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"What exactly is lucky underwear?" Amber asked, taking a seat on her bed.
Lisa turned to face her. "The underwear you have on when great things happen to you." She pulled out a pair of black lacy panties and twirled them around her finger. "I met Blake wearing these. I won the World games wearing these and qualified for the international games wearing these."
Amber tilted her head, then cracked a smile. "Ah, I see. Clearly they're your lucky underwear."
"Right?" Lisa slipped them on, then resumed getting dressed.
Yes, she was definitely in a good mood.
"Have you ever been in love, Lisa?"
She straightened and looked at Amber. "If you had asked me that a few months ago, I would have said no. Today the answer is yes."
Amber felt a warmth spread all over her body at Lisa's answer. "You're in love with Blake."
"Yes."
"Tell me how you know it's love."
Lisa sat on the bed next to Amber. "I was someone who loved playing around. I liked dating different men. The thought of settling for just one was inconceivable to me. Guys are fun, you know? They're like donuts."
Amber arched a brow. "Donuts?"
"Yeah. Some days you want chocolate creme. The next day you might crave rainbow sprinkles. The day after that you might be in the mood for a maple bar. Why settle for glazed every day of your life when there's so much variety out there in your donuts?"
"Oh. Gotcha."
"But now, the idea of being with another guy just turns me off. All I want is Blake. All I think about is Blake. I want to be with him all the time, and when I'm not with him, I miss him. And that's so unlike me. As soon as I realized that, I knew I was in love with him." Lisa shrugged. "He's my favorite donut and no other donut will do for me now."
Amber laughed. "I'm so happy for you."
"Thank you, honey. I'm happy about it, too."
"Is Blake in love with you?"
"He is." She sighed. "He told me, and it was sweet and romantic, and oh, God, Amber, I'm not the mushy romantic type. What the hell has happened to me?"
So this was what it was all about. "You've fallen in love."
"I guess so. The weird thing is, I used to make fun of people like me. You know, the gushy, 'Oh, look at me I'm so in love' type. The ones who couldn't stop talking about themselves and their perfect partner. And now I am that person. It's disgusting."
Amber squeezed Lisa's hand. "You are not disgusting. It's sweet. You've found someone to have feelings for. Feelings that go beyond one night of hot sex. Someone you click with on an emotional level. Who wouldn't want to celebrate that? You deserve it, Lisa. You're one of the nicest people I've ever met. You embraced me when I was closed off, not wanting to make friends. You dragged me into your circle and made me open up and enjoy the experience of the games. You didn't have to do that and I'm so grateful. I can't think of anyone who deserves love more than you."
Lisa's eyes filled with tears. "Dammit, Amber. I have to go be a tough bitch on the half-pipe soon. And now you're making me feel all soft on the inside. How could you do this to me?"
Amber moved over to Lisa's bed and put her arm around her. "Oh, somehow I think you've got it in you to kill that half-pipe, even if you are mushy and sweet and in love."
Lisa laughed. "You're right. I do. And I will."
"Plus, you have your lucky underwear on. How could you possibly lose?"
"You are so right." Lisa stood. "Now I'm pumped. And I need to get my ass out there."
After Lisa left, Amber texted Will.
Where are you?
She went into the bathroom to put on makeup and fix her hair. Her phone buzzed so she picked it up.
Game room with the guys. You?
She texted back. In my room. Heading to watch Lisa soon. You going?
He replied quickly with, Yeah. I'll meet you at your apt. What time?
They made plans to meet, she finished getting ready and left the apartment to head downstairs.
Will walked into the lobby a few minutes after she got there. Even though she'd seen him every day for the past couple of weeks, she still got that gut punch whenever he entered a room.
"Some of the guys are coming, too," he said after he drew her close for a kiss.
"Same with several of the skaters. We should have a good crowd."
"More fun that way."
They started out the door and toward the lift that would take them up the mountain. "How was your practice today?" she asked.
"Intense. Coach worked us hard. But we're ready for tomorrow night."
"I'm so excited to watch your game."
He took her hand. "And then you skate the following night."
She inhaled and let it out. "I can't believe it's already here, that it's almost over. These two weeks have flown by. Well, almost three weeks since we both got here early."
"Yeah. Feels like I've known you forever."
It did feel like that. Maybe because they'd spent so much time together since that first night. She felt like she knew so much about Will. That probably had to do with their situation, of being together here at the games.
She wondered if it would be different if they had met under different circumstances, like at a party or through Lisa or something. And if they'd liked each other--which they would have, of course--and started dating.
But how would that even have worked with her living in Long Island and him in St. Louis? He'd already tried the long distance thing once and it had failed.
And why was she even pondering this? She already knew what she had going on with Will was just a temporary thing that would last only for the duration of the games. Once the games were over, so were they.
That thought left her feeling decidedly unsettled.
"You're sure quiet," Will said.
She lifted her gaze. "Thinking about skating."
He smiled as they entered the lift. "Yeah, it's hard to turn that off, isn't it?"
It was hard to turn off thinking about Will--thinking about the two of them and where they were going together. But she wasn't ready to broach that subject. Things were going well between them and she intended to take it day by day.
Because she was happy and content. So why worry about the future when the right now was perfect?
She laced her fingers with Will's and laid her head
on his shoulder, enjoying the ride up the mountain. The sun was a shimmering gold disk over the mountain, making the snow sparkle. Amber took a deep breath of the crisp mountain air as they reached the top. It would be a perfect night for Lisa's event.
She spotted Blake as they got to the seats. He was already surrounded by some of the hockey players and several skier friends of Lisa's. Telisa and Robbie were there, along with Rory and Tia and Brandon and Sergei.
Lisa would have a large cheering section.
They watched as all the snowboarders warmed up. They would go through qualifying first, and then as the field narrowed, semi-finals, until the final six ran two rounds. In Amber's opinion, they were all good. She could barely ride down a straight ski slope on a snowboard let alone fly through the air doing the kinds of loops these talented athletes managed. As far as she was concerned, they were all winners.
Of course, that's not how it worked. There was an intricate scoring process, much like that in figure skating. Lisa had explained the scoring to her one night four years ago when the two of them had stayed up late talking and getting to know each other. They'd shared information about each other's sports.
In the end, neither of them had understood the others' scoring process. Which wasn't a surprise since judging was always complex. She understood the scoring in figure skating, but that was it. So she'd just watch the scoreboard and see how it went, with ever-high hopes that Lisa came out on top.
The three US competitors also had very good chances to medal as well. It was going to be an exciting competition.
Amber cheered on the US team, who performed exceptionally well. One had just finished, and her loops and rotations had impressed the crowd.
"Wow," Will said as Patty Jones's score came up. "That's impressive."
Patty currently sat in first place, with Chloe Masterson, the other US competitor, in second. An Australian athlete was currently in third by the time Lisa came up for her turn.
Amber leaned forward, grasping Will's hand.
"You nervous?" he asked.
"I'm always nervous when my friends compete."
"But not when you compete."
She smiled. "No."
"Anyone ever tell you that you're a little odd?"
"All the time."
Blake stood and yelled, "We got you, Lisa! Let's do this."
The excitement was palpable. Lisa dropped in and immediately swept up into her first rotation. She flew high, did a backside 540 mute that was perfectly executed and went right into her next movement.
