Chapter 9
Shae-Lynn�s POV: Cursing under my breath as I caught sight of the clock reading 3:20, I began to run. The shuttle to the rink was supposed to leave at 3:15 and I was already late. Struggling with my massive skating bag that was overstuffed beyond recognition and the crowded lobby, I began to dodge people, hoping I wouldn�t bang into anyone. I guess you could say I let time get away from me. I spent most of my time �sleeping� actually thinking. I couldn�t get Victor off my mind. It was still a strange thing for me to admit�even to myself. I began to think of every touch, every glance he gave me. How each one gave me shivers up and down my body. I actually did fall into a deep sleep�.so deep that I actually slept through my alarm. I finally awoke with a jolt, took one look at the clock and ran. And that brings us to the present. I probably was a sight to see dressed sloppily in my Canadian Team outfit, my hair piled on top of my head, without a speck of make-up on. I glanced ahead and saw the shuttle. It was still there! Thank god! I began to pick up speed. I was going to make it. Then, to my horror, the bus began to pull away from the curb. Mumbling every swear I could think of under my breath, I decided now would be the perfect time to begin panicking. I decided to suck up any shred of dignity I had and began to chase the bus. This was absolutely the most mortifying thing I had ever done but it was better than listening to a lecture in Russian. The bus only got a few feet before it skidded to a stop. Thank god. The doors opened and I struggled to board the bus. �Sorry,� I mumbled to the driver as I got on. Looking annoyed he kept his eyes on the road. I glanced up to see the bus filled with amused looking Canadian athletes. I scanned the shuttle to see an empty seat next to a woman I didn�t know. Keeping my head down as to not make eye contact with anyone, I scurried to the seat. �Sorry,� I exclaimed rather loudly as I squished the woman into her seat with my skating bag. Everyone turned to look at me. I slouched down in my seat as I felt my face turn red. I hated looking stupid. Glancing up quickly, I caught the glance of an amused looking Victor. He was sitting next Tatiana who was busy talking in Russian to another coach. He grinned and tapped his watch jokingly. Exhausted, I held up my hand and shook my head. I really didn�t need to hear it. �What do you think happened to her?� whispered someone behind me. Groaning quietly, I sank lower in my seat and waited until we arrived at the rink. -10 Minutes later- The shuttle squealed to a stop in front of the Olympic Skating Complex and everyone began to gather their things and get off. Thank god. That had to be the longest bus ride of my life. The gossipy people behind me wondered �what made me so late� and from what I heard, the speculation is that I was sleeping with a member of the Canadian Curling team. Wonderful. I love how everyone had so much respect for me. Silently fuming, I gathered my enormous bag and stormed off the shuttle, whacking about five people�s heads in the process. I needed to get off that shuttle. �Shae! Hey, Shae-Lynn�wait up!� I turned to see Victor clamoring to catch up with me. He also had to struggle with an overstuffed skating bag. �Hey Vic,� I said weakly. �I was afraid we�d miss each other,� he smiled as we began to walk into the complex together. �Me too. Believe me, I was preparing to hear quite a few swears in Russian,� He grinned. �If you had missed that shuttle, that would have been a definite possibility,� The same ladies sitting behind me on the shuttle walked by, took one look at Victor and I together and began to whisper furiously at each other. �She�s sleeping with him too?� I heard one say. Victor looked at me stunned. I shook my head weakly. �According to them, I�m screwing everyone on this Olympic team,� I explained dully. It really hurt that people I didn�t even know were making up such stories about me, especially ones that were so far from the truth. He looked furious. �Just a second,� He said and walked right over to them before I could stop him. �Vic,� I called, trying to get him to come back. I saw him walk over to the ladies as nicely as possible. He said a few things to them and their faces dropped. I began to see them talk to him with apologetic looks on their faces and then scurry away as quickly as possible. �What did you say to them?� He rolled his eyes. �Just that they shouldn�t say things that first off, weren�t true and second that they didn�t want anyone else to hear. You should have seen their faces. Once you call people on things they say, they aren�t so high and mighty all the time. I smiled gratefully at him. �That was really sweet. Thanks Vic,� His face suddenly looked bashful and embarrassed. �It was no big deal,� he mumbled. He glanced down. �Um, I just wanted to say I�m sorry I didn�t come by today. I�� I held up my hand to tell him to stop. �Really, Vic it�s�� �No, it�s not ok,� He said softly. �Really, I am sorry. We should have talked,� �Well, we can do that later,� We approached the Ladies and Men�s locker rooms and stopped. �I was thinking the same thing. That�s why I was wondering if you were free after practice tonight,� My heart leaped. �Yes� I blurted out too quickly. I composed myself. �I mean, yeah�I�m free,� �Good, so uh, around 6:30, we can meet in the lobby?