Chapter 31 Thayer
THAYER
“You good?” Giselle asked from the bathroom doorway the next morning.
I sat on the edge of the bed, wringing my hands. Nervous didn’t even come close to describing how I’d been feeling since I woke up. “I will be.”
She walked over and tunneled her hands into my hair. “You’ve got this.”
My eyes lifted to hers. “How do you know?”
“Because I know you. And I know how hard you’ve worked to be one of the world’s best snowboarders.”
My brows shot up. “You’re laying it on a little thick, don’t you think?”
“I’m serious. This is your time, Thayer. Go show them what you can do.”
I pulled her onto my lap so she was straddling me and wrapped my arms around her. “I’m so fucking scared I’m going to make a fool of myself out there.”
“Then don’t.”
I scoffed. “Oh, it’s that easy?”
“For you? Yes.”
She definitely had more faith in me than I did.
“Don’t forget who you’re doing this for,” she said.
“I’m not still doing it to piss you off, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
She shook her head. “I’m not.”
My lips twisted as I considered what she was saying. “I’m doing it for me.”
She nodded. “And?”
My throat tightened once I realized what—who—she meant.
“She’d be so proud of you for getting back out there.”
I knew she would.
“And I’m so proud of you, too,” she admitted.
I had waited so long to have Giselle there with me, looking at me the way she currently was with so much admiration in her eyes.
It was crazy to have her doing it now—right before I was about to get out there on a huge stage.
I’d be foolish to think I could actually get everything I’d always wished for in a single day.
“I love you,” I blurted, unable to stop myself.
She stilled, her eyes widening.
“Don’t feel like you have to—”
“Say it again,” she said.
“I fucking love you,” I said, feeling even bolder.
Her mouth collided with mine, our tongues melding as she held me tight. I expected the kiss to go on longer, but she surprised me by pulling away, all breathless and flushed. She tipped her head to the side, her eyes zeroed in on mine. “Thayer, I am so in love with you.”
I closed my eyes, letting her words settle over me as my body fucking quivered.
This was what I’d always hoped would happen.
The two of us together. In love. Sharing life’s greatest moments.
She peppered my closed eyelids with gentle kisses before covering my face in them like I’d done to hers.
I let myself enjoy this attention because if this was a dream, I never wanted to wake up.
I pounded on the outside of the hotel room door, then stepped back, stuffing my hands in my pockets. Footsteps shuffled on the other side. I pulled in a deep breath as the door swung open and Shay stood there. Her head hitched back, clearly not expecting to find me at their door.
“Is he here?” I asked.
Her eyes flashed over her shoulder. “He’s in the shower.”
“Would you mind if I wait?”
She shook her head, then stepped back so I could enter.
I moved past her into their room and could hear the shower running in the bathroom.
She grabbed her coat from the back of a chair and slipped it on. “I’ll give you guys some privacy.”
“Thanks, Shay.”
She nodded encouragingly before moving to the door. She walked out just as the water in the shower switched off.
I glanced around the hotel room, my nerves in overdrive. Not only was I competing in the finals today, but I had things I needed to get off my chest before I got out there.
“Shay?” Kason called as he stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips.
“Just me,” I said.
The disgust in his eyes told me I’d overestimated his ability to forgive.
“You want to head to the mountain with me?” I asked, figuring common ground might be the way to go.
“No,” he deadpanned.
I leaned against the small table by the window and crossed my arms. “No, you don’t want to go with me? Or, no, you’re not ready, so you’ll just meet me there?”
“No, I don’t want to go with you.”
I scoffed. “At least you’re honest.”
“Someone in this room needs to be,” he said, grabbing a shirt from his suitcase and slipping it over his head.
“Would it help if I let you hit me this time?”
“I did hit you,” he said, grabbing boxers and removing his towel to pull them on.
“No, you didn’t.”
He grabbed his pants and stepped into them. “Did too.”
I rolled my eyes; he was so damn stubborn.
He continued getting dressed, ignoring me like I wasn’t even there. Did he expect me to get fed up and bail? He had to know I wasn’t about to give up. Because, as immature as it sounded, I was there to get my best friend back.
He bent down to tie his shoe. “Why Giselle?” he asked, his eyes on his shoes.
I didn’t even hesitate. “Because there’s something about her that just takes my breath away every time she enters a room. It’s happened since I was ten, and that shit just won’t go away.”
He didn’t say anything, and I wondered if he was preparing to attack me again or tell me I was a big pussy for feeling that way.
“She loves you,” he said, his eyes still not on me.
