LEONA MONTGOMERY
I walk out the double doors of the ice rink and to my car.
Men and their egos. Instead of trying to make me feel inferior to them, I could have been helping them get better.
I don't know why I agreed to help them but I did. I'm not a speed skater, I'm a figure skater. I happen to be good at speeding and do it for fun.
I have a bunch of Olympic medals for figure skating in the times that I was there. I went to the last 3 Olympic Games, and now I'm retired.
I still skate and do small competitions it's mostly for fun. Of course, a lot of people, unless they are obsessed with figure skating, don't realize that I'm the Leona Montgomery who went to the Olympics.
Of course, people who are most into the sport like judges, coaches, and other people realize who I am at competitions.
That's why I don't do a lot. I wish there was a way to not get recognized for it. Once I get home I strip out of my clothes and pull my Dexcom off of my arm. Since I have to change it today anyway I can leave it off for a few minutes while I shower.
Once I get out of the shower I put on some comfortable pajamas. A pair of black and white pajama pants and a white crop top.
I hum to myself as I walk downstairs to my kitchen. I take out a new Dexcom. I inject the needle into my arm and then click the Dexcom itself into place.
It doesn't hurt at all, just a tiny pinch that I'm used to. I then pull out my growth hormone shot.
These don't hurt at all either. Since I was born so early I've been taking these my entire life.
I pinch the skin of my thigh and inject it in. I throw away all my garbage and head to my living room.
I'm 24, and all alone. It's truly kind of sad.
I don't have a pet, a friend, a boyfriend. I'm not just lonely, I'm alone. Maybe I'll get a pet.
I don't know what to do in my free time anymore. I retired from skating but what else is there to do? That was my entire personality.
When I was a kid that was all my dad ever let me do. I don't resent him for it, because a lot of good came out of it. I have more than enough money for a few lifetimes. If I don't want to then I won't have to work a day in my life.
At the same time, I never had many friends growing up. I was homeschooled because I had to be at the rink all the time. It sucks but unfortunately, it's the truth.
I'm the recent time since my skating retirement I do some stuff by myself because that's all I know how to do.
I read, write, draw, paint, watch tv. It's an endless cycle of doing pointless activities.
I'm going to get a pet or maybe two. A cat? A dog? A hedgehog?
I've always wanted a hedgehog but I was never allowed to get a pet.
I wish that I wasn't the way I was. It sucks. I'm mean to people all the time because I don't want them to hurt me first. I force myself to come off as confident even though I'm not. I wonder if people were close to me they would be able to see through my mask. Nobody ever had before. Even my dad thinks that I'm some confident girl, but I'm not.
Back to the pet idea, what about a parrot? No, parrot's tongues creep me out a lot.
Maybe a dog and a hedgehog. I think that you aren't supposed to get animals from those pet stores so I'll go to an animal shelter.
I'll start getting ready for my pets, tomorrow, because I'm way too tired for this right now.
It's times like this that I wish I had a friend or someone that I could tell that I want a pet. My dad won't think I should, just because he wants me to focus on the team now.
I groggily walk upstairs to my bed and plug my phone, MacBook, and Apple Watch in.
You could say that I have an obsession with apple.
I don't set an alarm for the morning because I don't have much to do tomorrow. I'm going to get ready to adopt a pet, but other than that I'm free.
I close my eyes, falling into a night of good rest. I never have dreams, but I also don't have nightmares so that's good.
"Mmm," I groan when I open my eyes, only knowing it's morning by the sunlight going through my curtains. I roll over and put my face on my pillow.
I pick up my phone and scroll through it. I don't know why I go on all of my social media because I don't have any notifications on any of them.
I shake my head and get out of bed. I put on a pair of tight jeans and a loose baby blue shirt that goes to the top of my jeans.
I put my hair into a low bun and tie up some white boots. I tie off my bun with a thin white ribbon.
I think they look better than hair ties and you can't tell that it's a ribbon unless you look closely.
I head down to the pet store. It was about a 25-minute drive from my house. I start to put any essentials into my cart. I get a leash, collar, dog food, dog treats, a few toys, a few tennis balls for them. I get a bunch of stuff including the necessities. Once I have everything I head to the front of the store to check out.
