Chapter 38 Ari
Ari
Ari was trying her hardest not to enjoy herself.
But she couldn’t stop herself from feeling like she was meeting her real boyfriend’s family for the first time.
There was a warmth to Drew’s grandparents that she immediately fell for.
The four of them were seated at a round dinner table, and Drew’s grandparents kept finishing each other’s sentences and giving each other soft, loving looks.
As if they were just as in love with each other as they’d been from the start.
They ordered different drinks, he an Old-Fashioned and she a vintage white wine, sharing them with a casual familiarity and laughing like schoolchildren as they teased their grandson in front of who they thought was his new girlfriend.
“And then he showed up to the school dance wearing a full-body space suit.” His grandpa laughed as he told Ari a story about one of Drew’s childhood obsessions.
Each time Drew tried to steer the topic of conversation away from something embarrassing and toward the menu, Ari leaned forward and asked more questions.
“When he turned fifteen, I accepted that Drew was probably going to end up living with us for the rest of his life,” his grandma said with a chuckle.
“Please, stop,” Drew said. He looked mortified, but Ari could tell he didn’t really mind.
He looked more comfortable around his grandparents than she’d seen him anywhere else but behind his camera.
They seemed like the kind of tight-knit family that genuinely enjoyed spending time together.
Which was more than she could say for hers.
“Are we embarrassing you, honey?” his grandma asked sweetly, giving Ari a conspiratorial wink, as if she was already part of the family. Her heart swelled a little before she reminded herself that this wasn’t built to last.
“Andrew, you were a strange kid. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” his grandpa said with a chuckle.
They were in a cozy, rustic barn-themed restaurant that specialized in warm, homey Swiss comfort food.
The server kept coming over to ask for their order, but Drew’s grandparents were so invested in telling stories that they kept apologizing and promising to be ready the next time she came around.
After twenty minutes, she smiled and handed them some more plates of warm, freshly baked bread, telling them to take all the time they needed.
The bread was a permission slip for Drew’s grandparents to quiz Ari and Drew about how they’d met, how long they’d been dating, and why Drew had been hiding her.
Drew had a sweet relationship with his grandpa.
He expected a lot from him, but he doted on him, too.
And it was immediately apparent just how much Drew loved his grandma.
He was constantly glancing over at her and checking if she was okay.
As they interacted, she imagined the child he must have been when his grandma told him stories, and she got glimpses of how much like his grandpa he might become.
Drew kept shooting her please make this stop looks as she and his grandparents joked around at Drew’s expense.
But despite his embarrassment, he seemed comfortable—happy, in fact.
They’d held hands on the walk there to play up the whole dating thing, and at some point, he’d put his arm around her shoulders.
But she reminded herself that as natural as it felt, it was all for show.
“So, what are you ordering, Arikoishe?” Drew’s grandma asked.
Ari liked how older people committed to saying her full name; it made her feel like they were really paying attention.
Ari already liked Drew’s grandparents. They were warm and easygoing and made her feel at home in ways she didn’t always feel when she was in her own home.
She knew she would never see them again, but still she wanted them to like her.
“What would you recommend?” she asked, smiling over at his grandma.
“Don’t get her started on the menu.” Drew’s grandpa chuckled warmly as he glanced over at his wife with affection.
“I spent a summer in Switzerland in my twenties. Did Drew tell you that? I lived a vivid, exciting life before I married this old man,” Drew’s grandma said with a twinkle in her eye.
“Trust me, all of the food on the menu is incredible. But we’ve got to get the cheese fondue, some schnitzel, a bowl of ?lplermagronen, Rosti, a little bit of raclette, more bread, and maybe—ooh, there’s so many options,” she said, pointing to various dishes as she talked to Ari about her favorite travel adventures.
“What if we just order one of everything and share it?” Drew’s grandpa said, to everyone’s agreement. They were handing their menus back to the waitress when Ari noticed an abrupt shift in the room.
Everybody cast their gaze away from their menus and over at Ari.
No, they were looking behind Ari.
