The Silver Medalist

The anthem wasn't mine, but I couldn't help smiling as I stood next to Filip Haugen. We weren't friends -- elite competition makes friendships hard -- but I respected him, and I believe that he respected me, especially after our race. As you'd expect from the world-record holder he'd gone out like a rocket, but I was reeling him in over the second half. If it had been 16km instead of 15km I'm sure I'd have won gold. But silver felt amazing, especially since it broke up a Norwegian sweep.

No way was I going to wear a beanie on the stand, so the wind that ruffled my hair also stung my nose and ears a bit as we took the obligatory pictures. Filip invited Markus Amundsen and me up to the top of the podium. Markus and I held up our bouquets in our outside hands while Filip draped his arms around our shoulders. Cheesy, but sincere. Nordic skiing doesn't have many divas. Neither does Scandinavia.

I hugged my folks after the ceremony, and even the old man was puddling up. Mom couldn't stop touching the medal, and if she told me once how proud she was of me she told me a hundred times. They joined me for dinner with my two coaches and a handful of my teammates. Not everyone was drinking, but I was. I had no other events left, which is one reason I went so hard in my race, and I was very happy when they poured me into bed that night.

I looked over at that big, beautiful silver medal hanging from the lamp next to my bed. I was so proud of my race, and that medal would always show everyone that I came second in the world championships that day. Second in the entire world!

But my last thought before I closed my eyes was not about my medal. Instead, like always, I thought of Anna. I relived the voicemail she left after watching my race on streaming.

"Oh, you did it! Silver medal! And you almost won! You were so close! I'm so excited for you. I can't wait to see you. Oh, this is just amazing. Come home soon!"

I smiled again. It's always been Anna.

* * * * *

"Dude! This is Anna. Anna, this ugly douchebag is Chase."

Todd was my cousin, and he was my best friend too. But he had a potty mouth, and he loved to embarrass people. Especially me.

My given name was Charles, but ever since I started skiing I was Chase. Because that's what I did: I chased until I caught the leader.

Back then Anna was short and slender, and her enormous blue eyes were clear, curious, and appraising. She had a big smile that she'd grow into. Years later she was still short, but she had filled out and was the female form perfected, an hourglass figure that attracted all sorts of male attention.

I was smitten with Anna Carson from that first moment. We met as freshmen in high school. Sadly she relegated me to the friend zone almost immediately, since she herself was smitten with a series of boys taller, wider, and far more popular than me. At our small rural high school she was the smartest, the cutest, and the liveliest girl, so she had her pick of guys. She didn't pick me.

It took me the entirety of our first year to accept that she was just not going to give me a chance. I was always super competitive -- Chase, right? -- but never stubborn, so I dated several other girls that I liked during high school. I think that actually helped me feel comfortable with women. Since the relationship stakes weren't high for me I could listen and interact without freaking out and doing stupid or crazy stuff. I did the sexploration thing with a couple girls senior year, which went pretty well. There wasn't much drama at the end of those relationships, so all in all I escaped high school emotionally unscathed. I always longed for Anna though.

Like most of the kids in our school who went on to college, we attended UVM and luck put us in the same dorm. But while she still had plenty of game, the it-girl from high school was no longer the smartest, the cutest, or the liveliest. Well, except maybe in my eyes.

I was still solidly in the friend zone, and perhaps that's why she gravitated to me. I guess I was her window into the opaque world of young men, her trusted counsel on all things male. But we were both more than sex-crazed teenagers, so as we spent more and more time together we deepened our friendship without the distraction of sex or romance. It was wonderful to spend time with her, but it was awful too, because I fell deeply in love with her while all she wanted to talk about was Paul, Craig, and Big Jim. I think she was most infatuated with Ted, but I had to break it to her that he was actually quite gay.

Coming from the same part of the world, we had similar values and outlooks, but we complemented each other too. Anna was deliberate, considered, but a bit unfocused. Teamwork was her superpower. She had a talent for listening carefully, assimilating important information, identifying the key issues, and then creatively suggesting solutions that maximized the benefit for the most people. Everyone who knew her wanted her in their study groups, because she contributed way more than anyone else. But she struggled a bit when she didn't have someone to help her define goals.

