Last Shot at Redemption

The next few months went by in a blur. She practiced hard and worked everything out that needed to be fixed. And then, suddenly, she was on a plane to Canada. She would be arriving the day before the Opening Ceremonies which would hopefully give her enough time to get acclimated with the village and maybe make a couple more friends within the Australian house.

She took a deep breath and looked to her right where her coach was sleeping. Torah, who had ended up at the same training facility she Leanna had been at was directly in front of her. They had become allies in the foreign country with each being an easy reminder of home.

“Torah,” Leanna whispered, causing her friend to turn around to give her a questioning glance.

“I’m nervous. I have to talk or I’m going to go crazy,” She said, making Torah laugh and pat the empty seat next to her, which Leanna quickly took.

“Nothing to be nervous about, kid. You’ll probably do better than I will,” She said as she continue to flip through the Sky Mall she had in her lap.

“I’m not really nervous about the event itself. More so the people around,” Leanna admitted, blushing pink as her new friend laughed.

“Anna. You are 21 years old, gorgeous, athletic and smart. Your coach is going to be running boys away from you on a daily basis,” Torah said with a laugh. Anna just sighed.

“I guess you’re probably right. But I hope you’re not. I could deal with a couple boys to help my ego out,” Anna said, trying to get the image of puppy dog boys following her around. She needed to focus and do well. And a distraction would not help that at all. But the idea of a boy, an athletic cute one, was still appealing.

A little while later, they landed and grabbed all their gear from baggage claim before heading to the Olympic Village. It was an amazing site to take in, but it was also extremely overwhelming.

“This way, short stuff,” Torah said, directing her to the home that the Australian athletes would share. It was stuck right between the U.S. and Canada’s homes. When the door opened, it was apparent that they were the first to arrive.

“Perfect. We pick our room first,” Torah said and they both took off up the steps to pick a room without a care in the world.

Next door, the U.S. men’s snowboarding team had just arrived and were fighting about what room to take when the red-headed one caught sight of Torah and someone else on the balcony of the Aussie house next door.

“I think we need the room on the end,” He yelled to his friends and nodded in the direction of the girls laughing on the balcony.

“You are always right. Who’s the new girl?” Scotty asked his teammate.

“Leanna Miles. I read a story about her online the other day. She has a single sponsor, and it’s a single store in Australia. She came out awesome at trials though. She’s gonna be tough if she puts down a run like she did there,” Louie said, staring at the girl in question.

“She’s hot,” Scotty decided. Shaun just moved closer so that he could see her gesturing wildly to the older, wiser Torah. From where he was now, he could hear the delightful accent that went with the most intriguing face he had ever seen.

“Looks like someone is infatuated already,” Scotty joked to Louie, shaking his head as Shaun’s eyes stayed glued to the girl in front of him.

“Go out and say hello, hot shot. It’s not like you don’t know Torah,” Scotty suggested.

“Yeah, ask them if they want to get lunch,” Louie piped in and gave his friend a shove towards the door.

“Hey Torah!” Shaun yelled, returning the smile from both girls.

“Hey Shaun. This is Leanna Miles. Anna, meet Shaun White,” Torah said motioning to the redhead that had appeared on the U.S. balcony.

“Hi there,” Anna replied waving and smiling at the American boy.

“You guys want to get something to eat with us? Lago and Louie are here too and we’re starving after the lovely flight up,” He asked, staring at Leanna enough to make her cheeks a rosy pink.

“Sure. We haven’t had anything but an airport bagel. We’ll meet you outside in a few minutes,” Torah answered for them both with Leanna smiling and nodding happily. Of course she knew who Shaun White was, so this was more than a little thrilling.

“Well are you going to stand there staring all day or are you going to come inside and put jeans and a cute top on before we go out with the three most eligible bachelors that are here?” Torah asked, causing Anna to hurry inside and change out of the grimy sweatpants she had worn on the flight up. She found a pair of skinny jeans at the top of her bag that she slid into and a striped v-neck before grabbing an AUS hoodie and walking into the bathroom to brush her hair out and tie it back.

“Look at you beauty queen. Who are you trying to impress?” Torah asked, causing Anna to blush a bit, “ Everyone has a crush on Shaun these days,” She finished glancing at the younger girl with knowing eyes. Leanna’s older friend was engaged and her wedding would be held a couple months after the Olympics were over.

“If it’s not Shaun you have an eye on, be careful. His friends are notorious players. And I know you can look out for yourself, but you have no one here to help you and you’ve never been here before so I feel compelled to steer you in the right direction,” Torah said in one of those motherly tones that Anna had never really heard before.

The girls grabbed their bags and headed for the door at the sight of a redhead in the window.

“So where do you wanna go?” Shaun asked, obviously directing his question to the younger girl. Anna shrugged.

“I don’t even know what’s up here to eat,” She told him, scuffing the bottom of her Nikes on the ground as she heard Shaun laugh softly.

“What’s so funny?” She asked, her eyes sparkling.

“Nothing. I just enjoy your accent,” He told her and she laughed.

Torah, Scotty and Louie hung back behind them as they walked along the sidewalks in the Village.

“They’re cute,” Torah said to the boys she had grown close to.

“They are. She seems to be alright. She’s sure hot enough. Damn does Australia just breed babes, or what?” Scotty said, giving Leanna’s backside and approving once over.

“Don’t be a dick. Shaun’s obviously infatuated already. So let it play out all the way before you go after her, Lago. And besides, Anna’s not a one night stand kind of girl,” Torah said, punching Scotty in the shoulder for even daring to think something like that.

“I would never mack on Shaun’s girl. He saw her first. You should’ve seen him before he went out on the balcony. He was just watching her from the window like a lost puppy. It was pathetic,” Scotty said, Louie nodding in agreement, both of them wearing shit eating grins.

“Well, we’ll just have to see what happens. Look! A sushi place! Let’s have that!” Torah said and everyone agreed causing any conversation about Leanna and Shaun to halt as the group made their way into the restaurant.