Side by Side by Nicole Pyland

Author:Nicole Pyland [Pyland, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pyland Publishing LLC
Published: 2024-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

“Is it weird?” Chandler asked when they got out of the car.

“Yes,” Belle replied.

They’d gotten a hotel room for the night between the first and second night of the competition to make it feel as realistic as possible, according to Chandler, who had set the whole thing up. She’d arranged for an early check-in, and Belle had packed an overnight bag, feeling a little ridiculous considering Chandler’s house wasn’t that far from the High-Performance Skate building where the competition was taking place, but she went with it anyway. Now, they were standing outside of that building, the one she hadn’t been inside since she was fourteen years old.

She’d talked a big game to Chandler yesterday about having moved on, and she supposed that was at least partially true, but now that she was getting ready to go in and compete for the first time in over a decade, the butterflies were kicking in. She needed to get herself together because they’d worked all day yesterday on their free routine, tweaking Cat’s existing choreography, adding some of their own, and they’d gotten up that morning and practiced the whole thing through as much as they could, along with the existing long program they’d already been taught before they needed to leave. She’d agreed to do this, and now, she was going to walk through those doors not as a fourteen-year-old who ran out of them one time many years ago but as Chandler Wolfe’s pairs partner.

“Need a minute?” Chandler asked her.

“No, I’m okay,” she lied.

They walked inside from the main entrance instead of the program’s entrance, which was where she’d always entered and exited from when she’d been a student here. The rink was right there, front and center. There were only stands on the far side, with all the offices above, overlooking the ice. To their left was a counter where people would pay to watch events, the bathrooms, a small concession stand that was only open during those events, and the locker rooms for the skaters as well as a warm-up space, a gym, trampolines, some gymnastic and ballet spaces, and more. That was all hidden from her view, though, and as she watched Chandler check them in, it hit her that this was a good thing; she’d get that closure now that she’d never truly gotten before.

“We’re all set,” Chandler said when she walked back over. “We’re up fifth tonight, so we’ve got some time to warm up.”

“Okay. Good.”

“Do you want to change in the bathroom?”

“What? Why?”

“The changing room is where–”

“Are you going to kiss me again?”

“What? No,” Chandler said.

“Then, we’re good,” she replied.

Being back in that room was like going back in time. It felt a lot smaller than it had when she’d been here before, which she’d expected, but the bench where they’d been sitting was still there. It had been repainted, but it was the same bench. She knew because there was a scratch from a skate’s blade in the same spot. It was

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