Golden Love ~Tom Daley~

Living Lovely ~Tom Daley~

It was an amazing feeling having qualified for the London Olympics. I was only 18 and I was so pumped to represent the USA in Womens Diving. Just a small town girl from Ohio. I was going places.

I'd finished my training with the team in Baltimore and we were now on our way to good old London. It was 2 weeks until the games began and it was time to start getting serious. I was sitting next to Abby another diver from Ohio who i'd grown close to over the past year. "I can't believe we're actually on our way to London!" She squealed.

"I know this is unbelievable! Someone pinch me." I joked. "OW" I felt a sharp pain on my shoulder. I looked up. "David you jerk i didn't mean that literally." I yelled at him.

"Sorry Joules couldn't resist." He laughed. I rolled my eyes and gave him a wink.

Abby and David were my best friends on this team. David was like my older brother and Abby like my older sister. I'd always wanted older siblings but I was the oldest of 2. I had a younger sister Addy who was 5 and we were so close. She looked up to me and I wanted nothing more to make her proud. My Dad was a single parent which is why I think Addy and I are so close. I took on the role as Mom since she had died 2 years ago from Ovarian cancer. It was shocking to us all. We hadn't caught it until it was deadly. She was my best friend and the day I lost her was one of the hardest things I had ever had to go through. Not even as hard as Olympic trials or Junior Championships. But Dad had helped me to get through it. He was a great Father and great support system had it not been for him I don't think i would be on this plane right now doing the one thing I love.

After a few hours had passed we were told to buckle our seatbelts and prepare to land at Heathrow. I held my breath and clutched onto David and Abbys hands. This was always my least favorite part and they knew that, so they always got a good chuckle out of it. The plane landed safely and we began to get our things and make our way through the airport and onto the team bus that was waiting.

I plopped down in the seat and our coach got on saying a few things. I was half listening. Not one of my better qualities. I shut my eyes as our team captain went up to get us all pumped up and I some how had fallen asleep amoungst the yelling. Meh. Whatever.

For an Olympic athlete I was very go with the flow, let the chips fall where they may, kind of gal. I don't know how many times I'd been told I needed to take things more seriously or I was going no where in this lifetime. I just laughed at them and told them to wait and see. And now here I am.

Abby shook me awake. "We're here you goon." she laughed getting up and walking off the bus. I grabbed my bag and followed my team mates as we were led into the administrative bulding to get our room assignments and ID's printed.

I waited for what seemed like hours to get my picture taken for my cordentials. No smiling of course. It was printed and I was handed my badge and room keys. I found I'd be rooming with Abby. Really there was noo surprise there. We made our way to the bus grabbing all our luggage and walking into the village. We walked past the Irish dorms. They had a beer garden set up. No surprise there. And then Canada. I had to give the Canadians credit. They had done a nice job with their balconies. We were in the building right inbetween the Canadians and Brits. Which was nice I suppose.

We walked through the lobby and into the elevator. 6th floor here we go I smiled. All of this was still sinking in. We'd made it. I know I keep saying it but I feel like the more i say it the more I believe it.

The door ringed and opened and we stepped into the hallway. We went to the left to find our room. Last door, of course. I opened the door. There was a welcome basket from the Olympic comitee and a very nicely decorated living room which had 2 rooms off of it. Both with 2 beds. Abby and I took the one to the left while our team mates Kelci and Katie took the other.

The room was nothing to rave about. Just 2 beds and a nice bathroom. We did however have a balcony. I stepped out and looked around. It had a nice view of the village courtyard. The only thing to complain about was that the balcony from Britains side was literally a leap away from our balcony. Hopefully no one obnoxious was in there.

I sighed and went back in sitting down on my uniform bed and let my surroundings sink in. I decided to shoot my Dad a quick text letting him know I was here and then sent out a quick tweet of my new digs. I only had like 5,000 followers, but still. It was fun to let people know what I was up to.

I got up and unpacked my cothes nicely. we were set to get more USA gear later this evening so I settled on a pair of white running shorts and a blue Adidas shirt and my running shoes. I grabbed my iphone and headphones. "Hey Abs. I'm gonna go for a quick jog. I'll be back soon and then we can go strut our stuff." I laughed.

"Sounds good." she smiled. "I'm gonna hop in the shower and finish unpacking. Don't forget we have a team meeting soon."

"I won't love you." I called walking out into the hallway.

"You too." i heard her yell back.

I made my way back outside where I saw many teams that had started arriving. I was going to try my best to avoid them. I stuck my headphones in settleing on my 'Olympic' playlist. The upbeat music got me excited and I started jogging. I couldn't help but smile and feel the music and bop to it.

I'd been running for awhile now. I ran around past what seemed like all the team dormitories and the mess hall. I figured it'd been long enough and things were starting to settle down so I made my way back to the US dorms. My phone vibrated and me being a dumb dumb I looked at it reading the text form my Dad. I was typing a reply when I'd felt myself hit someone.

"I'm so.." I looked up "sorry." I smiled. Almost flirted actually.

"It's alright. Although I heard texting while jogging can be a bit dangerous. Yeah?" he chuckled along with his mate.

"I have a bad habbit." I replied. Blushing from the embarassent.

"I'm Tom." he put his hand out.

"Joules." I smiled taking his hand and shaking it. It felt like electricity when we touched. My body was tingling. I looked him in the eyes with a smile and I could tell once i had gotten lost in his brown eyes that there was something there.

"Ehh-em" I head from beside him.

"Oh, Joules this is Chis." Tom introduced his friend.

"Nice to meet you Chris." I smiled and shook his hand. "Sorry guys but I better be going. I have to be somewhere."

"It was nice meeting you Joules. Hope to see you around." Tom smiled.

"You too." I waved as I started to jog back to our dorm. This Tom guy. He was gorgeous and such a gentleman. I was praying I'd see him again. And soon.