She glanced over at Drew. He looked startled.
His grandpa looked nervous, and his grandma cast Ari an apologetic glance. She had no idea what was happening until it was too late to run.
“Sorry I’m late. Practice ran over and—” Ari didn’t need to turn around to recognize that voice.
But when she did, she was immediately greeted by an oversized red puffer coat emblazoned with the Team USA logo.
The familiar face wearing it looked down at her in shock. It was Thandie. Thandie Dlamini.
It felt like the whole room went silent for a moment as everyone at the table watched them, waiting with bated breath to see what would happen next.
The moment was so tense that Ari felt like one wrong move would bring everything around her crashing down.
Thandie had the same look in her eye that she got in the first second of a competition, the intense focus that overcame her as she waited for the puck to land on the rink.
It was the look she got when she was about to scramble to take control of the game.
The determination of a person ready to tackle whoever she needed to in order to win.
Ari had seen that look dozens of times before.
But this was different. They weren’t on the rink, they weren’t playing hockey, and they weren’t with their teams. In fact, Ari was seated with three people who, on any other day, would have been wearing supporters’ jerseys for the opposition.
“What are you doing here?” Thandie said, so calmly it terrified her. But Ari still wanted the Dlamini grandparents to like her, so she tried to sound upbeat.
“Hey, Thandie, it’s nice to see you,” Ari said, nervous.
“No, it’s not,” said Thandie, shaking her head.
“Thandie, be nice,” said her grandma.
Ari felt like she was stepping out onto a wobbly tightrope.
“What’s going on here?” asked Thandie, shooting her family confused looks. But nobody answered her, they all just looked at Drew.
Drew opened his mouth, then clamped it shut.
Ari leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
It was like sitting in a nightmare. The kind of anxiety dream she got before a big match where none of the scenes or characters made sense.
When she opened her eyes and looked at Drew, she saw the blood draining from his face.
“Drew? What is she doing here?” asked Thandie, who, from the look in her eyes, had figured out that her brother was at the center of this mess.
“You didn’t tell your sister?” said Drew’s grandpa in a too-loud whisper. Thandie’s eyes widened. She looked at Drew, and then she looked at Ari. The missing pieces in the puzzle clicked.
“I’m going to need someone to explain what’s going on right now,” said Thandie.
But something dangerous was taking over Ari.
She was usually a measured person. She thought things through, kept the peace, and tried to de-escalate situations before anything could go wrong.
She’d spent her whole life doing that with her family and the past three months doing that with her teammates.
But something about Thandie brought out her teenage self.
Maybe Drew hadn’t planned this whole thing to throw Ari off her game, but that didn’t mean that Ari wouldn’t use it to rile Thandie up a little, to get her back for all the years she’d spent doing the same.
All was fair in love and competitive sports.
So, she found Drew’s hand, held it, and made a show of pressing them together until their fingers were intertwined.
“Thandie, me and your brother … we’re in love,” she said, blinking shyly as if she couldn’t help but tell the truth. Thandie looked horrified.
It was petty, childish, but Thandie had spent years messing with her head on the ice rink in retaliation for that accident all those years ago.
Ari had apologized countless times, but each sorry landed on deaf ears.
In fact, the more Ari tried to make amends, the more Thandie doubled down on trying to get into her head and throw her off her game.
Ari could write pages of accounts of all the times Thandie had purposefully tried to get her back, of sly moves on the ice, subtly cutting comments behind the scenes, and all the people whose perception of her was shaped by the image Thandie had painted in their heads.
So, it was only fair that she give Thandie a small taste of her own medicine.
“Ari,” said Drew, tilting his head and looking at her with a weary expression. She could tell that he knew what she was doing and why she was doing it. But at the end of the day, he was the one who’d gotten them into this mess. She was just playing along.
“You can’t choose who you love,” said Ari with a shrug as she patted Drew on the cheek.
“This isn’t happening,” said Thandie with a blank expression.
“Honey, take a seat,” Mrs. Dlamini cooed.
“You,” Thandie said, glaring at Ari.