Chapter 10

Tricia skated to the center of the rink to take a second bow, acknowledging the standing ovation she received following the conclusion of her long program.

She was carrying the bouquet of red roses that Thad had somehow acquired and handed to her as she skating off the ice just moments ago.

As she took a bow and acknowledged the crowd, Tricia thought back over the day.

Her short program went flawlessly. While it wasn’t all that technically challenging, everything just seemed to flow. Her spins and jumps had gone flawlessly, each one feeding directly into the next.

Tricia had never skated what she considered a perfect program, one where she didn’t have at least something go wrong, but today, everything had gone exactly as she had intended.

Being the highest scorer in the short program, her free skate was the last of the day for the women. So the day had passed slowly for Tricia. Thad had come and sat with her as she watched the other skaters go through their program, and whenever she would start to get anxious or nervous, Thad would just lean over and kiss her or hug her.

So when she skated onto the ice for her long program, she was as relaxed as she had ever been when skating in a competition.

And it had shown in her performance.

One sequence flowed naturally into the next, and the next. Her jumps were effortless and she landed each of them perfectly, her blades always pointed in the right direction.

Thad had even whispered in her ear that she appeared to be floating just above the ice as she went around the rink, only the sound of her blade on the ice giving away that she wasn’t in fact weightless.

But it really was the jumps that had her returning to the ice. She had done three triple-triple combinations, but more importantly, she had perfectly executed and landed the quadruple axle. In fact, while this wasn’t a competition to qualify for next year’s nationals, it was an officially sanctioned event. So that meant that she was the first person, man or woman, to successfully execute the quadruple axle in competition.

Tricia bowed again, blew kisses to the stands, and then skated to the exit where Thad stood beside her coach, both of them looking at her with pride and amazement written across their faces.

As the stepped off the ice, Coach Nick handed her blade guards to her, while Thad steadied her as she reached down to slip them over her blades.

When she had regained her balance with her blade guards on, Coach Nick was the first to grab her and hug her, nearly choking the life out of her.

“I always knew there was something special about you!” He exclaimed when he released her. “You were always so graceful on the ice, but you weren’t the best jumper, but now, with you strength, you can be the greatest skater in the world!”

Thad smiled and pulled her into a hug as well. Not the bear crushing hug of Coach Nick, but enough to let her know that he loved her deeply. And she hugged him back.

“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” She replied to Coach Nick, but inside she was beaming with his praise.

Just then the judges announced their scoring. This event, as a non-qualifying event, was using the 6.0 scoring system, and Tricia looked on in shock as she had solid sixes across the board. She had never seen such a thing. There were no low and high marks to drop, just sixes.

She turned to look at Thad, but knew that he would never understand the technicalities of it. Coach Nick however, also seemed surprised.

“I knew it was good, but I have never seen a perfect score awarded before.” He said quietly, then he turned to Tricia, “But if ever a routine deserved a perfect score, it would be this one!”

He hugged Tricia again and then walked away to talk to the other skaters and coaches, giving Tricia a moment alone with Thad.

Thad hugged her again and leaned forward to kiss her. With her skates on, she was nearly as tall as he was, so the angle of the kiss was a little different, but Tricia melted into him.

It wasn’t until she heard the clapping and cheering that she remembered that they were in full view of the Arena. She broke off the kiss, blushing when she saw the television cameras.

“Tricia, can you tell us how you feel?” One of the reports was yelling.

“I feel great. It was a blast being out there on the ice and everything just seemed to work today!”

“Who’s your boyfriend?” Another asked

“I figured you would recognize Thad, my boyfriend. He just set two world records in track.” Tricia answered, smiling and turning to kiss Thad again.

“How do you explain your sudden success?” A reporter from the back yelled. “Are you using PED’s”

Tricia’s face turned from joy and absolute fury in a millisecond. “Did you just accuse me of cheating?” She yelled. “Who asked that question? Show your face you miserable coward!”

When the reported stepped forward, or to be more precise, when the crowd parted in front on him, Tricia started to stomp toward him.

“I do NOT cheat!” She continued loudly and angrily, enunciating each word very clearly. “I practice and work out every day. I put in time in the gym and on the ice. Like Thad, I take care of my body and I am serious about what I do. And for some low-life loser like you who hasn’t seen the inside of a gym in his entire life to accuse me of cheating is just classic sensationalist journalism.”

Tricia paused and took in the silence around her.

“Thad gets tested for PED’s after track meets. I am happy to get tested if US Figure Skating requests it. But from here on, anyone who asks such a stupid question will be ignored. “Now, I will be leaving, and I hope you all self-censure and remove this idiot. If I see him again, I will not be answering any questions.”

Tricia, walked back over to Thad, taking his hand, and then leading them back into the complex to where athletes only were allowed.

“Sorry about that.” Tricia muttered. “I know I shouldn’t lose my temper like that, but given the way they treated you, I wanted to set the record straight, and set a precedent for what we would and would not accept.”

“I’m totally aligned with you on this.” Thad replied, hugging Tricia to his side, before allowing her to sit.

Then he knelt down and began to unlace her skates and gently pull them off her beautiful feet, gently massaging each one when the skate was off.

