Chapter 43: Domestic Upheavals
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I made it back to the skate house by 4 PM the next day, but only just. I had not had any time to pack anything. Not that I had much to pack, clothes, toiletries, some books. Almost everything was still in Newport. I ended up with two big duffel bags filled with all my worldly goods and my computer, still in boxes.
When Yelena arrived, I lead her upstairs to the room. She sat down on the bed.
"So this is the 'skate house. ' "
"Surely you've been here before?"
"No, Russavini has been having the meetings in the club room at the rink, remember?"
"We ought to get ourselves going... if you're here at 6:30, Nadya'll ask you to supper and then we'll have to spend the evening with the kids."
"That doesn't sound too bad."
"It's beyond terrible!"
"Do you want to get one bag? I'll get the other."
"Go ahead and try."
Yelena tried to lift one of the bags." What have you got in there, rocks?"
"No, books. I'll go get Alexi. I should have told you we'd need some muscle."
"Okay, what do you want to do about supper anyway?"
"You got any food in the house?"
"Not to speak of."
"So we need to stop at the grocery before we go home... oh that sounds good... home. You want me to bring Alexi along? He is good at carrying grocery bags, got alot of practice in Chicago."
"I... "
"You need to give him a chance to speak. I'll drag him off after supper if it is too difficult for you. He's good at folding things and putting stuff away if you make him."
"Okay. Bring him. We'll save him from an evening with the kids."
"I know he'll appreciate that!"
Alexi complained vociferously about being a draft animal. The bags were so heavy and the computer boxes so unwieldy, he had to make four trips. Yelena looked almost frightened.
"Alexi," I said in mock consternation, "If you're going to act like an ass we're going to treat you like one."
He brayed loudly and laughed and I laughed and finally, Yelena laughed. It seemed to cut the tension some. There were, of course, some difficult silences during the afternoon. I made a good deal of small talk and tried to defuse any conversational bombs. When we finally made it home from the store, it was short work to carry the groceries in.
"I'm starved." Alexi exclaimed. "Which one of you is cooking?"
Yelena looked at me and I looked at her. "With an attitude like that, I think he should cook, don't you?" She commented.
"It's not his attitude that I'm worried about. He's a terrible cook." I replied.
Alexi sighed, with relief most likely. Even he didn't like eating his own cooking.
"I'll cook. It'll help me figure out my way around. Alexi, would you put away the cold stuff in the fridge?" I started opening cabinet doors and in short order was able to find the pots, pans, knives and the cutting board.
"Well, you two seem to have everything under control. I'm going to hop in the bath. I need it terribly." Yelena started to walk out of the kitchen. She stopped, "Oh, I was thinking, maybe I should give my mother the large bedroom. Do you think that Alexi would help move some stuff tonight?"
"Ask him."
"Alexi?" It was the first word that she had addressed to him and the first time she had met his eyes.
"Sure, why not? I'm going to eat like a horse, I might as well work like one."
"If it's too much trouble... " She began.
"No of course not, Yelena. I'd be happy to help." Alexi said with a rare smile.
I'm not sure how, but Yelena resisted the charm in that smile. "Thank you." She said stiffly. "Call me for supper, okay, Yelena."
"Can do, Yelena."
After Alexi was done putting the food up, I set him to searching for dishes. I think it was the first time he had ever set a table in his life. I had to show him where each and every piece went. You'd think he had never eaten at a set table. I knew he had of course. While he was doing that, I got the casserole into the oven, made the salad and finished exploring the kitchen.
Alexi finished slightly before I did and stood for a moment looking bereft of purpose.
"Why don't you go Into my room and take my computer out of the boxes?" I asked. He shrugged and headed that direction. I followed him as soon as I was finished. It was only five minutes or so, but he had both the tower and the monitor out of the boxes and was setting them on the bedside table. I hooked up the few cables and the had to crawl under the bed to attach the modem to the wall jack.
"There, all done. Macs are so easy to set up... now I'll just change the dial up settings and we'll be off."
I changed the PPP settings to dial a local number. and had the modem dialed. Sure enough, my email was piled high. I had about 200 messages. The newsgroup was even worse, there were 3000 messages. I scanned over them, knowing that I'd never have time to read them all, even if I could sit night and day. Alexi was sitting on the only chair pretending to read one of my books, unfortunately it was the HTML reference, so I didn't think it could be too interesting to him.
"Alexi, look here!" He put the book aside and looked at the computer screen.