� I nodded excitedly. He grinned. �Ok, I�ll see you then. We should probably get ready,� I began to move closer to the ladies locker room reluctantly. �Yeah, I guess you�re right,� He reached over and brushed the hair out of my face. � Yeah don�t be late,� �Haha,� I replied sarcastically as we both walked into our respective locker rooms. Victor�s POV Practice had come and gone. Shae and I had done �Mack the Knife� so many times, we could do it in our sleep. We ran through it quickly and then got off the ice. We hurried to get changed and then quickly boarded the next shuttle to get back to the hotel. We grabbed a seat closer to the front of the bus and sat down. It was clear we both felt a little awkward and weren�t sure where to go. We sat in silence, both keeping to our respective side. � Don�t waste time. Tell her,� David�s words rang through my head. Taking a deep breath, I reached over with a shaky hand and took Shae-Lynn�s hand in mine. This was the first time I had ever really held her hand off the ice like this. She looked up and me with a small grin and squeezed my hand back. �What are we doing tonight?� she asked turning her body to face me. �Wouldn�t you like to know!� I exclaimed, still holding tight to her hand. She picked up on my apparently horrible use of flirting. She grinned and scooted closer to me. �Yes I would,� She hinted, batting her eyelashes. I leaned in closer. � Do you have something in your eye, Shae?� She began laughing and hit me playfully on the shoulder. �Shut up,�. �Really,� I explained. �I want it to be a surprise. You just show up in the lobby at 6:30 looking beautiful. That�s your only job,� �That could take awhile,� She joked pulling on a limp piece of hair falling out of her ponytail. �Nah, you look beautiful now,� �You really think so?� She asked with a small smile growing on her face as she looked up into my eyes. Feeling a little nervous, I nodded. She grinned and rested her head on my shoulder. Shae-Lynn�s POV: �Why do I have nothing to wear?� I exclaimed throwing clothes around the room. Jen sat on the edge of her bed staring at me as if I had three heads. �Shae, you have more clothes than anyone!� She responded calmly as she got up and gently pulled an expensive lace blouse out of my hand. �Ugh!� I groaned as I threw myself on my bed. I heard her giggle softly. �Jen, this is not a laughing matter,� I warned, lifting my head and throwing her the most exasperated look I could make. This, of course, made her laugh harder. �Shae,� She said as she sat beside me and rubbed my back gently. �Calm down,� �Calm down?� I shrieked as I sat up quickly. �I have no idea what to expect tonight! I don�t know what he thinks tonight is�what I�m supposed to expect. I have no idea what to wear for the occasion.�if I should go flat out sexy, or just comfortable, or comfortable/sexy. I don�t even know what kind of shoes to wear!� I let out a small whimper and buried my head in a pillow. �You really like him, huh?� I nodded into the pillow. �I don�t even know when it started but�wow��. She grabbed my hand and pulled me up. �No��I whined. �Shae-Lynn Bourne, stop being such a baby! If you like him, don�t let something like this slip away. He probably is just as nervous, if not more, than you,� I remained silent for a second. �You think?� She nodded. �Now, come on. I�ll help you find something. If you don�t like anything here, I know tons of other people who can loan stuff to you.� -An hour later- Finally happy with my appearance, I got on the elevator to go down to the lobby. �Have fun and I�ll be waiting up. I want to hear how things go, ok?� called Jen as the doors closed. I nodded and waved. I glanced to the side and admired myself in the elevator mirror. I had to admit that I looked pretty nice. Jen had an awesome pair of fitted black pants that looked perfect with the new Steve Madden boots I bought a week ago. Then, Jamie had a beautiful angora sweater in white. The cowl neck on it perfectly complimented the new diamond earrings my mother gave me for my birthday months earlier. I decided to wear my hair down since all week, I had it pulled back, away from my face. Then, we decided to play up my eyes more tonight and made them a little smoky and mysterious while using a simple pink gloss on my lips. I was thrilled to find some bronzer and a little pink blush at the bottom of my make-up bag. They both seemed to make my skin glow, which is hard to do in the middle of the winter. The elevator suddenly came to a stop at the bottom floor. The butterflies in my stomach began to flutter once again as the doors opened. I hesitantly stepped off the elevator and into the main lobby. I looked around and smile to myself as I saw him standing there. He was sitting by himself in the big, overstuffed chairs over by the coffee pots. He seemed visibly nervous, fiddling with the buttons on the cuff of his jacket sleeve. He looked so handsome that night. He wore a simple pair of khakis and a white button down oxford shirt with a navy blue tie. Taking a deep breath I walked up to him. Hearing the sounds of my heels against the marble floor, he looked up and smiled. �Hey,� He exhaled. �You look lovely,� That feeling that only comes around when he looks at me like that warmed from head to toe. �Thanks�so do you�I mean�� He laughed and shrugged off my comment. �I know what you meant,�. He grinned that goofy grin of his and offered his arm. �Shall we?