Free Mind the Gap (In Too Deep) by Casey McMillin Page A

one at least ten times. Zack won medals in all of his races also. He won two golds, a silver and a bronze. Ethan Erickson, who I gathered was a bit of an underdog, beat all odds and medaled in all three of his events. He got silver in both of his individual races, but gold in his relay. That one was exciting as well, but not quite as close as the one where Collin and Zack came from behind for the gold.
    Rachel emailed once while they were there, but they had a lot going on, and I was able to see everything on the television anyway. Trevor had gotten into it with me since he had met them all in Portland. He came over most nights to watch, and we'd jump up and cheer and scream when someone we knew was racing. Trevor even bought me a T-shirt with a U.S. flag on it, so I could be a bonafide fan. I wore it every time I watched, superstitious that it would somehow help them perform their best.
    Almost as fun as watching people I knew swim in the Olympics was looking for my friends in the audience. I watched the crowd for Rachel and the rest of the gang. Every time they cut to Collin, Zack, or Ethan's parents, I'd be able to find Rachel and Emily close by. Trevor was over one night when I kept rewinding one shot of the audience that showed my friends for several long seconds. The announcer was talking about Collin's parents, and the cameraman scanned over to them. Trevor thought I kept rewinding it to see Rachel. I did notice her there, but as if it were beyond my control, my eyes went straight to Josh. I studied his face on the television screen. He was sitting in between Collin's mom and Rachel. I laughed, knowing Rachel probably had him there as a buffer. I replayed the shot several times trying to figure out why Josh looked so different to me. His style hadn't changed, but something was definitely different about him. It wasn't until about the fifth time I replayed it, (and yes, Trevor was looking at me sideways by then) that I realized it was his hair.
    Josh had hair! It had been a few months since I'd last seen him and his hair had gone from totally shaved to a short, messy mop of dark brown waves. It looked really good on him. I'm not ashamed to admit that I saved that segment and watched it a few more times after Trevor left that night. I paused it when his face was on the screen and relived the kiss we shared in that hallway.
    And here was the scary part… The Olympics had been over for two weeks now and I still had that piece of footage saved to my DVR. I told myself I saved it because the race was exciting, but the truth was, I was still nursing that tiny crush on Josh, and I wanted to look at him any time I felt the urge. He was smiling and talking to Collin's mom, and I thought about how good a smile looked on him. I'd rarely, if ever seen him smile, and I loved how it looked. The new haircut didn't hurt matters either.
    "Excuse me," a voice said, startling me out of my thoughts, "I'm just gonna grab one of these." I realized I was blocking the Wheaties. A handsome, young, professional looking guy wearing a shirt and tie and carrying a hand-held grocery basket reached in front of me to take a box with Collin's face on it.
    I was too proud to stop myself.
    "He's a friend of mine," I said pointing at the box.
    "You're kidding," he said. "You know him?"
    "Yep, his wife is one of my best friends. We've known each other since we were kids."
    He looked me over as if to gauge my likability. I knew just by looking at him that I wasn't his type, but I could tell he was trying to like me since I knew the Wheaties guy. If he only knew he wasn't at all my type either and I was just telling him that to show off a little, not to score a date.
    "What's your name?" he asked. Nice one, Casanova.
    I stuck out my hand and told hi m my name but then smiled and walked off before the situation could get any more embarrassing. I figured maybe it wasn't such a good idea to stare at Wheaties boxes in Price Chopper while daydreaming about Josh