Nexus // 2016 Rio Olympics

Chapter Three

        "It was nice talking to you too, Michael. I'll see you later?" Usually you would say 'I'll see you later.' as a farewell to a friend you would see tomorrow, but seeing as this meeting was just by chance, I figured it would be nice to actually ask him instead. I nodded, a smile appearing again.

        "Yeah, you still have to explain to me what Eventing is." He was right, and with that we said our final goodbyes before heading our separate ways, a fluttering in my stomach becoming very apparent as I flagged down a taxi to take to the Equestrian Center.

        Michael's P.O.V.

        I know Bob would be mad at me for being late. I never made a habit of it, but whenever I slipped up it meant practice was going to be a bitch. Sure enough, as I entered the practice pool, Bob was on my back.

        He took me to the side for a few minutes, lecturing me about the importance about being on time. I listened to him, apologizing whenever I got the chance. Seeing that he had gotten his point across, he sent me off to get ready to run some drills.

        Walking over to an open seat, I sat down near Katie and Allison, saying a greeting as I started to gear up. Whatever they had been talking about before was forgotten, and they turned there attention back to me.

        "You better not make this being late thing a habit, being team captain and all, Phelps." Allison gave me a glare, one that I knew she didn't mean in a harmful way. She was more like a sister to me than a teammate, and I made sure not to make her mad as best as I could.

        "Don't worry, Schmidty. I would have been here sooner, but I got caught up talking with someone." I explained, shrugging my shoulders before pulling my swimming cap on, which would be followed by my goggles and another swimming cap.

        "And who would that someone be? A girl by chance?" Katie chimed in this time, her bright smile showing as she laughed, teasing me. I had to laugh, playfully reaching over and shoving her knee away from me, her response being to lightly slap my hand away.

        "Actually, yes, it was." Both of them gave me a wide eyed looked, about to make some dumb comment when Ryan ended up walking over, and looking at there reactions, had to say something.

        "What? Did Mike find another model to date?" He had meant it as a joke, but from the expressions Allison and Katie were giving him, he knew he was right; well, partially. I heaved a sigh, dropping my head into my hands. Sometimes I questioned why I was even friends with them.

        Before they got too far into creating there own conspiracy theories, I quickly spoke up. "Actually, she competes on the Equestrian team for the US. It's the girl who we watched being interviewed this morning." I turned to Ryan as I finished my explanation, seeing a flash of recognition go across his face as he nodded, rubbing his chin for what seemed to be extra comedic effect.

        "Oh yeah... Eleanor... O'Hannagin." Ryan took a minute to remember he name. "Yeah, she seemed nice, and she had a nice body too." A collective laugh came out of all three of them, and I couldn't help but join in, rolling my eyes. I knew he had only said it to bug me, as a joke, but I felt some jealous flare up. It felt odd, only having meet the girl less than half an hour ago, but I had no time to really confront it. Bob had blown his whistle which meant that warm-ups were officially starting. I quickly finished getting ready and followed after my friends, who were still snickering about there recent discovery. This just meant that practice would be even more entertaining than usual, just not in my favor.

        Eleanor's P.O.V.

        Thanking the cab driver, I paid him before jumping out, making my way to the stables, excitement brewing in my stomach. There were a few time I had to show my badge to security, which was annoying, but I understood that they had to do it. I wonder of Michael still had to show his.

        Shaking my head, I scolded myself for still having him on my mind. From being a fan of his for so long, it was nice to finally get a chance to talk to him, but I needed my concentration on Nexus and my performance, not a swimmer who probably hasn't thought twice about me since then.

        Entering the USA's section of the stables, I was about to call out my horses name, but I quickly noticed her popping out her head from her stall, bobbing her head happily when she saw me.

        Walking up to her I should see she was still trying to get used to her surroundings, then fact that she was pacing very evident in her stall. Placing my hand softly on he muzzle, I spoke soothing words to her as I found her lead line, clipping onto her halter and leading her out of her little home and towards the tack room.

        Usually we would have to grab out things and take them over to our area to set up, but seeing as very few people were around I made the decision to walk Nexus over there, making it easier on myself more so than for her.

        Finding my tub that I had ended up shipping with Nexus, I opened if up, carefully taking everything out and setting it into it's designated spot underneath my name plate. I had more that most people, competing in an event the required three types of tack, but once setting it up it wasn't as much as it could have been.

        Figuring that nothing would be set up, I decided to tack up for dressage, only putting the necessities on before leading Nexus out to the arena across the way. A few reporters were hanging around, flashing a few photo's as we passed by. Nexus spooked some, but I was happy to see that she was relatively relaxed.

        After walking around a bit, I found the practice arena, after opening and closing the fence to get inside, I swung myself up onto her beginning her warm-up routine.

        I ended up spending around and hour there, practicing different moves. I made sure not to work her too hard, stopping every so often for water. When I felt happy with the amount of practice we put in and her responses, I brought her back in, pulling off her tack before spending a good amount of time brushing her out, making sure her coat looked nice and all of her sweat was mostly wiped and dried away. I grabbed some feed for her and put her away. It was still a little early for her to eat, but she deserved it with how well she did today. Giving her a final kiss goodbye, I headed back over to the tack room to finish cleaning.

        Sitting down, I put on music to play. Noticing the few notifications I had, I gave into my urge and checked social media. I had friends on Facebook wishing me the best, and I saved responding to them for later. Moving on to twitter, I didn't see anything out of order, and responded to a few fan questions and requests. I was about to close out the app, but something caught my eye, and I clicked on it.

@RyanLochte: Watched @El_OHann's interview this morning. @MichaelPhelps can't stop talking about her. Wishing you luck!

         The response's below were even more out there; people's responses ranging from love to hate, and whatever shipping was. I didn't know how to react, but my fingers quickly typed out a response. Before I could over think it any more, I posted it.

@El_OHann: @RyanLochte @MichaelPhelps Didn't think I'd get this much attention from some of my favorite athletes! Means a lot from you two! xo

        With my heart beating fast, I quickly forced myself to put down my phone and get back to work. The multiple buzzing's that followed made me turn my phone on silent and it ended up taking me twice as long as it usually did to clean my tack. I guess it was because my mind was wandering; did Ryan actually mean that when he said Michael was still talking about me, or was he just being a tease to a good friend.

        Who knew, because I knew I certainly didn't. Distraction was something I didn't need right now, and I needed to focus on making sure that both myself and my horse were in the best condition possible. That meant getting sidetracked with pointless flirting wasn't on my list of things to do, even if deep down I really didn't mind it.

        Scolding myself, I said a final goodbye to Nexus before heading back to the village, knowing that when I got back I would have a few things to explain to Lauren, if she was even awake to have witnessed them.

        Not the best ending, but I'm not to mad with it. I'm still looking for suggestions that you guys want to see in this story, so post them below! Hope you all enjoyed!