Edge of Glory

by Rachel Spangler

  “Hey.” Holly put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you hurting?”

  “Nothing feels like a knife in my knee, but yeah. Every muscle in my body aches every morning. I’m sore from my scalp to my little toe. I’m tired in a way I’ve never felt tired before. And I’m sorry if hearing that disappoints you.”

  “Shut up,” Holly said with a shove. “You don’t disappointment me, dummy. When I thought you were selling yourself short for Elise, I got pissed because you’re every bit as important as she is. I didn’t want you to give up something you love as much as the X-Games to please her.”

  “I have loved the X-Games, but not because I win there, because I have fun there. But I’m not having fun anymore. I want to sleep and eat right. I want to train without all the pressure. I want to surround myself with people who challenge me. And yes, Elise is one of those people, but so is Tigger, God love her bubbly little elf self.”

  Holly and Nate both smiled.

  “I’m not giving in or giving up,” Corey said, as much for her benefit as for theirs. “I want to ride. I want to win. I want to feel good again. I think going to Italy is the best way to get me into a position to do so.”

  Nate cracked first. “I’m in, dude. Hell, I’m geeked out to see you still care enough to shake shit up. I was starting to worry I wanted the win more than you did. If you hadn’t thrown Holly’s laptop, I might have.”

  She snorted. “What do you say, Holly? Should we go to Italy, or should I let Nate throw your laptop?”

  She grabbed the MacBook off the table and folded it into her arms. “Don’t even think about it. I’m going to need this to rearrange our reservations.”

  “Really?” Corey asked. “You don’t mind?”

  Holly smiled. “I wanted to go to Italy all along, but I needed to make sure we were doing it for the right reason.”

  Corey nodded, so glad to have the matter settled she didn’t even point out she probably should have said ‘reasons, plural.’ She did need the rest, and she did need to train with the right people, but she also needed to see Elise, and while the last point probably didn’t rank high on Holly’s list of “right” reasons, Corey suspected it might end up being the one to make the biggest difference in the long run.

  January 26, 2018 - Cortina d’ Ampezzo, Italy

  Corey raised her glass of sparking water. “To another top-five finish.”

  “To steady improvement.” Elise clinked Corey’s glass with her own. She didn’t normally brag until she’d made first place, but with a fourth-place finish in the downhill and a bronze medal in the Super-G, she could at least say she’d gotten better with every single race of the season.

  “To the three Olympians,” Paolo said, nodding to Corey, Elise, and Tigger.

  “We celebrated that last week,” Holly said, but she raised her glass anyway.

  “I want to celebrate that one for the rest of my life.” He choked up again, and everyone laughed. He’d started crying when the Olympic announcements were made and had hardly stopped since. At least tonight they were in the back room of the hotel restaurant without the crowd of spectators and reporters to snap pictures. He’d been strong and stoic through a year of adversity, but now the pride and joy seemed almost too much for him to bear. Elise, for her part, had felt only a modicum of relief. One more hurdle cleared. A big one, but not the last. Still, she liked that he felt his efforts had been rewarded, because it lifted the burden of at least one responsibility off her shoulders

  Nate patted him on the back as he lifted his bottle of beer. “To having so much to celebrate.”

  Tigger jumped up with gusto. “Here’s to us all spending so much time together.”

  They all laughed again, but this time no one seemed to mind her hanging around. She’d become one of them more and more over the last two weeks. While she hadn’t lost her tendency toward obliviousness and still bounded in and out of conversations at weird times, she carried herself well on and off the slopes. She had a good work ethic and a desire to win, but she never took herself so seriously in social situations that she couldn’t handle their gentle ribbing from time to time. Plus, if the story she’d heard from Paolo held true, Tigger had been the one to provide Corey with an excuse to spend more time with her, and for that Elise felt endlessly grateful.

  As they all lowered their glasses and returned to normal conversations, Elise held Corey’s hand under the table and gave a gentle squeeze. Having her there the last two weeks had been nothing short of amazing. She’d surprised her the first day of training and tried to claim Italy was on the way between Andorra and Aspen, Colorado. With her history of geography fails, she got several minutes of teasing in before Elise figured out she was kidding and had come to stay.

  She’d had some initial misgivings about Corey sacrificing her own races to support her. She didn’t want to be the reason Corey cut herself short, but with every passing day, Corey grew stronger, happier, more productive, and she couldn’t deny the same trend in herself or try to pretend the two weren’t connected. She was happier than she’d ever been in a training camp, and not only because of her steadily improving position in the world-cup rankings. Her whole mindset was different with Corey working out nearby.

  Elise would occasionally stop by the snowboarders’ camp at the end of her day to find Corey practically running the show. She practiced jumps and cut moves, laughing as the younger racers fell behind time and time again. She held informal clinics on technique and form. Tigger wasn’t her only follower, either. Many of the junior tour members had taken to hanging around her after their official heat times, and the coaches seemed either bemused by or resigned to her new role.

