My mouth worked soundlessly. I knew they were looking for a soundbite, something short that would sum everything up, but my mind was in chaos. I couldn’t think of anything clever to say. My nerves were getting the better of me.
Ty leaned in and solved the problem for me. “I don’t know about Zara, but I’m not happy with our performance. I messed up, and if we go home, it’s because of me. I feel like I let my partner down.”
Tears pricked my eyes and I hugged Ty close, burying my face against his tuxedo jacket, oblivious to the cheers of the crowd. “You absolutely did not let me down,” I told him. “You were awesome.”
Chip moved on down the line and I felt Ty’s hand go to my back, stroking it. I didn’t pull away from him. I mean, if we were going home, did it matter how I acted right now? So I kept my head pressed to Ty’s chest and my arms around his waist because there was no other place I wanted to be at the moment.
A few others murmured answers, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was waiting for the moment of truth.
It came a short time later, after a commercial break. “Now it’s time for our results,” Chip said, and he took the envelope from the tiny skater that came out to give it to him. He opened it slowly, glanced at the audience, and then said, “The first skaters safe this week are…Emma and Louie Earl!”
I straightened, releasing Ty’s waist and clapped politely for Emma. She looked thrilled.
“The next team safe is….Victoria Kiss and Toby!”
I clapped again, less happy. We were in the bottom two. No surprise there, but Annamarie and Serge were also in the bottom two, and they’d scored a full ten points higher than us last night. It was clear from Annamarie’s unhappy face that she was doing the same math in her head, trying to figure out why she was on the bottom.
Another commercial break passed, an endless moment where we stood on the ice and fidgeted, waiting. Nothing was half as awkward as a commercial break, especially when you were on the filming end with nothing to do.
Then Chip surged into action again. “It’s time to announce the team that will be going home tonight.”
I clasped Ty’s hand, and across from us, I noticed Annamarie and Serge were holding hands, too.
“Annamarie Evans and Serge,” Chip began, and then paused for dramatic effect. “You…ARE SAFE. Ty and Zara, I’m sorry, but you have been eliminated.”
The audience booed, clearly on our side.
We waved half-heartedly as Annmarie and Serge hugged and skated away, and the closing music began to play. “Do you have anything else to say, Ty and Zara?” Chip asked.
“Thank you for…” I said, and then blanked out again. Tears threatened, and I looked over at my partner helplessly. I was not going to be able to speak around the knot in my throat.
All my hopes had just gone down the drain, along with any chance of a career resurgence.
“We just wanted to say thanks for the opportunity,” Ty said, my hand clasped tightly in his. “And that we appreciate all the support we got from the crowd at home.” Wild cheers met this announcement, and we waved one more time.
Then it was time to skate off stage.
As soon as we made it back to the curtained staging area, I buried my head in my hands and began to cry.
Ty tucked me in against him, hugging me close. “Shh. It’s okay.”
But it wasn’t okay. I wouldn’t be invited back. We hadn’t blown anyone away with our routines. I knew that if I had a chance in hell of impressing the producers, I needed to place well. At the bottom of the pack? It wasn’t going to cut it. And Ty had lost his opportunity to continue to show the viewing audience how charming he could be.
All because Penelope Marks and the judging panel hated me.
Of course, that only made me cry harder, and that meant Ty hugged me even closer.
“Can we get an interview?” someone asked.
I felt Ty shake his head. “Not right now. Maybe tomorrow.”
“We need to do a few wrap-up pieces,” someone else said. “For next week’s show.”
“And I said, not right now,” Ty gritted out. “Zara and I don’t want to talk to anyone, understand? We’ll do interviews tomorrow. For tonight, let us lick our wounds, okay?”
To my surprise, Ty grabbed me behind the knees and hauled me up against him, carrying me. That was fine with me. I burrowed closer to him, hiding my face in his neck, and let him push his way through the crowd of producers, audience members, and cameramen.
Eventually, we made our way out of the studio and to the waiting sedan. “Take us home,” Ty said, and the car sped away.
~~ * ~~
Sometime around midnight, I pretty much got all the crying out of my system. I was disappointed as hell, sure, but not all that surprised. The moment I’d seen Penelope Marks on the judging panel? I’d known that she wasn’t going to cut me any favors. The most disappointing thing was knowing that we’d done well and had creative routines, and that it still hadn’t been enough.