I, on the other hand, was uber-focused and relentless. I was very good at setting goals, and I was willing to suffer greatly to achieve them. But usually only for myself. Some would call me selfish; I think of it more as myopic. I'd get so wrapped up in my own stuff, especially my skiing, that I didn't have much room left to think about anyone else.

Except Anna. I thought about her a lot.

So we made a great team. I was very good at seeing where we needed to go, and Anna was brilliant at getting us all there together. We were studying different things -- she was majoring in psychology and I was pursuing business -- but we did have a couple gen-ed classes together, and I think she saw me a bit differently as our freshman year came to an end. She seemed a lot warmer to me after she saw that I was willing to work as hard for our groups' success as I was on my skiing.

We shared a car back to our hometown for the summer. I was hoping that we could further our relationship, but instead she reconnected with a lot of her friends. I was doing out-of-season training for the ski team along with driving a van for my mom's flower shop, so Anna and I only saw each other a handful of times. We did text every couple days, but nothing heavy, just funny gifs and random stuff that reminded us of college. We picked up our friendship once we got back to campus though. I was hopeful she would look past our friendship and see that we could make a nice couple.

But then she found my nemesis.

* * * * *

"Chase! I just met the man I'm going to marry!"

Anna's eyes usually went a little manic when she found a new object for her affections, but they were almost spinning when she gushed all over me at the Davis Center.

Brad Thornton wasn't a bad guy, which kind of made it worse for me. I could see why Anna liked him. He was an average-looking guy, but he had a ton of charisma, an everpresent smile, and a nice streak about a mile wide. It seemed like he knew everyone, and he had a kind word for each of them. The sun just kind of followed him around and shone on him all day long, but he was still as down-to-earth as they come. He'd corral people into doing things, and they'd all have the best time doing whatever it was he suggested. He was the pied piper, just without the malice.

And Anna fell in love with him. Capital L, head-over-heels, thunderbolt-from-the-clear-sky, true-blue love.

She stalked him all over campus, and true to his nature he always talked to her, included her in his activities, made time to connect with her. But he was oddly noncommittal to her too. I'm not the most aware guy in the world -- like I said, myopic -- but even I could see the irony. I'd give Anna anything she wanted, but I held no romantic interest for her. And she'd give Brad everything she had and then steal some more, but he wasn't interested in her. I got more than a few rueful chuckles thinking about that.

But Anna and I were friends, so I had to hear all about him. I think by the time sophomore year ended I was the world's third leading expert on Brad Thornton, behind only his own mother and Anna.

Then everything changed junior year.

Oh, Anna was still besotted with Brad Thornton, and I still held a torch for Anna, but the first big change was that UVM won the national championship in Nordic skiing. We had a deep team -- we couldn't have won otherwise -- and I was our number-one guy. I got lots of attention, both from US Ski & Snowboard as well as from an awful lot of coeds. Anna couldn't help but notice my higher profile, and I think that helped shift her perspective on me. I had less time to spend listening to her rhapsodize about Brad Thornton because I was seeing more than a few other women. I gained a lot of valuable experience that year, on and off the ski course.

But an even bigger change happened when Brad Thornton met Amanda Roth. She was a year behind us, a plump woman and short too, but I don't think you could find someone with a bigger heart. Her smile seemed to be a permanent fixture on her face, and Brad Thornton became well and truly hooked by it. The two nicest people, possibly in the entire world, and they were inseparable. A small diamond ring appeared on Mandy's left ring finger just before we all went home for the summer.

Anna was disconsolate, and I rallied to her. We spent the summer talking -- a lot -- and I even got to hold her as she wept over her stillborn future with Brad Thornton. I was a sturdy shoulder for her, but I was also a fair-looking guy in great shape with some attractive fans who might be interested in prying me from Anna's side. And I got the sense once Anna got past the biggest part of her grief that she saw me in a different light.

