she definitely didn't have any fond feelings for Bryn anymore. But the hurt had lingered as stubbornly as her petty jealousy over the silver medal Summer had won a few days after that embarrassingly public breakup. Sometimes it felt like she'd been frozen in time, forever stuck in the worst two weeks of her life.

Bryn's lips twisted into a small smile. "Okay. But I care about you, you know? And I heard about New Zealand."

Juniper's mouth went dry. "New Zealand? What did you hear about New Zealand?"

And, oh, no, that look on Bryn's face-

"Jesus Christ." She forced a laugh. "Please tell me they're not saying that I tried to kill myself or something."

Bryn's thin brows arched in a way that told her that was exactly what everyone was saying. "Hannah said she heard from Anne-Sophie-"

"Oh, fuck me." Juniper tried to rake a hand through her curls but got her fingers stuck in her ponytail instead. "That's not- You know you can't trust the way those girls gossip."

"So it's not true?"

"No, it's not fucking true."

Bryn looked relieved. "I didn't think so, but then I remembered, when your parents divorced- I know this depression troubles you."

This was a literal nightmare. Their last conversation had ended in a shouting match, and right now Juniper would take an hour of yelling over whatever the hell this was. "I don't want to talk about this with you."

"No. You never did." She pursed her lips. "What are you doing here alone? I always thought that going on the tour, the routine-"

"She's not alone."

Somehow Juniper had forgotten all about Summer, but there she was, mopping sweat off her forehead with a small towel and watching them calmly. Shit. Fuck. When did she finish her set? How much had she heard? Jie was right behind her, looking at her tablet but her ears pricked up.

"Summer," Juniper started, but her throat pinched and she didn't know what to say.

"Ah. Summer Li." Bryn held out her hand. "Hi. Bryn Gagnon. We were introduced at the Peak to Podium event last year-"

"Yes, I know you." Instead of taking her hand, Summer studied her like a bug she'd found on the bottom of her shoe, and, fuck, Juniper didn't need the rescue but that was kind of hot anyway. "Aren't you here to train?"

Bryn let her hand fall back to her side and threw a quizzical look at Juniper, then turned back to Summer with a smile. "It's nice to hit the gym after a long travel day, no? But later, we are all going skating. Why don't you two come along? It would be so good to chat."