Page 89 of Crashing into Love

“Oh, come on… You’re like this in all your relationships.”

Drew shook her head.

“Andy?” Selma checked.

“Not really, no. I was at a different place when I was with her, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was… well, I was arrogant, cocky, and kind of a hard-ass, yeah. When she and I started dating, I was at the top of my game and a little bit of an asshole to others around me.” She wrapped her arms around Selma’s waist. “I don’t think I ever gave her all of me. Then, I went home without a medal, and I was disappointed. I became even more of an asshole to her. I was lost. I’m not lost anymore.”

“No?”

“No. I’m still not sure I’m done becoming whoever it is I’m going to become yet, but I feel a lot better about who I am right now. Part of that is due to all the work I’ve done on myself to get back to where I wanted to be on my board and outside of sports, but the other part is because of you.” Drew smiled softly and kissed Selma on the forehead. “You make me want to be better, Selma. You’re special. And I feel like I can be my whole self with you in a way I’ve never been before. Sorry if I’m laying all this on you way too soon, considering we’ve been girlfriends for all of a minute. I just… I don’t know. I feel like I want to be totally honest with you.”

Selma smiled and said, “Girlfriends?”

“You said you wanted to be exclusive.”

“I do. I’ve just never had a girlfriend before.”

“And? How does it feel?”

“Pretty good so far. My girlfriend is amazing, and I am totally into her.” She leaned in and kissed Drew on the lips.

???

The airport had been harder than Selma had expected, and they didn’t even have to go all that long without seeing each other. The Winter X Games were coming up in Aspen, Colorado, this year, so they’d see each other there soon. It was only two weeks away. Still, Selma had hugged Drew long and hard as they stood at her gate since Drew’s flight boarded twenty minutes after hers. Then, after she’d kissed Drew without thought that there had been hundreds of people standing around them, Selma had realized that had been the first time she’d kissed another woman in public, and she couldn’t have cared less what any of those people had thought. She’d wanted to kiss her new, long-distance girlfriend goodbye, so she’d done it.

“I’ll miss you,” Drew had said.

“I’ll miss you, too. Text me when you land and when you get home, too, okay?”

“I will,” Drew had replied with a smile. “And I know you’ll want to spend time with Gia tonight and that we’ll both be tired, but can we still talk, even if it’s just to say goodnight?”

“I’ll call you after she goes to bed. We can talk as long as you want. Of course, we both got very little sleep last night, so it’s possible I’ll fall asleep on the phone, but don’t take offense.”

“I won’t.” Drew had kissed her again. “They’re going to close the door. You have to go.”

“I know. Text me.” Selma had backed away, but she still held on to one of Drew’s hands.

“Babe, I will. The moment the wheels hit the ground, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Fly safe,” Drew had said.

“I will.” Selma had had to let go then and hated it.

Normally, she would’ve been excited about going home after any competition because she’d get to see her daughter, but this time, she was a mix of emotions. She missed Drew from the second the door closed behind her, and as much as she wanted to hug her daughter and hear about her week, she also wanted to be back there, in that hotel room with Drew again.

They’d kissed for hours. Drew had had her mouth all over Selma’s neck and shoulders before she’d moved lower to kiss Selma’s stomach. Hands had grazed breasts over shirts, and Selma had felt Drew’s hard nipples pressed to her own when Drew had been on top of her, kissing her slowly and deeply. Selma had nearly asked her to use that amazing tongue of hers somewhere else, but she knew they weren’t ready.

Despite losing the competition, the whole reason for her being there and away from her family, it had been the best week of Selma’s life. When she landed, she checked her messages first to make sure there hadn’t been any kind of Gia or Grandma-related emergency at home, but then also to see if Drew had texted. She hadn’t yet, which meant she was still in the air, so Selma got off the plane and headed to baggage claim to wait for her stuff. Then, she decided to text Drew so that she’d have something to read when she got off her own flight.

Selma Driscoll: So… I miss you already. Is that too much, too soon? If so, I don’t really care. You’ll want to get used to me telling you that I like you since I’ve been holding it in for so long. I used to see you around places and, obviously, on the mountain, but I’d have to tell myself not to stare because you were just so beautiful to me. I kind of can’t believe I get to tell you that I think that now, but I wanted to do so, so I did. And now, I’m just continuing to type because I’m bored waiting on my luggage. I miss you, Drew. I want to figure out when we can see each other without snowboards involved. Can we do that when we talk tonight?

Selma hit send and slipped her phone into her coat pocket in order to pay attention to the baggage carousel. A minute later, her bags appeared, and she headed out to find an Uber to take her home. Her phone pinged the instant she sat down in the back seat of the car.

---