We went back together for senior year, and the vibe in our relationship had definitely changed. We didn't exactly date, but she was more flirty with me, and she often specifically asked me to do things with her, when before I just tagged along as part of a group. Right before graduation I landed a job as a part-time sales tech for a software company in Burlington -- I also had a stipend from a couple sponsors I met through US Ski & Snowboard so I could keep training -- and she got a full-time position with the school system as a counselor, so we kept our apartments and moved seamlessly into post-college life.

We still drove home together for holidays and special occasions, and I was driving us back to Burlington on the Saturday after Thanksgiving when she changed the course of my life.

* * * * *

"Do you want to come up, Chase?"

"Sure. I only have Curly at home, and he doesn't seem to notice whether I'm there or not."

"He's a cat. Of course he doesn't care."

I followed her up the stairs to her apartment, just like I'd done hundreds of times before. Coats came off, beers came out, and we sat next to each other on her comfortable old sofa. She tucked one foot under her delectable bottom and put her bottle down on the coffee table. She took mine from me and did the same, then held my hands in hers.

"Chase, I've never thanked you for your friendship. We've known each other for nearly nine years, and you've been the one person I could always count on. You've been my best friend for many years now."

I shrugged. She had actually thanked me many times through the years, but only for specific acts of comfort.

"That's what friends do."

"You've always done more than that, Chase. I know you like me. Not like a friend either. And for a long time I didn't think about you like that either, but you didn't let that get in the way of our friendship. You stayed close to me, and you never made it weird."

She was saying the silent part about our relationship out loud, and I felt a little exposed to be honest. I didn't need the explicit conversation. Talk about making it weird. I shifted involuntarily, and she smiled at my discomfort.

"Don't worry, Chase. I needed to acknowledge that before going on. I've been watching you for a while now, and I can't believe I was so oblivious to what a great guy you are. While I was going out with all those other guys, you were right here, listening to me, supporting me, encouraging me, doing all the things I want a guy to do for me."

I perked up a little. This conversation was getting interesting. I tried to remember to breathe normally.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm open to a more complete relationship with you. If you're interested, that is. If not, I can be as cool as you are about keeping our friendship. That's really important to me."

I was struck dumb. She looked at me with those big blue eyes, and waited for my reply, but I was transfixed. The corners of her mouth turned up indulgently, bemused by my stupor. Apparently she knew better than anyone about my years-long crush on her, and I was trying desperately to come to grips with the knowledge that I was so transparent to her. And yet she was giving me my greatest wish. I couldn't turn her down, and I think she knew that, so she could afford to wait for me to find my way back to cognizance.

"Um, wow, I mean, yeah, of course...."

I wasn't my most articulate, but Anna didn't seem to mind. She smiled, and her blue eyes sparkled. I probably wasn't a completely sure bet, but she had to know the odds were stacked highly in her favor. Very highly. She squeezed my hands and pulled me towards her. I watched her eyes get closer, bigger, and then they closed and I felt her lips against mine. And that's when time stopped and the symphony in my mind came to life. That first kiss was everything I rarely dared to dream of. If I'd had any reservations they vaporized at that very moment. I was always going to be one-hundred-percent hers. Maybe I'd always been.

She pulled me to my feet and gently guided me into her bedroom. Clothes came off pretty quickly, and nude Anna was as glorious as I imagined. Full breasts, narrow waist, rounded hips, muscled legs with just a hint of downy blonde hair between them. She appraised me with those azure blue eyes, appreciating my lean body, but completely in control of herself.

Our coupling was intense, urgent but not frantic. I worshipped her entire body, kissing her lips over and over again before drifting away to her ears and then down to her neck. My hands stroked her back and her sides and, yes, her thighs and ass too. I felt a little outside my own body, but I remained aware enough to register every sensation. And I wanted to make sure she enjoyed every moment as well.

I needn't have worried. Anna was a modern woman, clearly experienced, and she actively participated, directing me with her hands and her hips and her legs when she wanted something other than what I was doing. She wasn't bossy about it, and I was happy to comply with her wishes.

