(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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Holly and Carla had stayed up all night waiting for the start of the race, but Juniper had set an alarm, hoping not to fuck her sleep schedule too badly. The jet lag would do that soon enough.
"Is this how it feels every time you watch my races?" she grumbled after she dragged her comforter down the stairs to the couch in front of the TV.
Holly offered the bowl of popcorn. "Honestly? Half the time I avoid the struggle and just watch the highlights the next day."
"Only half the time? You must really love me."
If not for the bottle of wine Carla uncorked, it could have been one of their childhood sleepovers. The three of them were glued to the stream from the minute the race started, except for the short nap Juniper managed between the first run and the second. She wasn't a champion napper like Summer, and she was going to pay for this tomorrow.
It was worth it to witness Summer's comeback.
Out of a field of sixty-eight racers, Summer finished her first run in twelfth place, almost two seconds back from the leader. Good enough to qualify for the second run. Amazing, considering she'd been out of competition for almost a year and was facing skiers who were halfway through their season.
Not good enough for Summer, if Juniper knew her at all.
As the second run started, they kept cutting to Summer in the prep area at the top. She was the story of this race. The commentators had found every excuse to mention her, even when she wasn't on screen.
"She looks like she's ready to murder someone," Carla said, fascinated.
Juniper laughed. "If you interrupted her race prep? She might."
Because of the delayed start, everything was moving fast. One racer barely finished before the next began. Soon Summer stood at the start gate for the second time, her jaw set, radiating such fierceness that Juniper could almost feel it.
Carla and Holly cheered. Juniper clutched her comforter in both fists. And Summer was off, skating through the top into a tight turn around the first gate.
The fog had thinned a little, but even with better visibility, this course didn't play to Summer's strengths. She liked more aggressive snow, and the gates were set too unevenly for her to find that flawless rhythm. Still. Juniper would never complain about getting to watch her ski. She looked so in tune with her body that her skis might have been part of her. No evidence at all that she'd been injured.
"A perfect run," Holly murmured.
Juniper didn't exactly agree. She'd trained with Summer long enough to have a sense of her limits. This was good skiing, but it wasn't her best by any stretch. As Summer threw her arm forward across the finish line, as Holly and Carla whooped and tossed popcorn at the TV screen, she knew that Summer wouldn't be happy with that result.
