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I get through the post-race procedures in an absolute daze and I am riding cloud nine. Without the officials, I am not sure I would even be in the right place. Andy is in his element. The sponsorships will come now. The deals. The prize money. The international paid-for meets. Olympics. Worlds. The doors just opened to a world-record-holding athlete.
I can’t keep up with who is who so I don’t bother to try. I just let each congratulation wash over me and I live in that moment. In that second.
If I hadn’t… If I had been more alert… more observant of the world around me, I may have noticed the turn in the tides. The change of direction. But I was oblivious.
I emerge from the official area, showered, changed, and able to just about walk again, and make my way to the family enclosure. I have never been a winner in a race so big so as I feel the flash of cameras and the surge in attention from the media corner I bask in it, bathe in the attention as tomorrow my win would only be yesterday’s news.
It is Andy who notices first. But not quick enough.
I hear the call of my name; the beckoning of a Sky reporter and I make my way over. Prepared to answer about my tactics, about how it felt to be a winner, who I wanted to thank, my inspiration. I don’t process the question at first. But I feel the scramble of movement. Eyes on me. Shouts from the press
“Dahlia Dante…”
“How long…”
“Lovers?!”
“An Item…”
“Is it true that…”
“Are you gay? Is Dahlia Dante gay?”
I falter, my entire face changes. I stutter and I can’t find my words. How do they know? What will Dahlia think? I didn’t tell anyone. I spin on the ball of my foot and search for her. I spot her instantly with Mr. Suit, head down, cap in place, glasses on, being ushered out of the stands.
My grandmama is in shock, unsure what is going on around her as security piles in for Dahlia. I see them push by her and I feel angry, heat rises, who do they think they are?
I turn from the reporters and make my way to the enclosure.
“Grandmama! It’s okay!” I call but she can’t hear me. “Hey! Get out of my way!” I shout at some guy in a suit standing in my path trying to keep me from the pathway up.
“Sorry, ma’am. I can’t let you through at this time for security reasons.”
But my rational senses have gone and I start to push through.
“Yes, I know because that is Dahlia Dante up there with my Grandmama. Now. Let. Me. Through.”
I push and push against him but he is an immovable object. Unwilling in any way to let me through as the commotion breaks out all around us. The reporters have seen Dahlia and they swarm over, the lights flash, the calls and shouts echo. My eyes dart between her and my Grandmama who is sitting back in her seat but she looks deathly pale.
I can’t see Dahlia’s face from the angle but the stadium screen shows her in full view as she tries to escape, hiding herself the best she can but failing on all accounts.
A reporter pushes through the barricade and gets to her. His voice is loud and clear and it echoes in my brain.
“Dahlia! Are you in a lesbian relationship with newworld record holder Alexa Sharpe?!”
She pauses and the camera pans. It catches her mid-thought and I see it. A whirl of emotions. The possibilities that flash through her mind.
She could end this now; she could be true to herself and start the next chapter of her life free from lies and hiding who she is. I don’t need to be locked away in her penthouse. We would have a chance. A real chance at a future together.
I reach for her with all of my being, mentally telling her it will be okay, that we can do this, she can do this. She has me. She leans into the microphone and I wait with bated breath.
“Oh honey,” she says with a drawl, in a tone I barely recognize. “I don’t date the wait staff.”
17
Is it possible to feel the highest you have ever felt in your entire life whilst ultimately crushed from the inside out?
The moments immediately after Dahlia’s one-line wonder are only a blur now. I think my mind blocked them out for my own mental health and sanity. I think I fell. Andy was there. Grandmama was brought to me and she gave me the most ferocious talking to I had ever had from her in my life.
