golden girl (b.t.c.)

chapter thirty

thursday, july 15
pan-am championships were in less than 24 hours, and eliana was just getting to toronto. she hadn't seen coach easton in person since he came to her hospital room, and she wasn't looking forward to their first meeting.
eliana stepped off of the plane and made her way through the streets towards the gym. she passed the mirvish theatre the marquee was being changed, but she couldn't see what the new show was yet. she smiled sadly, thinking of ben. she hadn't seen him for over three months, and probably wouldn't be able to for another couple. she was pulled out of her thoughts when she arrived at the gym. coach easton was the only one there, and he smiled coldly.
"lovely to finally see you, eliana."
she smiled uneasily. "yep." she immediately started to stretch and went to the floor. coach easton watched her intently as she trained. after a few hours, she left to go check into her hotel.

sunday, july 18
the pan-am championship was a lock for eliana. she won with ease in four categories: all-around, vault, bars, and floor. she got third on beam.
after she got back to her hotel room, she facetimed ben while she got out of her hair and makeup.
"congratulations!" he yelled. she laughed. "thanks, ben."
"your bars were amazing today! you were just on the highlights for espn. the, uh-the..." he snapped his fingers, searching for the word. "oh, what was the twisty from the little bar to the high one?"
eliana giggled. "the shaposhnikova?"
"yeah, the shish kebab." he laughed. "i thought that was really cool."
she smiled at him. "i worked really hard on that. i'm glad you liked it."
"you could literally fall a hundred times and i would still be in awe."
she blushed. "how's connecticut?"
he rolled his eyes. "it's boring. there's nothing to do here."
"well, you're only there for one more week. you'll survive." she laughed.
"so..." ben bounces in his seat. "your birthday is tomorrow."
"yeah." she nodded.
"what do you want?" he asked. she smiled sadly. "you know what i want."
ben suppressed a grin. "i know, sweetheart. i wanna see you too. i just-"
"you can't take off. you've told me." she said bitterly. he sighed. "i'm sorry, ellie."
"it's not your fault, ben. i just-i didn't think this would be so hard." she wiped at her mascara to hide the fact that a tear had escaped her eye. she took in a shaky breath. "i saw coach easton for the first time on thursday."
ben's eyes steeled.
"he didn't say much to me, but he was really tough about my routines. i had to do a lot of conditioning, too."
"that's not right, ellie." ben said.
"look, i don't know what you want me to do. i can handle a few extra planks." she laughed.
"of course you can." ben said. "but you promised to tell me if it gets worse."
"and i'm keeping that promise, ben."

sophie, cally, and grace showed up at eliana's hotel room the night before her birthday, bringing (low-calorie) snacks and ice cream. they had just had a full day of competition, and cally even snuck in a bottle of champagne.
"time to party!" she popped the cork and poured the bubbly into the paper cups on eliana's dresser. eliana reluctantly takes one of them. "don't let me drink too much of this. i did some embarrassing stuff last time." she giggled. cally raised her eyebrows. "ooh, what happened?"
eliana swallowed a sip of the alcohol. "i showed up at ben's room completely trashed."
"you did not!" sophie exclaimed.
"i did." she grimaced. "apparently i just kept telling him that he was cute."
grace put her hand over her heart. "that's adorable."
"i knew ellie would be a cute drunk." cally said.
"have you seen ben lately?" grace asked.
she shook her head. "not since houston. it's been almost four months."
"do you know when you're gonna see each other?"
"i don't really know his schedule." she said. "it kinda sucks, honestly."
cally patted her on the shoulder. "you're not allowed to be sad tonight. it's your birthday eve!"
she laughed. "sure is. let's party!"
the girls left her room at around 2 in the morning, and eliana went to bed.