Painted Love-Matisse Thybulle

Chapter 9: Time of Our Lives

I'm tellin' everybody you're mine and I like it
And I really hope you don't mind, I can't fight it
No, you know I cannot hide it 'cause I am so excited
That I finally decided on you'Cause it's been another perfect day with ya
Wanna lay with ya
Spend the night with ya
Then spend my life with ya, alright
Alright, alright

Yeah you heard me right

We should just do whatever we want
And tell everyone that we fell in love with each other
Ooh that we found the one in one another

Four weeks later/Matisse POV:

*Whistle blows* "Good practice team! Make sure you hit the showers and get some rest. Tonight, is the opening ceremony. When you get back to your rooms, you should see a bag with the Team Australia uniform. We will meet with the other team Australian members at 7:00. Enjoy the moment! But we got work to do in the morning! 8am sharp!" said head coach Brian Goorjian.  The team groaned before huddling up. "Boomers on 3! 1...2...3 BOOMERS!" Matisse headed back to his seat talking to his camera. He was hesitant but Casey convinced him to start up his vlog channel again for the Olympics. She told him that he'd want those memories later when they had kids. When they had kids. Matisse liked the idea of that and wondered what their kids would look like. It had been a month since he and Casey had made things official. Work was making things a little complicated because of both their schedules. But as his dad told him, as long as they were both committed to it, they could make it work. They texted and sent selfies throughout the day and facetimed every night before bed. It was a bit hard now because of the time difference but somehow, Casey always picked up no matter what. He knew she was finally flying in today and would be at the opening ceremony tonight. He was still trying to figure out how he could get to her. He couldn't leave the Athlete Village until he was done competing and he couldn't sneak her in either due to protocol. "Yo Tisse! You excited? First Olympics! Glad you didn't punk out like your teammate." Matisse laughed nervously a Patty Mills comment. He had reached out to Ben once this summer to talk but he still hadn't responded to him. He was over the situation now and was looking forward to competing in the Olympics. Australia had a decent shot at a medal this year. "I'm stoked! This whole thing is cool as hell!" "You know what else is pretty cool? The athlete village. A single guy like you could really have some fun. Just saying." "Actually..." Matisse's phone rang to reveal a facetime call from Casey. Perfect timing. "Actually, my girlfriend's working the games for ESPN. This is her now." "Oh word? That's dope! See you tonight! Ice up and stretch!" Matisse dapped up the Patty and the rest of the team as he walked out from the practice arena to his dorm room. He swiped his phone to answer Casey. "Hey baby! Had a good flight?" "Oh my God Bae! That flight was long as hell and guess who only got like six hours of sleep? A sixteen hour flight and I only slept six hours. Oh the plus side, I read the 'Stamped' book you gave me and it was really good. Thank you! Where are you?" Matisse laughed. Casey always talked a mile a minute when she was either really annoyed or really stressed. He found it kinda cute but he was getting really concerned about the amount of sleep she was (or wasn't) getting. "I'm walking back to my dorm room. The sleep situation is lame  with the double beds per  room but I can deal for two weeks. Where are you?" "In the Athlete Village." Matisse stopped dead in his tracks and looked at his phone confused which caused Casey to bust out laughing. She flipped the phone around to reveal that she was indeed in the lounge of the Athlete Village and showed him that she was wearing a Athlete Village press pass. "Casey! How the hell did you...""Okay so funny story. They put all the press on floor twenty of the H dorm. Apparently, none of the hotels wanted to have us coming in and out the games and mix with non olympic travelers. Covid Liability, cases going up etc etc. So here I am! Surprise!" She giggled and did a little dance around her luggage casing him to crack up. "Wow Tisse this place is legit. I wish they would add Cheer into the Olympics already. I'd come out of retirement for this!" "Alright slow down Case!  Have they told you which room your in yet? I have some down time before I need to get dressed for the opening ceremony." "No not yet. Erica is still getting the room keys situated. Who knew she was fluent in Japanese? Tisse this is going to be great! Now we really don't have to sneak around!" "Uh Casey...does your boss know about us?" Matisse had told the Sixers and Boomer staff that he and Casey were dating. They were cool with it as long as Matisse kept up with the requirements for his contracts. He was nervous that he was going to get Casey in trouble by being with him or that it would affect her job somehow. "Oh yeah. I told them. Jeremiah's cool but I can't do anymore NBA games after this. I'm solely on the college games now! No biggie! Jeremiah said hi and goodluck by the way. How far away are you? Erica wants to meet you too!"  All Matisse could do was shake his head and grin. "I'm entering the lounge now pretty lady. In fact, I think I see you."