Double Flip

Chapter 5

Chapter 5The decision whether or not to get into the history of Tyler Hin was left on hold when Ben’s phone rang.

Kat grabbed for it.

“Help yourself,” he said.

“Well, well, well.” She stuck out her tongue. “What have we here?”

“I don’t know, Kat. You took my phone.”

“I think it’s a love note.”

“A love note?”

Kat read it aloud. “I’ve been admiring you from afar far too long. Let’s get closer. XXX.” Then, she showed Ben the screen. “And a heart.”

The XXX was followed by the less than three kind.

“That’s…” Ben wasn’t sure what it was.

“Romantic? Sweet?”

Both Kat and Ben plopped down onto the bed.

“Intriguing? Sexy?” She had a plethora of words.

“Weird?”

“Who’s it from?”

The sender’s phone number was unfamiliar. “No idea,” Ben said after a moment’s thought. “Maybe some—”

Kat gasped. “Igor Koshulynsky!”

“Stop!”

“Okay. If not him, who?” She jumped up. “Let’s make a list.” Kat went to the nightstand. “Now then…Taylor, maybe?” XXX Olympic notepad and pencil in hand, she sat back down. “She might still be carrying a torch. No pun intended.”

“She was obsessed with hearts and how the symbol came to be.”

Beyond her Olympic caliber archery skills, Taylor Hin was an artist. Anytime she and Ben were naked in front of one another, he was usually on the opposite side of the room, so she could sketch him with charcoal on paper.

“Taylor always thought it was the male anatomy that started it. She made me stand on my head a lot, so my balls would flop upside down. Picture it.” Ben could tell Kat was.

“The universal symbol of love and romance is my Piglet’s upside-down balls?”

Ben shrugged. “I can see it. Butts, too. And v*****s. s****l organs. Makes sense, right?”

“I guess.”

“Even the head of my d**k looked like a heart to her.”

“Let me see.” Kat glanced at Ben’s crotch.

“That’s what the internet’s for,” he told her.

“Fine. Be that way.” She tapped her pencil against the pad. “Who else? I wrote down Igor and Taylor.”

“Why are you writing down guys?”

“Because, deep down, if this is the start of something for real, we want it to be a guy, don’t we?”

Ben didn’t answer.

“Don’t we?”

“Maybe. The only one of my teammates definitely into guys—guys and girls—is Freaky Deaky Daha.”

“Would you do him?”

Ben twisted his lips into a pout. “Definitely, but…”

“But?”

“Vij wouldn’t be into hearts and romance. It would all be about…”

“About body parts shaped like them.” Kat got the gist.

“Exactly. And he’s already propositioned me. He’s propositioned everyone I know.”

“Oh!”

Ben feared Kat’s exclamation might have done permanent damage to his eardrum.

“What about a certain British ice dancer we both know and love? You hear from Booger Fisher lately?”

Ben smiled just thinking of Booger Fisher. “Booger Fisher.” He smiled bigger when he uttered the name.

Ben met Booger Fisher one summer when Kat’s mother signed on as Booger’s and Jenn Brand’s ice dancing coach. Ben was older by then, and Booger was a couple years ahead of him in age and life experience. The wild hair, the British accent, the European and worldly ways, Ben was smitten right away. If Kat and Ben were besties, Ben and Booger were like kissing cousins. They didn’t see each other more than a few times a year, with Booger in New York and Ben in California, but when they did, there was often kissing involved.

“Booger Fisher…” Kat wrote down the name. “He’s here. His second home. First home, I guess, and the XXX is a British thing, right? Like XOXO in the US.”

“Right. Considering where we are, anyone could have added that just because, though. On the other hand, Booger did take my virginity.” The pencil upside Ben’s head hurt. “Ow. You could put an eye out.”

“Now, I am shocked. When? Where? How?”

“The last time we were all in New York. In the back of that van your mom keeps at the rink. And the how…Look it up.”

They said it together. “That’s what the internet’s for.”

“I guess I should have known.” Kat brushed Ben’s cheek. “Considering you two were always naked around each other.”

“I’m naked around men all the time, but I’ve only ever f****d one.”

“I’m crushed.” Kat’s pout seemed put on. “How could you not tell me?”

“I wanted to.”

“I get it.” Kat nudged him. “Have you done anything with a guy more than once?”

“Kissing…and…” Ben looked down on the floor.

“Nice.” Kat made him look at her. “Booger?”

“Yeah. While I was still supposedly with Taylor.” Ben had to look away again. “I’m a jerk. She and I were rarely in the same state. Still…”

“We’re all flawed,” Kat said. “You’ll explain it. She’ll understand.”

“I hope so. Someday.”

“So…when you and Booger f****d…who…?” Kat made hand gestures, some obvious, some confusing.

“If you’re asking what I think you’re asking…both.”

“So, he really took your virginity.”

“In that respect, yes.”

“Hmm.” Kat looked at Ben. She studied him. “You like Booger.”

Ben didn’t doubt it was written all over his face. “I do.”

“You think he could be the one?”

“The one who wrote the text?” Ben read it again. “Doubtful. Booger, instead of a heart, would have made a number eight, ten equal signs, and a letter D p***s with squirting dashes.” He tossed his phone to the bed and traced what he’d just imagined onto the sheet with his finger. “More than likely, Booger has an entire calendar grid situation happening, every single square filled in with some foreign dude’s name for the next sixteen days.”

“To Booger, technically, you’re a foreign dude. You hoping maybe your name is in one of those squares?”

Ben smiled again. “I wouldn’t say no. Booger is an out of sight out of mind kind of guy, though. He knows I come to New York every few weeks. When I do, we see each other. When I’m not there, not a single text. Not a phone call. Not an email. Nothing.”

“Has he reached out since we’ve been here?”

“Nope”

“Not yet.”

“Like Vij,” Ben said, “Booger’s not the love and romance type.”

“You’ve said those words twice, now. So…you are?” Kat asked.

“I mean, I hope. But I learned with Taylor, something just doesn’t become something because you say it is or want it to be.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Love is hard.” Ben fell back onto Kat’s sideways pillow.

“‘Cause you’re that rare kind of young guy who wants more than body contact.”

“A romantic.”

“An i***t, Piglet!”

The notepad hurt more than the pencil. “Ow!” Ben sat up.

“God! You’re too young to even use half the words you’re tossing out here, let alone feel them!”

“My parents were high school sweethearts; they’re still together. Yours were really young when they connected. I don’t think it’s an age thing.”

“Yeah. Sure. Fine,” Kat said, obviously disinterested in all that. “If we’re lucky, the heart is meaningless, and this guy just wants to bend you over the pommel horse and plow you like a field during planting season.”

“It’s hard to believe English is your first language.”

“What I’m saying is, I think you should take a complete break from hearts and flowers. You have two weeks to sow some oats.”

“Two farm metaphors in a row. Guess we know what you’ll be doing once you retire from the sport.”

“Be honest. You love me.”

“Honestly,” Ben said. “I do. Also, honestly, it’s a little scary to think about getting naked with a guy while the whole world is watching.” His thoughts on doing just that swung back and forth like the rings after a dismount.

“No real s****l scandal has ever occurred at the Games because everyone here knows there’s a code of honor among hookups. No one kisses and tells.”

Ben scoffed. “You sure about that?”