Going for Gold

by Ivy Smoak

  Tim opened a binder and clicked a pen open. "Name?"

  "Artie Williams."

  "Thank you, Artie," said Tim. "Just a few questions and then I'll want you to perform a few moves. Let's see...okay, what experience do you have with dance?"

  "No formal training, but my hips don't lie."

  "You think this is a joke? Get the hell out." Tim pointed at the door.

  "For real?" Artie looked shocked.

  "Next."

  "Can't I show you some moves?"

  "Not interested. Next."

  "Fuck you, man," muttered Artie as he left the dance studio.

  "That was kind of harsh," said Kristen.

  "Not really. I only want dancers who will take this as seriously as I do. Let's hope the next one is better."

  Bryce brought the next dancer in, a guy named Lucas. Tim greeted him in the same way he had with Artie, starting with a question about his experience.

  "I've been practicing ballet since grade school," said Lucas. "My friends made fun of me, but it really helped me take my game to the next level."

  Tim scribbled down some notes. "Good, good. Have you ever performed competitively?"

  "A few times."

  "How do you feel about being nude on stage?"

  What? "What does that have to do with anything?" I whispered.

  "Just trying to keep him on his feet. Part of dance is being able to improvise. The stage can be a dangerous mistress for an inflexible performer."

  "I've never had to be nude for ballet, but I'm willing to do whatever the performance requires of me," said Lucas.

  Tim nodded approvingly. "What are your thoughts on devil's threesomes?"

  Oh my God. He's just trying to get a third for him and Kristen. I started to tune out Tim's super inappropriate questions and Lucas's answers. Instead I started to think about all the places in the dance studio where Bryce and I could have sex. Definitely pressed up against the mirrors. Maybe he could do me from behind with my hands against the stack of workout mats. The ballet barre would give us some great angles to explore. The possibilities with that were pretty endless...

  "Have you practiced the dance piece from the website?" Tim asked, drawing me out of my fantasies.

  I was slowly losing my mind. All I could think about was sex.

  "Yes."

  "Then let's see what you've got." Tim hit play on his phone and a Spanish sounding song started playing.

  I didn't know what the dance was supposed to look like, but from what I could tell, Lucas did awesome. All of his movements were crisp and on beat. Is this the actual dance? There were more hip thrusts than would generally be appropriate, but I guess it was a strip dance. And maybe I was just imagining it because I was so freaking horny.

  Tim hit stop on his phone. "Great, thank you, Lucas. I'll email you later tonight to tell you if you made it or not."

  "Thank you for the opportunity." Lucas turned and left the room.

  When the door was closed, Tim turned to us. "So what'd you guys think?"

  "I thought he did great," I said.

  "Yeah, he seemed good," agreed Bryce.

  Tim nodded. "I agree. My only concern were his looks. I thought he looked a little weird."

  "I thought he was cute," said Kristen.

  "Alright then, I guess that's a yes for him. Kristen has a great eye for the attractiveness of male features. Let's get the next..."

  The door opening interrupted Tim. A woman with a measuring tape around her neck walked into the studio.

  "Can I help you?" asked Tim.

  "Hi, I'm Annie. I'm the stylist."

  "Ah, excellent. Is what I sketched out going to work?"

  "Yes, I think so. I just need to measure the girls and then I'll be able to get to work. It's going to be a rush, but I can make it happen."

  "Great. Girls, will you please go with Annie to get measured?"

  I kind of wanted to sit here and keep daydreaming. There was no point in me getting measured. There wouldn't be a tiebreaker. And if there was, Kristen would do it. "Sure," I said instead and followed Kristen and Annie into an adjacent room.

  "Strip down to your panties and bras," Annie said as soon as the door was closed.

  I glanced at Kristen. But she didn't hesitate at all. She pulled off her jersey and slid off her spandex shorts. Okay. I stripped down to my underwear and sports bra too.

  Annie was a master with a measuring tape. She expertly wrapped it around us, writing down measurements in her notebook. I was a little suspicious of some of the measurements. Like the one that ended an inch under my ass. And the one that just ran from right under my breasts to right above my underwear line. Whatever outfit Tim had sketched must have been as miniscule as possible. But it was a strip dance. The outfits had to be sexy.

