Page 23 of Let the Games Begin
“I’d like to think surfer, but in reality it’s probably golf. You?”
“Someone once said I have the energy of a lacrosse girl,” Olivia said with a sigh.
Arlo whistled. “That’s low.”
“Right?” she said indignantly. “Like, yeah, I get passionate and maybe I would feel more powerful with a net and stick—”
Arlo started laughing.
“Oh no, I do have the energy of a lacrosse girl!” Olivia covered her face with her hands.
While Arlo tried to figure out if the six-foot guy who’d just walked past them played basketball or tennis, Olivia glanced up and saw an athlete she immediately recognized.Everyoneknew who Haruki Endo was. When Arlo spotted him, his eyes widened in recognition.
“Hey! We met the day before the opening ceremony, right?” Haruki asked as he came over toward them.
“Yeah, we did,” Olivia said enthusiastically, happy to see him again.
“Is this table big enough for the three of us?” Haruki asked, smiling over at Arlo.
“The more the merrier,” said Arlo, not able to hide the excitement in his voice as Olivia internally screamed at the fact that Haruki Endo was having lunch with them. Olivia didn’t get starstruck easily, but Haruki was one of her favorite athletes in theworld. She’d watched him compete at the World Aquatics Championship last year, and she’d been mesmerized by how easily he’d beaten his own 200m butterfly record. He was one of those one-in-a-generation athletes, and now, because Arlo had dragged her into the canteen, they were having a meal with him.
“What are you having for lunch?” Olivia asked. She knew all the athletes had different diets, but she was always surprised to see just how much the swimmers ate to balance out all the energy they needed to swim.
“I’ve got a big race later, so I’ve got to load up with some eggs, noodles, soup, and vegetables,” he said. “Want a taste?” He held his fork up in her direction. It smelled incredible, so she did have a taste. It was delicious.
So was that whole mealtime. She and Arlo sat in the canteen with Haruki for the rest of lunch. He answered all of their excited questions about what it was actually like to be an Olympic swimmer, debated the best sports film, and then asked Olivia and Arlo about what led them to the Village. Olivia knew that Haruki was friends with Zeke Moyo, but they were so different. While Zeke was annoyingly hot, dripping with charm and raw star power, Haruki had a warm boy-next-door vibe. Zeke brought out the impulsive, unpredictable side of Olivia, her quick tongue and her sometimes scalding wit. Whereas Haruki was the walking personification of “Do meet your heroes.” She knew that if she’d gone to university with him, they would have been firm friends. Haruki had the best personality of any athlete she’d met so far.
Olivia left lunch in such a good mood that for the rest of the afternoon she was sure nothing could bother her. When she was called to the referees’ offices to do an in-depth inventory ofclipboards and whistles, she distracted herself from the boredom by listening to a podcast about what it was like behind the scenes of the anti-doping department. When she was called to pick up plungers and drain-unblockers to help a plumber fix a blocked toilet in New Zealand House, she distracted herself from how gross it was by listening to the plumber tell her stories about some of the most high-profile athletes he’d unblocked toilets for. But then she got a call from one of the “Village experience” managers in the facilities department.
“Olivia, we need a little bit of help down in the canteen,” he said.
“Sure, what kind of help?” she asked.
“We have a code one-oh-five in the East Canteen but we’re short-staffed, so could you resolve the situation?” he asked.
When she arrived, code 105 was even worse than she could have imagined. Olivia was equipped with a whole trolley of cleaning supplies, but nothing could have prepared her for the floor of shellfish-filled vomit. Though when the nauseous Norwegian boxer apologized to her, she assured her that everything was going to be all right. Once the floor was clean and smelled like lemon soap instead of bodily fluids, Olivia ran to the staff bathroom, showered, and doused herself in perfume. The smell had lodged itself so deep into her consciousness that she couldn’t shake it off. But the second she got onto her phone, she was hit with an even more sickening sight: Lars Lindberg’s newest post on Instagram.
She’d resolved to enjoy the rest of the Games and not dwell on the summer she’d imagined having. But she’d forgotten to unfollow Lars, and, in some sick twist of fate, his was the first face that popped up. Olivia couldn’t look away as she saw just howdifferently his day was going compared to hers. He’d started the morning at a fancy team breakfast, and then he’d gone to the velodrome to watch cyclists race with the free tickets he and the other interns were given. Tickets that Olivia should have been given.
He was living out the Olympic summer that Olivia had spent her whole life working toward. And to top it all off, he’d just posted a photo captioned: “So excited to be celebrating the launch of Zeus Athletics’ latest collaboration tonight with my friend the Olympic-medal-winning Zeke Moyo!”
Olivia let out a quiet groan as she clicked on the Zeus Athletics page and saw that Zekewasin fact being interviewed at an event that evening being hosted by Lars. Remembering that he was sponsored by Zeus Athletics was a bit jarring. After all, the Lindberg family business had just been the subject of a intense investigation into a years-long sweatshop scandal. Some part of her knew that it wasn’t fair to judge Zeke for being friends with Lars. Zeke was also friends with Haruki, who was kind and down-to-earth. Olivia knew better than anyone that sometimes you had to get along with people you didn’t necessarily like to get to where you wanted to go. But she couldn’t reconcile the idea of the funny, charming, slightly cocky guy she’d spoken to that morning being friends with a guy like Lars. So rather than trying to find excuses for him or separating the two very different sides of Zeke that his friendships suggested he could be, she resolved to take him at face value. And she decided to unfollow Lars.
If there was one thing that her last summer’s fling had taught her, it was just how easily she could cast aside her better judgment when faced with a guy she maybe kind of liked. But she couldn’t get sidetracked again. So, she vowed not to let herself get pulledin by Zeke’s charm. Or his smile. Or how outrageously hot he was. Because daydreaming about him would be irresponsible, wouldn’t it? Letting him flirt with her and flirting back would be a poor decision, right? Zeke Moyo was a bad idea. But that didn’t stop Olivia from wondering when she’d see him again.
21Zeke
DAY TWO OF THE 2024 OLYMPICS
Zeke had been in the game long enough to know how to play it. Of all the kids of corporate executives and heirs of billion-dollar companies, Lars Lindberg was far from the worst. Yes, he was a bit rude to service workers and he posted photos with everyone he met with overfamiliar captions to make it seem like they were friends. But compared to the other superrich kids Zeke knew, Lars wasn’t that bad. And he was definitely going to take over the company when his father retired. So, Zeke made small talk and shook hands with Lars, the son of the CEO whose hefty sponsorship money funded Zeke’s athletics career.
“We’re so glad to have you here with us today, aren’t we?” said Lars, once the two of them were onstage for the press launch of Zeke’s latest collaboration with Zeus Athletics. The whole room erupted into applause. Zeke flashed them a smile and sat up straighter in his seat.
Zeke hadn’t done as well as he usually did in morning training because he’d woken up with a familiar, unplaceable sense ofanxiety. Running usually made him feel better; the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other was the easiest way to distract himself from his thoughts. But that day, he’d left the gym feeling worse than he’d felt when he’d walked in. His anxiety only got worse that evening when his Zeus Athletics interview began.
“First of all, Zeke, tell me, what’s your favorite thing about Zeus Athletics?” Lars asked.
Zeke was drinking water out of a Zeus Athletics cup while wearing a Zeus Athletics tracksuit in front of a Zeus Athletics backdrop on a Zeus Athletics stage in the middle of a Zeus Athletics venue filled with Zeus Athletics executives. It felt like overkill to talk about how much he loved working with his brand sponsor… Zeus Athletics. But that’s what he was there for.