  Elise suspected Corey’s mentality had rubbed off on her a little, too. She’d yet to laugh her way over a jump or crash into another skier, but lately her own workouts were met with more smiles and less grumbling, which also made Paolo happy. Maybe that’s what felt different about this set of moments they’d all shared. For the first time in perhaps her entire life, everyone she cared about was undeniably happy.

  Her phone buzzed in her lap, and she looked down to see Julie Chen’s number on the screen. This was the second time she’d tried to call tonight. She made a mental note to get back to her soon. She really did owe her an interview, and she intended to make good on the promise, but she hadn’t hung around long after her last race since she’d had so many friends there.

  “Is that your parents again?” Corey asked quietly.

  “No, just a reporter, thankfully.” Who would’ve thought she’d ever be happier to hear from a reporter than the people who were supposed to love her. Her come-from-behind appointment to the Olympic team had suddenly renewed their interest in supporting her career. She’d barely had the stomach for their congratulations and thin shows of support, much less their near-constant attempts to re-establish regular contact.

  “Hey,” Corey whispered, intertwining their fingers. “You ready to go?”

  Immediately the fire ignited in her chest, incinerating all the stressful topics that had occupied her thoughts moments before, and she worried everyone else could tell. They’d made a valiant attempt to be discreet in front of coaches and officials, never offering public displays of affection in the name of professionalism, but anyone who paid attention to how they looked at each other by the end of the day could easily discern their nightly ritual of ripping each other’s clothes off. “Yes, let’s go.”

  They smiled the smiles of two people who knew what came next and couldn’t wait to get there, then rose and began to say their goodnights.

  “Are you guys seriously going to bed this early again?” Tigger asked, disappointment tinging her voice.

  “Yep,” Corey said.

  “Why?”

  Nate snickered and said, “I’ll explain it to you when you’re older.”

  Her cheeks flushed. “I know they’re a couple.”

  Elise’s breath caught at the easy way Tigger made the declaration. Everyone else stopped
short as well. No one laughed or offered a quick comeback. Instead, they all deferred to her and Corey.

  “What?” Tigger finally asked. “Are we not supposed to talk about it?”

  “No,” Elise said gently. “It’s just not something we’ve talked about before.”

  “You haven’t talked about it with each other?”

  “We have,” Elise said, as least they sort of had. They’d had the exclusivity talk, and she’d used the L-word with Paolo, though she hadn’t exactly gotten around to dropping that bomb on Corey yet. Neither of them had yet to put a formal title on what they meant to each other, and she didn’t know if she liked Tigger being the one to set the label. “But we haven’t made any public declarations about being a couple.”

  “But everyone here knows.” Tigger sounded confused. “Right?”

  “Um, well”—Corey ran her hand through her golden hair and shrugged—“I suppose.”

  Elise glanced around the table as everyone nodded their confirmation.

  “So, if everybody knows . . .”

  Corey looked to Elise, either uncertain about how to answer or unwilling to make the leap alone. Either way, she’d clearly deferred to her. Elise waited for either panic or some natural instinct for self-preservation to rise. She’d always kept her personal life locked in a vault. She didn’t want the media attention to distract her or give anyone fuel to damage her image with sponsors. But as she scanned the faces around her now, she couldn’t summon any feeling of threat. Maybe she’d never shared these parts of her life because she’d never had friends like these before. When her eyes fell on Corey’s once more, she realized something else had also changed. She’d never had someone so worthy of being shared before.

  “Yeah,” she finally said, surrendering to the moment. “I guess you’re right. We’re a couple. We know it, you know it, hopefully we’re all happy about it, and now we’re going to bed.”

  “To have sex,” Corey added.

  Everyone laughed.

  “Core,” Elise said, “do you always have to push things one step too far?”

  “Yes.” Corey wrapped an arm around her waist. “It’s part of my charm.”

  Elise cracked a smile and shook her head. She couldn’t argue, nor could she stand to drag this out anymore. “Come on, Prince Charming, let’s go.”

  As they left the restaurant and headed down the long hallway to the suite they’d basically shared since Corey’s arrival, Elise reached for her hand.

  Corey accepted the touch with the same easygoing closeness she brought to every situation, but when they reached the room, she didn’t immediately move in for more. Instead, she used their intertwined fingers to pull Elise toward the couch instead of the bed. “How you feeling about that little declaration?”

  Elise sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly, wanting to give an honest, well-thought-out answer, but all she could come up with was, “Good.”

  “Good?” Corey asked, clearly waiting for her to elaborate.

  “Yes. Undeniably good. My body, my head, my heart, I can’t find a single problem, and I guess that’s the only issue still hanging over me. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m not used to everything working out. I know in some ways I’ve lived a charmed life, wealth, education, opportunity, success—”

  “And don’t forget your stunning beauty.”

  “Of course,” she said playfully, “but, there’s always been the sense of something chasing me, or me chasing something. Something just out of reach. And if I let myself relax for one moment it would fade away completely.”

  “And now?”

  “I guess the feeling hasn’t evaporated, but it’s not nearly as strong. Maybe I should worry more, because I know I could still lose everything I’ve worked for tomorrow. All the dreams can shatter around the next turn or in the next few weeks, but tonight, with our friends, with you? It’s hard to summon those fears.”

