𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭

thirty five

Kaiden

The rink was packed with noise, but my focus had narrowed down to the stage.

Ethan and Eliza had their arms slung around each other, practically bouncing on their toes, and I tried to keep a nonchalant expression on my face.

It was just a competition—a skating competition, at that. But when Delphine's name boomed over the speakers as the winner, I felt something shift, like the air was sucked out of the room for just a second.

She stepped forward, claiming her spot at the top of the podium, and I found myself leaning forward a little.

The medal glinted around her neck, catching the light, and the way she held herself—shoulders back, head high—was different from the quiet, reserved girl I'd seen at practice or on the edge of the rink.

She looked powerful, fully in her element.

She looked... like a star.

It was hard to put into words, but there was something magnetic about the way she stood there, letting herself take in the applause like she finally believed she deserved it.

Ethan nudged me, his elbow jabbing into my ribs. "You're staring," he muttered, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

I rolled my eyes and looked away, but I knew he'd caught me. "I'm not staring. Just... looking."

"Yeah, whatever you say, man," he said, laughing. He turned back to the stage, throwing an arm around Eliza again as they clapped louder.

But I couldn't stop myself from glancing back at Delphine.

Her cheeks were flushed, a smile just barely visible as she clutched her medal, and for a moment, she looked like someone I didn't fully know yet. Like there was something hidden under her quiet confidence that I hadn't quite seen.

When the anthem played, I watched her face, trying to catch even the smallest expression.

She looked lost in thought, her gaze fixed on some distant point, her fingers wrapped around the medal like it was the only thing grounding her in the moment.

The ceremony wrapped up, and everyone in the audience started shifting, grabbing bags and talking over each other as they made their way out of the stands. Ethan turned to me, still grinning, as he raved about Eliza's performance. But my attention kept drifting back to Delphine as she stepped down from the podium, lost in the flood of skaters and coaches who were celebrating their own wins or consoling each other over near-misses.

I spotted her talking with her coach, her body language polite but distant. She was nodding along, probably hearing every word, but the glazed look in her eyes told me she was somewhere else.

"Are you even listening to me?" Ethan asked, jabbing my shoulder again.

"Yeah, yeah. Eliza's amazing," I said, waving him off. But he narrowed his eyes, studying me with a knowing look that made me want to walk off.

He didn't say anything, though, just nudged me toward the exit, where people were beginning to trickle out. But as we walked, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something significant about what I'd just seen.