“He's going to grab this one.” I zip my jacket up to my nose, bury my hands in my pockets.

We stand at the bottom of the halfpipe after watching Grady's first run not go as great as he would have hoped.

“Definitely,” Beckett says next to me. The guy's in a much better mood now that his event is over, and he claimed silver for slopestyle boarding.

“Hey guys, how's he doing?” Skylar and Demi come up and join us. Beckett instantly gives each of them a hug.

My hands stay tucked into my pockets as they smile and wave. Demi stays on the opposite side of Skylar, as far away from me as she can get. For the first time in forever, I'm hesitant to talk to her. Ever since Beckett brought up the damn lucky charm thing, it’s been stuck in my head. I can't help but replay the entire Winter Classics four years ago and damn if he wasn't right. I slept with her before qualifiers and finals. Actually, she went down on me in the middle of the qualifiers during a break. Now I have to somehow find a way to persuade her to sleep with me again before my qualifiers in a few days.

“Oh, Mia!” Demi waves her hand in the air.

Mia and her brother, Brandon, head down our way, their parents in tow.

“Hey, we were up closer but I think I was making him nervous.” Mia cringes.

I fist pump Brandon. “What's up, Salty?”

“Just crossing my fingers he can pull this one out.” He straightens his black-framed glasses on his nose.

“Look who's up.” Beckett nods toward the screen where Matt Peterson's face is prominently displayed. “This’ll be the deciding factor. If he uses his Peterson's Bag of Nuts trick and nails it, for sure he’ll win gold.”

Peterson is another American expected to do well these games. Basically, he’s Grady when he started making a name for himself. Instead of seeing him as the threat he is, my buddy has been giving him pointers. What can I say? Grady can be an idiot.

“He's got nothing on my man.” Mia stands right at the edge of the oval, clapping her hands.

“You do realize if you go home with gold and he doesn't, things might be icy,” I say, and Mia twists her head my way, narrowing her eyes and I'm left with a shiver from the sudden cold front.

“He's going to win,” she says with certainty.

Brandon knocks me with his elbow.

“Shouldn't you be up in the announcer's booth?” I ask him.

“Not for finals. Only qualifiers.”

“That's bullshit.”

“It is what it is.” He shrugs. “I'm just happy to be here.” One corner of his lips lift.

“For sure.”

The announcement that Matt Peterson is next up booms over the speakers, so we all shift our gaze to the pipe. He starts his run, dips down and he's hitting every trick, catching great air.

Why the hell did Grady help him?

“There it is,” Beckett murmurs next to me.

“Damn,” Skylar says. “Great ride.”

The crowd goes crazy. He comes right up to the fence, slapping hands. The kid knows his ride was enough to put him in first. As we stand at the bottom, watching the screen, I guarantee the group of us are praying and hoping the judges saw something we didn't. Something they can deduct points for.

The score goes up and the cheers get louder. Matt’s holding his board up in his hands, pumping it up in the air.

Grady's next and to even medal at all, he's got to move up in the standings. While we're waiting, I catch Demi in my peripheral vision running lip balm over her lips. You'd never guess she is a skier based on how soft her lips and hands are. Damn, I can’t help but wonder what flavor that lip balm is. Last Classics she was like Baskin Robbins with thirty-one flavors of lip balm.

She glances at me from the corner of her eye and then turns to look directly at me. Demi Harrison is never intimidated. At least not by me.

I smile, hoping to calm the seas and maybe make my approach, but she snaps her attention back in front of her.

“What's up with you two?” Salty asks, knocking me again with his elbow.

“Nothing.”

“So, I can ask her out then?” There's no ounce of humor in his expression, which means no one has shared my past with her.

“Sure.” I bite back my first thought which is to punch him in the face because it’s ridiculous.

He laughs, slapping Beckett on the back. “Same ol’ Dax.”

Beckett turns around, Skylar staring on, looking like she’s wondering what they're laughing about. Thankfully, Demi is busy talking to Grady's mom who won't stop bragging about her son.

“Jackasses.” I move away from them, wrapping my arm around Mia. “He's got this,” I wink, and she slides into my embrace, slapping me on the stomach.

“I know he does.”

Grady's face and name show up on the screen. “GO GRADY!” she yells, nearly busting my eardrum as though he could hear her. Her hands are clapping nonstop, she's jumping up and down.

“You get he can't hear you, right?” I ask.

Again with the arctic eyes. “He knows I'm here and it makes me feel a lot better than biting my nails in silence.”

I hold up my hands. “Okay, okay.”

Grady comes down to his starting point, and we watch him do his usual OCD routine, fastening one mitten and then the other and back to the other before he’s satisfied.

“Here he goes,” she mumbles, and she squeezes her eyes shut for a second as he drops in. “This is yours, babe,” she whispers. This is entertaining. I've never in my life felt as much stress watching someone else compete as she is. You'd think she didn't already win her own gold and that it was her up there. It's fascinating in a way.

He catches the air he needs, grabbing his board and the crowd starts clapping.

“There you go. Keep it up. The triple...” Mia talks to herself as we all fixate on Grady.

He slides up the other side of the pipe and nails the trick. “Way to go. Just a couple more.”

“Do you always talk to yourself?” I ask.

She elbows me in the rib, quick and hard. “Ouch.” I rub my side.

“That's it, another one,” she whispers, her hands sewn together and her eyes closing every once in a while.

Grady's had an excellent run so far. He's got enough tricks with high technical points to win if he can land his next two.

“One more. You're the best. Don't stress. Do the trick and land like you do every day…” She's not even finished with the sentence before his board falls midway down the slope of the pipe.

Flawless, a flawless run. Mia starts screaming, clapping and jumping.

Grady rides down to the fence line and leans over. Mia grabs his cheeks, planting a kiss on his lips. “You did it, babe! It's yours.”

He smiles and lifts his goggles, his gaze landing on the scoreboard. The waiting is agony. At least in my event, I know if I was the first down I'm probably pretty solid.

Mia starts talking to herself, strike that, she's talking to the judges.

“You know he was the best. Give him the points he deserves. He's the best boarder out there.”

“Again, they can't hear you,” I say, and she jabs me in the ribs again. Harder this time. “Jesus!” I grip my side. “I do have prelims in a few days.”

“Then stop saying stupid shit,” she bites back, her eyes never leaving the screen.

“Hello, it's Dax,” Demi adds.

I turn my head to see she's putting on more lip balm. It’s torture I tell you, pure torture for her to coat those lips and I have no idea what flavor it is.

The crowd roars with applause, screams, and cheers and when I look over at Mia, she's gone.

She's jumped the fence line, tackled Grady who is now on the ground with Mia's lips attached to his. Checking the board, I see he's seated in first place. Gold is his once again.

“The son of a bitch pulled it off.” Beckett comes up next to me, Brandon on the other side.

“Look at the happy couple,” Brandon jokes.

We’ll wait for Grady to be done talking to the press before we move over to congratulate him.

“See you guys later. We gotta run.” Skylar hugs Beckett goodbye and gives Brandon and I a wave. Demi waves and then scurries behind Skylar. “Tell Grady congratulations!”

I pull out my phone. “Shit, I gotta go, too. Practice run.” I fist bump the two guys. “Give him hell for making it so close.”

They both laugh. “Good luck,” Brandon says.

I nod and head out to prepare to win my own gold medal.

How I do today will prove whether Demi really is my good luck charm or not.