(rivals to lovers, small town, sports) [WATTYS 2024 SHORTLIST] (Season 3 coming soon) After a devastating Olympic loss puts her career in a downward spiral, an aging skier returns to her laid-back mountain hometown to rediscover her love of her spor...
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"You're okay," Summer said, her voice vanishing into the wind. "You're okay, you're okay, you're-"
She couldn't make herself move.
She didn't know where her skis or poles were. She didn't even really know what had happened, heavy snow or a tree stump or an unexpected change in pitch- she'd gone down before she could see it in the storm, no time to do anything except try to protect her head.
At least the fresh snow had made for a pretty soft landing. Nothing hurt, but it didn't always hurt at first. Sometimes you found the injury when you moved, when your limb didn't do what you told it to or the sudden rush of agony made you black out. So she couldn't move, because then she would know exactly how stupid she had been.
She had been very stupid. So stupid. She'd got caught up in the rush of it all. Her first day on skis. What if she was back to square one? Another surgery. Another round of rehab. Another year of isolation, of being forbidden to do the one thing she loved. She couldn't do it. She couldn't.
Her goggles were fogging up. She pressed her helmet into the snow and squeezed her eyes shut. "You're okay. You're okay. You're-"
"Are you okay? Oh my god. Summer. Are you okay?"
Juniper had appeared out of the storm, and oh, it was so good to see her, to hear her panting breaths. She patted Summer's shoulder and lifted her arm like she was checking for signs of life. When their hands met, Summer squeezed back.
The wind shrieked. The fog in her goggles was tears. She elbowed them up, wiped the back of her mitt against her cheeks.
"I'm okay."
Juniper let out an explosive breath and gripped her hand like she wanted to pop it off. "Oh, thank god. Jesus. I'm so sorry, Summer. I shouldn't have- It doesn't matter. You're really okay? Nothing hurts?"
She didn't let go. Juniper steadied her against the slope and helped her up to sitting.
As she shifted her legs, her knee twinged. She sucked in a sharp breath.
"What was that?" Juniper asked.
"My knee. My knee. My-"
"Fuck. Your bad knee?"
"I can't do this again. I can't- Juniper-"
"I've got you. I'm here." Hands on her helmet, Juniper's goggles knocking against hers. "I'm here, Summer. Try to stay calm, okay? Deep breaths."
Her whole body shook. Her vision swirled. Or maybe that was just the blizzard. She tried to do the breathing exercises her therapist had taught her, but she couldn't catch her breath.
All she could do was lean against Juniper as she wrestled with her backpack, swore at her phone, spoke on the radio Carla had given her. She turned back with her face pale, her mouth set in a flat line. "I'm gonna need you to work with me here. Okay? Can you do that?"
