Overtime

At around 5pm the annoying Marimba ringtone on my phone started going off, and I slammed my hand against it until it shut up. I groaned and opened my eyes, startled at first due to the fact that I had completely forgotten where I was. Looking around the room I quickly remembered that I was in Russia, and that I was an Olympian. Immediately a giant smiled formed on my face and I had a hop in my step as I got out of bed.

My room was quiet, so I assumed that all of the hockey players were still out. This allowed me to take a very quiet and relaxing shower to clear my mind before heading to the opening ceremonies. When I got out I had just enough time to blow dry and curl my short brown hair, and apply some mascara. Makeup wasn’t really something I worried about too much, so this was my classic look. My friend Noelle back in Quebec hated that I didn’t try, but I was more focused on snowboarding than looking good, to be honest.

I changed into the red jacket that was left for me, and all of the other Olympians in our rooms, and a pair of black skinny jeans. I also put on my Canada toque and mittens, then left to meet with some of the other snowboarders and skiers in the hotel lobby before heading to where the opening ceremony would be held, and where we would meet with all of the other Canadians competing.

As soon as I got to the lobby I was instantly greeted with some of the nicest people ever- that was my favourite thing about snowboarders- even if you were competing against them, they still were extremely positive. The fact that everyone was Canadian also helped; our stereotype of always being nice was very prevalent.

“Abbey Paquet!” I just got off the elevator, and instantly a girl dressed similarly to me except had blond curls approached me.

“Hey! Uhhh…” What was her name? I should know this… she is my competition after all.

“Emmeline Lepage, but you can call me Emma!” Instantly I recognized her to be the gold medal winner from the Vancouver 2010 games in the halfpipe, “I heard you’re a sick rider.”

“I guess you could say that.” I wasn’t much for small talk. I was here to win, not to make friends with my biggest competition.

“But hopefully you’re not any sicker than I am.” She gave me a devious smile. Maybe she wasn’t all that bad.

Going against my original plan to not make friends, I decided to spend the night at the ceremony walking with Emma, and learned how much we actually had in common. She also grew up in Quebec, and loved snowboarding just as much as me, if not more. I never really had any friends with a passion for snowboarding, so maybe she could fill that void. Unfortunately this made it even harder for me to compete against her, but I had to remind myself that my profession, and a gold medal, came before anything else.


When we arrived at the arena, Emma immediately pulled me into the crowd of other Olympians. It made me feel claustrophobic, but she said it made her feel alive. I went with it; after all, she was one of the best snowboarders in the world, which meant she had to know what she was doing.

The giant group of Canadians, led by Hayley Wickenheiser, marched their way into the arena. The energy was insane and I couldn’t help but feel connected to everyone in that group. We waved at the enormous crowd and I had an emotion that I couldn’t even describe, it was pride, and it was adrenaline. Some of us even held hands, which really showed that we were one, despite the fact that in less than twelve hours we would become each other’s biggest rivals.

It was only at the end, when we found our seats that I realized I was holding the annoying hockey player’s hand from awhile ago. I quickly took my hand away and shot him an angry look, making sure Emma and I found a seat far away from him. If I was going to spend the next 2-3 weeks in a room beside him, I needed as much space as I could get right now.

“What was that?” Emma asked me, noticing my aggression towards the hockey player.

“What?” I plastered a confused look on my face.

“Giving the cutest Canadian hockey player ever, Jamie Benn, that dirty look? I saw that.” She said raising an eyebrow and smirking.

“My room is right beside his, and the yelling from him and one of his boys woke me up from my nap this afternoon.” I said, crossing my arms.

“Jeez, I can see that you’re going to have a rough couple of weeks. But still, how could you stay angry at a face like his?” She said, tilting her head towards a staring Jamie who quickly turned away once he realized we noticed him.

“Pretty easily actually. If you’re into him go for it, but anyone who wakes me up from my sleep has an instant death sentence from me.” I half-joked.



Once the ceremony had finished, I walked back to my hotel room and got settled into bed. Much to my discontent, but also not surprising, Jamie and Team Canada had also made it back, loud and clear. Annoyed, I got out of bed and began walking to the room beside me. I angrily knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it. On queue, the wooden door unlocked and revealed Jamie Benn, who was wearing a Team Canada Under Armour shirt, which made me really notice his muscles. Quickly diverting my eyes upward to his face, I crossed my arms, trying to make myself seem powerful to his towering frame.

“Can you please keep it down in there?” I said, looking up at him.

“Why don’t you make me?” He said suggestively with a smirk.

“You’re ridiculous.” I rotated on my heel and walked back to my hotel room, slamming the door, getting into bed, and trying to tune out the loud conversation in the room next to me.

Jamie Benn, you drive me insane. And not in the way you drive Emma insane. Was all I could think, before finally drifting off to sleep.

Notes

Starting off kind of slow, but the chapters will start to pick up soon. Let me know what you guys think so far, also, please rate and subscribe if you enjoy! The next chapter will be in Jamie's POV.