by Magan Vernon
Kelly jumped practically across the seat then stood up, turning toward the voice. I looked as well to see an older woman with short, curly blonde hair and an older man with a USA trucker cap and plaid shirt stretched across his wide belly standing next to her.
“Oh, hey, Mom. Hey, Dad. Blake was just saying ‘hi’ before he met up with his friends. I. uh, didn’t know you two were coming this early. Or that you were coming at all, Dad! What about the cows?” Kelly said, her voice wavering.
Did Kelly seriously just saw cows? I thought she was giving me shit about the dairy farmers. But there they were: real life Wisconsin dairy farmers at The Games in Korea.
“Well, we couldn’t miss your sister’s first game. Would have been here earlier if your father would have just agreed to use Uber. He seems to think it’s going to get us murdered, so we had to wait forever for someone to pick us up that spoke English from the hotel. But we’re here! And hopefully, Becca will be surprised too that dad’s here!” The small woman took a few steps down and embraced Kelly in a tight hug.
I smirked, standing up. I couldn’t resist meeting the family, so I put my hand out Kelly’s mom. “Blake Tremblay, Canadian snowboarder,” I said.
The woman’s eyes widened, and she smiled brightly looking between Kelly and her husband who walked down to her side. “Oh! Good to meet a friend of Kelly’s! I’m Diane, and this is my husband, Dwayne.”
The woman shook my hand then I put my palm out to Dwayne, who took it in his sausage-like fingers, giving me a death grip that was either a friendly handshake or he wanted to strangle me for putting my arm around his daughter.
“Nice to meet you both,” I said.
“As I said, Blake was just leaving,” Kelly said with a nervous laugh.
“Why would I leave? This game is just getting interesting and I think there are enough seats for all of us.” I shot a wink in Kelly’s direction, and she glared.
“Oh, that would be lovely!” Diane said, and I stepped out of the seat, ushering her and Dwayne to take the inner seats next to Kelly with me on the outside.
“What’s your game here, Blake?” Kelly asked through gritted teeth as she took the seat next to me with her mom on the other side.
“What? Me? Games. The only game I’ve got going on is the Olympics, babe,” I lied, putting my arm around her shoulder.
I thought she would hit me or glare again, but instead, she sighed and left it there. “You know my parents are going to have a lot of questions about this.”
“I’m sure they will,” I said.
“Oh, I’m glad we didn’t miss too much of the game! Only the first quarter!” Diane said, patting her daughter’s leg.
“How’s Becca doing? Get in any fights yet?” Dwayne asked.
Kelly opened her mouth then shook her head. “No. Um. I don’t believe so.”
“Sorry, sir, I think I’ve been distracting Kelly from watching the game, but you could probably ask Logan, if he’d ever stop yelling at the ref,” I nodded my chin toward the glass where Logan was screaming so loud I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
Dwayne laughed. “Logan’s always been my girls’ biggest fan. You know for a figure skater, he has one hell of a set of balls on him.”
Diane swatted his chest. “Dwayne!”
“What? Did I say something wrong?” Dwayne asked, blinking his brown button eyes.
“I don’t think the male figure skaters appreciate you talking about their balls,” I offered, leaning forward.
“Is it okay for me to talk about anyone’s balls?” Dwayne asked with a hearty laugh.
Kelly groaned. “Can you guys stop talking about balls? It’s really weird.”
“I’m just making conversation with your new friend, here, Kelly. Where did you say you were from again, Blake? Minnesota? That sounds like a Minnesota accent. Maybe even a little Upper Peninsula,” Dwayne asked, leaning forward and putting his big bear-paw like hands on his knees.
“Canada, actually, sir.”
Dwayne laughed. “Pretty damn close to the UP.”
“Yeah, but with better coffee and manners,” I said, pointing a finger at him.
