Chapter 13
Thirteen
Caleb didn’t really want to go to practice.
He and Hawk had been having such a good time. Opening Ceremonies were tomorrow, and he knew he was going to have to go up to Livigno the day after and get to practice. The preliminaries started two days after that, so he had to get familiar with the pipe.
But it sucked. He wasn’t ready to leave Hawk’s hotel room or lose Hawk’s quiet sense of humor and his great big, muscled body.
They needed to talk about what was going to happen after the opening ceremonies.
If anything was going to happen. Caleb had this half-ashamed, half-hopeful feeling they would see each other again after the Olympics, or even during, and that things would keep going.
But he wasn’t sure how to articulate it.
He watched Hawk fill a plate at the hotel’s breakfast buffet, which Hawk had quietly slipped the attendant money for him to able to eat there, too.
Italian breakfast buffets were awesome, with lots of cheese and meat and other protein options. Croissants and yogurts, and sometimes omelets. This was a fancy hotel, so they had some eggy options.
The best part was that there was an employee who was made espresso drinks to order, so he was able to get his cappuccino.
After they both filled their plates with a bunch of yummy stuff, including a piece of wedding cake that was left over from a wedding the hotel had hosted yesterday, they found a quiet table near the patio entrance that would be amazing in the summer, he was sure, and sat to eat.
And suddenly, now seemed as good a time to bring things up as ever. So Caleb took a deep breath and a sip of his cappuccino, not at the same time because then he would have choked. He wanted to just get it out there.
Hawk glanced up from his breakfast and gave Caleb a tentative smile. “You’re looking very serious all of a sudden.”
“Am I?” His leg started to bounce, and he registered it, but he didn’t stop it. The motion would help. “I guess so. I, uh, wanted to talk about what happens after today.” He felt so connected to Hawk that he didn’t want this to end.
Hawk didn’t seem surprised at all. In fact, relief flashed in those silvery eyes. “I’m down. What’s the plan?”
“Well, for me, it’s to see you again. Like, after the opening ceremonies, and after the Games.”
Now Hawk gave him a broad smile, reaching across the table to touch the back of his hand. “This aligns with my plan.”
“Woo, good deal.” Caleb let out a hard breath. “That’s half the battle right there. The fact that we’re on the same page.”
“Yep.” Hawk sent back, cradling his coffee. “So in terms of the Games, the opening is tomorrow, which I’ll be smashed all day, and I think so will you.”
“Pretty much. But if I could stay here tomorrow night, I would really appreciate it.”
Hawk shrugged easily. “Of course you can. You know that. Even if it’s just to crash and not do anything else.”
“And I probably have to head up to Livigno the day after. There’s no official schedule, but we’ll all be trickling in because we’ve got to do our practice runs and stuff before the prelims.”
“Right. I’ll be doing a bunch of press junkets that day, but the tournament doesn’t even start for me until after your first two prelims, I think.
I’ll double-check the schedule. If that’s the case, I’ll be able to hop on the train and come up to Livigno for at least one day of your prelims.” Hawk’s smile fired up even brighter at that idea, and it made Caleb proud to know that Hawk wanted to come watch him.
“Depending on what they schedule for me, I might not be able to stick around for your medal round, but I can probably make it to your medal ceremony if you win anything.”
“You mean, when I do,” he scoffed.
“When you do.” Hawk amended. “Absolutely.”
“So when I’m done with that, I could come hang out with you whenever you’re not working, if that’s okay. The men’s tournament in hockey takes way longer than snowboard stuff.”
“I’d love that. You’re not worried about people seeing us together and adding two and two.”
Caleb chewed his lower lip for a second. “Are you worried about it?”
“These days, no. I don’t owe anybody my private life.”
“Cool. I feel the same way.”
Caleb’s chest loosened a little. That was hurdle number one.
Hawk picked up a piece of wedding cake on his fork and studied it, then chewed thoughtfully for a moment before going on. “Do you want me to tell the guys I’m working with now so there’s no weird awkwardness?”
“You would do that?” The idea made his whole body clench up just a little bit because that was a serious thing. If Hawk talked to his co-workers about them, then Hawk intended for him to hang around and meet them and stuff.
“I totally would. You’d like Casey a lot. She would love for us to hang out with her wife and have dinner or something.”
“Can you wait until after the medal round for me?” Was that cowardly? Maybe. But he really needed to focus on his medal run over the next five days or so and not on anything else.
“Of course, of course.” Hawk nodded his expression incredibly serious. “I would never do anything that would disrupt your focus on that.”
God, Hawk was like the perfect guy. He really was.
“Cool, cool, cool. That’s what we’ll do. We’ll wait until after the medal round, no matter what happens. And then we’ll get back together, and I’ll hang out with you, and we can tell some people.” Honestly, it seemed like a huge step, but it also seemed like the most natural thing on earth.
Hawk grinned at him across the table, nodding. “That sounds great, and you know if you change your mind, we can do it differently.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, I guess we’ll see how I feel after the medal round, huh?”
He didn’t say it, but he knew Hawk understood what he meant. He might want to be alone for a little while and lick his wounds if things didn’t go well.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make it work.”
This was the first time he had been part of a “we” in his entire adult life.
His sport was a solo one, and while he was on Team USA, it wasn’t like having a hockey team like Hawk had or anything like that.
He got along with his fellow competitors, but they weren’t besties.
And he’d never really had a full-time traveling partner like some of the guys and girls did.
This was new.
They ate their cake and meat and cheese and chatted. Hawk reached over to touch his leg under the table, because it was just a tiny table for two, and it felt like they were together, like they were part of a pair.
Maybe they could be a couple.
Though Caleb knew it was way too early to be thinking about stuff like that, it didn’t stop him. But it was premature, probably.
He could go around and round about this all day, or he could simply enjoy spending time with Hawk, and that was what he wanted to do. So he put his hand over Hawk’s where it sat on his leg and squeezed. “We gonna do anything fun today?”
“What do you want to do? We could wander around and see some of the city, we could go to a museum, we could get out of town and do something not related to the Olympics…” Hawk gave him a wry smile.
“I have no idea what there is to do. I’m way more familiar with Rome, and I’ve been to Venice, but this is my first time in Milan. ”
“I’ve been in this area before for competitions, but I’ve never really had time to explore. Do some museums or something. Once my competition is over, and there’s a day you’re not working, then we could take a day trip.” That seemed fair, right?
“I like it. Let’s do it.”
He licked the wedding cake off his fork and let himself make some little fantasy plans in his head. It was going to be a great day, and he couldn’t think of anything else he’d rather do than hang out with Hawk.