(rivals to lovers, small town, sports) [WATTYS 2024 GRAND PRIZE WINNER] (Season 3 coming soon) After a devastating Olympic loss puts her career in a downward spiral, an aging skier returns to her laid-back mountain hometown to rediscover her love of...
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Holly had never fucked up so badly in their life.
They were never supposed to see Eddie again, and yet here she was, sitting across the booth, her navy-blue shirt partially unbuttoned to expose so much cleavage that it felt rude to look at her directly.
They pressed their fingertips into their temples and asked, just to be sure, "You're not leaving?"
Eddie swirled her pint of beer. "I'm not."
"Shit. I thought you were a tourist! If you were leaving town tomorrow-"
"You still would've lied about dating me." Eddie seemed more amused than angry, her dramatic brows arched like question marks, but that didn't make this any less humiliating.
"I mean, yeah, but-"
It had seemed so harmless when they'd said it, but it wasn't harmless. Eddie was a real person, not some imaginary woman they'd dreamed into existence for their lie.
"But you wouldn't've known," they finished, their whole body hot with shame.
"If I'm having a wild fling, I'd rather know."
Holly wished they could disappear. "I didn't say we were- I just said that I liked you, but it was new, and we were gonna see where it went."
"Your dad joked about our future children. He's probably ready to book us a U-Haul right now."
They hiccupped a laugh. Eddie was still soft-spoken, her voice a little hard to hear under the music, but the revelation of their not-so-little lie seemed to have loosened something in her.
"He probably does," Holly said. "He's so supportive it's embarrassing. You should've seen how hard he worked to get my pronouns right when I came out. And to make sure all his friends got it right, too."
At least half of that effort had been to make up for the way their mum had reacted, but Holly didn't mind. They preferred a parent who cared too much to one who thought they were too much.
Eddie watched them over the rim of her glass. "You could've just asked me out."
Holly glanced down into their wine, hoping the dim pub lighting hid the way their face heated. They deserved her teasing. "I'm sorry. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Very mysterious."
"It's a long story." But she was caught in this now. They owed her an explanation. They took a deep breath. "My last relationship didn't... end well. Since then, I've just been trying to focus on me. Figure myself out before I think about another relationship, you know?"
Eddie's face softened. "So why say we're together?"
"My people are worried about me. They've been hounding me for months to move on. To start dating again."
