Yet every time she told me how proud she was, my chest tightened with sadness. Deep down, I knew that there had to be gold at the end to repay the debt of her selflessness. She had been over the moon that I’d made the Olympic team, and she would be beside herself if I brought home a bronze or silver medal, but those things weren’t enough. For the person who’d sacrificed everything she had so I could follow my dreams, I craved gold.
Later that night, after I’d showered and fallen onto my bottom bunk, exhausted, Molly started chatting my ear off about Host Boy. He had a name (Duncan), but I liked to refer to him as Host Boy.
“We aren’t dating dating. I think his parents would freak out if they thought we liked each other, y’know? I mean, I’m only staying with them so I can train at Flyers. I shouldn’t even be paying attention to their son!”
“Yeah. Mmhmm,” I said, filling in with responses where I thought they should go. “No way!”
It was interesting information, but she’d repeated it on loop for the last hour. Duncan was a year older than her, attending his freshman year of college while living at home, and oh so dreamy. He was funny and great and “Did I already tell you about his dimples?” If I had to hear about him for another second, I’d suffocate myself with my pillow.
“I think we should go out,” I declared, sweeping my feet off the side of the bed and standing up.
Molly leaned over the top bunk, alarmed. She was wearing one of those Hannibal Lector moisturizing face masks. “Go out?” she asked, adjusting the mask. “But Coach Winter said we have to be at the gym really early tomorrow.”
I rolled my eyes. “We’re about to be that dude’s slaves for the next eight weeks. I think we deserve one night of fun. Besides, we really need to get to know each other better.”
She nodded. “It could be fun and if we go somewhere close, we could be back early enough to get a good night’s sleep.”
“That’s the spirit!” I clapped. “Now take off that mask and find your skimpiest skirt.”
“But I like Duncan. I don’t want to—”
I held up my hand to stop her. “By all means, put on your nun’s frock to save yourself for Dimpled Duncan. The skirt is for me.”
“Oh.” She smiled. “I have just the thing.”
I headed out into the hallway and pounded on Lexi and Rosie’s door. Rosie whipped it open with wide eyes and a grateful smile. I glanced over her shoulder to see Lexi sitting cross-legged on the floor with her laptop resting on the carpet in front of her.
“Oh! Look, here’s another plug-in model I can show you, Rosie.”
“What’s going on in here?” I asked, glancing over Rosie’s flushed cheeks.
Lexi finally looked up. “Oh, I was just showing Rosie a few of my favorite starter vibes on Amazon. Can you believe she’s never tried one?”
Rosie looked like she wanted to melt into the carpet.
“I wasn’t the one who brought it up!” she exclaimed, trying to clear up the situation. “Lexi said I was missing out if I’d never had…” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “…an orgasm before.”
“And I fully stand by that statement,” Lexi added.
“And before I could stop her she’d pulled up all of these vibrating…rabbits, and uh, wands. I didn’t even know Amazon sold stuff like that,” she whispered, the volume of her voice fading until her lips were moving inaudibly.
I had to fight not to laugh. Lexi and Rosie rooming together was a recipe for disaster. Rosie was a virginal lamb compared to Lexi, who probably had more sexual experience than all of us combined. If Rosie survived the month, I’d be surprised.
“Well, put away the research because we’re going out.”
“Finally someone is speaking my language!” Lexi hopped up off the ground and tore off her t-shirt. She already had a black dress on underneath.
“What the—”
She shrugged. “I was going to sneak out after everyone went to sleep. This is a much better option though.”
Rosie clung onto the door. “I’m happy to go, but do you guys think it’s a good idea?”
Lexi shook her head. “Rosie, Rosie, Rosie. You beautiful little starfish. Get your ass in some tight jeans and buck up. With any luck tonight, you might not need a vibrator after all.”
I laughed. “You guys have ten minutes to get ready.”
“What about June?” Rosie asked.
Oh right. June. I’d nearly forgotten about her. It’d be rude to leave her out, so I spun on my heel and walked down to the end of the hall. I pressed my ear to her door, waiting for the telltale sound of classical music. There was no music, but I could hear her on the phone.
“Yeah, we had a short workout today, nothing too intense.”
Silence.
“Oh believe me, Mom, they’re not any competition.”
She laughed and I braced myself against the door, listening.
“Brie’s probably the closest to my level, but she’s never been to the Olympics before. I, for one, won’t be surprised when she chokes.”
I waited a few more minutes, trying to calm my temper. When she hung up, I tapped on the door lightly and waited for it to swing open.
“June?”
Nothing.
I tapped on her door again. “June?”
When she pulled the door open, she looked bored to find me standing on the other side.