"We did it! We won the gold!" Meryl shouted as we heard our names announced. Someone came to us carrying those prized gold medals and he draped the first over my neck and the second over Meryl's. She gently pushed her long brown hair out of the medal, letting it ruffle beautifully down her back. Once I managed to get a hand on reality, I started waving to all of the fans cheering the the USA and Meryl followed my lead. From the center podium, we both relished the moment.
After awhile, we had to step down and walk back to our apartments in Olympic Village. As we skated off the ice, I whispered in Meryl's ear, "I love you." and she whispered back, "I love you, too." Charlie knew that she didn't mean it the way that he did. She said 'I love you' the way a sister would say it to a brother, not the way a girlfriend would say it to a boyfriend. After all, we had been skating together for 17 years. We've always had that brother/sister relationship, except in high school, I fell in love with her.