  Corey’s smile was radiant. “That may be the best compliment anyone has ever given me. And also the best description of what I’ve felt since arriving here. I know judgment day is coming, and if I don’t perform, everyone will scrutinize everything about me and my future and my motivation, not to mention the hell I’ll catch from both sides for skipping the X-Games. But, right now, I don’t care.”

  “Really?” Elise asked seriously. “You don’t have any regrets about not being in Aspen? I kind of got the sense the event meant a lot to you.”

  “It has in the past, both on a personal level and as part of my yearly routine, but now it seems like a part of my past. A great part, and maybe it can be part of my future, but this is the best I’ve felt in months. I want to spend this moment right here with you. I wouldn’t trade that for any amount of former glory or to avoid future arguments, no matter how hot the spotlight might get.”

  Elise rested her head on Corey’s shoulder. She didn’t have anything else to add. She wasn’t naïve enough to believe problems wouldn’t arise eventually, but they belonged to tomorrow. Everything she felt for Corey belonged to tonight.

  Chapter 16

  February 9, 2018

  XXIII Olympic Games

  “This is the best night of my whole life,” Tigger exclaimed, as they finally filed out the of massive PyeongChang Olympic Stadium.

  For once Corey agreed with every ounce of her enthusiasm. The night had been amazing. Despite the hours of standing around and being herded like cattle from one staging area to another, while all the athletes in red, white, and blue waited for the announcers to get all the way through the international alphabet, once they all flooded into the arena with the flash of cameras and the screaming crowd, even she got choked up. She’d done all of this before, but somehow sharing the experience with Elise heightened every sense. The fireworks shone brighter, the music boomed louder, the energy coursing through every person made her nerve endings vibrate, and the occasional brush of Elise’s hand anchored her to the perfection not only around them, but also between them.

  They took pictures with each other, with spectators, with athletes from other countries. They danced, they sang, and when the Olympic flame ignited overhead, Corey watched the fire dance in the glistening reflection of Elise’s eyes. Edging so close their shoulders touched, she fought to imprint the image so deep into her memory, she’d never in a million years or a million lifetimes forget the way she looked right then.

  “Elise, have you ever seen anything like this?” Tigger bounced in circles around them.

  “I’ve gone to other opening ceremonies,” Elise mused, “but tonight’s is certainly the most special.”

  “’Cause the show was better?” Tigger asked.

  “No,” Elise said, “because the company’s better.”

  Corey blushed uncharacteristically. She’d never been bashful, but she was inordinately pleased to know Elise felt the way she did.

  “You guys are so mushy for each other,” Tigger said.

  “I wasn’t only talking about Corey.” Elise threw her arm around the kid’s shoulder and then caught Corey around the waist so they sandwiched her. “I meant both of you.”

  “But mostly Corey,” Tigger said.

  “Maybe she’s got the edge over you in a few areas,” Elise admitted, “but I’ve never had friends at something like this before. I always treated the other skiers as my competition, and they probably didn’t appreciate that.”

  “See, skiers and snowboarders should be friends. No jockeying for position against each other,” Corey said. “Just living in the moment.”

  “And it’s a first Olympic moment for you,” Elise said to Tigger. “I got to see it all again for the first time through your eyes.”

  “What about you, Corey?” Tigger said. “Did it feel like the first time all over?”

  The question hit her in the chest and she stopped walking, pulling both of them up short with her. As she reflected on the evening, the thrills, the emotions, the desire to imprint everything on her heart and mind, she
hadn’t been able to put those feelings into words yet, but now she understood the contrast between her savoring and Tigger’s exuberance. The evening hadn’t felt like her first time. It’d felt like her last.

  “Elise,” a woman called from behind a metal barricade. “Elise Brandeis.”

  They all three turned to face her, and Elise immediately untangled herself from the hold they’d had on each other and made a beeline for her.

  “Hi, Julie.”

  “Do you mind if I ask a few questions for a piece I’m working on? I’ll be quick. I know it’s a big night for you and your . . . friends.”

  “I’m sorry, how rude of me. This is Corey LaCroix and Nikki Prince. They’re both snowboard-X racers who train at the Lake Henry Olympic center with me,” Elise explained. “Corey, Tigger, meet Julie Chen. She’s a reporter who went to my alma mater.

  Corey examined the woman’s press pass, her high boots, her waif-like build, and her beautiful, dark eyes. Quite a combination: access, power, a personal connection, and a pretty face. She did her best to put on her polite smile.

  “I’ve actually done a lot of reading on you all this week. It’s nice to connect in person.”

  “You’ve been reading about me?” Tigger asked, seemingly pleased with the idea, but the hair on the back of Corey’s neck stood on end. Something about Julie’s smile didn’t sit right. She didn’t look at Elise like a school chum, and she eyed her like an heiress might regard the hired help.

  “I asked for you when the ski team picked up their USA uniforms last week in Munich and was told you’d already come through with the snowboarding team.”

  “The time slot worked better with my schedule,” Elise said breezily. “Sorry I missed you, though. I tried to find you after my last race in Italy. I wanted to give you the podium interview I promised.”