That got Dwayne to laugh even harder. I couldn’t remember the last time I was able to joke with my own father or get him to laugh. There was something that felt warm and inviting about being with Kelly’s family and enjoying their company. But there was also a sick pain of guilt buried deep within me. All of this was happening because of a bet I agreed to. I bet I really didn’t want to be involved with. But now I was in the middle of it, and there was no way I was getting out. Now if I could just keep this girl and her wonderful family from finding out.
“I think I like you, son,” Dwayne said.
“I think I like you, too. Wanna switch seats with your daughter? I’m sure we could get the Olympic committee talking.” I wiggled my eyebrows which caused another round of laughter to erupt from Dwayne’s lips.
Kelly squirmed against me and opened her mouth to say something else but a buzzer went off, and the crowd stood, clapping.
“What just happened?” Kelly asked as we both stood and looked on the ice where the US skaters were all huddled together.
“That girl from Illinois. You know the one with the gap tooth? She just scored the winning goal!” Kelly’s mom squeed. “I’m glad we were here for this!”
Kelly’s mom embraced her husband then turned to Kelly and hugged her before she looked at me. “Come here, Blake. You’re getting in on this family hug too.”
“Okay, I can get with that,” I said and let her embrace me. I couldn’t remember the last time my mom had really hugged me for a celebration, and there was something warm about the woman who slightly smelled like mozzarella.
“We should celebrate with dinner. I’m starving. After that long ass plane ride with those little microwave fish meals that smelled worse than Grandma’s basement,” Dwayne said, rubbing his stomach before looking at me and raising a bushy eyebrow. “You wanna join us, Canada?”
“Oh, I don’t think—” Kelly started.
“I’d love to,” I finished.
I didn’t look to see the glare Kelly was probably giving me. I hadn’t eaten much that day, and I could use a bite to eat. Plus, it would give me a little more time with the girl. And if her family ended up liking me, well, the next step was getting her to like me. Then more.
Chapter 6
Kelly
I didn’t know why Blake was at the game in the first place, but I had a feeling it had something to do with my floppy haired skating partner. The one who smiled like a Cheshire cat as we waited near the locker room for Becca to get out and head to dinner.
“It seems your new boyfriend and Dad are bonding. What do you think they’re talking about?” Logan asked, nudging my elbow then pointing his chin toward where Blake and Dad were laughing.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t want to think about it.”
Logan shook his head. “Come on. You know you wanted him here.”
I scoffed. “Did not.”
“Well, at least you wanted him here before you knew your parents were going to get in earlier than expected. I thought your dad wasn’t coming anyway. Who is watching the cows?”
“I guess his new manager is watching them and he wanted to surprise Becca. Which was an even bigger surprise to me since dreadlocked wonder boy showed up,” I muttered the last part.
“Do you like him, Kel?”
Raising an eyebrow, I didn’t even look in Logan’s direction. “What?”
“I mean do you really like him? I haven’t seen you this fixed on a guy since that old partner of yours left. What was his name? British dude.”
“I don’t want to talk about Joe,” I muttered. “And why does it matter? He’s just here for The Games. We both are. Not like I’m going to fall in love or marry the guy.”
“Well, at least I don’t have to worry about going to Canada for a wedding.” Logan laughed at his own joke, and I rolled my eye
s.
“Just making sure if a guy is wasting this much time on you and you on him that it’s a good time wasted.”
I turned to face Logan. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Logan just grinned and looked past me at the girls coming out of the locker room. “I guess we’ll find out.”
***
Mom and Dad weren’t adventurous eaters, and Becca said she was so hungry she could eat an entire cow, so we all ended up crammed in a corner booth at McDonald's.
“Do they have McDonald's in Canada, Blake?” Mom asked, unwrapping her cheeseburger.
“Mom!” I hissed, looking at her across the table where she sat against the wall with Dad at her side. Becca was on the other side of Dad and Logan in between me and Becca with Blake on the end. Probably should have found a way not to have him so close to my mom.
