Chapter 3
Beca spends most of her training days after the Opening Ceremony with Chloe. Aside from the volleyball match against other Canadians on day three (which she and Aubrey won), Chloe's other games didn't start until around when Beca's races did, so with their days off coinciding, they seized the chance to hang out with each other.
In the mornings, they trained with Jesse and Stacie. Jesse was thrilled just to be near one half of the pair he'd been stalking, and Stacie was glad to have someone to talk to when Beca and Jesse would spontaneously break into races.
"Oh, come on Beca," Chloe said with an unimpressed look on her face. It was a slow morning, and Beca wasn't giving it her all, but Chloe never took training lightly. She was intense, pushing them to limits even their trainers hadn't. "I know you can lift more than that."
"Yeah," Jesse agreed, and Beca shot him a glare while her arms trembled with effort. "Never give up, never surrender!"
Stacie rolled her eyes and took the weight from Beca, "You guys, she's tiny."
Beca huffed, crossing her arms while Jesse took her spot on the bench.
"You're not really mad at me, are you?" Chloe asked, innocently batting her eyelashes. "I'm just trying to help you reach your potential."
"You're crazy," Beca rolled her eyes.
Chloe grinned.
When they weren't training, they watched their teammates compete, and when it was Canada versus America, they'd trash talk each other.
Beca watched on the edge of her seat as USA swimmer, Katie Ledecky breezed past Canada, Hungary, the other USA swimmer, and Australia in the water.
Of all the Americans were up on their feet, cheering, Beca was the loudest. Chloe rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please," Beca shoved her shoulder, playfully. "Are Canadians even capable of competition? Or would they be like, 'no, sorry, eh. You take the gold'."
She busted out laughing at Chloe's offended face.
"Yeah, well I didn't know there was even such a thing as muscular Americans," Chloe glared. "I thought you were all obese."
"That's cold, Chlo'," Beca sat back down, shaking her head. "But I guess that’s how you Canadians like it up in your igloos, huh?”
Chloe laughed.
In the afternoons, they'd go to the cafeteria and eat lunch together.
“People are glaring at me,” Beca said, eyeing a particularly intimidating Canadian that was glaring at her. She twirled the wheat-crust of her pizza around her fingers. “I don’t think they like that I’m sitting with you.”
Chloe chuckled, "You’re being ridiculous. Nobody cares who you sit with. Did you forget that Ashton Eaton and Brienne Theisen-Eaton are married?”
“No, but Ashton says he gets criticized all the time,” Beca argued. She noticed a bit of sauce on Chloe’s bottom lip. Without thinking, she reached out, sliding her fingers under Chloe’s chin, and wiped it away with her thumb. “Think they’ll pull a Tonya Harding on me?”
“Beca,” Chloe admonished, sounding a bit hoarse. “You shouldn’t say stuff like that.”
Beca glanced over at her. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” Chloe flashed a quick smile and went back to eating.
Beca's favorite time to spend with Chloe was at night when they’d go out and explore Rio together.
Usually, it was quiet, with only a few tourists still walking around. Chloe would stare up at the stars, and Beca would stare at Chloe. It wasn't too cold or too warm. It was neither here or there like this night didn’t matter like it didn’t exist. Like everything was frozen in a half-way state, and Beca and Chloe were the only ones free to live.
“This makes me never want to go back to Canada,” Chloe whispered.
They were on the beach with their toes in the sand, and their pants rolled up to their calves. Beca agreed, “This kind of night makes me glad I met you.”
Chloe looked at her, there was something as wonderful and bright as the stars, in her eyes. She reached her hand out and wiggled her fingers. Beca threaded hers through them. They walked along the beach not saying anything. Nothing they could say would capture how perfect this night was.
It wasn't hard to like Chloe; she knew the right things to say, she was funny and incredibly sweet. Beca was naturally an awkward person, but not once had she ever felt awkward in Chloe's presence. She hadn't come to the Olympics to make friends, but it had happened anyway, and she wasn't mad about it.
