She shakes her head. “Um, no. Unless you lie or steal from me, we’re good. No worries.”
“Won’t do either.”
“Then we’re good. We’re still besties. Can’t get rid of me that fast.” She flashes me a smile so big that I can’t help but smile back at her. She has this way about her. She’s so pretty, almost like a fairy. I’ve never been around a girl who just decides she wants to be my friend. Usually, girls only see me as competition. But not Amelia. She legit loves everyone and is by far the sweetest girl on the team. “I’m just worried about my brother.”
I pause as I reach for my computer. “Is he okay? Did they not win?”
“Oh no, girl, the Bullies are the best. They kicked ass, shut them out. But he did something that his coach got on him about, and now he’s sulking. He’s a perfectionist. Like you.”
I scoff. “I am no—” I pause when she gives me a look. “I’m not too bad.”
“You are, but it’s fine. I’m used to it. Between him and my cousin, Posey… Lord.”
“Posey?”
She laughs at the face I’m making. “Right? Like, why my aunt picked that name is beyond me. You have Shelly, Posey, Evan, Owen, and Quinnie, then me and Ryan. Posey is the weird one.”
I laugh, but I’ve moved on from her cousin’s funny name. I’m curious if Ryan is as good-looking as his sister. Because a dude with blazing blue eyes like hers, man, that would be hard to ignore. Though, I would. Don’t have time for guys. “Usually, the weird ones are the most fun.”
“Oh, Sof, you have no clue. Posey is so funny. I love her to death. She’s more a sister than a cousin.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah. Do you not have cousins?”
“I do, and I love them, but we aren’t close. I was too busy in the gym.”
She shrugs. “Sure, I was too, but I still saw my cousins weekly.”
“That’s so nice.”
“It is, and they’re all insane.”
When she starts to undress, I look down at my computer to the one line I’ve written.
My name.
“Are you excited for tomorrow?”
I nod, though since I’m not sure she is looking at me, I say, “Yeah. I’m ready.”
“Me too, so ready. It’s gonna be amazing. They were setting up when I left the rink, Ryan and I were talking about how cool our mascot looks on the floor.”
A jolt of excitement runs through my body. “We’ll have to take a picture on it.”
“Oh, duh!” she gushes as she falls back on my bed in only a tee. “My mom will make us. She invited you to dinner this week if you want to go. I told her I wasn’t sure since, you know, we’ll be going to parties or something. We’re college girls now.”
As she gathers her hair, I smile down at her. “My mom wants pictures of us. She calls you the girl with beautiful blue eyes.”
She beams at me. “Will she be able to come to a meet?”
My stomach drops a bit, sadness crashing into me like a wave. “Probably not.”
“That’s sucks.” Amelia rolls onto her belly, leaning on her hands. “Don’t worry. My family is so huge, you’ll have all kinds of people cheering for you. When, really, you don’t need it.”
“I don’t?” I ask, and she gives me a look.
“Once everyone sees how amazing you are, you won’t be able to hear me, much less my family.”
I scoff. “Please.”
“You’ll see, and by the way, watch out, ’cause all the dudes will try to get some.”
I roll my eyes. “No way. I don’t have time for that.”
She groans. “You sound like Ryan.”
I make a face. “Your brother?”
“Yeah, he’s so driven. It’s annoying. Live a little.” She rolls off the bed, throwing herself onto hers. “What’s the point of being on our own, making our own choices, if we don’t get to make bad ones? We’ve been perfect our whole lives, especially in this sport.”
“True, but you don’t want to do something to ruin what you’ve worked for.”
She narrows her eyes. “I practice safe sex. I’m good.”
I laugh. “Well, that’s a plus.”
“So, yeah, live a little.”
“I am.”
“Oh yeah, writing a paper on a Friday night is so living.”
“Hey, it’s a fun paper.”
“You’re so boring,” she teases, and I laugh as she cuddles into her massive number of pillows. Really, why does she need twenty pillows? Once she’s settled, she gives me a look. “You wait… I’m gonna get you to let loose.”
A worried laugh leaves my lips. “Please don’t. I’ve never let go.”
“More of a reason to urge you to. We can get drunk.”
I laugh so hard my laptop falls off my lap onto the bed. “Um, no. That can slow me down.”
She thinks that over. “Yeah, I guess. So we’ll just make bad decisions and sleep with crappy dudes.”
“Why crappy?”
“Because good dudes will fall for us, and we don’t want to be tied down. I mean, jeez, Sofia, Look at us. We’re pretty damn hot.”
My laughter joins hers. “That we are.”
“And we don’t have time for that.”
“We don’t.”
“So, yeah, crappy guys.”
“With big dicks, right?”
“Huge.” Our laughter mingles before slowly dying off. She closes her eyes and murmurs, “Either way, I love your boring ass.”
As she drifts off to sleep, I have to hold back my laughter. I love her too, a lot, but I can’t help but be a little impressed with how I handled my end of that conversation. I really sounded like I knew what I was talking about. That I was all for it. Ha, not even. Amelia is a normal girl gymnast. She went to a damn good gym and is really talented. Her coach is friends with the GymBulls coaches, which is why she was able to come here on a scholarship. Being a regular girl, she went to school, she went to dances, and she had boyfriends.
I, on the other hand, trained at an elite gym. I trained to become an Olympian. I didn’t go to school; I was homeschooled. Which meant the only friends I had were the other girls in my gym. But even then, they weren’t my friends. I have never had a boyfriend. I’ve never kissed a boy or gone to bed with one. I trained, I slept, and I trained some more. Training was all that mattered. Boys didn’t.
Now, I’m in a place where boys are everywhere.
That freaks me the hell out.