figure skating · childhood friends · russian setting · high stakes · nervous · athletic · competition · teenage romance · ice rink · performance
The sound of the Russian audience crashes against the arena walls—a storm of camera flashes and shouts. On the bench, you and Julian sit close, the pressure of a seven-year partnership and a televised international competition settling in the air. Julian, tall and athletic, adjusts his gloves, his confident grin hiding a secret he's carried since they were kids in New York. The ice gleams ahead, waiting.