Nexus // 2016 Rio Olympics

Chapter One

        I knew that I still had two days before competition, but apparently my nerves were already pushing full speed ahead. Along with the myself, the rest of the US Equestrian team had landed in Rio, our horses awaiting us in the stables. As I had been warned by my teammate, Boyd Martin, media would be waiting for us and as we stepped out of the terminal and headed to get our luggage there were plenty of reporters waiting. Security did a good job of holding them back, and we were quickly out of there, packing into vehicles that were waiting to take us to the Olympic Village.

        "Well, that was exciting." Lauren Kieffer exclaimed beside me, sounding a bit distressed. I would be competing beside her in Eventing, but she was also my roommate and good friend. I nodded in agreement, huffing a sigh of relief. "Thank god we got out of there quickly. All those camera's flashing was giving me a headache." I replied back, rubbing my head just to get my point across.

        "Imagine how Michael Phelps feels. That's probably nothing compared to what he gets." She had a point. The man was a legend, and as a big fan on swimming myself, I made it part of my job to keep up with him. It seemed a bit obsessive, but it wasn't like I was going to get his face tattooed on my body; that's a little too extreme for me.

        "Yeah, good thing I'm not a swimmer." I commented back, getting a small laugh out of Lauren. We chatted a bit more before we arrived at the village a few minutes later. The buildings around us towered above, the one that we were parked in front of having the words 'United States of America' strung across the entryway.

        Quickly we got out of the vehicle, picking up our luggage out of the back before heading inside. With the games officially starting in two days, there were still plenty of people hustling around, preparing for the first day of competition. There were a few faces that I recognized from past Olympics, but most of them seemed busy, and after sitting plane for close to 9 hours all I wanted to do was go and see my horse, Nexus.

        Lauren followed me to the elevator, and as the door opened I couldn't believe who stood in front of me. Katie Ledecky and Allison Schmidt walked past me, deep in conversation, obviously from their dress heading out to there afternoon practice. Lauren had to pinch me to get me out of my trance as I watched them exit the building.

        "El, you're drooling." She teased me, my face heating up quickly. I gave her a playfully mean look before the two of us entered the elevator. I quickly pressed the button for our floor and the doors closed, heading up quickly.

        "Look, at least I didn't blurt out anything that would have made me sound dumb." I commented, getting another laugh in response. With a ding, the door opened and we headed down to the end of the hallway, finding our room; 721. Digging my key card out of my pocket, I quickly inserted it into the slide, the signaling that the door had unlocked.

        Opening up the door, our room was revealed to be fairly simple. Leaving my luggage by the door, ran over to the far bed by the window and jumped on it, claiming it as my own. Lauren did the same to the other bed, and I heard her sigh peacefully.

        "Hey, I'm gonna go out to the stables? Wanna come with?" I asked Lauren, looking over to see that she was already taking off her shoes. "I'm guessing that's a no."

        "I didn't get any sleep on the flight here, so I'm gonna take a nap." I had noticed she looked a little weary after I woke up for our decent. I nodded, and waved her goodbye, making sure that I shut off the lights as I closed the door behind me.

        I made my way back to the elevator, and clicking the down button. While waiting for the doors to open, I quickly took my phone out and plugging in my earphones. Hearing the ding of the elevator, I looked up just as the doors opened, revealing the one person I would have least expected to meet today.

        Michael Phelps.