It was thoughts of Chloe that buzzed in her head when she walked into the deafeningly loud Olympic Stadium for Round 1 of the 100m races.
She smiled at the crowd, summoning every inch of confidence she had. They ate it right up. She already knew she was a hit with the Americans she just wished that she could make the whole world fall in love with her as well. Or at least envy her little.
Honestly, she wasn’t too concerned about this race. She knew she had trained vigorously for this and the qualifying rounds were always so easy, it was everything that came after, that raised the stakes, and made things harder.
She walked to lane four and adjusted the blocks. She set herself up like she would in the actual race and then took off to test if the adjustments were right for her; they were.
She smiled big and winked at the camera that followed her back to the starting position. In her head she pictured Jesse and Stacie rolling their eyes at her obvious show of cockiness. She winked again when the cameraman stood in front of her while the announcers were introducing her.
The stadium grew quiet when the all the racers took their starting positions. Beca reigned in her focus, it was no longer the entire world watching. Nobody but her and the other racers was in this moment. Beca’s heart thudded in her ears so loudly that she was afraid that she wouldn’t hear the air gun go off.
Thud…
Thud…
Thud…
BANG!
Beca flung off her blocks, it was sloppy and left her behind the rest of the heat. She squinted her eyes and pumped her legs, willing all her training to kick in. In one blink, Beca was in front of everyone, crossing the finish line with a smile that could light up the entire stadium.
“Fuck yeah!” Beca swung her fist in the air.
Dripping with sweat, she left the track and headed up the stairs to the stadium. There were hoards of interviewers waiting to take a picture and conduct an interview. They called her name, congratulated her, and took pictures of her. She’d been instructed to only go to the interview with the American reporter, so she looked for the person with an American flag wrapped around their mic and went to that him.
The reporter was a bald guy with black-rimmed glasses, “We have America’s lovable troublemaker, Beca Mitchell here. Beca, how was the race? You came in first, congratulations!”
Trying to catch her breath, Beca answered, “Yeah, you know this race was pretty easy, so.”
“You’re starting was a little sloppy.”
“That’s definitely something I have to work on for my future races,” Beca breathed. People assumed athletes wouldn’t get winded, but what they didn’t understand was that they were giving it their absolute all against some of the worlds fastest people. It was hard.
“Your coach has been quoted say you never listen. Is that true?” The reporter chuckled.
“I just—” deep breath “—don't think you teach talent.”
The reporter howled with laughter, “Well there you go everyone, Beca Mitchell. Definitely, someone to look out for.”
“Thank you." With a wave, Beca left the reporter and headed to where her coach, Jesse, and Stacie were waiting for her.
Jesse pulled her in for a hug, “Way to go, Beca! You killed that! Oh, and coach is definitely going to have your ass for that comment.” He laughed and released her.
Beca swallowed nervously but didn’t have much time to dwell on it because Stacie was pulling her into her arms and then quickly pushing her away. “Ew, you’re sweaty!”
“Um, duh. Did you think being this good was easy?” Beca scoffs.
“You definitely had me fooled,” Said a voice from behind her.
Beca grinned, turning around to where Chloe stood, “You came to watch me?”
Chloe’s smile matched hers, “Did you really think I’d miss your first race?”
“I mean, I didn’t go to your game,” Beca said. “I didn’t think you’d come to mine.”
“Yeah, well clearly, I’m the better friend.”
Beca laughed, crushing Chloe in a hug. She bent backward a little, picking her off the ground and spinning her around. She felt Chloe smile against her neck. Beca had just come in first place in her first ever Olympic race, but nothing felt nearly as good as this moment right here.
Chloe’s breath hitched, and then she was struggling her way out of Beca’s hug.
“What’s wrong?” Beca asked, searching Chloe’s eyes. They had that same terrified look from the first night in them. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, fine,” Chloe said, running her fingers through her hair. “I have to go train with Aubrey, I’ll see you around.”
Beca caught her arm, “Wait, we’re celebrating my win after my conference with Coach—do you want to come?”