The total is almost 300 dollars, but it's worth it. I plan on getting a smaller dog. It doesn't necessarily have to be a puppy but still pretty young. Next, I head to the animal shelter to find a dog. I don't think that I will end up getting to bring it with me today but I can hopefully find one that I want to adopt.
"Hi," I smile at the woman sitting at the front desk. "How can I help you?" She questions me right away. "I'm looking for a dog to adopt," I say and she smiles and nods.
"Okay, let's head to where the dogs are. Are you looking for a specific breed?" She questions me.
"Not a specific breed. Preferably a smaller dog but it depends what you have." I say. If I ended up liking a bigger dog I could still adopt that one since my house is big enough and I have a yard.
"Okay. What about age?" She questions. I know most people won't adopt an older dog, with good reason, I would probably want a younger one too.
"I would say under five sounds good," I tell her and she nods.
"Okay, the first one we have like that would be this one. She's a chihuahua, she's 2 years old. Definitely one of the nicer dogs that we have here. Her name is Bella." She explains and I nod. "Hi, cutie," I coo, leaning down to pet here. "Aren't you adorable?" I continue and slowly move to sit next to her on the floor.
"I love her. She's so cute," I say and the girl nods. "She's been here for her entire life. If you are looking for a dog, like seriously, I would recommend her," The girl continues.
"I already love her. I've never adopted a dog before. How does this work?" I question and the lady immediately starts telling me.
"So I can come back for her tomorrow?" I excitedly question her.
Even if it's just a tiny dog I'm excited that she's going to be in the house with me. After I fill out some paperwork I head home so that I can get a workout in.
I put my clothes in the dirty laundry basket and then change into a lavender-colored crop top and leggings workout set.
I head downstairs to where I have a small workout room. I don't like going out a lot so I tend to stay home more than go out.
I do a little bit of stretching and then I start my workout. I stand in front of the mirror wall and grip the skin of my thigh when I realize that I'm starting to lose weight again.
I shake my head and start to work out again. I do a little while on the treadmill and then the bike.
I do as many pull-ups as I can and then decide that was good enough for today. I don't work out to lose weight, but because I like it. Since it's just for fun I stop when I want to.
I walk upstairs and quickly shower, not washing my hair. I put on a hoodie and some black leggings.
I walk into my kitchen and decide to make something to eat.
I decide that I want to have an omelet with broccoli and then some sausage links. I pour the eggs into the frying pan and go to get the sausage while I let that cook.
I put the broccoli in the omelet and fold it in half. I put the links of sausage in the now empty side of the pan to cook.
Once it's done I put it all onto a glass plate. I grab a fork and a knife, making my way over to my table. It's a table that sits 6 people.
I don't know why I thought that it was a good idea to make my house look like what would be a family house. It has 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and everything looks like a family could live here. Except for how clean it is. I have to keep it clean otherwise it annoys me.
Once I finish eating I place my dishes into the dishwasher. I know that the hockey team has practice tonight but I want to talk to my dad in person, so I should do that now.
I pick up my phone, keys, and wallet and make my way out to my car. I drive to the rink right away and immediately walk to my dad's office. "Leona," I hear a deep voice say. So close. "Garrett, hi," I reply to the captain of the hockey team.
"What?" I question, wanting to get this conversation over with. He's probably a creepy pig. Ugh, men. "Nothing, just wanted to say hey," He says, "Ok, hey," I reply. I start to walk away since he wasn't saying anything else.
I'm not good at talking to people. I've never had to so I'm bad at it. I wince when I see the odd look on his face but shake my head and walk to my dad's office.
"What? Lee? I'm busy." He says and I resist the urge to roll my eyes at him. "Dad, I'm sorry but I don't think I can help the team with speed," I slowly explain, trying not to piss him off.
"What?" He turns around and asks me. "I can't do it with them. There are a lot more of them than me and it's hard. They don't want to listen to me and they are just outright weird," I quickly let out.
"I'm disappointed in you. I raised you better than this. Your mother would be disappointed in you for giving up so easily," He shakes his head at me and tsks.
