Let's Dive! (Ereri/ Riren)

Epilogue

The feeling was unbelievable. The pressure to do well was suffocating, but standing in the spot that my feet were firmly planted was an easy breath of fresh air. The intimidation of my competitors was dulled by the huge sense of accomplishment that washed over me from standing next to them. And him. The comfort and sense of absolute happiness filled my body to the brim, next to Levi, making me feel entirely complete. An undescribably big feeling of being privileged had me in its embrace. Having the privilege of representing America with the only person that I could ever think to do it with.

I don't think I'll ever forget that moment. Those feelings. The images. Levi. The images of last night's Olympic opening ceremony that Levi and I were in were playing over and over again in my head. It was a very prideful and humbling experience to walk into the arena with Team USA. To represent a whole country with your favorite sport. Words could only explain a fraction of what it was like.

Even now, as I stood at the bottom of the ladder to the Olympic diving platform, in the Olympic arena, I thought about it. Mine and Levi's routine flashing between each time I had replayed the experience over in my head. It wasn't until the announcer had introduced us that the events stopped and my mind snapped into 100 percent focus on the routine that was only seconds away.

I looked at Levi who looked at me with a smile and a reassuring look that I gave right back to him. That was the same look that he gave me before every routine we did. The same look that he had given me since high school, three years ago. Those three years have been full of hard training five days a week and a celebratory date on Saturday of each of those weeks, to celebrate the progress that we had made that week. Levi had insisted that we celebrate every weekend because each small step is a small step towards the Olympics. And he was right.

Here we were, standing in Japan for the 2020 Olympics, on the diving platform of champions. It was one of the best days of my life and there wasn't anyone else I'd want to share it with than Levi.

We had executed a triple corkscrew, double backflip well, in my opinion. Now, we just waited, on the bench, for the judges to deliberate.

I felt my nerves clench and unclench my muscles and make my heart convulse. I felt like I was going to puke, a wave of nausea running over me like waves crashing onto the beach.

I slapped my right hand over my mouth to stop the nonexistent vomit from coming up. I hadn't eaten anything today because I was way too nervous to even think about food.

I felt I had gone pale while my knee shook up and down vigorously; my left hand resting on the restless limb.

Levi sat to my left. He took in my nervous aura and chuckled a little. When his hand rested on top of mine, I was startled, not really able to focus on anything besides calming my stomach down.

"Relax, hun, we did fine. And, hey, if we don't place, look where we are. We're here. We made it. This is all the reward I could ask for, don't you think?" He soothed, rubbing his thumb into the back of my hand. I had to smile at this. He was right. What more could I ask for? I was living my dream with someone who I loved with my whole being.

"Yeah you're right." I smiled but I wasn't very convinced that he believed his own words. He seemed to want that gold medal a little more than I did, especially in this past month. It's really weird, it's like he had something else riding on getting the gold and not just the title. There was a reason, I just couldn't put my finger on it.

I jumped out of my trance of thought when I felt my phone vibrate in my lap. Who would be calling me right now? The caller ID didn't show up.

"Hello?" I asked into the receiver.

"Honey! I just want you to know that no matter the results of the competition, I'm so, incredibly proud of you and Levi. Especially you, darling. I love you so much! I'm so proud of you." My mom exclaimed. Her words made my smile widen to the brink of braking my face. Words couldn't describe how much love I felt for my mom after everything.