Michael Phelps
I watched as Valencia left the room and glanced over at Ryan’s smirk. “What?” I sighed.
“So what do you think?” Ryan asked, “She’s attractive, she swims, she’s probably busier than you are, and she’s perfect for you.”
“She is very pretty, but if she’s busier than I am then what’s the point in trying to start a relationship,” I sighed.
“So you are considering getting in a relationship with her?” Ryan smirked. I sighed in frustration and threw a pillow at his head. “Well, do you at least like her? And don’t lie to me, I already know that you do.”
I felt my cheeks burn slightly with a blush. “I think she’s hot and yes, I think she’s amazing, but I barely know her!” I replied.
“Yes, and you have around a month to get to know her.” Ryan retorted before turning back to the show that was on.
The next morning, I made my way down to where everyone was eating breakfast from the buffet. I glanced around, spotting Valencia sitting by her coach and my coach, so I joined them. “Morning.” I said, smiling, before digging into my massive breakfast.
“Morning,” Valencia replied, picking slowly at her meal, seeming warn out.
“How are you?” I asked, noticing that our coaches were smiling at each other and trying to discreetly leave us alone.
“Tired, sore. Very sore.” She replied, smiling up at me, clumsily scooping food with her right hand, her left hand bandaged up from her sprain. “How are you?”
“Good. Ready to get into the pool.” I replied, nodding towards her injured wrist I asked, “How is it healing?”
“Too slow for my liking, but I’d only be happy if it healed instantly.” She replied giving off a small laugh that made my heart beat faster. We sat in comfortable silence and walked to the pool to start our second day of practice in Beijing.
“Get going ladies,” Bob teased, after seeing that we were properly warmed up.
“Aww, Phelps, I didn’t know you were a girl!” Valencia laughed, setting herself on the block.
I groaned and got myself set, ignoring the constant teasing. I enjoyed practicing with Valencia; she pushed herself, which made me push myself to keep up. At the end of our official practice, Valencia and I stayed floating and splashing each other in the pool.
“So you dance and you swim?” I asked amazed, “How do you keep up with practicing for both and competing in both?”
“It’s hard.” She admitted, “I don’t have a lot of time for myself, but I love both so much I know I would never be happy choosing between the two. I just also use the fact that I’m over worked to take breaks from everything occasionally.”
“How much longer will you be doing both?” I asked, knowing that dancers aged out earlier than swimmers and she was already nineteen, soon to be twenty.
“Not long. I’ll probably only really have about two more years of dance, I injured my leg a few years ago and it still acts up so it makes it hard to keep up with my dance schedule.” Smiling at me, she splashed me in the face then started to take off, calling to me, “Race you!”
I laughed and took off, catching her, in spite of the lead she had over me. Dragging ourselves out of the pool, I asked her about her plans for the rest of the evening.
“I thought about doing a quick dance practice if I can steal floor space somewhere.” She replied.
“Maybe I’ll see you after?” I replied, trying to keep my face neutral and not allow hope to spring up on it.
“Maybe.” Valencia replied smiling, “I’ll tell Ryan to give you my number so that you can text me and we can meet up.”
She bounced away, her wet hair swinging in the strong breezy that was blowing. I made my way back to my room, where Ryan was eating pizza.
“So V told me to give you her number. You sure there isn’t something more going on there?” Ryan asked, smirking and raising an eyebrow.
I collapsed on my bed blowing out a deep breath. “She is pretty amazing.” I said, lost in my thoughts about her. Ryan must have sensed this because he just smirked at me and left me to my thoughts.
I knew that I was definitely infatuated with this girl. I just couldn’t let myself get distracted. My goal was to get eight golds, how could I let myself lose sight of that. What if I missed out on something great, just because I was focusing on what many people were calling a hopeless dream. I decided that I should just let things fall into place and that I should text V as I had promised that I would.
Valencia responded to me questioning if she was up for doing something with inviting me to her room to hang out. Smiling at my phone and ignoring Ryan’s call to use protection, I made my way to where Valencia was staying. I knocked lightly on her door and let myself in when she called me to. I mentally noted how good she looked in a pair of short shorts and a loose tee shirt.
“How was dancing?” I asked, smiling at her.
“Good,” she said, patting the bed next to her. I plopped myself down next to her.
