Maya's Olympic Race

There were very few moments where Maya dreaded seeing her girlfriend. This just happened to be one of them. Maya was getting ready to run the most important race of her life, and her ankle had been bothering her since she and the rest of the team had arrived in London a week or so before. Carina and Andrew had made the trip out to watch her compete, which made Maya feel better about the fact that her mom and dad were also going to be there. When Carina had noticed that Maya was favoring her ankle, she had made Maya promise to go see the trainer to make sure that it was safe for her to run on, especially when it was a such a high-pressure situation. Worried that if the trainer found out about the sprain, the alternate would run in her place, Maya hadn't gone. This was the first free night she'd had since they arrived, because they had just finished with opening ceremonies. Maya felt lucky that her event was on the first day of competition, because once she'd won, she could just sit back and watch her teammates. It also meant that she would be able to explore London with Carina. Since it was her first night off, Carina was coming to her room in the village for dinner out on the terrace. Maya was either going to have to tell Carina the truth, that she'd never gone to the trainer, and risk having Carina bring her there, or she would have to lie that she'd gone and that nothing was wrong. If everything went as planned, it would be a harmless lie, but Maya still didn't like lying to Carina. However, at the same time, going to the trainer was a risk she wasn't sure she was willing to take. A knock on her door interrupted Maya's thoughts; she had to make a decision fast.

"Ciao, bella," Carina said, kissing her, as Maya let her in. Maya smiled. Suddenly she wasn't as worried about what to tell Carina, she was just glad that she was there.

Carina and Maya were sitting together on the porch swing, cuddling, and watching the sunset over the Thames River. They'd finished their dinner a few minutes before, and their empty plates sat on the table, napkins laid on top. Maya moved closer to Carina, breathing in her familiar scent. Being in London made this all so real. After talking about the Olympics for so long, it felt weird to finally be there, for the competition to be so soon. Other than Carina, the Olympics had essentially been the primary focus of Maya's life since her middle school coach had mentioned them to her father so many years before.

"You're Maya's dad? You need to get this one in some serious training. I could see her as an Olympian one day," he'd said. From that moment on, Lane had been obsessed. Maya hadn't been quite as obsessed, but it had been exciting, the thought of being able to say she'd competed in the Olympics. Now she was there, and she was about to be able to say that. But Maya needed the familiarity of Carina because she had never been more terrified in her life. Not even when she'd had to come out.

"What are you thinking about?" Carina asked.

"It's just all hitting me, I think. This is one of the only things I've been able to think about most of my life, and now it's finally happening. It just doesn't feel entirely real but being here in London also makes it feel more real than ever," Maya paused, "I'm just scared." Carina tightened her arms around Maya and kissed her temple.

"Bella, being scared is completely valid and understandable. Competing in the Olympics is a scary thing, especially when you have been working for it for so long. But I want you to know that no matter what happens tomorrow, I am going to be incredibilmente proud of you, and I am going to love you just as much."

"Are you sure?" Carina smiled at Maya. She tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

"Of course, Maya. You are fantastica. You will always be fantastica through my eyes." Maya laughed tearfully, Carina having calmed her once again.

"You are fantastica through my eyes too." Carina rolled her eyes.

"Stupido American idioms." They both laughed. For the first time since making the Olympic team, Maya didn't feel like her entire world was about to collapse around her. She almost felt compelled to tell Carina that she hadn't gone to the trainer, and why she hadn't gone, but she stopped herself. If Carina asked, she would tell her the truth.

"Do you think Andrew would be okay on his own tonight?"

"Maya, bambina, you need to sleep, not stay up with me."

"I know. I just think I'll sleep better if I know you're here," Maya explained, "But only if you want to stay. I don't want to make you stay."

"I would love to stay, as long as you promise to actually sleep."

"I promise, Carina."

"Bene."

Maya usually had no adversity to getting dressed in front of her teammates. If anything she almost preferred it, because it created a greater sense of comfort within the team. However, that morning she was in one of the private stalls, with the door locked. She was wrapping her ankle in an ace bandage to protect it, and she didn't want there to be any possibility of one of her teammates noticing. They would be required to report it to their coaches, and Maya didn't want to put any of them in a position where she was asking them to lie. That would deteriorate the already delicate family they'd been working on creating since meeting each other almost directly before getting on the plane to London. It wasn't quite as important since most of their events were individual, but she needed all the support she could get from the sidelines. Maya was just glad that they had to wear taller socks than usual, even if it was in order to promote more pride in America. Maya had never seen so many American flags in one place before, even when she and her dad had driven through the south on the way back from a prestigious track camp.

