Chapter 24: Late Spring Lovers and Unexpected Calls
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Finally, I was flying home. Two weeks had never passed so quickly or so slowly. I was constantly exhausted from the schedule that we had set. I wasn't about to let Alexi know that. I didn't want to give him any excuse to think less of me. Besides, I think he was pretty tired too. He did very little more after evening practice than shower and go to sleep. It was good to know that he could go like a manic when it was necessary.
We did finally get to do some lifts by the end of the second week. We managed a sort of respectable split double twist. I reviewed it on tape but I kept my opinion to myself. The split was terrible, but it was the biggest twist I had ever seen and he still hadn't thrown me higher than I could handle. There were still other girls to be auditioned . I didn't expect to hear from Chicago or Alexi before a month had gone by.
I fell back into my old routine and my old life as if nothing had happened. Mama fell back into our old life too, mostly. Things were definitely a little tense there for a while. I don't think she liked Sasha any better, but she was cordial to him when he brought me home. There haven't been any more lectures about older men or outbreaks about shattered careers. I spent every night in my own bed.
I no longer left school in the middle of the day to use Sasha's ice time. He used it himself. I finally made a connection that I had never made before... his practice was before the club time. When he picked me up at school, he had to leave the rink to do it. It had never been on his way. Everyone but me, knew he was making a special trip.
I know that at least a few girls watched his practices. I didn't mind too much because he watched me often during club time. It's a pretty great compliment when the Olympic gold medalist watches your practice, especially when he watches with that dreamy look in his eyes. The one that says "Has God ever made a more perfect woman than this, the one I love?"
Sometimes we practiced spins together. He has the ugliest forward sit. I've been trying to shame him into a better looking one.
"Youngvale has a fabulous sit." I'd taunt.
"Youngvale doesn't have a quad."
I absorbed the philosophy of the Quad and how it is different from a triple of the same jump as much as I could. You never know when it'll come in handy.
Sasha had a contract for the summer with one of the big shows. He would be away most of June and July, so we spent every hour we could together. We pretty much blocked out everything else. We were young and in love and nothing was better than that.
We laughed. It was good to laugh with him. We talked. We walked by the river and ate picnics on its shore. We played video games and explored the internet. We posted to skating newsgroups under an assumed name, pretending to be a housewife from Virginia. When we weren't doing anything at all, it was good to just be with him.
He seemed to chafe a little at the lack of progress that was our physical relationship. He professed to be contented to cuddle and kiss, but it was always a little more intense than that. I told him the old joke about "Rushin' hands" and he replied "How could I possibly have anything else?" But as Russian as his hands may have been and as attractive as I found him, we didn't rush anything.
"I'm going to be around for a long time, Yelena" He would say. "I can wait until you're ready."
"You mean until I'm married."
"Yeah, but is your husband going to want me lurking around?" He teased.
"You are amazingly silly." I retorted.
"I'm not silly." he claimed. "I just have every intention of knowing you... biblically."
"Oh, and what happened to your 'best intentions?' "
"I was lying. I have no interest in your friendship, I've always wanted only one thing."
I laughed, of course, but the idea of having sex with him scared the willies out of me. Heck, it scared me to be as close to him as I had been of late. It felt like we were just on the edge of becoming intimate and I could not handle it. There is great energy in not giving in to desire, I wasn't fooling myself. He wanted me. My body wanted him and my mind was crying "No!" It lent a certain explosive power to his caresses and his kisses.
As the time came closer for him to leave on the tour, our romance became frenetic. We were trying to store away all the togetherness we could against the long parting we both anticipated. By the time we were back together, we both would be in high gear preparing for the season. That is, he would. If I had a partner, I'd be very busy or very not here. If I didn't have a partner, I'd be packing for college. Either way, we would have little time for being together.
A few times, I thought about Alexi, and the possible partnership. I was happy with how the tryout had gone skating wise and Alexi had been on his best behavior. I had made one decision. I was not going to live with his family. In fact, it would be better if Alexi didn't live with his family. I could see where he had gotten his violent tendencies. Alexi's father was a brutal, controlling man with little respect for anyone but himself. I had seen, or tried not to see, him threaten his wife.
Alexi had stepped between them and his father had knocked him down. Alexi was distant the day after, he flinched when I touched the bruise on his cheek and asked if he was all right. I found myself comforting him. I was not there to get involved and I made it home without seeing anything that I really did not want to see.
I couldn't help feeling more in sympathy with Alexi though. He stayed in a potentially explosive situation to protect his mother and brother. He took verbal and physical abuse with stoic resolve. He had faced his own abusive nature and was trying to change. I admired that, I guess, but he had been a slime ball, and could still be a slime ball for all I knew, and I could not admire that.
I put Alexi Stanachev and his family problems completely out of my mind. I would not hear from him unless he and his coach wanted me to partner. That call, if it ever came, certainly would not come until the beginning of June at the earliest. That's why I was completely flabbergasted when one morning three weeks after Chicago between my run and my shower, the phone rang.
"Hello. Smith residence, Elayne speaking."
"Hello, Yelena."
"Who is this?" I paused. Then it dawned on me. "Alexi?"
"Yeah, I was thinking about you. I just wanted to call and see how things were going."
"Life is pretty normal Alexi. Same old practice, same old school." Same old Sasha.
"Well, I. . I just wanted to say hello."
"Well, it's good to hear from you. How's the current tryout going?"
"Good, I guess, she's not as strong a jumper as you are."
"Why thank you. That was a nice thing to say... if you're me. I'm not sure that she would be so happy about it. Who else are you going to see?"
"There's just one more." He sounded tired.
"You've seen alot then."
"Yeah, You're on the A list."
"Alexi, this is a bad time. If I don't hop in the shower, I'll be late for school."
"I... uh."
"Good bye, Alexi."
Text Copyright © 1998-2003 Mary E. Tyler