It Never Took a Lot to Make This Hard

Piper watched on, wide-eyed, as Louie grabbed the back of Daphne’s head, his fingers tangling in her hair, as they continued to kiss. Everyone around them seemed to have gone quiet, staring at the scene unfolding in front of them. Finally, Louie and Daphne separated, looking at each other, both breathing heavily, trying to figure out what exactly had just happened. Daphne opened her mouth to say something when she was quickly interrupted by an ESPN reporter. “Daphne, can we talk to you for a moment?” the young, blonde woman asked, and Daphne looked over at Louie before slowly nodding to the woman.

Daphne walked over towards the camera with her snowboard in hand. The woman shoved a microphone in her face while asking, “So, Daphne how does it feel to be in first place right now?”

A smile spread across Daphne’s face as she recalled completing the backside nine hundred that had been causing her so much trouble in the past few weeks. “It feels great,” she answered honestly. “I’ve been working on that trick for so long, and for me to finally get it down…it feels great,” she repeated.

“And, did I just see a little something between you and Louie Vito?” the woman pried. “What’s going on between the two of you?”

Daphne looked back at Louie, wondering how to answer the question. She saw him staring at her, knowing he had heard the question and wanting to know what her response was going to be. “We’ll have to wait and see,” Daphne replied with a shrug of her shoulders, not giving an answer one way or another. The woman opened her mouth to argue with the answer, but Daphne was saved when Piper wrapped an arm around her shoulder, saying that she needed to talk to Daphne for a moment. The reporter nodded her head as Piper guided Daphne away from the eyes of the cameras.

“What was that?” Piper whispered, her eyes wide, as she was still in shock from seeing the make-out session between Daphne and Louie.

“I don’t know,” Daphne answered honestly. “And, now’s not the time to dwell on it,” she said, as she looked up at the scoreboard, as she waited for them to show the last rider’s score to determine if she was going to get first place or not.

“Daph,” Piper began, but she was instantly quieted by Daphne, who put a hand on her arm, squeezing hard. Piper looked over at her curiously, only to see Daphne staring up at the screen, her jaw dropped down low. Piper’s gaze followed Daphne’s, and a large grin spread across her face as realization hit her. “Daphne, you won!” Piper exclaimed, but Daphne continued to stare at the screen, almost as if she didn’t believe what it was telling her.

“I won?” she asked in amazement, and Piper excitedly nodded her head as a bunch of cameras came over to the two women, all wanting to get Daphne’s reaction to winning on film. Suddenly, she was being asked all sorts of questions by all of the reporters, wanting the first interview with her, and Piper was shoved out of the way by people who wanted closer to Daphne.

She listened as Daphne answered each of the questions to the best of her ability. “What does it feel like to win the gold medal?”

“It feels great. I never expected to win. I was just hoping to place in the top three.”

“Where did that backside nine hundred come from? We haven’t seen you do it before.”

“I’ve been working on it for a while. I’ve just now finally gotten it down, though.”

“What was going through your mind during your run?”

“Nothing. Someone told me I should clear my mind, and he was right.”

Piper smiled at her answer to the last question as she turned around to see Louie standing a few feet away, listening to Daphne’s every word. She cut through the crowd of people surrounding Daphne and made her way over to him. “So,” she said, pulling his attention away from Daphne and onto her. “What happened back there?” she asked him.

“What do you mean?” Louie asked, intentionally playing dumb.

Piper rolled her eyes at him as her gaze returned to Daphne. “So, you’re going to pretend that your little make-out session was no big deal?” she questioned, giving him a sideways glance.

“I really don’t know what it was,” Louie admitted as Daphne finally finished with her interviews and was allowed to get away from the cameras. “But, I’m going to find out,” he assured her. Daphne walked up to the two of them, a smile on her face.

“We need to talk,” she told Louie before he was able to get a word out. “Why don’t you walk with me back up to the top of the hill?” she suggested. “I left my gloves up there, and this way we can talk without everyone staring at us,” she explained, and Louie nodded, holding his arm out, indicating for her to lead the way. Daphne turned back around to see Piper smirking at the two of them, and she couldn’t help but shake her head at her cousin before turning back around.

“So,” Louie began, not knowing exactly how to begin this conversation. He had liked her for as long as he could remember, but he wasn’t sure how she felt about him. She had never shown an interest in him before. So, why had she kissed him twice in the last two days? Was she just overcome with adrenaline from completing her trick that had been giving her so many problems?

“So,” Daphne repeated.

“So, what just happened back there between us?” Louie finally rushed out, figuring there was no reason to skip around the topic.

“I believe I kissed you, and you kissed back,” Daphne said bluntly, staring down at the snow that crunched under her shoe with every step she took.

“What does this mean?” Louie asked the one question he had been afraid to ask all along, scared to hear what her answer was going to be.

“What do you want this to mean?” she asked, surprising him with her response. He wasn’t expecting her to put this all back on him.

“Look, Daph,” Louie said, stopping halfway up the hill and turning towards her. Daphne followed his lead, stopping as well. “I like you. I think that’s pretty obvious,” he told her, deciding it was about time that he told her how he truly felt about her. He had been keeping his feelings for her to himself for so long. “I don’t know how you feel about me or if you want something to—“

“Let’s just see where things take us,” she interrupted, looking up into his eyes. She saw his eyes get a shade darker, and she wasn’t sure if he was upset by her response or not. “Louie, I like you, too,” she admitted, though she thought he already knew that since she had kissed him on more than one occasion. “It’s just, I don’t want to say let’s just jump into a relationship. It’s snowboarding season, and I know we both need to focus on that. If something happens between us, then that’s great. If not, well, then okay,” she shrugged her shoulders, not knowing if she was really making any sense right now or not.

“So, let’s just see where things take us?” he repeated her words, and she nodded her head, hoping he wasn’t going to be too angry with her suggestion. “I think I can do that,” he smirked before he took a step closer to her, putting one of his hands on the back of her head, pulling her head towards his, their lips connecting in the middle. “In fact,” he said, separating from her long enough to catch his breath. “I like this plan a lot,” he smiled before kissing her once again.

“Me, too,” she smirked into the kiss.

***

Piper screamed out in excitement after Daphne finished telling her what exactly happened between her and Louie earlier that evening. “Win the gold medal at the Winter X Games, become an item with Louie Vito. I’d have to say it looks like you’ve had a pretty damn good day,” she smiled at her younger cousin as the two of them sat on their respective beds in the hotel, staying one last night before they flew back home to train some more before it was time for the next event.

Daphne smiled at her. “Definitely,” she agreed. “I’d have to say it may just be the best day of my life!”

“I’m happy for you,” Piper told her sincerely. “It’s about time that good things happen for you. Oh! And, I forgot to tell you, ESPN wants to do an interview for tv and for their magazine, along with a photo shoot, with you and Shaun since you guys won gold.”

“Really?” Daphne asked in disbelief. This would be her first interview for ESPN, and she couldn’t have been more excited about it. Plus, she’d be alongside Shaun White which meant more people would tune in and hopefully would begin to recognize her more often.

“Yeah,” Piper nodded her head. “I think you guys are going to do it when we get back to Utah.”

“Sounds good,” Daphne smiled. “Can you believe it?” she asked, lying back on her bed. “My life seems to be going perfectly right now. I’m getting noticed by the snowboarding world and ESPN. There’s something happening between Louie and I. What could possibly go wrong?”