"Maya, your dad's looking for you!" one of her teammates called from the main locker room.

Maya groaned. She'd known that her dad was going to attempt to give her one of his famous pep talks, which most of the time just ended up psyching her out. Maya grabbed her phone out of her gym bag. Good morning, Carina. I hope you slept well. I hate to ask, but my dad is apparently outside the locker room, and I just can't deal with him right now. Could you come get him? Actually on second thought could you go get my mom, and ask her to come get him? Maya paced as much as the stall would allow, hoping that Carina was awake. She had to be out on the track soon, and she couldn't leave the locker room until Lane was gone. Her phone buzzed, and Maya let out the breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. Buongiorno, bella. I am actually with Andrew and your mom getting breakfast right now. We will head down there and grab him. Then, You have got this, Maya. You are going to do grande. Ti amo. Maya smiled. She was so lucky to have Carina. Thank you thank you. I love you so much. Text me when the coast is clear? The response was immediate this time. Sí. Maya finished getting dressed and waited for another text.

However, it wasn't long before the locker room emptied, and Maya froze. If she was the only one in there, her dad wouldn't hesitate to come in. Sure enough, she soon heard his footsteps.

"Maya! Maya, where are you?" Lane asked, the anger evident in his voice. Maya didn't say anything, hoping that maybe he'd assume she had already left. No such luck. "Maya Bishop, I know you're in here. Don't fucking mess this up just because you're a scared little girl. This is what we've been working for your whole life." Maya emerged from the stall.

"I am not scared."

"Then what were you doing hiding in a bathroom stall?"

"I was changing. I don't know these girls that well, so I wanted some privacy."

"I thought you liked meeting girls. You are a lesbian, after all, aren't you?" Maya had to stop herself from kicking the trash can. Her dad was always saying shit like that.

"For the last time, not a lesbian. I'm bisexual. Either way it doesn't matter, because I'm dating Carina, and we've been dating since sophomore year of high school."

"Sure, whatever. Just get out there before you miss the whole God damn thing." Maya sighed. Maybe she'd managed to distract him enough that she wouldn't get the pep talk. Just as she was about to make it out unscathed, "Oh and Maya?"

"Yeah?"

"Eyes forward, okay? You have got to keep your head in the game. Do not let this supposed girlfriend of yours distract you today, okay? The only thing that matters today is you, and getting that win, that medal. You better leave with gold later." Maya could feel her heart rate start to speed up, Lane's words being engraved into her brain, as they usually were. She nodded.

"I need to hear you say it. She doesn't matter today. You do, and the win does. Whatever happens, you push through until you've crossed that finish line."

"She doesn't matter today. I do, and the win does. Whatever happens, I will push through until I've crossed that finish line," Maya said, hating how much her need to please him made her mean it. Maya stormed out of the locker room, Lane close behind her. Carina, Andrew, and Katherine were standing off to the side of the door.

"Maya," Carina said sympathetically, touching her hand to Maya's arm as she passed. Maya jerked away, and kept walking towards the track, where her coaches and the rest of the team were waiting.

Maya sat on the bench, her leg bouncing as she watched her teammate round the bend. A few of the events had already happened, and so far, they were doing okay. After the 1,500 metre, she would be on deck. Maya knew that Carina was sitting almost directly behind her, and that looking at her would help calm her nerves. However, not only did she feel guilty about how she'd acted earlier, she could also still hear her dad's words telling her that Carina didn't matter, and she hated that. It would be one thing if Lane just had power over her, but his power over her was affecting the other people in her life, and that made Maya feel awful. Remi, the girl that had warned Maya about her dad, was the first to cross the finish line from America, solidifying their fourth bronze of the day. They hadn't medaled at all in the 400 metre. Depending on how the 5,000 metre went, Maya could potentially be the first gold of the day, and that made her even more anxious. She jumped up, sprinting to the nearest trash can and aggressively vomiting into it. After she was done, Maya finally looked up at Carina. There was nothing but love in her eyes, and she used her hands to signal that she loved Maya. This just made Maya feel worse, especially because she realized that Carina was under the impression that the trainer had cleared her to run on her ankle, which wasn't true.

"You okay?" one of the coaches asked, placing a hand on Maya's back.

"Yeah," Maya nodded, "Just some nerves."

