London Love

The next few days were Catherine’s busiest. Most of the shooting events were the end of the first week. She arrived at the range early and spent all day and most of the evening there. A few people she was there for qualified for finals meaning she would spend the next day there as well. After the trek back to the hotel, Catherine spent the rest of the night working on her articles, not even pausing to eat. It was almost midnight by the time she finished typing and had emailed the articles for proofreading. Shocked by the time on the clock she forced herself to climb out of bed. Deciding on a hot shower to hopefully loosen her muscles she grabbed a second set of clothing and headed to the bathroom. Relaxed and half asleep she crawled into bed, passing out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The next morning was much of the same. She sat in the bleachers watching the events, taking notes as it went along. By the end of the day, one of the alumni had won a gold medal for Italy and she had to prepare interview questions on the fly. Meeting him outside of the range, she congratulated him and asked if she could have a minute of his time. He agreed smiling, his happiness tangible in the air around him. A few minutes later she had enough material for another article and thanked him again for his cooperation the past few days. He shrugged it off as not a problem and gave her a hug thanking her for the support all week. Before they parted ways, she replied “Once a Mountaineer, Always a Mountaineer”.

It had been a long two days and Catherine was ready to sleep by the time she got back to the hotel. However, life had other plans. She still had to write and submit her articles for today. As she got off the elevator on her floor she ran into another of life’s surprises. Michael. Taken completely off guard she was knocked flat on her butt. When Michael realized, he quickly reached down to help her up.

“Are you okay? I am so sorry,” he stuttered. Regaining her cognitive functioning and balance she placed a gentle hand on his forearm.

“I’m fine. And it’s not your fault, I wasn’t watching where I was going either,” she replied yawning. She removed her hand from his arm and turned to walk down the hall.

“Wait!” He called after her. She stopped and turned to look at him. “Are you doing anything later?” he asked.

“Besides writing these stupid articles, watching some tv, and taking a nap, not that I know of,” she muttered. Exhaustion was finally getting to her, she didn’t mean to be rude but she was flat out tired and cranky. He nodded and turned towards the elevator again before changing his mind and walking over to her.

“Well if you change your mind and want to blow off some steam, text me,” he said handing her a piece of paper with his phone number on it. “A few of us are going to a club later, you’re more than welcome to join us.”