Chapter 8
CHAPTER
EIGHT
CHARLIE
Practice went great. Charlie was finally used to Coach Brady’s directions, and she thought the team was working more cohesively.
In their practice, Charlie scored two flawless goals; a real feat, because Campbell was a beast in net.
It was a welcome distraction from her unanswered texts from yesterday, and Charlie was happy to have something else to focus on.
“You must all get your rest tonight, because we have to be on our best behaviour tomorrow,” Coach Brady said as the team headed back to change and leave the rink to the next practicing team.
That was fine by Charlie, because she was ready to finally turn her brain away from thoughts of gorgeous women and toward hockey strategy.
They were playing against Sweden tomorrow, and she needed to do some extra reading on their coaches and players.
While the coaching team gave them all a rundown, Charlie had a long email’s worth of game tape to watch for the rest of the day.
She walked through the Olympic Village with a lightness that she hadn’t felt in some time.
Though Charlie put a lot of pressure on herself when it came to hockey, she genuinely enjoyed the sport, and there was nothing more thrilling than scoring a goal.
Every time she did, it reminded her that maybe this career wasn’t all through nepotism and good luck.
She actually had some skill, she thought.
Charlie passed by some other Team Canada athletes on her walk, and they all shared a knowing nod and look with each other.
When Charlie got back to her room, she was not totally surprised to find it empty. Though Heather was on the team with her, she tended to do her own thing during the day, and she generally conked out as soon as she arrived back at the room with her wireless noise-cancelling headphones.
Perhaps being out one too many nights had left Plaker with a poor impression of Charlie, because she rarely spoke to her last night even though she was finally in the room.
Or maybe Plaker was bitter that the Toronto Succubi had traded her for Charlie two years ago, and that Charlie had gone on to take the team to the best record in the PWHL.
Of course, Blake had helped too, but sports commentators had praised Toronto for that decision all those years ago.
Whatever the reason was, Charlie was glad to find the hotel room empty, as it meant she could watch the games in peace for tomorrow.
She booted up her laptop and lay in bed, scrolling through the emails and opening all the YouTube clips she needed.
Charlie left her phone to charge across the room, and she heard it buzz with an incoming text.
Charlie tried her best to go back to the video she was watching, but the pinging sound echoed in her head. It was likely Blake, or perhaps it was the coaches. It could not be what she hoped it was, but she stopped anyway to go check.
Charlie smiled when she read the text, overjoyed that it was her wish come true.
OLIVE
sure, same bar?
Charlie should’ve texted her to postpone, to save any meeting to tomorrow so she could rest like the coach had told them to.
how about 8pm?
see you then
Charlie tried her best not to smile like an idiot at her phone, but she surely failed. Just then, the door opened and Plaker stepped in. Considering Charlie had seen her in the locker room earlier, she was surprised it took her this long to return.
“What’s that face for, Lajoie?” Heather asked Charlie, raising an eyebrow as she dropped her bags on her bed.
The smile dropped from Charlie’s face. “None of your business.”
It was childish and stupid, but Charlie was not going to tell her frenemy about this.
Absolutely not. She went back to her laptop and put her headphones in, loading up the previous video.
She didn’t bother to see what Plaker did, as she was sure she was likely doing the same on her side of the room.
Charlie glanced at the clock and tried to stamp down her smile.
Only a few hours until she got to see Olive again, and she counted down the time in between her note-taking and video watching.
When her roommate left in the evening, presumably to get dinner, Charlie quickly put away her laptop and indulged herself in scrolling through more of Olive’s photos.
She probably knew too much about the woman now, but she really was curious about her.
With tomorrow’s game on the way, she could not afford to be out as late as she had been the previous night, and Charlie was hoping to use the evening to get to know her on a personal level, away from the rush of needing a distraction.
Charlie grabbed dinner and a chocolate muffin at the Olympic cafeteria, and then made her way to the bar. She had a baseball cap on and her usual all-black attire. It may have been a touch excessive thinking that she needed a disguise, but you never knew.
As Charlie walked up to the bar entrance, she spotted Olive waiting outside.
Olive was wearing jeans and a scoop neck top underneath a leather jacket that Charlie knew would keep her distracted all night.
