The Teammate

39 - Waiting, Watching, Begging

December 2024 – Beijing Big Air Competition

Arabella strapped up her board for her last training run of the day. It had been a gruelling week in Beijing. She'd been in the indoor training room with Dimitri for two whole days until he finally agreed to get out onto the snow. Beijing was filled with indoor slopes with artificial snow, so they were able to train in private. Even after her roommates had arrived, she still trained with only Dimitri until he was confident that she could it to the competition.

It was amazing what her body remembered that her mind hadn't quite caught up to. The first time she had tried it at the indoor jump; Dimitri hadn't been able to watch. She'd stumbled, her edge catching on the decent which caused her to tummy slide. He'd heard the impact, sprinting towards her, only to find her flipped onto her back and laughing in the artificial snow.

She'd landed it. Sure, her edge caught, but it was after she had placed her board flat on the snow.

When it was time to meet up with her roommates, and the other athletes who were competing, she felt more than ready to try it out in the competition although Dimitri still had his doubts. He kept adding to the number of times he wanted her to land it on the snow, which didn't bother her since the more she practiced the more confidence she got.

The first time she threw it in front of more than just Dimitri, she didn't tell anyone. Only her and Dimitri knew it was coming.

And she landed it perfectly.

It was like floating on air, the pride was overwhelming. It took the breath from her lungs, spreading across her body until her fingers started to tingle.

"Shut the fuck up!" Someone screamed from the top of the jump.

"Tell me that's what I think it was." Vlad said, standing at the bottom, waiting to get on the lift back up to the top, and she had never seen his jaw lower. It was practically unhinged.

Arabella just shrugged and undid her bindings. She walked over to Vlad who immediately wrapped her in a hug. Seb and Benny took the jump, not bothering with any tricks, but came barreling into them and wrapped their arms around both Arabella and Vlad.

"Holly fucking shit." Katie said being the last one to come and wiggle her way in. Arabella was laughing, her board long forgotten on the snow with the rest of them.

She wanted to bottle this feeling, take it with her whenever she felt alone, or felt nervous, or fear. Or anything that wasn't near the cloud 9 feeling she had in that moment.

"Can you do it again?" Benny asked, leaning back. Arabella barked out a laugh, which Vlad smacked him on the side of his helmet. "What? It was stunning."

"Yeah." She said with a laugh. "I can do it again."

He had an appointment made with a doctor in England, which was where he flew too after Abu Dhabi. He celebrated with the McLaren team at the factory and then spent some time with his family.

Vlad's words had stuck with him the entire time, and from the moment he left him in that lobby in Abu Dhabi he knew he was going to find her and talk to her. But he also knew that she was climbing back up in the snowboarding world and if his presence affected her half as much as she'd affected him, he didn't want to mess with her head.

Then there was the part of him that didn't know what he wanted to say. 'I'm sorry for being an asshole' seemed like a good enough start, but after that he didn't know what he should say. What he wanted to say.

'I loved you' seemed a little on the nose. There was a part of him that would always love her. But was he still in love with her? That much he wasn't sure on anymore.