"Alright good, because you're on deck, and I am not sure we could get Hannah ready in time. Go ahead and start your stretches." Maya nodded again, and leaned down to tighten her shoelaces, before going over to the field next to the track.

They were lined up at the start, each staggered just a little so they wouldn't trip over each other when they took off. Maya was so used to this part, just waiting to hear the gun shot, that she didn't even feel like she was fully there. It made sense, that she would go to all effort, do all this hard work, just to disassociate during the actual experience and have no memory of it. However, at least if she disassociated, her body would go on autopilot, and her dad's words in her head wouldn't be able to psych her out. Maybe she could think about her happiest moments with Carina. Before she had the chance to think about it anymore, the bullet was in the air, and she was off.

Almost immediately Maya could tell that something was not right with her ankle. Thankfully, she was running fast enough that she barely put enough weight on it at a time for it to get in the way. Before she knew it one lap was down. As Maya sprinted, she thought about the look that would be on Carina's face when she won. She truly believed that Carina was going to be proud of her no matter what happened, but if she won… if she won, Carina might take her right there and then. Not that she would complain. There was a time when it would have been their first. Maya had made a promise to herself, back when her classmates were going through the final stages of puberty, becoming boy crazed teens obsessed with spin the bottle and seven minutes in heaven. She didn't want that for herself, too much of a distraction. She wasn't going to wait until marriage, but she was going to wait until she had her gold medal. Meeting Carina and coming to terms with the power that her father held over her had shown her that the vow wasn't about what she wanted at all. Unlike Lane, whose one focus was to take Maya to the Olympics no matter what, Maya cared more about Carina than she ever had about the Olympics.

The summer after their junior year of high school, they had taken a brief trip to Sicily, just long enough for Carina to show Maya all the important landmarks from her childhood, but not long enough to set off Lane's radar. Learning more about her girlfriend, seeing the sights that had made her who she was, Maya had never been more in love. Their last night in Italy, she had decided that she didn't need to wait any longer, that she didn't want to. Carina had been so sweet, making sure that Maya wasn't just doing it to appease her.

"If you still want to wait until after the Olympics, that is okay," she'd said, "I do not want to rush you. I am contenta to wait."

"The Olympics isn't my dream. You are," Maya had replied. Apparently it had been the perfect thing to say, because Carina had essentially become putty in Maya's hands, and Maya had never seen her like that. She'd liked it, seeing a new side of the girl she thought she knew so well. It had been a perfect night.

Thirteen laps down, Maya was more than halfway there. Her ankle was starting to swell more and more, and she could feel it happening, but she didn't care. She had a goal, and she couldn't stop until she achieved it. Just like her dad had said. Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. Maya felt as if she was miles ahead of anyone else. She wasn't, but just thinking that she was made her run even faster. Something about feeling as if she was in her own world, as if no one could touch her. And as a strategy it did work; it actively widened the gap between Maya and the runner in second.

Her thoughts wandered from her first time with Carina, to the first time she'd seen her. It had been the first day of sophomore year, and Maya had still been wary about her decision to take statistics. However, when she'd seen Carina walk in, the Italian goddess that she was, Maya knew that she'd made the right choice. Maya had even wondered the night after their first date if it was fate that she'd decided to take stats, that Carina's stats credit hadn't carried over from her school in Sicily. If Maya had taken a lower-level course, or Carina's credit had transferred over, even if Carina had still asked if she was okay that day, Maya probably wouldn't have been as willing to immediately get in her car, considering she would have been a virtual stranger. Twenty, Twenty-one, Twenty-two, Twenty-three. Maya's ankle was numb now, and she would have been worried about permanent damage, had she not been so incredibly close to her goal.

Maya rounded the final lap, and even felt herself speeding up for the last 400 metres. Her hair flowed behind her like a veil, her surroundings a blur, whizzing past her as if she were in a car on the highway. Maya prepared to break the banner and secure the gold. She adjusted her body so that her weight wouldn't go entirely on her ankle when she came down. This might have been the goal that day, but she didn't want to take herself out of the running forever by permanently destroying her ankle. Maya felt the paper constricting her movement as she broke through it, heard the sounds of cheering, of everyone rising in their seats. Her reality felt slowed; there a pop in her knee as her right leg came down. Suddenly it could no longer support her, and she crumbled to the ground. Carina's face appeared over hers, worried and confused; this was the last thing Maya saw before the pain became too much, and everything slipped away to black.