"Well, maybe I could. I don't know," I start to say, but he cuts me off. "Forget it. I do everything for you and you can't do one thing, just get out," I do as he asks and leaves, knowing it's better than to make him more mad.
I walk out and head to the front doors. I see two of the player walk into the building. Austin and Daniel. I dismissively smile at them and try to walk out.
Luckily they don't try to talk to me, just politely smile at me. I get in my car and head back to my house. I don't plan on leaving for the rest of the day, which is nice.
Once I pull into my garage I make sure the garage and all of my doors are locked. I let out a happy sigh being in the comfort of my own house once again.
I decide to watch some tv for a while. I put on criminal minds and toss a throw blanket over my legs.
It's cold, but the thermostat is over there. I grumble to myself, pausing the show and then get up and put it up a few degrees.
I get comfortable again on the couch, laying in between two couch cushions. This is life. Watching tv and doing nothing.
I watch a few episodes. Throughout that time it did get warmer in here, so that's good. I shut off my tv and pull my laptop onto my lap.
I work on editing the most previous book that I've written. I publish my books but under a fake name.
It's kind of like an alias. I don't want people to know that I write. It's not that big of a deal as there isn't smut, or even anything embarrassing, I don't know why I do it.
Now that I've been writing for a while if I changed it, then all the old copies would have my alias, not my real name.
I shake my head and start realigning a cover for the book. I work on this for a little over an hour. I write books anywhere from 100 thousand words to 250 thousand words.
They are decently long, and this one, in particular, took me about 4 months to write. It's the best one that I've written so far and I'm excited for it to get published.
It comes out in a few weeks on Amazon and I can't wait. I close my laptop screen and rub my eyes.
I decide to eat a little something. I mix together some things in the blender. I should be eating more than I have been recently, but you can't force your body to eat if you aren't hungry, so I made a smoothie.
It's frozen fruits, spinach, protein powder, and a few other things. Once it's done I put the thick smoothie into a bowl put a regular banana on it with some almonds and some honey.
I put a spoon in it and walk over to one of the stools that are sitting next to my island.
I slowly eat my smoothie bowl and scroll through random stuff on my phone. I let out a yelp when the lights flicker and then go off completely.
"Goddammit," I mutter and place my bowl
In the refrigerator. I use the flashlight on my phone to lead me to the garage where I turn on my generator and everything starts up again. I give that a few minutes to start working and then I head back inside.
I pull my bowl out of the refrigerator so that it doesn't get soggy and then keep eating it.
This is one of the very few reasons I hate my house. Because of where I live, if a tree falls it will hit a power line and make the lights go out.
Especially during winter, since we are in New York it happens so the time.
For the rest of the day, I just hang out in my house until I get ready for bed. I French braid my hair into two sections and place it back behind my shoulders.
I put on some comfortable pajamas and charged my phone, laptop, and watch before deciding to get back into bed.
I close my eyes, excited to get up and be able to get my dog tomorrow.
I wake up what feels like only a few minutes later, but it's more if the sunshine coming through the windows tells me anything.
I grunt and roll over, swinging my leg when I almost fall off my bed. I shake my head and walk downstairs.
I slide on some comfortable bear paw slippers over my socks. I let out another yawn and walk into the kitchen. I pour some frozen strawberries and bananas into a bowl, sitting down at the table.
I eat these while it seems like time isn't passing. I have to go pick up my dog at 10, which means I have to leave in 30 minutes, which means I have to be ready in 15.
I finish my fruit and then head back upstairs to my room so I can get dressed. I put on some jeans with a pair of converse and a top.
I put my jacket over it, not knowing what the weather is outside. I let myself out of my house, locking it behind me, and slightly shiver at the bitter temperature.
I quickly walk to my car and turn on the heat. I sit there and play some quiet music for a minute and then head over to the animal shelter.
It takes me a few extra minutes because of red lights but once I do get there I can't wait to get Bella.
Why are there so many dogs named Bella anyway? I don't know, but she is just absolutely adorable so it doesn't matter to me.