But then again, that was the way figure skating went sometimes.
I emerged from my room, tiptoeing into the hallway and looking around. I’d been inconsolable earlier, and despite Ty’s suggestions that we go out and party away our sorrows, I’d wanted to come home and just hide under my covers and weep away the pain. So I had. I’d changed into my sleep shirt, crawled into bed, and bawled, alone.
Of course, now that I’d gotten it all out of my system, I wanted to see Ty. I wanted to know what he was thinking, to know how he felt. Had he gone out without me to get over our horrible night? Or had he gone to bed early, too? I didn’t think a guy as tough as Ty would be upset over losing like I’d been. Maybe pissy that it hadn’t gone well. But not devastated like me.
Maybe I’d take him up on going out, after all. It was only midnight, right? And this was Hollywood. Someplace was bound to be open. I crossed my arms over my sleep t-shirt. It didn’t quite cover my panties, and I wasn’t wearing anything else, but for some reason, I didn’t feel weird about going and looking for Ty while dressed like this.
A weird, thrilling little part of me wanted him to see me in my skimpy clothes. Just to see how he’d react.
After all, this was going to be our last night together. In the morning, the sedan would come to take us both to the airport. No more Ty and Zara. Our team-up would be just a memory, and we’d both go back to our lives.
And if that was going to happen? I wanted to spend tonight with him, even if it just meant sitting and talking on the sofa.
So I headed into the kitchen, looking for telltale beer bottles. Nothing. Disappointment flashed through me. Maybe Ty had gone out without me after all. Maybe he’d already left, since we’d been kicked off the show. Anxiety churned in my gut, and I headed to the living room. “Ty?”
A sound. I turned the corner and saw Ty quickly sitting up on one end of the couch, rubbing his cheek. The leather had imprinted in it, and it was clear he’d been asleep. Across from him, the TV played, but the sound was set to mute, and the local news flashed on the screen.
I stepped forward and gave him a bewildered look. “What are you doing sleeping on the couch?”
He scrubbed a hand down his face again and stared at my polka-dotted panties. Then he shook his head and reached for the remote to click off the TV. “You were so upset. I didn’t want to leave you alone, so I thought I’d hang out in the living room in case you woke up.”
Ty leaned in and solved the problem for me. “I don’t know about Zara, but I’m not happy with our performance. I messed up, and if we go home, it’s because of me. I feel like I let my partner down.”
Tears pricked my eyes and I hugged Ty close, burying my face against his tuxedo jacket, oblivious to the cheers of the crowd. “You absolutely did not let me down,” I told him. “You were awesome.”
Chip moved on down the line and I felt Ty’s hand go to my back, stroking it. I didn’t pull away from him. I mean, if we were going home, did it matter how I acted right now? So I kept my head pressed to Ty’s chest and my arms around his waist because there was no other place I wanted to be at the moment.
A few others murmured answers, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was waiting for the moment of truth.
It came a short time later, after a commercial break. “Now it’s time for our results,” Chip said, and he took the envelope from the tiny skater that came out to give it to him. He opened it slowly, glanced at the audience, and then said, “The first skaters safe this week are…Emma and Louie Earl!”
I straightened, releasing Ty’s waist and clapped politely for Emma. She looked thrilled.
“The next team safe is….Victoria Kiss and Toby!”
I clapped again, less happy. We were in the bottom two. No surprise there, but Annamarie and Serge were also in the bottom two, and they’d scored a full ten points higher than us last night. It was clear from Annamarie’s unhappy face that she was doing the same math in her head, trying to figure out why she was on the bottom.
Another commercial break passed, an endless moment where we stood on the ice and fidgeted, waiting. Nothing was half as awkward as a commercial break, especially when you were on the filming end with nothing to do.
Then Chip surged into action again. “It’s time to announce the team that will be going home tonight.”
I clasped Ty’s hand, and across from us, I noticed Annamarie and Serge were holding hands, too.
“Annamarie Evans and Serge,” Chip began, and then paused for dramatic effect. “You…ARE SAFE. Ty and Zara, I’m sorry, but you have been eliminated.”
The audience booed, clearly on our side.
We waved half-heartedly as Annmarie and Serge hugged and skated away, and the closing music began to play. “Do you have anything else to say, Ty and Zara?” Chip asked.
