Page 56 of Let the Games Begin
“What were you doing before you found me?” he asked.
“Walking to the shuttle stop,” she said, having long forgotten her 5:15 p.m. shuttle.
“I’d call you a taxi, but I think you’d give me a look and say—”
“I can order my own taxi?” she said with a smile. “The shuttles run every fifteen minutes on competition nights. I’ll be fine.”
They walked together to the bus stop.
“Olivia, let’s go out. On a real date,” Zeke said suddenly. “Just name the day. I want to know when I’m going to see you again.”
She wanted to make a joke and jump on the bus. Act likeeverything was just casual to protect herself from the threat of completely letting herself go. But August wouldn’t last forever. In just over a week, the Games would be over and everyone in the Village, including Zeke, would be gone. This summer was too short to stop herself from experiencing what it would be like to put all of her cards on the table.
“The day after tomorrow?” she said. He looked directly into her eyes, and the intensity she’d grown used to craving was replaced with something softer, more tender.Oh no, she thought. She was too happy and too far gone to turn back.
45Zeke
DAY EIGHT OF THE 2024 OLYMPICS
Zeke spent the whole night thinking about Olivia. The dates he could take her on, the stories about her life that he wanted to know, and the parts of himself he wanted to share with her. He’d liked her from the moment she’d convinced him to sing in the middle of that opening ceremony after-party. And his thoughts had been consumed by her since that night in the lift.
He hadn’t felt this way in a long time. And he’d never felt this way so soon.
As he walked into his bathroom, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.Uh-oh, thought Zeke, as he saw the dazed look on his face and the smile he couldn’t hold back. He was falling for Olivia, plain and simple. The free fall felt like flying.
But then he remembered that Haruki had been screening his calls or texting to say he was in training ever since that night at Olivia’s apartment. Zeke hadn’t got the chance to explain himself or apologize. But he knew that they needed to talk about everything that had gone down the other night, so he called himup again. This time Haruki did pick up the call, but said he was too busy to speak and promptly hung up. When the call ended, Zeke just stared down at his phone, feeling the guilt. He tapped Haruki’s contact page and looked at the photo he’d saved to his profile. It was a photo of them laughing at the Tokyo Olympics. He couldn’t remember the joke anymore, and the details of the day they’d taken it were fuzzy and distant now. But they looked happy, comfortable with each other, like family. He’d done his best to repress the guilt enough to continue things with Olivia, but he couldn’t deny it anymore. Zeke had seriously messed things up with his best friend. He had to make it right, and the only way to do that would be to find Haruki and have a conversation long and honest enough to apologize. But Haruki was about to go into a swimming session so he couldn’t hunt him down until the evening. And Zeke was scheduled to be at the athletics track in ten minutes. He had to make things right with his best friend and do it as soon as he could, but that conversation would have to wait until after training.
In the days leading up to his race, Zeke’s schedule got tighter and his routine got stricter. He knew he was supposed to channel his energy into increasing his speed, perfecting his stride, and doing all he could to run better than ever before in the final. But he spent the whole of practice distracted, going back and forth between trying to come up with ideas for his date with Olivia and forming a game plan for apologizing to Haruki.
After training, he bumped into Valentina. She was on her way to get some gelato, so he decided to tag along.
“By the way, Olivia’s flatmate gave me this the other night when I got cold,” Valentina said, giving him a blue cardigan.
“Why are you giving it to me?” said Zeke. Valentina liked to fairy godmother her way into people’s lives.
“To give you a reason to go and see Olivia again, duh,” she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Because I know you’ll wait six months to text her.”
“I asked her out yesterday,” he said.
“You did?” said Valentina, looking up in surprise. Zeke’s friends always teased him about moving too slowly when it came to a crush.
“This is not the Zeke I know,” she said, sounding impressed. “Usually you take two weeks to ask for her number, spend six months just being her friend, and then ask her out after ten months once you’re already in love.”
“I don’t do that,” he protested.
“You either do that or meet a girl you only half like, hook up that night, and never see her again,” she said, making a not-so-subtle reference to the brief romantic encounters he’d had in the last year that had been documented on gossip accounts and blind items.
“That’s kind of a pattern, isn’t it?” Zeke shrugged.
“So, if you’re already texting her, making plans with her, and aren’t tempted to run away… you must really like her,” Valentina said. It was a statement, not a question.
“I do… really like her, and I’ve told her that,” he admitted.
Valentina squealed. “Really? And what did she say?” she asked, loving every part of this conversation.
“That she liked herself too.”
“Oh, you’ve met your match,” Valentina said as they both laughed. She put her head between her hands to listen whilehe told her everything—well, almost everything. The first time they’d met, what he liked about Olivia, and how he felt about her. Then he admitted that, as delicate and risky as it seemed, he wanted to give this—whatever it was—his all.
