Page 48 of Floored By Love

“A text to Austin, Erika’s brother,” he blurted.

“What about Austin?” Cam said, a few seconds behind a very Cheshire-y Colton. I should’ve seen that happening. I glanced at O to see if he was still comfortable.

“Uh...we exchanged numbers yesterday,” O explained.

“Oh,” was all Cam said, putting his bag in his locker and pulling out his comp suit. “Ohhh.” It finally dawned on him.

Colton chimed in. “That’s great, Orion. If I wasn’t half-hitched myself, I’d bark up that tree.”

“Are you mad, Cam?” O asked.

Cam turned quickly, his eyebrows wrinkled. “Why would I be mad?”

O shrugged. “I dunno. Aren’t you close to his family? You’re like his brother or something practically, right?”

“I’m close with Erika. I didn’t even know Austin had…”

“Turned into such a muscle stud?” Colton finished.

“That. Definitely that,” O agreed.

“Not quite what I was going to say, but yeah. I hate to admit it, but I hadn’t asked about Austin in a few years, I guess.”

“So, you figurin’ out what to text him?”

O nodded and explained what he had received.

“Well, that’s easy, kiddo. Just remember to kiss.”

“Kiss what? Kiss him? How can I do that with a text?”

“No, K-I-S-S. Keep it simple, stupid.”

“You could’ve just said that, Colton.”

He ignored me. “Send something like, thanks, happy you’re here. Or thanks, winky face. Or thanks with a heart. Depends on what reaction you want from him.”

“I want him to like me.”

“Definitely the heart,” Cam and Colton both said at the same time. I nodded in agreement. I watched as O practically shimmied on the bench and typed.

12

Camden

I checked my phone again, remembering Luke’s cute texts during Brisbane that reassured me I’d do fine.

He hadn’t sent one.

I’d have to make do with sharing his coin. At least Luke was on board with that. I had texts, however, from Erika, my mom, and Grant, the last of which was a pleasant surprise. I knew his brother was in London, though I hadn’t seen him yet. Grant had stayed in the states. He wished me luck and attached a photo of him on set.

Soon after Brisbane, he retired from full-time gymnastics and pursued his childhood dream of becoming an actor. He went back to college for drama, but dropped out when one of his auditions panned out. He was cast in a recurring role on The Academy, a Netflix series about a high school for magicians. I watched it. He played the broody jock very well. It had already been renewed, and I was excited for the next season.

“You ready?” I glanced over at Noah and nodded. “You better loosen up. We’ll start soon.”

It was pretty clear Austin’s text had a positive effect on Orion. He scored a personal best on the floor routine. It was even better than my score. And Alex seemed to be on a mission to redeem himself after failing to qualify for the all-around finals. Colton proved why he made the pommel horse finals, too. Luke and I kind of just let them do their thing. We were second, but within reach of Japan. But four other teams were all within one point of us with three events left. Every medal was still up for grabs.

We were just waiting for the signal to move to the next apparatus. It was the vault, time for my big moment. If I landed it, it would be named after me forever. This moment was two years in the making for me and Noah. It was his idea to try it, adding another half twist to the hardest Tsukahara that had been done. I could do it in pike or tucked, but chose tuck for tonight. I had tried full, but there was no way I could generate enough force to get my body around.