(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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It was Juniper who had suggested voice notes when Summer asked about staying in touch through the time difference.
"I want to talk more than we did over the holidays," Summer had told her one day, on the chairlift between runs. "But I don't really like texting."
Juniper had smiled a soft, tender sort of smile. It hadn't taken her long to come up with the answer.
The voice notes were a big improvement. Summer loved hearing Juniper in the morning even though she was on the other side of the world. And she was especially glad for it now. When she woke up to Juniper asking her to call, she didn't have to guess at tone. She knew exactly how worried she should be: very.
"Good morning, beautiful," Juniper had said two hours ago. Summer smiled around her toothbrush and the message went on, "I'm glad to hear the coaches are happy with your progress. You better not be taking it easy, though. If you're racing next week, you'll need to be at your best. But, okay, I was looking at how early I have to get up to watch the stream, and, fuck. Now I get why no one here gives a shit about the World Cup. I hope you know I'll be suffering to support you."
Then Juniper paused just a little too long, and her next words were so perfectly casual it made all the hairs rise on the back of Summer's neck.
"Anyway. Sorry to bother you before work, but something happened today that I think you should know. If you want to give me a call when you wake up, that would be cool."
Summer spat out her toothpaste and called her over the hotel wifi. As it rang, she did the time zone math in her head. It was a little before six in the morning for her, making it just before nine yesterday night in Crystal Peaks. Juniper shouldn't be asleep yet. Sure enough, she answered mid-yawn.
"Tell me what happened." Summer put the phone on speaker and carried it back into the bedroom. Her mother gave her a questioning look. Summer just gestured that the washroom was free and started peeling off her pyjamas. Jie stayed put, listening, so Summer added, "My mom's here, too."
"Hi, Jie." Juniper cleared her throat. "Summer, don't panic, okay?"
"Nobody says that unless what they're about to say is worth panicking over."
"Well, it might be. I don't know. Do you remember how I said that I had to blackmail Ava to get her not to write about you?"
"Yes. You said it was a joke."
"Uh. Yeah."
Summer flipped her hair out of the way and zipped up her sports bra. She had been so excited when she discovered that there were so many things she didn't know about Juniper. It was probably inevitable that some of those secrets wouldn't be so delightful. "It wasn't a joke, was it?"
"It wasn't a joke." Juniper sounded contrite. "I knew something that I knew would fuck things up between her and Holly. It's not like I ever would've actually told Holly- But, well. It kind of came out anyway. They just broke up. So if Ava still wants to write about you, she might do it now."