“Yeah,” I agreed, surprised he was going there.
“Do you love her?” he asked, glancing up at me.
I did the only thing I could in that moment. I nodded.
He stared at me, a thousand thoughts playing across his face. “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you.”
A small smile curved my lips. “That won’t happen.”
“And I never want to hear the two of you—”
“Dude, I’m not that guy.”
He chewed on his bottom lip as if something else was weighing on him. “Gino was a douche.”
“Sure was.”
“She looks happy with you,” he said.
“She is happy with me,” I said.
“She wasn’t happy with him.”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
He went silent again. I waited him out. I could see he was caving. “Give me a couple minutes,” he said. “I’ll go with you to the mountain.”
I couldn’t hide my smile.
Thank fuck.
Giselle
If someone were to tell me I’d actually floated to the base of the mountain, I would’ve believed them.
Thayer loved me. Not in a high school crush kind of way.
But really loved me. And to have him admit it to me, after everything we’d been through to get to this point, had me overcome with emotion.
My feet didn’t feel like they’d ever come back to Earth.
“Hey.” I spun around to find Shay heading my way with a smile. “Let’s move closer to the front.”
Loud music played through the giant speakers, and a huge group of spectators had already gathered for today’s Big Air finals.
Shay pushed her way through the crowd, not caring if she pissed anyone off by doing so.
I followed her lead. Jesse was up in front.
When he spotted us, he pulled us the rest of the way until we were right up against the containment fencing.
That’s when I realized my parents were up in front too.
“Hey. When did you get here?” I asked.
“We just arrived,” my mom said.
“She was stressing the whole way, thinking we were going to miss it,” my father added.
“Our boys are fifth and tenth,” Jesse explained.
“Who’s tenth?” I asked.
“Thayer.”
“Shit,” I mumbled.
“He’s got this,” Jesse said. “It’ll give him time to psyche himself up.”
I nodded, hoping he was right.
“Don’t forget,” Jesse continued. “They get three runs. The top two scores are added to get their totals.”
Three runs. He had this.
The first four snowboarders completed their first runs, the highest earning an eighty.
I knew my brother had more than an eighty in his wheelhouse.
And he didn’t disappoint, flipping and giving the fans a move that had won him gold in Aspen.
If he pulled that off in run one, I wondered what he was holding back for runs two and three.
When he finished in front of us, he winked at Shay before turning to the leaderboard, awaiting his score.
Jesse patted him on the back and said something into his ear as he waited.
Soon, an 88 appeared on the leaderboard.
I wondered if Thayer would have a hard time beating that or if he had his own tricks planned.
He had earned an 89.5 in qualifiers. The four snowboarders after Kason didn’t even come close to touching his score.
“Thayer Caruthers dropping in next for the US,” the announcer’s voice echoed across the mountain.
I closed my eyes, praying for a good first run. When I opened them, Thayer was on his way down, catching the corner of the ramp and flipping once, twice, three times, four times before landing hard.
I released my breath and smiled as he skidded to a stop in front of us, his eyes locked on mine.
I hadn’t realized how terrified I’d been watching him flip so high and with added twists.
In qualifiers, he only did enough to get him to the finals.
This was him going all out, and it suddenly scared the hell out of me.
He turned to the leaderboard, and Jesse patted him on the back, saying something into his ear like he had for Kason.
An 86 appeared on the leaderboard, and the crowd erupted.
Tears pricked my eyes as Thayer looked at me with that smirk that I loved so much. If only his mother could be there to see him. I gave him the best reassuring smile I could muster before he took off for the snowmobile that would take him back up the mountain.
“They’re first and third,” Jesse said.
“Yeah, I can see that,” I said as Thayer’s name appeared in the third-place spot on the board.
“This is so exciting,” Shay said.
“You call it exciting. I call it terrifying.”
She laughed.
“It’s not funny. I never get this nervous when Kason’s competing. Why am I a nervous wreck over Thayer?”
“Because you love him,” she said matter-of-factly.
I exhaled. “Yeah.”
She smiled, likely because it was the first time I’d confessed the full extent of my feelings for him to Shay. “Any idea of how things turned out this morning? I didn’t see Kason after?”
“What things?” I asked.
“Thayer stopped by to see Kason.”
“When?”
“On his way here, I think.”
My mouth hung slightly open. “I had no idea.”
“Yeah, I thought it was a ballsy move, given they were on their way to compete against each other.”
“I didn’t notice any black eyes,” I said.
“Me neither. Maybe it means—”
“Let’s hope,” I said.