Chasing Gold

29| tokyo bound

The tears began to fall down her cheeks. I just wanted to run up to her, hug her and never let her go but I stopped myself. She deserves so much better than me. "I've had to deal with the whispers, the dirty looks, and opinions from everyone who doesn't know the fuck about what they're talking about. Whether you want to believe it or not, Tommy sent out his little friends to scare me. They fucked up my car and the best one yet I had someone put a gun against my head threatening to kill me while he ran his disgusting hands all over my body."

"Don't fucking look down Matthew Connery, I'm not done," She says raising her voice. "I receive death threats almost every day, I can't sleep because of the nightmares I have about that night, I can't even walk around campus without thinking that there is someone out there watching me. I have a target on my back every minute of every single day. Do you think you've had it rough? Well, get in fucking line because you're not the only one."

I look down and I barely whispered. "I didn't know."

I lied. I did know, I just didn't want to accept that everything she was saying was true. I had lost my family once and I didn't want to admit to myself that it was happening all over again.

"You didn't know? You didn't even bother to ask."

And with that, she walked away without even talking another glance at me.

- end of flashback -

"Connery, wake up." I hear Inez's voice calling from afar. "Connery, the plane just landed."

I blinked a few times before I fully opened my eyes. Inez had a big smile plastered across her face and she pointed towards the airplane window. I turned my gaze towards the window and I couldn't believe it. For so long I've imagined what it would feel like to be here or if I would ever get the chance to compete for a spot on the Olympic Team. Now that I'm finally here, the feeling is indescribable. Though I couldn't help but think that something was missing.

"I can't believe it," I say in awe. "All of the hard work, I can finally see that it has paid off."

"You deserve this, more than anyone I know." Inez smiles. "That spot on the Olympic team is yours. You're going to be Tokyo bound next year after today. And I will proudly say that I was there front seat to witness it."

I smile weakly. This was never planned, I mean, having Inez come with me to the trials. I was going to surprise Everest, we hadn't even gone on an official date yet and I was going to ask her on one before this whole thing blew up. Peyton was actually helping me to plan it because, to be honest, I'm not exactly the most romantic guy so I needed a little bit of extra help in that department. As part of the date, I was going to give her a gift (the ticket and a pass for the trials) in a cute box, but I never got the chance to.

I won't lie that I wish it were Ev, sitting right now next to me, but when I mentioned that I had an extra ticket and none of the guys could come, Inez volunteered. So of course, I didn't turn down her offer because I didn't even know how I was going to start that conversation.

"Good morning passengers, we are happy to announce that we have arrived at our destination." The flight attendant says through the speakerphone. "The door will be opened briefly, in the meantime, you can proceed to pick up your carry on luggage, thank you for trusting and flying with Delta Airlines."

We were just going to be here for a day so aside from my swim gear, I brought a few pieces of clothing in my carry-on. Inez on the other hand brought a big suitcase and a carry-on, what on earth could she possibly have in her luggage?

I helped Inez with her carry on and I grabbed mine in the process as well. It took a good fifteen minutes to get off of the plane and another good twenty minutes while we waited for Inez's luggage. After we had all of our luggage we headed to the hotel, the Olympic trials started at eight and it was only seven am. Inez and I were in desperate need of some food so we did exactly just that after we settled in our hotel room.