Milan’s POV (From now on, everything will be in Milan's POV)

Saturday

As Jacob sat down at the table, after greeting Casey with a handshake and a few pats on the shoulder, Milan observed the man in front of them curiously. A huge part of him was hoping that Casey would offer him a contract, and possibly a trainer to help him overcome his fear of half pipes.

A big part of him knew Casey wouldn’t contact him without a good reason.

They ordered drinks and food, before Casey folded his hands together and leaned in slightly closer as a smile lingered in the corners of his lips.

“It’s good seeing you. You look great. But I can imagine recovery isn’t done?”

Milan shrugged a shoulder, biting his lips while he remained silent as the waitress placed their drinks on the table. Jacob was absentmindedly playing with a coaster in the meantime.

“Physically I’m good, still some therapy to strengthen muscles and such. My head still gets fuzzy easily so concentrating in school is hard. But yeah, other than that, physically I’m good.”

“Emphasize physically,” Jacob added, sending Milan a look, telling him to spill the tea to Casey. This wasn’t the time to hold back important information.

“Mentally it’s harder,” Milan admitted, staring at the table. “Aside from the effects of not remembering a few months of my life, I do have anxiety. Mainly when I think about… you know…”

“Skiing?”

“Freestyle in particular. Skiing is fine. You’ve seen the videos. I’m not great yet, but I’m making progress. My body still remembers exactly how to, my mind just isn’t on the same page yet.”

Casey nodded a few times, his smile widening slightly. “Don’t get me wrong, but I’m glad to hear this. I was devastated when we lost you and I’ve had to pull a few strings after your recent video uploads, but we as HellerStern would like to discuss a collaboration. It would be slightly different from what you were used to.”

“How exactly would it be different? Because I can’t compete in contests and tournaments yet, if ever at all.”

“We understand. We know the extent of the accident and how bad you were. But we do feel confident, that with time, you could get back to your old level. It’ll take time, practice, patience, and guidance. We’re willing to give you all that. In return, you start documenting your process of healing.”

Milan and Jacob exchanged a look, both staring at each other as if they were asking each other ‘what do you think?’, but they both knew it was up to Milan to decide.

“I do have to add, we want to sign you up for the End of Season Tournament in March. The deadline is at the end of the month, and we want to keep the option open. This whole collaboration would be focused on you, working towards that goal.”

Milan bit his lip. He would’ve jumped in right away if they only asked him to wear their stuff, talk about their gear in his videos, and basically do a sales pitch for them every few days. Which was basically what he used to do before. He never expected them to ask him to show the world his process of recovery. The idea of showing himself at his weakest, struck by paralyzing fear, didn’t sound all that appealing to him.

Then again, the video of his accident was already up, and Jacob—at his request—had later uploaded a video of his first attempt to walk again weeks after the accident. The world had already witnessed him in his weakest moments. At least, physically. How bad would it be to show them the mental backlash of the accident as well?

At most, the haters would call him a pussy, or whatever. But he always had haters, even before the accident.

“You don’t have to make a decision right now,” Casey assured him, grabbing his bag to retrieve a folder with the contract. “Take this home, talk to your parents, show them the benefits of signing with us since we will cover all costs of your treatment and can get you to the best doctors in the country to help you wherever we can.” Casey turned to Jacob, sliding papers in his direction as well.

“Of course, we are well aware of the fact that you are the one who always films Milan ever step along the way, and though it’s not as big as Milan’s contract, we do want you to sign with us for this project too. You’ll be getting the best gear to document Milan during his recovery. You two are known for being together in all this, we wouldn’t want to break it up.”

“I’ve gotta say, I’m really leaning towards yes, but I still have a few doubts and I indeed need to talk to my parents about this too. They’re not too fond of me going back out for freestyle,” Milan told Casey honestly.

While Casey nodded in agreement, and the three switched to eating their lunch and having small talk, Milan couldn’t stop himself from staring at his backpack every so often, wondering what his parents would say if he would show them the contract he was offered.

No more worries on how to cover all expenses, no more angry brothers who blamed him for all of their misfortune, and actual professional guidance to overcome his anxiety when it came to skiing. Sure, he’d seen psychologists and therapists in every way, shape and form available. But those were all mainly focused on getting him to walk again, getting him to talk decently again, getting him back in school as soon as possible.

His entire recovery had been focused on daily life, not on excesses like freestyle skiing, ice hockey or any of the other things he did that didn’t necessarily have to be part of everyday life.

But this contract could get him exactly the guidance his parents didn’t want to spend money on, if they even could. Not to mention Jacob would get signed for the project as well, which would make his portfolio even better than it already was.

It all was going to come down to what his parents had to say. And Milan just knew that he could easily talk his father into agreeing. He just wasn’t so sure his mother would agree, ever. She was well aware of the risks—they had experienced it first hand—and how it would not only affect Milan; it would affect everyone. And his mother was loving and caring, sure. But she was also the type of woman who wanted to uphold an image towards the outside world.

The fact they had nearly been forced to move out of their spacious home was something she wasn’t willing to risk again, probably. Still, Milan wasn’t sure. Both his parents had raised him and his brothers with a freedom in activities, encouraging to chase their dreams and be whoever they wanted to be, do whatever they wanted to do.

For the rest of lunch, Milan was absentmindedly participating in the conversation Jacob and Casey were having about all sorts of topics. But his heart and mind were both more occupied with the conversation he undoubtedly would have with his parents that weekend.