� �We shall,� I proclaimed as I took his arm and he led me outside. Victor�s POV: �What do you mean you can�t find my name? Kraatz�Victor Kraatz. I called last night and I was assured a table by the window. Now you�re saying that you don�t have a table AT ALL for me?� I think I was about to have a heart attack. Little things like this�romantic, four-star restaurants losing your reservation on what was supposed to be the first day of the rest of your life�that is what drives people to ulcers and heart attacks. I glanced over at Shae who smiled and waved. I told her to sit in the waiting area so that she didn�t have to hear me try to beg for a table. She looked so beautiful�I hated to let her down. I rubbed my temples in an attempt to calm the throbbing headache beginning. �I�m sorry sir but there is no record of your name being here,� explained a stuffy looking waiter in a tuxedo. �Now, we apologize for the inconvenience but you sure picked a bad time to vacation here in Salt Lake,� I shot a look at him. �What?� He rolled his eyes and continued on in what I decided had to be a fake British accent. �The games?� He said slowly, as if I didn�t know what they are. �I know that the games are here,� I said in the same manner he did. �I competed in them, thank you,� His manner changed completely. � I�m very sorry sir but we are all booked up. You can wait around and we can give you the next available table,� I began to relax. �Good, when will that be?� He began to scan his book. �Let me see�.ah, ok the next available table will be in two and a half hours,� He proclaimed. My face fell. �Two and a half hours?� I glanced at my watch. �So, basically, around 10:30, a table will be ready?� �That�s the best we can do, Sir,� It was ridiculous for us to wait that long. Maybe it was a sign�.I didn�t know what to think. �Thanks anyway,� I said and walked back to Shae. She looked up at me expectantly. �So, what�s up?� I shrugged my shoulders and sat beside her. �Looks like they lost our reservations�sorry,� �That�s no big deal,� she responded. �This place looks too stuffy for us anyway. We'd probably end up running into judges and officials and members of the Olympic team," She acted exasperated. "And then, we'd be expected to TALK to them," " And what's the fun in that?" She rolled her eyes and grinned. "My thoughts exactly," She continued on. "Then they'd probably expect us to drink wine we couldn't even pronounce and eat snails or something," I glanced over at her and looked on with amusment as her eyes began to sparkle. I could tell she was trying her hardest to make me laugh. �Yeah, who wants four star cuisine anyway?� I joked as I got up and helped her up herself. �Not me�give me a micro-waved pizza and a diet coke�� �With lemon,� I substituted, as I held the door for her to exit the restaurant. �With lemon�and I�m happy.� Although Shae seemed alright with everything, I couldn�t help but think and wonder that I let her down and that I had sold out. If it wasn�t hard enough to tell the girl that you had been in love with for years how you felt, throw in complications like this. It was too late to get a table anywhere else decent. Maybe we could just hang out at the Athlete�s Village for the night. Maybe I could just wait until tomorrow or the next day to do it. Yeah, that�s what I�ll do. She looked over at me and smiled brightly. I smiled back, wishing I could tell her just how much that smile meant to me. �Don�t worry about it Vic. Really,� She insisted, as she reached over to give my hand a squeeze. As we walked the short distance from the restaurant to my car, I couldn�t help but notice what a nice night it was. The sky was absolutely clear. It was as we could see every star in the sky. On top of that, it seemed unseasonably warm as well. We could be outside, comfortably with our jackets on for hours, it seemed. Probably not a good thing for skiiers...Suddenly, I knew what I could do. I opened the passenger door to my car and helped Shae-Lynn in. �Can you give me just a second, Shae? I really need to make an important phone call� She looked confused. �Sure,� I grabbed my phone and moved a short distance from the car so that she couldn�t hear me. I quickly dialed a number and waited for a response. �Dave, it�s me. Listen, I know I�m asking a lot but I need your help. Think you can do me a favor?�
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