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“I got you two scoops,” Chandler said when she made her way into the room.
“It doesn’t count if one of them is for you,” Belle replied.
“I got myself my own ice cream.” Chandler pointed to another dish of vanilla ice cream without the syrup and whipped cream on it.
There were two trays on the bed because there wasn’t anywhere else for them to eat, so Belle sat down and took a French fry off of the plate, eating it and feeling grateful for fried food.
“I talked to Cat today.”
She looked over at Chandler.
“That’s what you felt all day.”
“What happened?”
“She texted her disappointment. She’d heard that I’d asked you to skate with me instead of me skating solo and that we’d come in third after the free skate. I texted her back that it wasn’t her decision because she’s on a break from being my coach. She called me, and it is clear that she…” Chandler picked up a glass that Belle had just noticed.
“Is that beer?”
“I got myself one, too.” She held it up. “So, cheers. My sister is a bitch, and she said some things to me today that I wish I could unhear, so I could really use this tonight.”
Belle didn’t want to toast to that, but she picked up her own beer and took a drink when Chandler did.
“It hurt a lot, and I knew we still had to skate tonight, so I thought not talking about it would be best, but you clearly picked up on it. Walker wasn’t as adept at recognizing my emotions as you are.”
“Well, I’m a woman.”
“True.” Chandler took another long drink of her beer.
“Do you want half of my burger?” Belle asked. “It’s greasy and messy and probably not very good because it’s hotel food, but it’s better than that grilled chicken and vegetable medley you’ve got over there.”
“I’m okay,” Chandler replied.
“Are you sure?”
“No,” she said and shook her head. “Belle, I’m sorry about today. I’m sorry we only got third because I couldn’t pull it off.”
“Hey, it’s the first medal I’ve gotten for skating in years, so I’m going to wear it proudly.”
“No, you’re not.” Chandler chuckled.
“I’m going to show it off, at least.”
“Your third-place invitational medal?”
“Chandler, I never thought I’d medal again. And with no prep time, and against male-female pairs, we medaled. Yeah, I’m going to show it off.”
“To whom, exactly? Your hockey buddies?”
“Yeah, they’re good guys. We pick on each other, but they’ll understand that this was a cool thing that we did and won’t give me a hard time for it.”
“I am so tired,” Chandler shared and quickly finished her beer. “I feel like I’m fighting my family all the time. And today, I was fighting you, too, and I don’t want to fight you. You’ve paused your life for this, and I’m just… sorry.”
“Do you want me to take my dinner to my room so you can get some sleep?”
“No,” Chandler replied quickly. “Can I ask something of you? You can totally say no. To be clear here, I’m not ordering or asking you as your employer or even as your pairs partner.”
“Okay.”
