Page 50 of Floored By Love

I don’t know how their coaches fired them up so much, but after my vault, Japan roared back. We were still in second going into the last event. But the Brits were on our asses. Despite the Kane cheer anomaly, which I credited to Erika, the home crowd was louder for their own men, and it was helping.

“Cam, Luke, Alex. You can do this. High bar is one of our best events as a team. Alex proved that at qualifications. I know you want to go for the gold and do something crazy, but if Japan stays their course, I just don’t know if it’s possible. Just do your best and we’ll see where we end up. Anywhere on the podium works for me, though I know you want the gold as much as I do.”

Not quite the fiery speech one would expect, but Coach was a realist. He didn’t bullshit us and it had gotten us this far.

Alex went first and almost matched his score from qualifications. We kept a close eye on Japan at the rings and Great Britain on the floor, just one apparatus ahead of us. Since everyone did about the same, the rankings didn’t change. And then it was Luke’s turn. I saw him give the coin a kiss and stick it in his jacket pocket. I gave it back to him for his vault and he kept it for the parallel bars since I didn’t do that event. He and Cassandra had a brief conversation, and then I stood with the rest of the team and we watched him climb up to the bar. Cassandra was too short to help him reach it and instead of using a springboard, Ford followed him out there to boost him into place.

I held my breath every time he released the bar. Luke’s routine was pretty difficult, with four full releases, including the one that he missed in Brisbane. I could feel my heartbeat in my fingers. I was squeezing them so tight.

“Breathe, Cam. You look like you’re gonna pass out,” Colton whispered.

I did what he said and took a few breaths, but I was too nervous and held it for the last twenty seconds. It wasn’t until he landed that I unclenched my hands. Cassandra was there to congratulate him at the stairs, and he bro-hugged each of us on the way over to his seat. Noah walked over to me.

“This is it, Cam. No pressure, but you’re the last routine.”

“Gee, thanks. Easy peasy.”

Coach ended up being right. Unless Japan’s last gymnast fell off the rings or stepped out of bounds, we had no chance of getting gold. Great Britain, however, had a chance of pushing us out of silver. After Luke’s and Britain’s second-to-last routines, they were only a tenth of a point behind us, which meant I couldn’t fuck up. And we had to hope they didn’t pull a miraculously high score out of thin air. No pressure at all.

“Wait!” I heard Luke yell. I turned to see him jogging over to me. He held his hand out with the coin in it. Our eyes met, and he smiled. I had forgotten amidst the stress, but he didn’t.

“You don’t need it, but...you know, superstitions and all,” Luke said, shrugging.

“Thanks,” I replied, taking the coin and feeling the same tingle from earlier.

It turns out I needed the coin. There was one point where I lost my momentum for a second and it was only because I kept my focus and tightened my core that I was able to complete the series. It was probably the years of training and experience with adversity that did it, but I told myself it was the coin.

I got the usual hugs and ‘great jobs’ from everybody, but we were all too nervous to talk more than that. This was it. We watched Britain’s golden boy, Jack Davies, finish his routine on the floor. It was flawless, but then he might have stepped out of bounds. It was hard to tell from our angle.

“He stepped out,” Bret confirmed. He was watching the coverage on a livestream on his laptop.

Please please please. I hoped it would be enough, but it was going to be close. My routine was just average, but I did really well. Jack’s routine was hard and with only one mistake so far, it was too close to tell. We had to wait for the scores.

They posted Japan’s score first, then ours. 274.560. 271.122.

The only other team that could catch us was Great Britain. Jack was done. He was with his team, and despite the other teams finishing up, the arena was practically silent. Everyone was waiting. Would we stay in second or was the home crowd about to go insane because we got pushed down?

Colton squeezed my hand. “Sweet baby Jesus, my stomach is flyin’ outta my throat.”

I squeezed back. “Welcome to the Olympics. Everyone’s watching. Trust me, it isn’t any easier the second time.”

His score was announced. I tried to do the math, but it was too many decimals for me.

“It’s not enough,” I heard Bret say, but I needed to see it with my own eyes.

I had to wait for the board to update.

271.078.

I felt the massive crush around me as the team circled up to celebrate. We won the silver medal. The crowd's reaction was there. Not insane screaming, but robust applause. I was pretty sure Great Britain hadn’t won a team medal since the early nineteen hundreds.

“You boys did it again! I’m so proud. Keep this up and we’ll have the gold next time, I just know it!” Coach told us while still crushed together. “Team dinner tonight to celebrate!”

The guys were fascinated with their medals in the locker room. Orion was taking a selfie with it. Alex was sitting on the bench just staring at it, and Colton à la Tyler was walking around wearing just his medal.

“I don’t know if I wanna take this thing off,” Colton said, reaching for it where it dangled between his nipples.

“I wouldn’t get it wet if I were you,” Luke warned. “They might give you a replacement, but it will say ‘replica’ on it. Didn’t you hear about the rower that dropped hers in the Brisbane River?”