27. Camden #3
Despite helping us in the team finals, Sheng Jiang had a good day and was in first. Hadeon, i.e.
Ukrainian Luke, also went before me and was currently in second.
It looked like they were the ones to beat.
I had warmed up already and ditched my pants.
Pulling out the coin, I snuck a quick kiss for luck before zipping it back up.
I walked around, trying to shake off my nerves.
Noah had already given me my pep talk. ‘Stick the landings. Don’t go out of bounds.
If you do, make sure it’s only one foot. Look happy, but don’t smile.’
It was a lot, but I felt prepared.
“CAMDEN KANE. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”
Seventy seconds and it would all be over.
Seventy seconds later, and I was done. I saluted the judges with a broad smile on my face. I flubbed my entry into the flare a tad, but I had stuck all but one landing. Only a little hop. And I didn’t go out of bounds at all. It was one of my best routines.
Only time would tell.
Noah and Grant met me with hugs as I came down from the stairs. Coach patted my ass, and said, “Hell of a job.”
I was still smiling. I grabbed my phone and saw his text.
Luke: That is definitely a medal.
Cam: Fingers crossed. :-*
And I waited.
15.800.
I would’ve kissed Luke if he were here with me. That put me in second place. Noah grabbed me in another hug, and whispered in my ear, “I’m so proud of you!”
Hadeon walked over and gave me a bro-hug. “Congratulations, Camden. Let us hope we stay where we are.” I smiled, agreeing with him, and he headed back to his coaches. He was right. It wasn’t over yet. Three more athletes to go.
Jack Davies was next, and he did well. It was too close to tell.
15.800.
Fuck.
“What does that mean?” I asked Noah. I was afraid I already knew the answer.
“Execution score is the tie-breaker.” Coach had heard me.
Davies’ was higher. I dropped to third.
I held my breath almost the entire time, watching the next routine. But he had too many faults, and they added up. I was still in third.
Just one place away from being pushed out of a medal. And Grant could be the one to do it.
Coach went over to talk to him. Grant kept to himself often, listening to music instead of socializing with the team. Everyone had their routine. We all wished him luck, as his name was called. He smiled back, and that was it.
It sucked when you were hoping for another country’s athlete to not do well, but it was a hundred times worse when it was your friend. I wanted to medal, but I didn’t want Grant to do poorly. I was hoping he did the best that he could and then the medals would go to the three best athletes.
And then he did well. And fuck, I was nervous.
Obviously, I wanted to win, but if I was going to lose out on a medal, it wouldn’t be that bad if it went to Grant.
As soon as he saluted the judges, he came down the stairs and hugged me.
“Out of our hands now,” he said, pulling back, but keeping one arm around me, as we both watched the scoreboard above us. I felt his hand tighten on my shoulder.
15.766.
“Congratulations, Cam.”
I was speechless. He pulled me into a hug, and I felt the tears coming.
Noah and Coach came over and it turned into a big group hug.
Someone draped an American flag over my shoulders, and the cameras were in our faces, and I kept crying.
I felt so foolish, but I had no control.
I was so happy. It was a lot to take in.
I smiled. I waved. Flashes went off repeatedly in my face. It was all a blur.
As fortunate as I felt, heading to the podium.
As thrilled as I felt having another medal put around my neck.
As proud as I felt hearing the support from our section.
It still wasn’t enough. I vowed two things at that moment.
I would hear the American National anthem play for me. And I would do it with Luke at my side.
Well, not literally. You couldn’t bring boyfriends or anyone onto the podium with you. I wanted to come out publicly. I was going to have to figure out how and when without fucking over Luke with his parents.
We cleared the sidelines and headed back into the locker room.
“My bros!” Tyler yelled, pulling us into his arms.
Grant laughed, and I smiled.
“Tough luck, man,” he said to Grant, pulling him into the bro-hug. I still didn’t get it. Just hug someone with two arms. It’ll be okay. And then Ty congratulated me with a full hug. No hesitation. I was overthinking again.
“I watched it all from here. My stomach was in knots.”
“Well, soon you’ll have your chance. Good luck, yourself.”
I left him chatting with Ford and the other coaches, and Grant and I went to clean up.
“You okay?” I asked, wanting to check in. Part of me still felt bad.
“Yeah, I’m good. I did my best and still have the high bar. Just need to focus on that.”
“Of course.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Grant was kind of the natural leader of our team. A little more responsible than Tyler, and a little more outgoing than his brother, though that had been changing as of late.
“You coming into the stands?” I asked, drying off.
“Yeah. You?”
“Yup,” I answered. “I can wait. We’ll go together.”