Blake laughed. “Yeah. We do. I think they’re a little bit different than your American versions, but we do have them.”
“Tremblay. That last name sounds familiar,” Dad said in a gruff voice.
Blake hesitated with his burger in his hands. “It’s a popular Canadian name.”
Dad slapped his big bear paw of a hand on the table, causing all of us to jump and stare at him. “That’s why that name sounds familiar. You wouldn’t happen to be the son of them Canadian skiers? The ones who won more gold’s than any other winter Olympians and were in that gum commercial for years?”
For the first time, I saw Blake shrink in his seat. The guy always carried himself highly with a smile on his face and a laid-back attitude, but at the mention of his parents he was reserved and didn’t even try to hide it. “Yeah. Those are my parents.”
“Hot damn, they must be mighty proud of you for coming out to The Games, continuing their legacy like that. Hell, I think they were still skiing during Kelly’s first games. Breaking more world records before they retired,” Dwayne continued.
“Yeah. I think they might have been,” Blake muttered.
I wanted to ask him more about his parents and why he never brought them up. But then again, it’s not like we had many conversations that involved them after we talked about my dairy farming parents. I also hated to see Blake so reserved and not being the guy that was poking fun at me. Even though I acted like I hated it, there was something I liked about his little jabs. Something that made me feel normal.
“So, Blake, you ready for your event?” Becca asked, breaking the tension.
Blake smiled slightly. “Ready as I ever can be I guess. I’m not a star like Kelly, here.”
And just like that Blake turned the conversation off of him and back to me. Something I was usually comfortable with, but tonight I wanted to know more about Blake Tremblay. And I just had to figure out how I’d get to do that.
***
My parents headed back to their hotel after dinner to beat jet lag. Logan, Becca, Blake, and I all stood awkwardly in the parking lot.
“Hey, some of the girls from the team are drinking at the condo they rented just outside the village and asked if I wanted to join. I think I may stop in if that’s cool. Wanna come with?” Becca asked, looking between all of us.
“Sure. Couldn’t hurt,” Logan said.
“I think I’m going to call it a night,” Blake said, which took me by surprise. Surely, I thought after all of his talk at the hockey game he’d want to get me out of my element. But the look of defeat from dinner after talking about his parents was still there. Something I shouldn’t have pried on, but I couldn’t have helped being captivated by the guy.
“You know I think I’m going to call it a night too, Blake, would you mind walking me to my dorm?” I asked, blinking slowly.
Blake licked his bottom lip and nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”
Becca and Logan looked at each other before looking back to us. “Okay, behave you two,” Becca said over her shoulder before she and Logan started down the path in the opposite direction of our dorm.
“I’m this way,” I said quietly, pointing toward my dorm.
“Okay,” Blake said, nodding and walking in step with me.
We were quiet for a few beats before I let out a deep breath, letting it hang in the air as a cloud of smoke. “So, not a big fan of your parents?”
Blake laughed slightly, shaking his head. “What makes you say that?”
“The way you went from carefree guy to ice cold in a matter of seconds.” I smiled and nudged his shoulder. “The ice queen knows when a guy can turn to ice as well.”
That got a genuine smile out of him. “I guess it takes one to know one, huh?”
Without thinking, I looped my arm through his, my fingertips grazing against his jacket. “So, are you going to tell me why you’re bothered by them or am I going to have to take unflattering Instagram photos of you until I get it out?”
He laughed, his body tensing. “Not much to say. They’re Olympic royals, and I’m their kid who took way too long to get into The Games and a sport that wasn’t skiing.”
“Take it they’re hard on you?” I asked.
He let out a breath through his nose. “Yeah. You could say that. It sounds really stupid. I’m twenty-fucking-six-years-old and I let what my parents think get to me.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think that sounds stupid.”
“Yeah. To you. You have really great parents.”
“I didn’t always think that,” I muttered.
