I step outside of the rink and feel the bitter cold hit my face. My tears crystallize, reminding me of what a blithering idiot I was in front of Lainey. I try to shake off the image of her hitting the ice. I force myself in the direction of my room.
It's snowing pretty hard now. The Village is filled with athletes starting their day. The visibility looks pretty poor on the slopes. My adrenaline is pumping and I'm getting the itch to tackle the mountain. But I also know if I don't get any rest or food, I may not make it down the mountain.
I open the door to my condo and find my coaches, Dave and Jeremy, waiting for me.
"Hey," I say. "I just need to take a quick nap and grab some food. I'll meet you on the slopes in a couple of hours, right?"
Dave shakes his head. "Cory, have a seat."
I sit down. Jeremy, my head coach, leans forward. "Cory, we're worried about you."
I roll my eyes. "Oh come on Jeremy. I'm the fastest skier you've got. I think you should be more worried about the rest of the team. I'm the only one favorited for gold and you know it."
"That may be true, but you're not going to win gold when you're partying every night," Dave points out.
"So I had fun the first night? Big deal. I'll have something to eat and get some rest now. I'll be as good as new. You'll see."
"We believe that you want to win. But we also know you're fighting some pretty major demons at the moment. We understand and we want to help you. Dave here is going to be your roommate the rest of the time. We've moved John to another room. Dave will make sure you eat, rest and get to practice and massage therapy. Lean on him. We want to keep you healthy Cory."
"Whatever," I say. "You're going to do what you want to do. Can I get some rest now?"
"Sure, Dave is going to make you a protein shake and some eggs and toast when you're ready. We've got a practice slated for 2 pm. Get some rest and we'll see you on the mountain. We're hoping the visibility clears up by then."
Jeremy stands and holds out his hand. I stand and grab it. He pulls me in for a quick hug. "We're here for you Cory."
"Got it. See you later," I say.
I head to the shower as Jeremy leaves and Dave starts cooking breakfast.
After some food and sleeping for a few hours, someone knocks at the door and Dave opens it. I hear a woman's voice. It sounds familiar. I grab a pair of track pants and walk out to the living room. It's Lainey.
Dave excuses himself.
"Hi," she says.
"Hi," I say back. She looks at my bare chest. I grab a sweatshirt from the back of a chair. "Sorry, I just got up."
"No, it's okay," she looks the other way. "I'm glad you got some rest. I was just, I wanted to drop these tickets by to you."
"Oh yeah, what are these?"
"They're for my short and free skate programs. I wanted to thank you for your help this morning. I know it's figure skating, which you're probably not into but I'd like you to come. If you can."
"I'll be there."
"They're not until next weekend. I have team competitions first."
"Sounds good. Listen, I'm sorry for freaking out on you this morning."
"It's okay. I'm sure it looked much worse than it felt."
"Yeah, I hope so."
"Well, okay, I'll see you later then. Good luck with the competition this week. I hope you win."
She turns around and leaves, closing the door behind her. I run after her.
"Hey," I yell down the hall. She turns around. She takes my breath away with her smile.
"What are you doing on Sunday?"
"My team competition."
"Oh right. What time?"
"At night, why?"
"My Downhill competition is that day. Will you come?"
"I'd love to but I don't think my mom or coach will let me do anything on a competition day."
"I know how much you worry about what your mom and coach think."
"Haha. You're right," she says. "I could probably sneak away for a little while. What time do you think you'll be skiing?"
"We start at 11 am."
"Okay, sure, I'll come."
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
"Great, where are you staying? I'll have tickets sent over."
"I can write it down but I don't have anything to write with."
"Wait here, don't go anywhere." I run inside to grab a pad and pen. Dave's already holding them. I grab them and run back out to the hallway and hand them to her.
"If you could put your cell phone on there too that would be great," I say.
"Oh, okay," she smiles again and writes down her cell phone. I'd do anything to keep that smile going.
She hands her information back to me. My hand touches hers briefly. I feel a twinge of longing to be with her.
"Bye now." She turns and walks away.
As soon as she's out of sight, I pump my fist. I'm ready to attack that mountain. I throw open the condo door.
"Dave, let's go. I'm ready." We suit up and head out for the slopes.
The visibility is still pretty bad. The wind is blowing and the snow is coming down pretty hard.
Dave and I make our way to the starting area. My teammates are already there.
Jeremy and Dave consult with each other while I finish putting on my gear.
Finally Jeremy comes over to us. "We're getting word that they want to shut the mountain down soon."
Everyone groans.
"I know, I know. Some of you haven't made it down yet today. Those of you who haven't, let's get you lined up."
I get in line with my teammates. I'm okay with the fierce weather. Better to get used to the hill in bad weather than to be surprised the day of competition.
My turn arrives and I get inside the start area. I tighten my boots and pull my goggles down.
"Take it easy on this first run Cory. It's about three thousand meters or just under two miles in length with a half mile drop. The winds are over 50mph right now. Just get used to the course. That's all you want to do. Stay safe," Jeremy cautions.
I get into position at the start and plant my poles in the snow. I hear the beep indicating the start of the clock and I push off with help from my poles. I get in my tuck as quickly as I can as I try to get a feel for the course.
It's pretty straight at the start. I'm able to gather speed rather quickly. It's hard to anticipate the course with blowing snow. I can make out three tight turns. I slow down a bit to take the turns; I get some air under my skis but I tuck back as fast as I can. I make it through the three turns and the course straightens out a little more.
The wind is punching me in all directions. I try to gather more speed. I hit a few dips and flats and a couple of jumps – I'm getting too much air on the jumps. I need to stay in my tuck more for them. I'm finding it hard to keep the line I want. I enter a sharp turn too hot and I slide sideways going off line into rough snow. I'll have to control my entry speed at that turn so I don't lose time.
I focus on increasing my speed again and as I near the bottom of the course, I hit two major jumps in a row. I get a lot of air on the first one and make it through okay but then I realize the second one has a steep drop off, making me sail through the air even longer. The wind whips me hard and I wobble on the landing of the second one. That's going to be a problem. I can't afford to lose any time wobbling around. I could lose by a hundredth of a second.
I finally make it to the bottom. I get word that my time is horrible. I'm told to come back to the top and focus on the trouble spots. But what if the trouble spot is me?