Worth The Wait

𝟏8|𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐓

𝐋𝐔𝐂IE 𝐁𝐀𝐒I𝐋𝐋E

I hated this.

Of all the ways Coach Sonya could have tortured us today, trust exercises were by far the worst.

I should've seen it coming. Our synchronized jumps were still shaky, River was muscling through footwork instead of finessing it, and—most importantly—actual trust was completely absent. But trust? That was something I didn't have to give.

I crossed my arms, staring at the floor. "This is ridiculous."

Sonya lifted an eyebrow. "No, what's ridiculous is that the two of you are still treating this partnership like a battle." She turned to River. "And you. You think brute strength makes up for a lack of actual connection with your partner."

I tried not to look at him, but the sound of his laugh pulled my attention. River had the nerve to look completely unaffected. "It's been working pretty well for me so far."

I rolled my eyes. Of course, he wasn't taking this seriously. It wasn't about strength. Nothing about this was simple. It was about the balance—trust, reliance, vulnerability—everything I hated. River didn't understand that. He thought this was just another thing to win.

I could feel my frustration building, like a storm churning in my chest. Why was I still here, doing this with him? Because Coach made me. Because Callum wasn't here anymore. And now, I was stuck with this cocky, cocky guy, pretending like I could trust him.

I breathed in deep. Focus. Don't let him get to you.

Sonya sighed. "Fine. If you don't want to trust each other the easy way, we'll do it the hard way."

I immediately hated the way she said that.

The Hard Way turned out to be a series of ridiculous trust-building drills:

The classic trust falls. Blindfolded partner work. Balance drills that required us to rely on each other.

River, of course, thought all of it was hilarious. Me? Not so much.

We started with the trust fall. River stood behind me, arms crossed, smirking.

"Come on, Basille. Fall for me."

I turned halfway just to glare at him. "If you say that again, I'm letting you drop when it's your turn."

"Oh, so you admit you want to catch me?"

I could feel my eyes twitching. "You're such a pain."

Sonya was already clapping her hands, urging me to do this. "Lucie. Trust him."

Trust him. How?

What did trusting him even mean? Was I supposed to just throw myself into his arms, like everything was fine? Like I hadn't spent the last decade of my life depending only on myself? I hadn't trusted anyone in so long—not after what happened with Callum, and not after River had made a mess of my Olympic dreams when we were sixteen. I was not falling for this. But I did it anyway. I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth, and let myself go. My heart was a hammer in my chest, and for that one second, I thought I was going to feel him drop me. Feel the disappointment. The letdown.

But instead, I felt his grip tighten, and I was safe. He caught me. I hated how easy it felt.

His voice came from somewhere above me, low and steady. "See? I got you."

I should've said something smart or sarcastic, but all I could do was pull away, snapping my arms back. "Fine. My turn."

My heart was still racing. This wasn't supposed to feel like this. I wasn't supposed to feel anything when he caught me. Not relief. Not—what was that? Warmth?