Tian:xx
Jack:XX
I set the phone down, smiling so hard my cheeks hurt, my body still buzzing with adrenaline and heat.
Day two of the Big Air was all about tightening the field. Another three runs, each rider trying to outdo themselves and secure a spot in the finals. The conditions held perfect—clear skies, packed snow—and the crowd was louder than ever. I landed two of my three clean, upping my average and pushing myself into second place overall by the end of the day. Not bad company to be in, right behind Silvan Roth with Renji Sato breathing down my neck. Brett didn’t make it out of day two, but he didn’t seem that worried, just excited. Oh, to be that young.
And then it was day three—the final showdown. Each of us had three runs, but this time only the top two scores counted, so consistency mattered as much as risk. I was ready for it, my body humming with nerves and adrenaline, knowing this was where Olympic dreams could be secured or shattered.
The last jump was all or nothing. I dropped into the in-run faster than I ever had, board humming across the packed snow, and when I hit the kicker, I threw every ounce of myself into it. A backside 1980 indy, five and a half full rotations, and in the middle of it I added the twist I’d been saving—switching the grab from indy to tail mid-spin, a split-second adjustment that made the whole thing twice as technical. The world blurred, the roar of the crowd vanished, and it was just me spotting the landing, knees tight, body screaming from the G-force. I hit the snow solid, legs like shock absorbers, arms up clean. The crowd erupted, and my breath came ragged as I rode it out to the corral.
Jack was there today, next to my dad, both whooping and hollering.
Sato and I were vying for silver, with Sato already having completed his final run—Silvan had already sewn up an untouchable gold.
As soon as the scores flashed on the board, I knew.
Silver was mine.
FIFTEEN
Jack
The next daywas packed with hockey practice.
While I loved the sport to death I also longed to be with Tian. Yes, I was greedy. I knew he was doing the press circuit with his shiny silver medal and his parents. And I was super happy for him to be getting the accolades that he deserved. Still, I wanted him at my side whenever I wasn’t on the ice. So yeah, greedy Jack being greedy.
It helped that we’d put in an intense hour on the ice early in the morning to work on getting our lines to gel. I knew most of the guys here but knowing them and playing with them were two different things. Starry and I were paired up which was cool. We’d bonded over our time here listening to each other fart in our sleep. Plus, he was easy to get along with and knew about Tian and me, which made it comfortable. I could share the excitement of his medal while bragging how proud I was of him without getting funny looks.
Coach Delaney was a defensive-minded coach, so he was working to construct a team from the net out with a strong emphasis on structure, discipline, and seeking a strong defensive mindset from all five men on the ice. Lots ofdrills around neutral zone traps, shot blocking, position over possession, and frustrating our opponents. This was where Starry and I excelled if I dared to toot my own horn. We could suffocate the other team’s offense, which forced them to take low-quality shots far from the net. Coach Delaney, a retired D-man, worked us hard and expected results.
“Remember, our number-one challenge is going to be Canada. Yes, the Swiss, Finns, and Swedes are strong, but they don’t have the firepower that Canada has. I’m not a pretty man,” he told us at the end of our first team skate, making us chuckle. He was right. He wasn’t a pretty man. Too many fights and broken noses to be called pretty, kind of like me and Starry. “I don’t need a pretty win. I’m happy to win ugly. Keep those Canucks from our zone, grind their pretty boy speedsters down, and always be disciplined. Now, go shower. You all stink. And meet me and Coach Parkes back here at three to show our support for the women’s team as they take on Germany in their quarterfinal.”
We filed into the locker room, chatting, and I dived on my phone the moment I could wade through the throngs of sweaty men eager to talk hockey. I ended up having to go sit in a stall in the men’s room for five minutes of privacy.
Jack:Hey, it’s your Jack.
Tian:Hey my Jack. How was your skate?
Jack:Good. Lines are looking sleek; coach is pushing us hard.
Tian:Excellent. We’re having lunch in about thirty minutes at a chic little place Mom found online. Want to join us?
Jack:Yeah, I’d love that. Can we bolt after that to go cheer on the USA women’s hockey team?
Tian:Hell yeah!
Jack:Perfect. See you in a bit. Send me directions.
I raced through the shower, jogging out of the arena with wet hair. Not a great idea as it was chilly as hell, but a cold scalp would be worth it. Tian and I were grabbing every minute we could from here on out. Hockey was about to kick into high gear with games every other day. Sometimes there were four games jammed into one day, which was insane, but we had only so much time, so it was balls-to-the-wall.
Using a popular app to get a ride, I was at the little restaurant on a cramped side street in downtown Milan in no time. Tian and his parents were sipping something cold when I arrived. His mother was delightful, his father funny, and Tian was… well, Tian was everything. The meal was outstanding. Fettuccine with shrimp, and cannoli for dessert. I was stuffed. Tian patted my belly a time or two, but I wasn’t too worried about eating something rich while training so hard. I’d work it off.
With a peck on his mother’s cheek and a firm handshake with his dad, we had to leave them to watch the USA women’s team quarterfinal game. It wasn’t mandatory to attend the games or events of other teams from your country, but it was a common practice. Since Tian and I were Team USA, we got in without paying. There was a seating area set aside, first-come, first-served, which was why Coach wanted us here early. Tian and I got some looks, nothing too gawky, as we weren’t holding hands or anything like that. Not that I didn’t want to, but we hadn't even discussed our relationship, let alone what, when, or if we would announce we were dating.
Starry waved us over, so we sat beside him. I gave Tian a fast intro to our team and our head coach before settling back to watch an amazing game where our women’s team won big and moved onto the semifinal round in three days against France.
After the game, we spent some time in the Olympic Village, had dinner with a few other hockey players, and then had to go our separate ways. I managed to steal a kiss from Tian, in adamn men’s room, before heading to my room. Sneaking a kiss sucked, big time, but until we had our lives figured out, we were playing things super low-key. Not getting laid was supposed to be good for an athlete, they used to say. Pent-up aggression and all that silliness. No one really believed that nonsense anymore, but I wouldn’t mind a tiny bit of extra belligerence heading into our opening round.
