Page 21 of Ice Princesses
He shrugs, like this is casual. “You know how people call Isabella ‘Princess’?”
I don’t answer.
“I think I should have something like that,” he continues, completely serious. “A totally kick-ass nickname.”
I stare at him. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not?” he asks.
“You’re not getting a nickname. It’s ridiculous.”
He ignores me completely as he heads to the mirror behind the door to the apartment. “Obviously, king and queen are taken,” he says, ticking it off on his fingers. He’s watching me from the reflection as he arranges his hair, running his free hand over the strands in wispy, controlled movements. “That’s her parents. And in any case, it has to be something specific to me.”
“Oh my god, who are you and what have you done to my sweet, humble athlete?”
Rodrigo laughs loudly, then turns to face me.
“Think about it, Ceci,” he says, casually again. His eyes are shining and there’s a small crinkle at the corner of his right one. It’s something that happens only specifically when he’s trying to rile me up. “Everyone important has one.”
I close my eyes briefly and take a deep breath.
“What about… Quad God?” he offers. “Or, no. Triple Jump Master.”
“Quad is more than triple.”
“But it has to be in English,” he adds, warming up now. “So it has more of an… international appeal.”
“You are not branding yourself.”
He grins. “It’s not branding, Ceci. It’spresence.”
He says the word in English, with a slight mocking tone. I imagine he’s picked it up from hanging out with the other athletes, probably making fun of us coaches collectively as a form of entertainment.
A knock hits the door before I can respond, followed by Katia’s voice from the hallway.
“Master, if you’re not out in ten seconds, I’m leaving you behind.”
He lights up instantly and chuckles under his breath.
“Okay, I hear it now,” he says. “Maybe I need to workshop it a little more.”
He grabs his phone from the table and turns, already halfway out the door.
“Have fun tonight,” he says and winks at me with that sparkly right eye. He laughs, loud and easy, and then Katia is dragging him down the hallway and into the elevator bank, her voice overlapping his as they disappear down the corridor.
The door closes behind them, and the room is quiet again.
I sit there for a second longer, before looking down at my phone again. Sandra’s name is still pinned at the top of my messages. We haven’t spoken since we got here. Not properly, at least. Just a few short exchanges to let her know we got in and were settled and starting training.
I hesitate because the moment I call her, she’s going to come down hard on me. I wouldn’t expect less of my friend of more than twenty years, who also happens to be my sort-of, kind-of boss in this whole skating thing.
“Tell me you didn’t wait a full week to call me because you’re busy,” she says instead of hello. She picked up on the third ring, just like every time I call her, because she loves to leave me hanging like that.
I walk to my room and sit on the edge of the bed, pulling a leg underneath me.
“Ihavebeen busy.”
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