  "I hope you girls like sparkles," Annie said as she wrote down a few more things in her notebook.

  Kristen laughed. "Perfect, that's what I requested. Tim is really doing a good job, don't you think?"

  "Yeah," I said.

  "I'll be right back," Annie said. "I'm going to go grab a few fabric options."

  As soon as Annie left, I turned to Kristen. "About Tim...what's going on between you two?"

  Kristen shrugged. "What do you mean? He's such a gentleman, don't you think?"

  "Mhm. But did something happen between you two?"

  Kristen laughed. "Of course. He won a silver medal yesterday. I had to congratulate him."

  "What does that mean?"

  She raised her eyebrow. "I gave him a hand job during the movie."

  "Kristen!"

  "What? It doesn't violate our sex ban. I just pleased him. I'm still horny as hell. And don't pretend that you and Bryce weren't fooling around under the sheets."

  I wish. "Nothing happened. We're waiting until Saturday night."

  "Ugh, Saturday night can't come soon enough. Tim's penis is huge."

  "Oh my God."

  "What? I'm so horny. If I don't have sex with Tim I'm going to hop on whatever stranger I see right after our game. At least Tim is a gentleman. And sexy. He's so freaking sexy."

  I laughed. "But aren't you worried that he's gay?"

  "What are you talking about? All he does is flirt with me."

  "Right." Does she not hear the same things I hear?

  Kristen laughed. "You're so ridiculous. Your gaydar is officially broken. Tim is definitely straight. Trust me."

  "Yeah, I guess so." But probably not.

  Annie walked back in holding a few swatches with varying degrees of sparkle. Kristen picked out the shiniest one. If it did come down to a tiebreaker, everyone's eyes were definitely going to be glued to Kristen.

  We both walked back out into the dance studio.

  The guy dancing had his shirt off and was doing the weird thrusting moves that Lucas had done.

  "Brilliant!" Tim shouted. He stood up and started clapping. "We'll be in touch. But between you and me, you're a shoo-in."

  The guy shook Tim's hand and then left the room.

  "Having fun, guys?" I asked and sat back down next to Bryce.

  "Tim is having the time of his life."

  "I'm passionate about everything I do." He glanced over at Kristen.

  I guess he'd be doing her on Saturday night. So weird.

  "I truly am enjoying this, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't bummed that Python hasn't shown up yet," Tim said. "I was hoping to lure him out of hiding."

  "Um...what now?" I asked.

  "You do not want to know," Bryce said and put his hand on my thigh.

  All of my attention was now drawn to his hand.

  "Well you have to tell us now," Kristen said. "You can't just throw that out there and not tell us."

  "He's magnificent. He has skin the color of creamy milk chocolate and a penis the size of a baseball bat."

  "Oh God," Bryce said. "Please stop talking."

  "No, this is great. Now they can join our mission to find him."

  "You'
re a part of this mission?" I asked Bryce.

  "Kill me," he whispered.

  I laughed.

  "He sounds like a great third," Kristen said with a laugh.

  "My kinky woman," Tim said and kissed her cheek.

  Kristen's phone started buzzing in her bag. She pulled it out. "Shit." She looked at me.

  I knew what she was going to say before she even said it.

  "Brazil beat the Dominican Republic," she said.

  I thought I'd be upset. But I wasn't. I wanted to play against Brazil for the gold. I wanted to beat Gabriela Santos once and for all. "It's okay. We're going to crush them."

  Kristen smiled. "That's my girl."

  Bryce put his arm around my shoulders. "You're definitely going to crush her."

  I was glad he'd be cheering me on instead of making out with Gabriela. God. I hated that Chris had just popped into my head. Stupid asshole. He'd be making out with a loser after Saturday night. Because despite what he had said, Gabriela Santos was not better than me at anything. Well, maybe strip dancing. But that's just because she was a whore.

