Page 132 of Thrown for a Loop
It’s really impressive. I’m proud to be part of the Legends family tonight, even if I’m viewing the whole thing through a filter of unease. It’s been almost two weeks since Nolan Sharp handed me a job offer, and I still can’t decide how I feel about it.
I haven’t told Chase, either. I’m just not ready.
From the railing, I take one more lingering look at the party. There’s Chase, wearing a Legends jersey and posing with a fan. It’s too far away for me to see his smile, but I can picture it. It’s becoming almost impossible to imagine a future without him. I want it so much. But I don’t want to make him choose me, either.
I’m so confused. And I don’t have anyone to discuss it with.
Walking away, I head for the women’s bathroom near the staff locker corridor. It’s empty, as I knew it would be, and I get to work. The first order of business is changing into my skating costume, a sleek little black number with a halter neck.
With the dress on, I carefully style my hair into a bun, just the way I wore it in our ten-year-old video. Then I do a heavy makeup job because the lights will wash me out. Red lipstick. Glittery eye shadow. Rouged cheeks.
When I’m done, I stare at myself in the mirror. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen this version of myself—the ice princess look. Sleek hair, maximum makeup, lots of skin showing.
You have to wear a short skirt, Aiden the snake said.I don’t make the rules.He wasn’t wrong. Throughout the history of figure skating, women who tried to challenge the status quo were rarely successful.
When I was a girl, though, I couldn’t see any of this. The aesthetic rules of skating were just a pre-existing condition that I lived with. And I planned to dominate skating anyway. Everyone said I would.
And then I did. Sort of. But then I convinced myself I hadn’t, with the help of my ex and my domineering mother.
Things are better now, mostly because I’ve held my boundaries. After several ignored calls and a few terse text exchanges, I made it clear that I’ll no longer tolerate her opinions about my perfectly valid life choices.
The door opens behind me. “Wowzers!”
I whirl around to spot Darcy coming through the door in a sleek green evening gown. “You look amazing!”
“That’s my line!” She grins. “Is the team doctor on call tonight? Because we’re going to have to resuscitate Chase once he sees you in that.”
“Don’t evenjokeabout doctors tonight,” I complain. “My greatest nightmare is Chase injuring himself in this circus.”
“He won’t,” she scoffs. “You aresucha worrywart lately! This is a damn party, and I insist that you enjoy it.”
“Sure. Right after I’m done being the main dish?” I give myself another glance in the mirror.
“Well, yeah,” she says. “No pressure.”
“Can you help me with these damn eyelashes?” I ask, pointing at the set I purchased at her direction. “The idea of gluing something to my face is scary.”
“I got you,” she says, grabbing the package. “Sit on the sofa thing.”
I sit on the sofa thing and wait patiently while she leans over me. “You look incredible,” she says in a serious voice. “And I know this is a lot. Butyouare a big deal, Zoe. You’re very important to me as a friend, and I know you volunteered for this under duress. But please understand that you have superpowers that the rest of us can only dream of. So forgive us for wanting to see them once in a while. We can’t really help ourselves.”
“Stop,” I hiss through clenched teeth. “If you make me cry, I have to do all this makeup over again.”
“Hold still,” she admonishes me. “There. Now look.”
I peek in the mirror once again and see the kind of ice princess that people are paying a grand to watch. “This is going to be a damned spectacle.”
“You know it. Now you get some stretching in, and I’ll text you when they’re down to the last ten-minute hockey game.”
I’m alone upstairs just long enough to get nervous, so when Darcy texts me, it’s a relief. I carry my figure skates down the back stairs and enter the tunnel. It’s cluttered with Legends players who are trying to watch the final hockey act—a three-on-three game played in bubble suits. And it must be funny, because the audience is howling with laughter.
“There she is!” Darcy shouts over the chaos. “Over here, babe! I brought you a chair.”
The players part like the sea for me, several of them turning around to take me in.
“Hot damn,” DeLuca says with a wink. “You look like a million bucks for charity.”
“Where’s Chase?” someone else asks. “How’s he gonna top that? I want to see some leg.”