I pick up the pink and white leash and collar that I bought for Bella and then I walk into the animal shelter and smile at the same girl that is sitting at the front desk as yesterday.
"Picking up Bella?" The girl asks me and I nod. "I just need you to sign right here," She says and I scribble my name on the piece of paper.
"Okay, everything else is ready, you can leave with her whenever you are ready," She tells me and a big smile breaks out on my face.
"Thank you so much," I practically gush, when someone else brings out Bella in their arms. I flip the dollar around her neck, not too tight, but not too loose.
I connect the leash to the collar and thank everyone before walking out a few minutes later.
"Aren't you just the cutest?" I gush, petting her. "Okay, doggo, we are going to your new home," I say, talking to her like she can understand me.
I know she can't, but who cares?" I pull into my garage and lock it. I take off her collar and leash, holding them in my hand so that she can walk around.
She sniffs around the garage and then follows me into the house where she continues to run around and sniff stuff.
She runs up to the garbage can and jumps up on her two hind legs trying to look into it. "No. You don't go in there," I say and gently put her back on all fours.
Eventually, she goes upstairs to the bedrooms and everything else to sniff that. She finds my room and sniffs my bed and then plops down on it and shuts her eyes.
I shake my head at her cuteness and then I walk back downstairs. I should have known that there was no point in buying her a dog bed. She's allowed on the furniture because she is too cute not to.
Once she wakes up I'll take her for her first walk around the neighborhood. It's mostly families that live around here and is a very safe place to live. That's one of the reasons I chose to live here.
I sit in my living room, which is in the front of my house. I look out the big window in the front and see a couple walking. I squint when I recognize the man a little bit.
Austin? I can't tell for sure. It looks like him. I quickly slide off the couch when I see him turn to look around.
I sit on the floor where I landed for a few minutes and then slowly get up. I close the curtains once I see that they are gone and let out a sigh.
I hear gentle padding coming down the stairs and know that it's Bella. She's the only other living creature in this house anyway.
"Want to go for a walk?" I ask like she has a choice. "Come on," I clip her leash and collar on her, walking out the front door instead of the garage.
I walk the opposite way that I saw Austin and who I'm assuming his girlfriend walk. I quietly hum to myself as we walk to the end of the street and back. I would have gone further but I don't think Bella is used to this much exercise because when we were almost back she was already panting.
I almost get back to my house and I see who I thought was Austin on the other side of the street walking the opposite way.
Yup, that is no doubt Austin. I look towards my house and try to get there as quickly as I can.
Unfortunately, I see him and the girl crossing the road to get to me. Damn, I was so close.
"Hey, Leona," He smiles at me and the girl does too. "Hi, Austin," I softly reply. "Just saw you walking and thought we would say hi. This is my wife Kayla," He tells me. I didn't take him for someone to be married.
"Hi Kayla, it's nice to meet you," I smile at her and hold out a hand for her to shake. She shakes my hand and Austin starts talking again. "She won't say this because she doesn't want to make you uncomfortable but she is obsessed with your figure skating," He says, slightly quieter. Both Kayla and I blush at that.
"Thank you so much," I smile at her, honestly feeling a little bit awkward. "So, are you guys from the neighborhood?" I question, not knowing what to say.
After I said that, it honestly sounded a little bit creepy. "Yeah, we live at the end of the road. What about you?" Kayla asks me. They seem like good people but I'm not going to tell them exactly where I live. "Yeah, I live on the street too," I answer.
"I should probably head home but I'm sure I'll see you both again at some point," I smile at them both and a few minutes later walk into my house.
I put food and water in a bowl for Bella so that she can eat when she gets hungry. I realize that the power should be back on already so I can turn off my generator.
I walk into my garage and turn it off. All the lights go off so I walk over to the power box. I turn all the lights off and then back on, and that works.
I walk back into my house and jog up the stairs to my room. I wrap my Apple Watch around my wrist since I forgot to this morning. I realize that I should probably go talk to my dad, even though I don't want to right now.
"I'll be back in a little bit, baby," I coo to Bella and she barks at me as she understood. I let out a small giggle and continued my way out the door.
I get into my car and get ready for this conversation with my dad. Ugh.