Blake raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
I sighed. “Your parents may have always pushed you, but mine have been the opposite. They support me, yeah. But they’ve never really got it.”
“What do you mean?” Blake asked, his free hand finding its way to mine, stroking it while I curled my fingers around his bicep.
I shrugged. “I mean you had the parents that probably spent money and time on all of this training and mine didn’t even want to drive me to the rink. I had to beg my grandparents to drive me for the first few years of skating then finally my parents noticed I was really into it, so they signed Becca and me up together. But it was just local rink stuff. I had to beg for them to let me train in Lake Placid. I even saved up my own money to pay for part of my trip.”
“They do care, Kel. I can see that the way they looked so proudly at you and Becca.”
I blew a raspberry. “Yeah, now that I’m a multi-gold medalist and millionaire.”
“Better than being the Olympic legacy who didn’t get in until he was an old man.”
I bumped his shoulder. “You’re not an old man. If you are, then I’m practically geriatric.”
“I think I did see a gray hair tonight at dinner.”
I stopped and put my hand on my hair. “What? Where?”
Blake let go of me and turned with the smile finally returning to his face. “I’m kidding. Your hair is fine. Perfect,” he murmured, his hand going to my hair and running his gloved fingers through it.
“Um. This is my dorm,” I said, changing the subject and looking away, so I didn’t kiss him. I wanted to, so badly. But what if he didn’t kiss me back? What if all of this talk was just him being a nice guy?
He had to make the first move if he wanted this to be something more and I hoped he did.
Blake looked up. “Okay, I guess this is good night then. Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow?”
I nodded. “Tomorrow.”
He leaned in, and I parted my lips, waiting. Then he smiled, and his mouth went to my cheek, giving me the softest kiss before whispering in my ear. “Night. Good luck charm.”
***
I always tried to catch at least some of the Olympic highlights on TV during the day. It was the easiest way to catch up on my competition, but I wasn’t expecting to see a beautiful set of blue eyes on the screen when I turned on the TV. The eyes that I looked into last night, wishing I would have given him a real kiss goodnight.
Not only was Blake on the screen, but his parents sitting next to him. It was the first time I’d actually seen parent
s appearing with their athlete this early in The Games, or at all, but I guess it was different when his were Olympic royalty.
They also weren’t what I was expecting. While Blake was wild with his dreadlocks, the tattoos poking out of his dress shirt, and a wicked smile, his parents were even more prim and proper than I was. His mother in her turtleneck and face that I swore didn’t move even when she smiled and his dad in a perfectly trimmed graying beard and matching sweater to his wife’s.
“So, Blake, what’s the scoop with you and Kelly Johnson and that Klake hashtag that’s been used over one million times?” A female, very smiley blonde reporter asked.
I widened my eyes, staring at the screen. Not just because Blake was looking especially good in his plaid button-down shirts and jeans, and I thought about how my sweater still smelled like his manly and woodsy scent. But because his face genuinely flushed when my name was brought up and our hashtag. One-million times?
I grabbed my phone off the dresser and turned it on, notification after notification from social media popping up. I didn’t even have this much on my feed when I made gold in Sochi.
Then I stared at the picture of us. Of his smile. And I thought of his arm around my waist; it seemed like those vibrant colored tattoos that went up, and down his arms radiated their own heat. He may have just been being playful, but I kept wondering how far those tattoos went up his arms. I may or may not have stalked his social media to get a better view of those tattoos. I was never one to care about ink on someone’s skin. It usually repulsed me. But on Blake, the swirling blues and whites creating a mountain landscape down each arm were a thing of beauty. One that I wanted to see in person.
“We’re both athletes, you know, here having a good time in the village,” Blake’s voice knocked me out of my phone trance.
“And? What else, Blake? That we’re the power couple like you said?” I found myself raising my voice as I stepped closer to the TV. What the hell? I didn’t care what we were. I was here for the gold, not to have a romance. My own words surprised me, yet I still found myself leaning toward the screen.