She responded delightfully to my ministrations, and she could have me any which way she wanted. She really liked to be on top, which worked for me. I was so turned on watching her undulate, her breasts swaying free, her eyes closed, her head nodding in rhythm with her thrusting. When she tired I rolled onto her missionary style and put my endurance training to work. My restraint could not match my aerobic capacity, however, and I was finished for the night shortly thereafter. But we were both satisfied by the end, and more than once each.

We made love again in the morning, and then I went home in a fog to my indifferent cat and suddenly lonely apartment.

* * * * *

So we began to date. Pretty soon we were regularly spending the night together, not every night, but three or four or sometimes five times a week.

I couldn't imagine my life getting any better. My skiing improved, and I earned a spot on the national team even if it was on the B squad. I was killing my job so much so that my company wanted me to go full-time even as they said they'd allow time off for my skiing. And now I had Anna as a partner. I felt complete.

Brad Thornton and Mandy Roth were married, and neither Anna nor I was invited to the wedding. I hardly knew the bride, and I only existed in the periphery of Mister Wonderful's orbit. I'm sure Mandy knew of Anna's infatuation with her husband-to-be, so she probably didn't need that hanging over their special day. Neither of us cared too much about missing the nuptials. It annoyed me a bit that Anna followed them both on social media, but she only rarely brought them up in conversation, so I let it go.

Our families seemed very happy that we were a couple, and we began to do things together with both families when we returned home. Both mothers started hinting at marriage, mostly as an avenue to grandchildren, but our lives were busy and going so well that neither of us was in a big hurry to tie any knot. I moved up to the Nordic A team, which meant a lot of races during the ski season, and that meant a lot of travel, mostly to Europe. Anna never went with me -- it's tough to counsel elementary-schoolers from six time zones away.

Yes, marriage could wait until things calmed down a bit.

* * * * *

As I lay in my bed in Planica, my silver medal next to my bed and my dreams filled with Anna, I thought things had now calmed down. It would be hard to beat this performance, and it might be time to move on to the next chapters in my life, all of which I desperately hoped would include Anna.

She rushed me and gave a full-body hug when I stepped through the secured area at Burlington International Airport. My travel day had been smooth, but I don't think I would have noticed even if it wasn't. With my medal in my bag and a ring for Anna in my pocket I felt like I could have floated home. Anna wanted a complete rundown of my trip, and she indulged a short play-by-play of the race too. We weren't officially living together, but if I was in town we didn't spend nights apart, so she came into my apartment with me.

The cat might have been punishing me for being gone, ignoring both my arrival and my presence as I put my stuff away, but it looked exactly like how he normally treated me. As a roommate he was an asshole -- he ate food I bought and made me clean up after him, and then he rubbed up against Anna right in front of me.

She thought he was adorable.

"Let's get a bite, Anna. If you can put Curly down anyway."

She laughed and held the cat so she could look in his face. "He's such a grump, Curly. I'll see you later."

We drove over to the Farmhouse Tap & Grill. I would have preferred The Spot on the Dock, but it wouldn't open until May, and I wasn't going to wait that long. We were seated quickly and ordered our beers. I took a breath and reached across to hold her hands this time, and that got her full and undivided attention.

"Anna, you know that I've loved you from the moment we met, right?" She smiled and nodded. "Well, the past three years have been just amazing for me, and that's all because of you."

"I'm sure that silver medal has something to do with it," she said with a smile.

I laughed. "Yes, but that's just icing on the cake. You being the cake. I can't imagine being any happier than I am when I'm with you."

I pulled out the ring box and opened it so she could see the ring. The middle diamond wasn't huge, just over a carat, but it was flawless and surrounded by four small emeralds, which were her birthstone. Her eyes got huge and her mouth dropped open.

"I want to marry you, Anna. Please accept this ring as my commitment to be the best partner you could ever imagine."

She took the ring box slowly, reverentially even, staring at it. She finally closed her mouth and looked up at me. I was very pleased to have surprised her so.

"I don't know what to say, Chase. It's so beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you are. And you'd make me the happiest man on earth if you said yes."