Chloe smiled apologetically. She touched Beca’s cheek, “I’m sorry, Beca. Maybe some other time. Congratulations on first place.”
Beca clenched her jaw, it was obvious she was lying. This wasn’t the first time she had done that either. She always pulled away and then said she was fine when Beca asked her what was wrong. Jesse and Stacie frowned in confusion but neither of them said anything.
Coach screamed and screamed about all the technical errors she committed in her race but Beca barely heard him over her thoughts. When he played her the tape of the race, the only thing she saw was the hug at the end of it all.
It had been caught on the big camera. The way they looked at each other, the way Beca had spun Chloe around, they looked like a couple. It made Beca's stomach twist. Then suddenly Chloe's was staring directly into the camera and her eyes filled with dread.
What was she so afraid of?
The day’s events undoubtedly led Beca out to the Olympic Rings past midnight. She knew if Coach found out, she’d get in trouble, but her brain was going haywire and just laying in bed would probably leave her in a worse mood than she already was.
Jesse and Stacie had tried to cheer up during their little celebration, but Beca was no longer in the headspace for celebrating. At dinner, her friends took turns barking at her to eat because as an athlete on a strict dietary plan, skipping meals was not allowed.
“Figured you’d be out here,” Chloe said, standing in front of Beca. She didn’t try to sit in the ring with Beca like she normally would. “I tried to catch you at dinner, but you seemed busy.”
Beca looked down at her Nikes, she had purposely been avoiding Chloe.
“Beca,” Chloe said, pleadingly. “What’s wrong?”
“I should be asking you that,” Beca said, bitterly.
When their eyes met, Beca had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Of course, Chloe had to look extra cute tonight, bundled in a charcoal grey hoodie with Canada in red across her chest, joggers, and moccasins. Her hair was out, and her cheeks and nose were tinted pink from the cool air. Nights in Rio got cold sometimes.
“What do you mean? There’s nothing wrong. I’m fine,” Chloe insisted.
“You always say that,” Beca stood up, clenching her jaw.
“Maybe because I actually mean it?” Chloe shook her head, confused. “Why are you so mad? Is this because I didn’t come to your celebration—Beca, I was already pushing the limit going to see you race. I couldn’t have stayed to celebrate if I wanted to.”
“Okay,” Beca sighed, she didn’t want to fight. Chloe was either telling her the truth, or their friendship wasn’t at the place that Beca thought it was, and Chloe wasn’t ready to share whatever it was that was constantly freaking her out.
Chole didn’t look convinced, “Are we okay?”
“Would you tell me if I was doing something that made you feel uncomfortable?” Chloe pursed her lips for a moment, then nodded. Beca ran a hand through her hair, “Then, yeah. We’re okay.”
“Good,” Chloe took something out of the pouch of her sweater, “Because I got you something. I don’t think you’ll ever forget your first win at your first ever Olympics, but I wanted to get you something to commemorate it…and us. Um, our friendship.”
“What is it?” Beca laughed. “You look nervous.”
Chloe bit her lip, “Here.” She took Beca’s hand and carefully placed something into her palm.
It was a thick gold ring. In awe, Beca held it out in the light, engraved on the band was the Olympic rings and on the inside of it was, Beca + Chloe Rio 2016. The saliva in Beca’s mouth dried up, she couldn’t speak. Chloe was looking at her with nervous expectancy. Beca just shook her head.
“Well,” Chloe's voice was teasing as she nudged Beca’s sneakers with her own. “Do you like it?”
“I love it, Chlo’,” She couldn’t believe she was getting teary-eyed. She hadn’t come close to crying in years. “This is the best thing I’ve ever…wow.”
Chloe grinned, “Put it on, slowpoke.”
Beca slid it on to her middle finger, “Wow.” There was nothing else she could say.
Beca pulled Chloe fiercely into her arms, hugging her tightly to her chest. At that moment, if it was up to her, she would’ve never let go.
That was the first night Beca realized she had fallen a little in love with Chloe Beale.