Thad then noticed that their moms were standing off to the side, watching with smiles on their faces. When they realized that Thad had seen them, Tricia’s mom, Anne, stepped forward.

“When I look at the two of you, I see me and Scott when we were young. I know he looked at me the way Thad was just looking at you.”

Anne had to stop and wipe a tear from her face, and Thad noted that his mom was also smiling and crying. When Tricia saw her mom crying, she stepped over to her and hugged her, and soon Thad and his Mom were all part of a four-way group hug.

Anne had to get home to deal with her other two children, but Thad, Tricia and Ellen decided to go get dinner before driving back to Athens.

The dinner was a nice affair, with the three of them chatting and laughing and generally enjoying themselves.

As the meal came to a close, and they prepared to head home, Ellen pulled both of them to the side.

“There are likely going to be reporters outside the restaurant, or at a minimum, outside the hotel. My advice to you is to say nothing to anyone, just smile and walk to the car. When we get to the hotel, do the same.

“If anyone starts to follow you and drives aggressively around you, stop the car and call 911. There is no winning with those kinds of idiots and the Georgia Highway Patrol would love to take them down a peg or two. Having them swarming around your vehicle would set them up for criminal prosecution and the officers I know would love that.”

Tricia and Thad let that sink in, realizing that their new found success and the fame that went along with it had some real downsides, some real dangers. They both nodded and Tricia grabbed Thad’s arm and hugged herself to him as they walked out the front door.

There were only a couple of photographers outside the restaurant, and they were well behaved. They were able to get into the car, and pull away without any difficulty.

However, getting to the hotel, they realized they had a much more difficult problem. The front of the hotel was swarmed with reporters and cameramen.

When Ellen pulled up in front, the strobes from the cameras started going off like crazy. Thad got out first and turned to help Tricia out, blocker her from the reporters.

A couple of bellmen from the hotel also arrived and ushered them back into the lobby where the press was not allowed.

“Thanks for your help!” Thad said to the two men, “That was crazy!”

“Yes Sir, it sure was, but the two of you are all the talk of the town today!” One of them men replied with a smile. “I guess you better get used to it if the two of you are going to keep setting world records!”

Thad and Tricia gathered their things, and headed out to the car, loading up for the drive home.

The drive home was rather subdued, with both Thad and Tricia thinking about the experiences of the day. Fortunately the paparazzi decided to leave them alone and they were able to make the drive home unmolested.

When Thad pulled up in front of Tricia’s house and turned off the engine, Tricia turned to him.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Tricia said. “I was extremely happy at how I performed today. I was as happy as I have ever been. And I was even happier since you were there with me.

Tricia paused and tears filled her eyes. “But I don’t know if I can put up with this craziness every time one of us competes.”

Tricia turned and opened the door, grabbing her bag and running to her front door before Thad could respond.

And then Thad was just sitting there in his truck, staring at her front door and wondering what the hell had just happened.

It was a couple of hours later when Tricia’s mom opened the door and walked out to Thad’s truck.

“Just give her some time,” she said softly to Thad who had tears running down his face and a thousand yard stare in his eyes. “She just needs some time to process it all and I think your relationship, the success on the ice, and then the reporters were just all too much for her.”

Thad looked over at Ann and nodded.

“I know, and she was there for me when I had to deal with this too. So please let her know I will be here when she needs me or wants me.”

Ann nodded and then a small smile peeked out. “Well, maybe you should go home, and not spend the night in our driveway. But I’ll let her know you aren’t far away!”

Thad chuckled at the bad joke despite himself, but he nodded.

“Thanks Ms. Peterson. Please take care of her for me!”

She nodded and patted Thad on the arm before turning to head back in the house. Once she was safely inside, Thad pulled out his phone and realized that there were several calls from his mother.

But before he went home, he sent a short text to Tricia.

“I love you and I will always be here for you.” It read.

When it was sent, he started up the truck and drove home.

Thad functioned on autopilot for the next couple of days. Sunday he didn’t hear from Tricia. Not a word from her for the first time since that fateful day at the track when he had first run with the vision of her as a fiery red-headed goddess as his muse.

Then on Monday morning, his mom told him that Tricia wasn’t going to school so he didn’t need to stop and pick her up.

“Is she alright?” Thad asked.

“I think she will be, just give her a bit of time. She is just overwhelmed by everything that has happened to both of you.”

Ellen paused and gave Thad a look. “She stayed strong for you when success hit for you, and she stayed by your side when you ran away. Just remember that.”

Thad nodded and headed off to school deep in thought.

In school, he floated along in a haze, just going to classes and getting by. As a senior, everyone had pretty much given up on school. Thad had completed all his AP exams and he didn’t have any other finals. He just had a week until prom and then the next weekend was graduation.

Everyone seemed to notice Thad’s mood and the absence of Tricia, and they kindly left Thad alone. No one wanted to poke the bear and see what happened.

And so it was that Thad drove home, still in a fog, and parked. He walked in the front door.

And then he was tackled to the floor.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t trying to hurt you!” Tricia kept crying into his chest as she wrapped herself around him, holding him tightly.