“Welcome everyone to the International Cubing Federation USA National Championships,” she announces with a big smile, and the crowd cheers.
She goes over the etiquette of watching, reminding the audience that they need to keep quiet to allow all cubers an equal and fair chance at concentrating on their solves. Then she checks her clipboard and announces the first event of the day.
Felix comes out for the first round, not looking out to the audience. He is completely focused on the table he’s assigned to. I watch as he nods to the judge and flicks his fingers over his Skewb to warm himself up. Once he sets it down and places his hands at the ready, the judge lifts the box to reveal his scramble, and it’s a blur as Felix’s hands come off the board and solve the cube in less than two seconds.
I lean down to set my drink on the floor so I can clap, but no one else looks like they’re going to applaud, so I pretend toscratch my ankle before raising my coffee to my lips and taking a nervous sip.
Lukas’s mom leans over her husband to say quietly, “It took me a long time to get used to that too.”
I just smile uncomfortably at her before turning back to the stage, where Felix is looking out at the crowd. I can tell when he spots us because his lips tip up in a hint of a smile, and then he’s grabbing his Skewb from the table and heading into the back to wait for his next scramble.
Without any of my guys on the stage, I let my eyes wander to the other competitors, noting their times. They’re good. Better than most of the competitors I saw at the local one I’d gone to for the newspaper, but that makes sense since these are supposed to be the best of the best in the country.
As I shift my gaze to the crowd around me though, I realize that just like at the local competition, I am one of the few people here who is actually interested and impressed by what’s going on onstage. There are a lot of parents in the audience doing things like knitting or reading, only occasionally pausing to check if their kid is on the stage competing.
At the end of the event, they announce who is moving on to the next round and we’re allowed to clap. I’m just glad Felix’s name is announced. I would feel gutted if he didn’t make it to the next round. I want all of the guys to win.
While the organizers and volunteers set up for the next event, I anxiously sip my coffee. Families, including the guys’ families, are starting to turn to each other and chat quietly.
I can’t hear what they’re saying. I wonder if they’re talking about me. Then I wonder if it’s egotistical to think that, even if it’s realistic that they might be chatting about the girl their sons brought along to an important event.
I watch them out of the corner of my eye, pretending that I’m focused on all the happenings around us. They look socomfortable with each other. It’s clear they’ve known each other for a long time. As the volume in the room rises, they have to talk louder, and I can hear them asking about different family members and memorable events. It makes sense that if their kids have been friends for so long and competing together, they would also spend time together and get to know what’s going on in each others’ lives. And there’s clearly not much else to do at these events but chat.
Chapter Seventeen
My phone vibrates in my bag and when I pull it out, I see it’s our group text.
Meet in the hall for lunch?texts Lukas.
Can you bring our parents too?Sebastian asks.
“The guys are ready for lunch,” I say, turning toward their parents. “They’ll meet us out in the hall.”
Felix’s mom smiles calmly as if everything is going to plan, following me into the aisle to wait for the others. The other moms hustle along, shooing their husbands ahead of them. For their part, the husbands seem perfectly content to be shooed.
It doesn’t escape my notice though, that the moms are suddenly looking at me a little more intently for some reason. I sigh, turning away so no one sees. Lunch is going to be awkward, but I’ve been through worse—like my own family dinners, for example. At least I don’t anticipate any arguments breaking out today.
“Ready?” I ask to make sure we’re all together. It’d be embarrassing to lose one of their parents on such a short walk. Not that we couldn’t find them, but I’d look pretty inept if my one job was to get the parents to their sons and I couldn’t even handle that.
I thought heading out into the hallway would be a relief, but I was wrong. Everyone else is having the same idea we are right now. Luckily, the guys are already here, hovering near the wall to our left as soon as we come out.
The moms all race forward to hug their sons. The dads hang back a little to let the moms do their thing, but when they have the chance they move forward to do that hug-and-clap-on-the-back thing that men do. I suddenly wonder what happened to Felix’s dad. Why isn’t he here?
Am I a bad friend? I have probably asked them hundreds of questions about speedcubing, but how many have I asked about them as people? Or about their families?
Once the parents have said their hellos and congratulated Felix on his win, all four of the guys move toward me, but I take a step back, willing them to understand that they have to act like any normal, non-sex-having friends would. They agreed to no PDA. And their parents are watching us, waiting to see how this will play out, probably hoping they’ll get some answers about who, exactly, I am to their sons.
Not even being able to answer that question myself, I know I shouldn’t care what their mothers think of me.
But I do. I want them to like me.
There’s an uncomfortable moment where the guys and I just all stand there looking at each other, me silently begging them not to be weird and them trying to figure out what to do with their bodies now that the hugs they were obviously primed for aren’t going to happen.
Sebastian’s mom, Andrea, saves us from ourselves, stepping forward and clapping her hands together once. “Where should we go to lunch?”
“We can go to the hotel restaurant,” suggests Lukas.
“I second that,” says Sebastian. “Then we’ll be close by and can easily get back for our next events.”
