A Crack in the Ice

Chapter 24

The next day, Sarah was first to take the ice, and her performance was scheduled for ten in the morning, which made me glad that she had gone to sleep early the night before.

I sighed as I zipped the back of her unitard. "And done. It's about quarter til nine, and we should start heading out."
Sarah nodded as she turned to face me. "We should. I wouldn't want to be late."
I slightly chuckled. "That would be bad, considering you're first today."
She took a shaky breath as she nodded. "Yeah."
I smiled and gently rubbed her arm as she put her shoes on. "Hey, there's no need for you to be worried. I'm sure that you'll be fine. You're going to win, and there's no doubt about it. You've done so much to prepare, and this isn't even the Grand Prix Final. There's no need for you to worry."
She sighed as she stood up, grabbing the bag her skates as well as her gloves. "I guess you do have a point. Come on. Let's go."
I nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
And with that, we made our way out of the hotel, and went to the Megasport Arena.

===

It was now ten, and Sarah took to the ice. If there was any performance that was going to determine how she was going to do in the Grand Prix Final, this was it.
She skated over to her starting position, and glanced over at me before the music started, and I gave her a nod and a smile, which she then returned.
She then lowered her head and crossed her arms, as the song was about to start.

It then started, and she began her short step sequence, which she then flawlessly followed with her Triple Toe Loop Double Salchow combo as the lyrics started, and I actually found myself humming them, having heard the song so many times. She was pretty flawless, but it somewhat changed when she got to the main chorus of the song. She nailed the Triple Axle and Double Salchow, but completely flubbed her Triple Flip.
I silently cursed under my breath, but she did make a quick recovery, though she did have to completely skip her main step sequence, which would definitely result in a point deduction.
After she made her quick recovery, she continued on with her performance, nailing her Double Lutz, though she was a bit late with it, but it was by mere fractions of a second.
"Come on, you've got this Sarah," I mumbled under my breath. "Don't let that mistake get to you. You're better than that..."
Then, almost as if she heard my words, she went in for her Quad Toe Loop, and it was completely flawless from the was she took off up to the way she rotated and then landed back on the ice. It was by far the best one she had ever done.
The crowd obviously felt the same about the jump, as they went wild, completely draining out the music for a few good seconds. However, that didn't stop Sarah. She continued on with her performance, this time nailing her Triple Axle Double Salchow Triple Flip combo without fail this time, and I clenched my fist. "That's it. Just like that, Sarah. Don't get nervous now. You're halfway done."
She then continued her performance, making no more mistakes. When she went into her final Layback Spin she finished with a triumphant pose, which this time, was her left hand on her hip, her right hand in a fist in the air.
The crowd went wild. It was truly a performance she was going to remember.
As soon as the music ended, ae both made eye contact, and we both raced over to the Kiss and Cry. Of course she beat me, as she had the ice to help her.
As soon as I got there, she nearly tackled me with a hug.
"G-gyah! Be careful!" I nearly screamed.
Sarah chuckled as we sat down, waiting for her score. "Sorry Yurio. That performance...wow. I can't believe that I did that good. I definitely have this win in the bag, even though I went first."
I nodded. "You can say that again. I think part of the reason that you did so good is that you went to bed really early last night, so you were well-rested for this."
Abe ever so slightly blushed. "Yurio...please not now..."
"...why not?" I asked, confused.
She shook her head. "I....it's nothing you should worry about. Let's just keep it at...I hate being a girl sometimes."
That's when I understood what she meant. "...oh. That's enough to put it into perspective, I said, awkwardly scratching my head.
Before we could say anything else, an announcer came on over the intercom. "And the score for Sarah Calian's Free Skate is 127.94, bringing her total score up to 197.51."
I smiled. "That's amazing!"
Sarah nodded. "Yeah. I kinda want to stay and watch, making sure that no one beats me."
I chuckled. "If that's what you want to do, then we'll do it."
She nodded. "Right. Let's head back to the side of the rink."
I then stood up with her. "Right."

===

We did end up staying the whole time, and just as we predicted, Sarah won the Rostelecom Cup. It wasn't just a minor win, either. The girl that was in second had a score of 193.62.

We were then back at the hotel, all of our things packed.
"So, where to now?" Sarah asked as we walked out of the room.
I sighed. "I need you to trust me and follow me. Okay?"
She nodded. "Got it."
We then went out of the hotel, and Yakov gave us our next tickets, which were for a 12:50 PM flight from the Moscow Airport on December 11th, landing at an airport in Vancouver 7 PM the next day.
I wasn't sure what everyone else's plans were for staying in Moscow until then, but I knew exactly where Sarah and I were going.
"So, next stop, Kolya's apartment."
Sarah looked at me. "...we're going to be staying with Kolya until December 11th?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Don't worry. I already have everything worked out."
"...if you say so," she mumbled under her breath.
I sighed. "Anyways, let's get going."
Sarah nodded. "I suppose we should do that."
We then made our way to Kolya's apartment.