He's my teammate

06 - Jo

April 2023

Kitzeteinhorn was the last competition on the schedule for Arabella, which means it was her last chance to secure her title as two-time world champion for the second consecutive year. She had already secured her championship in big air, which wasn't a shock to anyone. Arabella had dominated the field for most of the year. It was something she quite enjoyed, pushing herself further with every trick. Even if she was already sweeping the competition away.

Slopestyle was all anyone could talk about following the results of big air. It was almost exclusively about the two champion contenders and what each of them had to do to best the other. Arabella was the reigning champion who had stood at the top of the podium many times, but Elizabeth Warren, the American, had always been on one side or the other of Arabella when she was on the podium. If Arabella came second, it was Elizabeth in first. Arabella had the big fancy tricks and the difficulty points, but Elizabeth's runs were clean. All it would take was one mistake from Arabella and Elizabeth would take the title from her.

It didn't help that the entire weekend, Arabella was distracted. She had made it into the final on a sloppy run that placed her nowhere near where she needed to be, but a big trick at the end had put her seventh. All she had to do was place higher than fourth and the title was hers, that and Elizabeth had to place second or lower.

Big air was easy for Arabella. It was one jump, one trick and then it was over. All she had to do was make sure she pulled her board around enough to land safely and without wobbles. Slopestyle had a lot more components. Too many areas that the judges could take points off, or places where she could make a mistake. The odds were very much in Elizabeth's favor, especially if Arabella's mind was unfocused.

And it seemed most of the reports agreed.

"Where's your mind at?" Her coach asked as they warmed up at the top of the run. Around them, competitors were doing the same, all of them awaiting the start bell. It was a warm enough day that Arabella had ditched her thick jacket and only wore her snow pants and a hoodie underneath her bib. Beside her, her coach held her helmet in his hands while he watched her go through some basic stretches. There was no use lying to her coach; he knew her better than most. Especially on competition days. "Don't tell me you're listening to those assholes say your boyfriend doesn't care because he didn't come support you." She snorted, which got her to smile.

"Of course not." Which he already knew, he just wanted to get her to smile. She rolled her eyes. "It's my dad."

"Did you send out your message today?" She nodded. Since Arabella had been a little girl, the one person she had spoken to before every competition was her father. It started at her very first competition, and while she was younger it was almost always done in person. When she started on the international circuit, it was over the phone, then text message. Now it was an email that went to an inbox that would never get logged into again. Today had been no exception.

"I can't get that visit out of my head." She admitted, going through another motion of stretches.

"That's understandable."

"It's just a side of him that I've never seen before."

"Or thought existed." Arabella paused meeting her coach's gaze. Dimitri took a step forward placing his hands on her shoulders. "It's okay to be upset by it, anyone would be if they went through what you did." She nodded.

"I just can't help but wonder if everything was a lie." She looked down. "If he had to force himself to be present for everything to make my mother happy, or to keep their marriage alive or whatever, if he really never wanted kids or the life that he ended up with. Was he ever really having as much fun as I thought?" Taking a deep breath Dimitri squeezed her shoulders slightly.