Chapter 22: Decisions, Decisions

Ellen was getting ready to go, and went upstairs to say goodbye to Sophia.

"We've been up here three hours?" Sophia asked incredulously?

"Yes, you have, dear," said Ellen with a smile. "I will see you later, at home, OK?"

"Bye, Mom."

They came down shortly after Ellen had left. "Were you guys on the computer the whole time?" asked Peg.

"Yeah," Sophia admitted with a smile. "I think he's got me hooked. I was chatting with figure skaters from all over the country."

"Oh, yeah," Peg smiled, "Warren's SkateGirl Harem."

"Well, one guy," Sophia laughed. "Jack, a singles skater from Washington."

"Yeah, he's one of the few guys I chat with regularly. He knows about my flirtsessions with a lot of the girls-I think he was glad to find out that you were there with me so he could flirt with you."

"It was fun, after watching you flirt with every female figure skater in the country, seemingly," laughed Sophia. "The only thing I didn't like is that you didn't have a picture of him. You have one of all the girls," she teased. "Although it seemed like he had ours."

"He does. I have his, too."

"Why didn't you show me? And why did you type to him at the beginning that I hadn't seen his face yet?"

"That was code. I wanted you to enjoy yourself. I don't think you would have been able to flirt so easily if you had seen his picture."

"Why? Is he ugly or something?"

"Not at all."

"And, waitaminnit... what do you mean, what you typed to him was code? What kind of code?"

"It was code for 'She doesn't know who you are.'"

"Well, of course I don't. He's just an anonymous skater."

"And that's what I let you think. If I had shown you his picture, you would have realized he was Jack... or John, Garrison."

"Jack is JOHN GARRISON?"

"Uh-huh."

"You mean to tell me I just spent thirty minutes cyber-flirting with the US NATIONAL SILVER MEDALIST?"

"Uh-huh."

"Wow."

"Not everybody knows who he is. He's a really nice guy. As is Liz."

"Liz."

"The girl I was flirting with before Jack came on?"

"Yeah, what about her?"

"That's Elizabeth Cushman."

"World Champion Elizabeth Cushman????"

"The same."

"Wow."

"Almost nobody knows who she is. I figured it out, last year, because all the times that Liz disappeared from the computer coincided with the times that Elizabeth Cushman was away competing somewhere. And, after Cup of Russia last year, I caught her. 'Liz' popped back up, IM-ing me as always, and I said, 'So, how was St. Petersburg?' And she blathered about it for a couple minutes before she caught herself, and said, 'Waitaminnit. How did you know I was in St. Petersburg?' And I said, 'Because I'm very good at putting two and two together, and I do believe I just watched you win Cup of Russia on my TV set, Miss Cushman.'"

"Oh, that's priceless. She must have peed her pants."

"Well, she spent the first couple of minutes trying to deny it. Finally, I said, 'Liz, I am convinced that you are Elizabeth Cushman, but your secret is perfectly safe with me. I just enjoy the fact that I spend all kinds of time flirting with a World Champion.' She laughed and typed back at me, 'OK. I admit it. I'm Elizabeth Cushman.' I think she enjoys the fact that she has one computer buddy who she doesn't have to hide it with. She IM-ed me right after she got back from Worlds in April. What a great chat that was. I think that World Championship surprised her, because Katya Yurcheskova had been skating so well."

"Wow. You rubbing shoulders with the Skating Elite. How come you never told me this?"

"I dunno. Well, I did want to show you what this was all about before I told you, because it's easier to explain with a visual demonstration. As for Jack and Liz, well, I've been taken into a confidence, here, and I guard their privacy very carefully. They're my friends. Liz was especially helpful when I was going through all that with you before we hooked up."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She was sending me e-mails from a laptop at Worlds, for heaven's sake, making sure I was all right. She landed in Germany the week of the whole Scott blowup, and she's sending me emails asking me 'Are you OK? How's your face?' and I'm emailing her back telling her to forget about me and go PRACTICE!" Sophia laughed. "And then, I get an email from her that said 'Guess what? I won my qualifying round' and I got to email back to her, 'Guess what? Sophia asked me out!' I think she was more excited by that. Then, she got back from Worlds, and we got to celebrate World Championships and True Love, all at once."

"Wow."

"She's a peach, is Liz. Great skater, better person. You are the single, only person that I have revealed her identity to. Jack already knew, but, as far as I know, nobody else on the skating lists and chats around the internet knows that Liz is Elizabeth Cushman. I will tell her that I told you, she won't mind you knowing."

"Her secret is safe with me!"

The Fourth was always a big bash up at the Kenney's. Sophia and Warren were one of the first ones there, and grabbed a couple chairs in the corner to hold court. There were a bunch of people on the picnic table, and Warren was telling all about the baseball game.

"... and she was there making like Peter Gammons. It was great. The guy behind me leaned over to me and said that I was the luckiest guy in the world."

Rick Kenney smiled and said, "I think knowing a lot about baseball would be high on my list of qualities I'd want in a girlfriend."

"That, pal," said Warren, "is because you eat, sleep, and breathe baseball. Don't get your hopes up, there, Rich-Sophie's a rare bird when it comes to that."

"So, Warren," Cheryl began. Cheryl had been a lot nicer to Sophia since her revelations, but was still as catty as ever. "Does it intimidate you?"

"What?"

"Going out with a girl who's so beautiful, when you're... you."

Sophia was butting in with "Oh, of course it doesn't," but Warren was saying, "Cheryl, don't go there."

"What," Sophie asked, "it does intimidate you?"

"Well, not usually."