Olive waved when she spotted Charlie, and Charlie stopped next to her.
Charlie wanted to reach out and hug her, do something, but she was feeling unexpectedly awkward about this reunion now that it was here.
“Let’s head inside?” Olive finally asked, and Charlie nodded, following her in.
“Ah, the Canadians return!” the bartender from a few days ago called out as they walked in. Charlie nodded at them and followed Olive to a table near the back. She sat facing the door, leading Charlie to sit with her back to the door and facing her.
“Is this seat okay? I know you may be worried about someone recognizing you here,” Olive said.
She was so thoughtful that Charlie couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, this is perfect.”
Olive smiled back, and there they were, grinning at each other like idiots. Charlie mentally shook herself out of it after a few seconds.
“What would you like to drink? It’s on me,” Charlie said.
“Are you having anything?” Olive asked.
“Just a soda. I have a game tomorrow, so I don’t want to overdo it.”
“I figured. I may have done some googling earlier today…” Olive said, and then blushed as if she hadn’t meant to reveal that. “Get one for me too then. Italian sodas are delicious.”
Charlie nodded and made her way over to the bar, where she got them the drinks. When she came back to the table, Olive peeled her gaze away from the TV she was watching.
“Here you are, m’lady,” Charlie said as she placed one of the glasses in front of her.
“Thank you,” Olive said, taking a sip. “I love this flavour.”
Charlie nodded as she drank it herself. Though the vibe in here was intimate thanks to the small tables and the crowd that paid them no attention, Charlie had no clue what to say. Theoretically, all of the small talk should’ve happened before sleeping together, not after.
“How was your day?” Charlie finally asked. She was curious about what Olive did.
“It was nice. I toured the Duomo di Milano and called my sister,” Olive said. Her eyes lit up at the mention of her sister, and Charlie thought it was extremely adorable.
“Oh, that’s nice. Do you miss her?”
“I’ve only been here for a few days, so miss is a bit of a strong word, but we are very close. But she’s annoyingly been teasing me about my age.”
“How old are you?” Charlie hoped it didn’t come across as accusatory, but she was curious. She had assumed Olive was around her age, and she was proven correct when Olive answered.
“Twenty-nine.”
“Only two years older than me,” Charlie said.
Olive looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. “I guess that makes sense. Professional athletes are usually younger, I guess.”
“Yep, we have to stay in top physical shape.”
“I’m sure you do,” Olive said, smirking as she did a once-over over Charlie’s body.
Charlie supposed she should’ve been immune from such obvious flirting by now, but she was not.
Any attention from Olive seemed new and interesting, and she couldn’t stop the blush that she felt heating the back of her neck.
Charlie took a sip of her drink to cool off.
Those were not productive thoughts to be having right now.
“What’s wrong with being twenty-nine?” Charlie finally asked.
“Nothing, except that my sister keeps saying I’m thirty,” Olive said, as if it was a bad thing to be thirty.
“There’s nothing wrong with that either. I’ve heard your thirties are supposed to be the best time. Allegedly everything gets better then, in terms of figuring out who you are. That’s what the internet says, apparently.”
“That’s the part that I’m struggling with. I’m almost thirty and no way do I have my shit together, not even close.”
Charlie placed her head in her left hand to look at Olive curiously. From what Charlie could tell, Olive was probably the most put-together person she knew. Charlie was used to people who hit pucks for a living, so her knowledge of normal societal expectations was pretty slim.
“You seem quite the opposite,” Charlie finally said.
“Everything you see online is not as it seems.”
“Well, even from the few conversations we’ve had. I mean, you are an efficient packer, from what I could tell.”
Olive snorted at that. “I guess I do seem that way. My career is fine. Objectively, it’s great.
I’m just not sure if it’s what I want to do.
I had to make some sacrifices to get to where I am, especially for the sake of my sister.
But now that I finished putting her through university, it’s gotten me thinking about what I want to do.
And I don’t know the answer to that yet. ”
“I don’t think I could get you that answer, but that alone is so impressive to me,” Charlie said in awe. “I can’t believe you paid for your sister’s tuition like that.”
“Thank you. It wasn’t easy, but we made it work.”