Page 106 of Floored By Love

Luke leaned in and whispered, “Well, we know who the better dick-sucker is.”

I rolled my eyes. “Always fishing for a compliment, aren’t you?”

“Who? Me?”

Shane and Noah’s whispering had grown in volume. They seemed worried. Then I looked at the screen.

Woodward and Tyler were fumbling around with some papers, and Alex looked upset.

“What happened?” I asked.

Noah answered, “Alex’s score came back. It was lower than it should’ve been, so it looks like they’re filing an appeal, a formal protest really. We have sheets on hand for all of you for every event. The kicker is they only have a few minutes to submit it.”

“Is that cash in Ty’s hand?” Luke asked.

“Yeah. The protest isn’t free. I think the fee’s like five hundred bucks, but I’m not sure. I don’t think we’ve ever had to protest before,” Shane said.

“What exactly are they protesting?” I asked.

Noah shrugged. “I’m guessing they thought they shorted him some points. We won’t know until we talk to them, or maybe the announcers will know something. The judges will have to settle the protest before the event continues. If it’s filed in time.”

Woodward handed the papers to Tyler, who sprinted across the floor to the judges’ table. The judge nodded and accepted the money and the forms.

“Looks like they made it,” Noah said.

“And now we wait,” Shane added.

It only took the judges nine minutes to decide, but it seemed like longer. They were animated at times with each other as they clustered around two monitors, re-watching Alex’s routine. Some of them would nod or make a note, then look over the form again.

Between images of the judges conferring, the camera would zoom in on Alex, or show Woodward and Tyler trying to talk to him. He looked okay, but was chewing his nails.

It’s not that his initial score was bad. It put him in first place. But there were four athletes left. This might really matter.

A few minutes passed before the judges came to a decision.

The announcers had only guessed at what was being challenged. A few seconds later, the score was up.

They deemed the protest legitimate. His score went up by a full point.

“Yes!” Luke cheered.

“Well, that’s a relief,” Shane said.

Noah added, “For Alex, and for the team. We’ll get the money back since they upheld the appeal.”

Alex’s smile was blinding. Woodward and Tyler both hugged him. An official came over to them with an envelope, presumably with the money inside, and we settled in to watch the rest of the gymnasts.

“All hail, the King of the Rings!” Luke yelled as Alex entered the locker room.

Alex was never one to seek the spotlight, but he looked pleased with himself, swaggering into the locker room with a gold medal around his neck.

Luke and I went in for hugs, and Shane and Noah greeted Woodward and Tyler.

“What happened?” Noah asked.

“Well, there were two discrepancies,” Woodward said. “We asked for clarifications on the score before the protest, but they didn’t give Alex the correct starting value for his second series, something I noticed. And they shorted him on his landing.”

“That’s what I noticed,” Tyler added.