“Thank you for…” I said, and then blanked out again. Tears threatened, and I looked over at my partner helplessly. I was not going to be able to speak around the knot in my throat.
All my hopes had just gone down the drain, along with any chance of a career resurgence.
“We just wanted to say thanks for the opportunity,” Ty said, my hand clasped tightly in his. “And that we appreciate all the support we got from the crowd at home.” Wild cheers met this announcement, and we waved one more time.
Then it was time to skate off stage.
As soon as we made it back to the curtained staging area, I buried my head in my hands and began to cry.
Ty tucked me in against him, hugging me close. “Shh. It’s okay.”
But it wasn’t okay. I wouldn’t be invited back. We hadn’t blown anyone away with our routines. I knew that if I had a chance in hell of impressing the producers, I needed to place well. At the bottom of the pack? It wasn’t going to cut it. And Ty had lost his opportunity to continue to show the viewing audience how charming he could be.
All because Penelope Marks and the judging panel hated me.
Of course, that only made me cry harder, and that meant Ty hugged me even closer.
“Can we get an interview?” someone asked.
I felt Ty shake his head. “Not right now. Maybe tomorrow.”
“We need to do a few wrap-up pieces,” someone else said. “For next week’s show.”
“And I said, not right now,” Ty gritted out. “Zara and I don’t want to talk to anyone, understand? We’ll do interviews tomorrow. For tonight, let us lick our wounds, okay?”
To my surprise, Ty grabbed me behind the knees and hauled me up against him, carrying me. That was fine with me. I burrowed closer to him, hiding my face in his neck, and let him push his way through the crowd of producers, audience members, and cameramen.
Eventually, we made our way out of the studio and to the waiting sedan. “Take us home,” Ty said, and the car sped away.
~~ * ~~
Sometime around midnight, I pretty much got all the crying out of my system. I was disappointed as hell, sure, but not all that surprised. The moment I’d seen Penelope Marks on the judging panel? I’d known that she wasn’t going to cut me any favors. The most disappointing thing was knowing that we’d done well and had creative routines, and that it still hadn’t been enough.
But then again, that was the way figure skating went sometimes.
I emerged from my room, tiptoeing into the hallway and looking around. I’d been inconsolable earlier, and despite Ty’s suggestions that we go out and party away our sorrows, I’d wanted to come home and just hide under my covers and weep away the pain. So I had. I’d changed into my sleep shirt, crawled into bed, and bawled, alone.
Of course, now that I’d gotten it all out of my system, I wanted to see Ty. I wanted to know what he was thinking, to know how he felt. Had he gone out without me to get over our horrible night? Or had he gone to bed early, too? I didn’t think a guy as tough as Ty would be upset over losing like I’d been. Maybe pissy that it hadn’t gone well. But not devastated like me.
Maybe I’d take him up on going out, after all. It was only midnight, right? And this was Hollywood. Someplace was bound to be open. I crossed my arms over my sleep t-shirt. It didn’t quite cover my panties, and I wasn’t wearing anything else, but for some reason, I didn’t feel weird about going and looking for Ty while dressed like this.
A weird, thrilling little part of me wanted him to see me in my skimpy clothes. Just to see how he’d react.
After all, this was going to be our last night together. In the morning, the sedan would come to take us both to the airport. No more Ty and Zara. Our team-up would be just a memory, and we’d both go back to our lives.
And if that was going to happen? I wanted to spend tonight with him, even if it just meant sitting and talking on the sofa.
So I headed into the kitchen, looking for telltale beer bottles. Nothing. Disappointment flashed through me. Maybe Ty had gone out without me after all. Maybe he’d already left, since we’d been kicked off the show. Anxiety churned in my gut, and I headed to the living room. “Ty?”
A sound. I turned the corner and saw Ty quickly sitting up on one end of the couch, rubbing his cheek. The leather had imprinted in it, and it was clear he’d been asleep. Across from him, the TV played, but the sound was set to mute, and the local news flashed on the screen.
I stepped forward and gave him a bewildered look. “What are you doing sleeping on the couch?”
He scrubbed a hand down his face again and stared at my polka-dotted panties. Then he shook his head and reached for the remote to click off the TV. “You were so upset. I didn’t want to leave you alone, so I thought I’d hang out in the living room in case you woke up.”