  Tim called in the next dancer and I let my mind wander back to all the things I wished I was doing with Bryce. Which first involved him slowly tracing his hand up my thigh. Yup, I was officially a sex addict.

  Chapter 27

  Friday

  Bryce

  I put my hands on Alina's hips again. We were the only two understudies, so we were fooling around in the back of the dance studio, half paying attention, half trying to avoid our primal urges. One more day.

  "Is this right?" Alina asked. She bent down low, pressing her ass against me.

  Fuck yes. "Yeah, that seems right."

  I pulled her waist so that we'd be pressed even closer together.

  Alina laughed and stood up. "I'm pretty sure Lucas isn't doing that to Kristen."

  "I think we're doing it right."

  "Mhm. Sure. Here, let me try to do that two step thing again." She grabbed my hands and did something that involved shimmying. I was having trouble not staring at her breasts. She turned to the side and I dipped her low.

  "No, no, no!" Tim yelled from the front of the room. "Everyone stop! The thrusting needs to be more forceful. You have to make the judges believe that you wish you were naked. It's the heat of the moment people! I need to feel the romance!"

  "I'm pretty sure Tim has lost it," Alina whispered to me.

  I laughed.

  "Bryce!" Tim yelled. "Get up here. I need to show them what I mean."

  "Oh God," I mumbled. I made my way up to the front of the room.

  "Lucas," Tim said. "Grab Kristen's waist like this. Lean over," he whispered to me.

  "Okay." I felt like I knew where this was going. But he was taking this so seriously to help me. I'd do whatever he needed me to do in order for us to win this thing.

  Tim grabbed my hips and thrust hard against my ass.

  Alina was laughing in the back of the room. If I didn't love hearing her laugh so much I might have considered punching Tim in the face. Instead I just did what he said.

  "Harder, Lucas! Thrust harder!" Tim thrust against my ass again.

  And I couldn't help laughing.

  "Let's take five," Tim said and let go of me. "Kristen, Alina, come here."

  "You seemed to enjoy that," I said to Alina when she reached us at the front of the room. She was still laughing as I wrapped my arms around her.

  "I'm pretty sure that was sexual abuse."

  Tim cleared his throat and handed Kristen and Alina each a shoebox. "Now that we have the general movements down, you should probably start breaking these in."

  Alina lifted the box to reveal sparkly blue stilettos. I was starting to wish she's actually be the one in the dance. Tim had shown me the sketch of the outfits and Alina would look amazing.

  "How are we supposed to dance in these?" Alina asked. "They're so high."

  "Practice makes perfect." Tim clapped his hands together. "Get to it."

  Kristen was already putting them on. "I would have preferred flats, but these shoes are amazing. Great choice, Tim."

  "I knew you'd love them. Alina, come on." He snapped his fingers. "Time is of the essence."

  Alina put on the shoes. She was about six inches taller in them, but still a lot shorter than me. They made her legs and ass look even more amazing. One more day.

  "Back of the room, you two. Okay, Kristen, let's do it from the top. Bump and grind, people!"

  The music started blaring again.

  I literally had no idea what I was doing. But Alina was doing a pretty good job following Kristen's lead. And my favorite part was coming up again. Alina twirled around and bent low, pressing her ass against me again. It hit me in just the right spot now. I tried to think of something depressing so I wouldn't get a boner. My athletic shorts certainly weren't going to hide anything. Puppies dying. Rodrigo. Shit. I let go of her waist and ran my fingers through my hair.

  She turned around. "Are you okay?"

  "I'm good. You can do that move for as long as you want."

  She laughed. "So, I've been thinking. You said you were going to be able to visit Em more if you won gold. Does that mean you'll be coming to the east coast a lot now?"

  I smiled. Was she really worried that once the ITAs were over we'd never see each other again? Couldn't she tell how much I liked her? I could see a future with her. This wasn't just some meaningless fling. "I was already motivated to visit more. And now that I've met you?" I grabbed her waist and pulled her in close. "I'm probably going to be there all the time." I leaned down and kissed her. Her hands immediately wrapped around my neck, drawing me closer to her. Kissing her made my head spin.

