AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The music swelled and so did my pride. Quentin glided up at my left side, Jasper on my right. We were in the home stretch—just a few epic moves to end things with a smash. Well, hopefully not a literal one.
I gave myself over to the second lift, letting Quentin grip my shoulder while Jasper swept my hips into the air. We spiraled around as one being, my arm and leg lifting to add elegance to the pose.
Then, with the cue in the music, the two men pushed themselves faster. They launched me into the air so I could spin with a graceful double toe-loop jump. I could have tried for a triple, but we’d felt that would be too risky with the unusual launch.
Almost there. I wove between Jasper and Quentin, forming an infinity symbol with my path as we skated forward, and then fell back into synchronization with them. As much as I wanted to look into their faces and draw confidence from them, I had to focus on my own portion of this next move.
At the trill in the song, we all pushed off into our triple Axels. My legs whipped off the ice, my hands outstretched towards the stands. I was defying gravity, flying high, and connecting with the ice in a stable landing that reverberated through my lowered leg.
Next to me, Jasper’s leg dipped to catch his balance. Not an absolutely perfect landing, but it was impressive that we’d pulled off the synchronized jump at all with so little practice. He regained his form in an instant.
We whirled together in a three-part spin that Niko had invented specifically for this routine. My heart soared as I leaned back with one hand extended. Watching this moment from the videos Niko had recorded had taken my breath away. I could only hope it was doing the same for our audience now.
But if it didn’t, I still knew the three of us were creating something marvelous, something bigger than we were as individuals. If the rest of the world couldn’t see that, there was nothing else left that we could show them.
The whirlwind that kept me in motion slowed, and we twined our arms in an ending pose that spoke of solidarity and devotion, our heads dipped together. My breath was coming hard, and I could hear the guys panting, but there was elation in the sound.
We’d completed the whole routine with no major mistakes. We’d offered up a performance like nothing the professional skating world had accepted before.
Now all that was left was the audience’s reaction.
In the first few seconds after the music faded out, there was total silence. My pulse gave a nervous hiccup.
Then applause rang out from the stands, along with a couple of eager whoops.
A smile sprang to my face. We turned and bowed together with clasped hands while the clapping continued. A sense of resolve glowed in my chest.
Even if this performance wasn’t enough to prove that we were more than a salacious news story and that our joint relationship was nothing to be ashamed of, it should have been. We knew what we stood for.
Now everything depended on just how closed-minded the skating officials decided to be.
TWENTY-FOUR
Luciana
Voices resonatedall around me beneath the rink’s high ceiling. Jasper, Quentin, and I had been ambushed by reporters the second we’d stepped off the ice. They seemed to be running some kind of rotation, talking to each of us.
Thankfully, so far everyone had sounded upbeat and even excited about the performance. The man aiming his microphone at my face right now was grinning. “Finally, I have to ask: what prompted the three of you to pull together this unexpected routine?”
I had to laugh. “I think that should be pretty obvious. There’s been a lot of talk about us in the news lately, and we wanted to show another side to the story.”
As the man nodded and made a few concluding remarks to the camera, Niko leaned his head over from behind me. “The comments on the live broadcasts are blowing up,” he said under his breath. “It’s all been really positive. The fans are loving the performance—and all three of you.”
A smile sprang to my lips, just in time for another reporter to dart into the gap in front of me. She pointed her mic toward me, her eyes shining.
“Luna Garcia, it’s great to speak with you today. What were you hoping to get across with this routine?”
The answer came easily. “All three of us wanted to show the skating world that there’s nothing wrong with us being together—in whatever way we’d like to be—and that we can create something amazing in collaboration.”
She rattled off a couple more questions. After I’d answered, she lowered the mic, her voice dropping to a hush.
“You know, I’ve always wondered if it wouldn’t be good to allow pairs skating with two women or two men and see howthatwould work out. It was thrilling to watch what you put together here—it makes me think there could be so many other possibilities.”
My smile widened. “I’d love to see more variety in pairs too. Everything doesn’t have to be so… so cookie-cutter standard to be beautiful.”
“I agree.” She lifted the mic back to her lips and glanced at the camera held behind her. “Well, there you have it, everyone—a statement from the woman herself. We can’t ask for anything more than that…”
As she turned away, a deep sigh escaped me. Slowly, we were making the world see what we could do. It might take a lot of time and a metric fuck-ton of work, but theywouldaccept us.
