Page 153 of Only Ever You

CHAPTER FORTY

it’s you in general

MICHAEL

Twenty years old

In the locker room, she insists on taking a shower alone, so I sit on the bench and wait. For several minutes, I look around, trying to keep my mind from going back to the comments on social media. Before long, though, I realize it’s not working. My phone weighs a ton in my pocket.

I pull it out, ready to unlock it and torture myself some more, when Isla returns with a towel wrapped around her body, heading to her sports bag.

“Are you happy with how practice went?” I ask, grateful for the distraction her presence provides.

“Yeah, it was good.”

“Just good?” I chuckle. “You were ethereal. Absolutely flawless.”

“Stop it.” With a roll of her eyes, she digs into her duffel. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Um, agree to disagree,” I counter. “I’ve watched you on the ice hundreds of times. I know you’re exceptional.”

With a huff, she strides over to me. “Give me your phone. Mine is buried somewhere under my clothes.”

I unlock the screen and hand it to her. She taps a few times, scrolls, then gives it back, a video pulled up on the screen. She taps the triangle in the middle, and “Top 10 Best Female Figure Skaters Now” starts.

“Isla…”

“Just watch it, okay?” She goes back to her duffel bag and gets dressed.

It takes effort to focus on the screen rather than her body, but I give it my all, watching short clips of several skaters. She’s one of the ten, though whoever created this compilation put her in ninth place. I’m biased, obviously, but she deserves to be much higher.

When the video ends, I look up. “What was I supposed to see?”

In her sports bra and a black skirt, she trudges over and plops down on the bench beside me. She starts the video again. “This is Ogawa,” she says. “What she does on the ice is art. Here’s Sato, also from Japan. She makes quads look like a walk in the park. And don’t get me started on the Russians.” She throws her hands in the air. “Sokolova could do a backflip at fourteen, and I only nailed it for the first time when I was seventeen. I am no match for these girls. I’m no match for the girls on my team either.”

“Hey.” I grab her hand, halting her musings, aching at the disappointment in her voice. “You don’t need to be like them. You are you. There’s no other Isla Walker, and the Isla Walker I know is an incredibly talented figure skater. You have the ability to be the best of the best. I believe in you.”

With tears in her eyes, she smiles. “Thank you. You always know just what to say to me.”

“That’s me. Michael Thompson—your personal pep-talker.”

A laugh rolls out of her. “I almost forgot what a goofball you can be.”

“I’ve gotten good at hiding it, I guess.”

“You sure have.”

My phone buzzes in her hand, snagging her attention. Eyebrows drawn together, she taps a few times, and then her lips collapse into a scowl.

“Why do people say this?” she asks softly, turning the screen toward me.

can’t wait to see if he’s actually worth the hype

daddy’s name helped him in the draft, anyone think it will help him with the Phantoms?

I shrug, the tightness in my chest making it hard to breathe.

“Why don’t you block these people? Remove the tag option so they can’t tag you, limit comments. You can change the setting so only people you follow back can comment on your posts and mention you.”