12. Camden #2
Coach ended up being right. Unless Japan’s last gymnast fell off the rings or stepped out of bounds, we had no chance of getting gold.
Great Britain, however, had a chance of pushing us out of silver.
After Luke’s and Britain’s second-to-last routines, they were only a tenth of a point behind us, which meant I couldn’t fuck up.
And we had to hope they didn’t pull a miraculously high score out of thin air. No pressure at all.
“Wait!” I heard Luke yell. I turned to see him jogging over to me. He held his hand out with the coin in it. Our eyes met, and he smiled. I had forgotten amidst the stress, but he didn’t.
“You don’t need it, but...you know, superstitions and all,” Luke said, shrugging.
“Thanks,” I replied, taking the coin and feeling the same tingle from earlier.
It turns out I needed the coin. There was one point where I lost my momentum for a second and it was only because I kept my focus and tightened my core that I was able to complete the series.
It was probably the years of training and experience with adversity that did it, but I told myself it was the coin.
I got the usual hugs and ‘great jobs’ from everybody, but we were all too nervous to talk more than that. This was it. We watched Britain’s golden boy, Jack Davies, finish his routine on the floor. It was flawless, but then he might have stepped out of bounds. It was hard to tell from our angle.
“He stepped out,” Bret confirmed. He was watching the coverage on a livestream on his laptop.
Please please please. I hoped it would be enough, but it was going to be close. My routine was just average, but I did really well. Jack’s routine was hard and with only one mistake so far, it was too close to tell. We had to wait for the scores.
They posted Japan’s score first, then ours. 274.560. 271.122.
The only other team that could catch us was Great Britain. Jack was done. He was with his team, and despite the other teams finishing up, the arena was practically silent. Everyone was waiting. Would we stay in second or was the home crowd about to go insane because we got pushed down?
Colton squeezed my hand. “Sweet baby Jesus, my stomach is flyin’ outta my throat.”
I squeezed back. “Welcome to the Olympics. Everyone’s watching. Trust me, it isn’t any easier the second time.”
His score was announced. I tried to do the math, but it was too many decimals for me.
“It’s not enough,” I heard Bret say, but I needed to see it with my own eyes.
I had to wait for the board to update.
271.078.
I felt the massive crush around me as the team circled up to celebrate. We won the silver medal. The crowd's reaction was there. Not insane screaming, but robust applause. I was pretty sure Great Britain hadn’t won a team medal since the early nineteen hundreds.
“You boys did it again! I’m so proud. Keep this up and we’ll have the gold next time, I just know it!” Coach told us while still crushed together. “Team dinner tonight to celebrate!”
The guys were fascinated with their medals in the locker room. Orion was taking a selfie with it. Alex was sitting on the bench just staring at it, and Colton à la Tyler was walking around wearing just his medal.
“I don’t know if I wanna take this thing off,” Colton said, reaching for it where it dangled between his nipples.
“I wouldn’t get it wet if I were you,” Luke warned. “They might give you a replacement, but it will say ‘replica’ on it. Didn’t you hear about the rower that dropped hers in the Brisbane River?”
“Aw shit, really?” Colton asked. “I guess I’ll be careful then.” He walked over to his locker and hung it inside, then grabbed a towel and headed for the shower.
I did the same and stripped my clothes off. It had been a stressful evening, and I was looking forward to seeing my mom and having a nice dinner. I couldn’t help but flex as I walked past Luke, who was still sitting on the bench by his locker.
We were in this weird in between place where we were being friendly with each other, but not talking about anything of substance.
I wanted to break the spell and just ask him what the fuck happened, but I also didn’t want to ruin whatever this was.
Maybe if we were friendly for a little bit, even if it was pretend, I could get him to open up.
I diverted my eyes as he walked to the showers. My dick would needlessly complicate things and competitions always revved up my hormones. I planned on having fun with my hand tonight. And possibly introduce a finger or two to my butt. And after two or three orgasms, I would be all set.
Thoughts of my fingers and my butt meeting each other at a fancy dinner party were enough to distract me for the rest of the shower.
I was trying to come up with names appropriate for such a high-class function.
I got as far as Mister Index and Titus Holus before I realized I was crazy and needed some sleep or a better distraction.
Luckily, Colton’s retelling of our Olympic prowess proved enough of one.
We dressed in street clothes and then covered up with our official jackets and followed Woodward and the other coaches to the press room.
They interviewed all the medalists in order, so Japan was in there now.
The other athletes didn’t get official interviews automatically, but any media outlet could request one if they wanted.
Additionally, each gymnastics organization came up with statements for the press, even if there weren’t on-camera interviews.
“This question is for Camden. How does it feel to be the first to stick the Kane and now have a move named after you?”
“It feels pretty amazing. I can’t take all the credit, though. My coach Noah and I have been working on it for years, so it’s been a long time coming.”
A different reporter raised their hand.
“Either Camden, Lucas or both can answer this one. Earlier this week, NBC portrayed you as rivals who wanted nothing to do with one another, but today you seemed to be friends. What happened?”
Ryder Stevens was a dick. That’s what happened.
Luke answered before I could. “That piece of media was a distortion of reality. Yeah, obviously Cam and I are, to some extent, rivals. We’ll both be competing in the all-around final against each other. But we’re also part of a team. And, I think for both of us, the team comes first.”
“Do you have anything to add, Camden?”
“Uh...Luke said it all. Team first. I think it was a lot of creative editing that made us seem that way.”
They asked the other guys the usual first-time Olympian questions, and the coaches fielded some as well, but it was relatively drama-free and over quickly. I was excited as we headed down the hallway toward the exit where our families would be.
As Colton and I neared the door, I realized Luke and Cassandra had slipped away without anyone noticing. I inwardly hoped they would come to dinner.
Well, at least Luke.