  "Understudy love birds!" Tim yelled. "Pay attention or I'll make you run laps!"

  Alina laughed and turned around again, picking up the dance right where the song was. She leaned down and flipped her head back, whipping her hair through the air.

  But now I was having trouble focusing. For some reason it had just hit me. There weren't that many events left. Brazil was down by one gold. If that stayed the same until tomorrow night, it was going to come down to the last event of the ITAs, the women's volleyball final. Brazil and the USA were both guaranteed to get a silver or gold out of it, so I assumed one of Rodrigo's other operatives would be in play to rig the game in favor of the games going to a tiebreaker. If Brazil was up by one silver and down by one gold, the game would be rigged against the US. Alina would lose. She wouldn't get enough money to save her bakery. And I couldn't do anything about it.

  Chapter 28

  Saturday

  Alina

  The spectators were already filing into the stands. We had passed by the line outside the volleyball arena. It was going to be absolutely packed. This was the last game of the ITAs. And we were definitely going to win. We were going to bring home the last gold for the USA. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

  "Alina, are you okay?" Kristen asked and sat down next to me.

  I opened my eyes. "I'm great." And I meant it. I was hyper focused. There wasn't a doubt in my mind about what was about to happen on that court. I'd finally beat Gabriela once and for all.

  "You should probably get dressed. The game starts in 20 minutes." Kristen already had red, white, and blue Kinesio tape wrapped up and down her arms and legs and lots of the other girls were already doing their pregame rituals.

  I nodded and stood up. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and opened up my locker. As soon as my locker door opened, photos fell out, spreading all over the floor.

  "What the hell?" I bent down to pick them up and froze. Oh God. I could feel the tears coming to my eyes. Chris banging Gabriela. Tons of photos of Chris fucking Gabriela against a wall in Club Blue. It was obvious because there was a neon blue sign above their fucking heads that said Club Blue. I flipped one over. It was dated from the night Chris had won his gold. He lied to me. I knew he lied to me!

  "Alina?" Kristen's voi
ce sounded miles away. I saw her crouch down next to me and before I knew it, she had grabbed all the photos. "Alina?"

  I sat down on the locker room floor. It shouldn't hurt like this. Chris and I had broken up. I liked Bryce. Why did it hurt so much?

  "Alina?" Kristen put her hands on my shoulders. "Gabriela's just trying to get in your head. Don't let her win."

  That's why it hurt. It wasn't that Chris had cheated on me. I knew he was a dick. It was the fact that Gabriela had won him over. She always beat me. She always took everything away from me.

  "Alina, say something."

  Instead I burst into tears.

  "Shit," Kristen mumbled. She wrapped her arms around me. "Alina, you can beat her today in the one thing that matters the most to her. In front of the whole world."

  But I didn't feel like facing her. I felt like admitting defeat. All I wanted to do was crawl into my bed and pull the sheets over my head.

  "It's time to kick her ass once and for all."

  ***

  I knew my eyes were still puffy as I made my way out of the locker room. The pep talks from Kristen helped.

  The pregame warm-ups went by in a blur. All I knew was that way too many of my practice serves hit the net. Focus!

  When it was time to shake the other teams' hands, I knew exactly what I was going to say to her. I was going to look her in the eyes and say, "Nice try." And then I was going to annihilate her in the game. When I got to Gabriela, she locked eyes with me and smiled, just like always.

  She grabbed my hand under the net. Before I could say what I wanted, she said, "I'll make sure to tell Chris you said hi." She winked at me and released my hand.

  I was going to kill her.

  Kristen put her hand on my back and pushed me forward to shake the next player's hand. "I hope you're enjoying Alina's sloppy seconds," she said to Gabriela.

  Gabriela scoffed.

  Why didn't I say something clever like that? Why didn't I say anything at all?

  I took my place on the court. I scanned the crowd looking for Bryce. That's what I needed. To see him cheering me on. To know that one person was on my side. I saw him smiling, holding his sign. Tim and Alex were on either side of him. Alex had a sign of his own: "I heard gold wasn't even the best thing you ladies are getting tonight." There was a winky face at the end.