Overtime

Jamie’s POV

“Why don’t you make me?” I grinned. Who did this girl think she was? But damn was she hot.

“You’re ridiculous” She said, and turned away, heading back to her own room. I may be ridiculous, but so was she. And by ridiculous, not trying to be typical man, I mean her body. You could tell that she was obviously an athlete, but whom?

She wasn’t a hockey player, I knew that. So what did that leave? A skier? Speed skater? For a girl she had some pretty serious muscle definition which meant she had to be in some intense kind of sport. All I knew, no matter what the sport, that I wanted to get to know who she was, because I, Jamie Benn, have never, up until now, been sassed by a girl… and I kind of liked the feeling.


“Who was that?” My teammate, Jonathan Toews, said from the couch in the small living room space.

“Just the girl from awhile ago.” I said nonchalantly.

“The broad needs to calm downnnnn.” Joked Patrick Sharp; who was sitting beside Jon on the small loveseat.

“Who is she anyways?” I ran my hand through my black hair before lounging on my bed.

“Some snowboarder, I think she’s doing slopestyle. I dunno, haven’t heard much about her but I guess she’s good.” Jon said, scratching his head.

I remember hearing that the women’s slopestyle would be held on Saturday, and today was Friday; maybe I’d head over and watch her compete. I didn’t know much about snowboarding or slopestyle, but she was obviously pretty serious about whatever she was doing. Being a professional athlete in the Olympics should mean that I’m focused completely on my sport, and completely on winning, but I could seem to get my mind of off that firecracker of a snowboarder, and I didn’t even know her name.

After a few more drinks with Jon and Patrick, and a few more smacks on the wall from the snowboarder next door, which made the three of us laugh hysterically, I decided I should probably get some sleep in before practise tomorrow. I went to bed with a positive outlook on the tournament. I was part of Team Canada- basically every Canadian kid’s dream- and we had an elite roster. As usual our biggest rival, yet at the same time our best friend, was the United States. Everyone was looking forward to our game against them, but first we had to prepare for the first four in our division.



Waking up to the sound of a ringing phone isn’t pleasant. Waking up to a bouncing Jonathan Toews on the other line is even less fun.

Rolling over to the right side of my bed and picking up the generic cord-phone from my beside table, I answered in a tired voice.

“Hello?” I questioned.

“Chubbs! Just making sure you’re awake.”

Looking over at the red digits on the clock beside the phone, it read 5:55.

“Fuck you Jonny Hockey.” I said, before I decided to actually get up.

I got out of bed and almost considered giving up on being an Olympian. Why did Team Canada’s practise have to be scheduled for 7am? What did we ever do to anyone? Didn’t a good night’s sleep mean success?

After I was done complaining to myself, I walked over to my suitcase, which would probably never be unpacked into drawers for the entire two weeks I was here, and threw on a Dallas Stars hoodie, and a pair of sweats. Ignoring what my hair could possibly look like, I put a grey beanie on. At 6am I don’t think anyone should be expected to look good.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge located beside the dresser, and shoved my feet into a pair of running shoes before walking out the door to meet the team before practise. As I was walking out of the room, I ran right into none other than my snowboarding neighbour, who had a snowboard in tote.

“Can you watch where you’re going? I know you hockey players are always trying to take each other out but some of us would like to compete in one piece.” She was extra feisty this early in the morning.

“Good morning to you too. You trying to chirp there?” I laughed at her aggression, which made her turn red.

“No, just stay out of my way and we can get along.” She said, trying to push past me. I stepped to my left and blocked her from going anywhere.

“Not before I get your name.” I crossed my arms and smiled.

“Abbey. Now I need to get some slope time in and I’d really appreciate if you’d get out of my way, Jamie Benn.” She was getting really annoyed, so I decided to let her go.

“Maybe I’ll come watch you later today!” I yelled down the hall, to which she ignored.

I chuckled to myself and made my way to practise, which made me forget about how much I hated mornings. The smell of the arena, and the excitement in the locker room was enough energy to get me through practise, and to the women’s slopestyle. Standing at the bottom of the course, I had some time to think to myself.

What was I doing going after a girl like this? Isn’t this the shit high school boys did? I’m a grown man and I’m literally chasing after a girl, who probably hated me… which was rare. I’m used to having the girls back in Dallas throw themselves all over Segs and me. Snapping out of my daze, I heard the announcer call out a name.

“Abbey Paquet, from Montreal, Quebec. Competing in her first ever Olympic games.”



Abbey’s POV

As soon as I heard my name called over the loudspeaker I knew it was go-time. This is what I had been preparing for my whole life. This is what everything was leading up to. Until now, nothing else has mattered.

I got the signal to go, and all of a sudden my nerves leading up to this went away. I was in my element; it was just me and my board. I started by going off the wall, and then onto the rails. I rode no problem, without any wobble, and I knew that would get me a good score. Next was the jump; and I chose to do a backside 540- which I absolutely nailed. My final move was a triple cork, and I missed the landing. My feet flew out from under me and I rode to the end completely on my butt. I heard the sighs from the crowd, and it broke me.

I was on the verge of tears, but had to remind myself that I had another run, and knew I could redeem myself. I knew I had to do better on this one so I quickly shook the nerves out and regained my composure before taking a ride back up to the top.

This time I knew I couldn’t mess up, 90.5 was the score to beat, and I was going to do it. I got the signal, and followed through with everything from before, but at the end I focused on the triple cork even more. One rotation, done. Second, done. Third, done. All that was left was the landing. I looked down, and stuck it. As soon as I finished I looked up at the screen, which displayed my name, and an empty space for the number that would soon be there. Only a few seconds later I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Abbey Paquet- 90.75. I had just won gold in my first ever Olympic games.

I was ecstatic, I was screaming, I was crying and I was a mess, but nonetheless, the happiest mess in the world. After frantically pulling my boots out of the snowboard bindings, I ran up to the barrier and hugged the first person I recognized, without even thinking. After I had calmed down a bit, I realized I was in the arms of none other than Jamie Benn. Was he stalking me or something?

“Oh… uhhh,” I stammered, “that wasn’t uh. I still hate you.”

After awkwardly walking away from Jamie, I went to go hug the other two girls who won bronze and silver (Silver going to Emmelie, who was smiling from ear to ear, regardless of not getting gold like four years ago), before joining them on the podium to receive our medals. I was more than happy standing on that podium, this was my life goal, and nothing could feel better than how I felt right now. Looking down at that medal, I knew that everything I had given up for snowboarding was worth it.

Notes

Trying to incorporate more dialogue, not sure how that's working haha. Thanks for reading and commenting, everyone!