"So?"
"This message says that there's a new web site, a fan page, for us. "
"What's a 'fan page?' "
"Some woman from Clarkesville, Tennessee was in Chicago and saw us skate some practices. She really likes us and she's put stuff about us on the web!"
The page finished loading and there we were in living color. I didn't recall the day the picture was taken. We tried to wear outfits which matched, and the best we could do was unrelieved black. So we wore it often. I thought that Alexi looked particularly handsome. I was surprised at how small and fragile I looked beside him. Whoever the photographer was, she had managed to catch one of our undistinguished split double twists. Of course, instead of catching the split part which was unimpressive, she had caught the apex of the throw, which was incredibly high.
"Clarkesville is only about 50 miles north of here." I recalled.
"So."
"So, it means that at least some of the American fans are willing to overlook your past."
"Oh."
"That's good AlexI, very good!"
"really?" He reached out and caught me by the waist, pulling me back into his lap.
"Alexi, let me go, you knocked over the mouse."
"Who cares about the mouse. We have a 'fan' I say that's cause for celebration."
"It certainly is, but let me go, I'm still online."
"No."
"Yes."
"No, I want a kiss, to celebrate."
"Alexi."
"I'll tickle you if you try to get up."
"I'm not ticklish, do your worst!"
I had never been ticklish before. I guess there is a first time for everything, but just about the moment he touched me, I was tickled. I shrieked with laughter. Then I tickled him. We ended up rolling on the floor laughing and yelling. I heard a door slam in the back of the house and running feet. Yelena stopped short in the doorway.
"Are you all right? I heard someone yelling." She was obviously disturbed. I realized what a compromising position I was in. Alexi had both my hands held in one of his and pulled up over my head. He tickled me with the free hand. What she must have thought!
"I'm fine, but he's winning." Alexi tickled me again. "Ahh, oh stop, stop Alexi." I said through my giggles.
"Say uncle and I'll let you sit quietly."
"Uncle."
Alexi rolled off me and climbed back up into the chair. "Sit." he ordered. "Or do I have to tickle you again?" I meekly perched on the end of his knee. Ba bump ba bump, he jostled me up and down. "That can't be comfortable." I slid back more firmly onto his lap and he put one arm around me. "Better?" He asked.
"Better." I confirmed.
I looked at Yelena over Alexi's shoulder. She was looking at us with a nonplused expression. "I heard... "
I tried not to look at Alexi's stricken face. "Us wrestling? Alexi took the only chair."
"It looked like... "
"I know. Relax. Supper will be ready in a few, why don't you go get dressed?"
Perhaps the fact that Yelena was tousle haired, dripping and wrapped in a towel accounted for the look on Alexi's face. Yelena, turned and went into the back of the house. "You look stricken, my dear Alexi? I guess Yelena in a towel really does it for you?" I teased.
"I loved her."
"I won't hold that against you." I kissed him lightly on the cheek and slid off his lap to go check on supper. A few moments later, he followed me into the kitchen.
"Was it so obvious?"
"That you're attracted to her? Alexi, half the country's attracted to her! But no, it was only obvious to the one sitting on your lap. Your body reacted rather noticeably."
Alexi colored.
"Why Alexi, you're blushing! How cute."
"I wasn't... I mean you did... I mean, I didn't mean... "
"I know dearest. You'd get a charge out of me in a towel too."
"Only because I keep remembering you dropping it on the floor and kissing me in front of Sasha. That was some kiss... "
"I thought the look on Sasha's face was particularly priceless."
Alexi was silent for a moment. I finished checking on supper and came to the table and sat down across from him.
"Why didn't we become lovers that night, Yelena?"
"I couldn't."
"You don't love me."
"I do love you, Alexi. It's just... not the way I'm made. I don't know how to explain it. I just know that it wasn't right. It wasn't for lack of desire either. I wanted you then and I want you now, but I'd have to tear my heart out to be with you."
"It's good to know that you're so true... just wish it was me you were true to."
"Sometimes I do too."
"You miss Sasha."
"Excruciatingly."
"I'm here."
"Ye gods, I know. That's what's so hard about it. You make me hot just by being you. I'm not made of stone. Sometimes when you touch me, even casually, I want to throw you down and have my way with you."
"I'm not opposed to that. You can have your way with me just about any time. You can't rape the enthusiastic."
"Arrgghh." I growled. I stood up and went to see about supper.
Alexi snagged me by the waist and pulled me backwards onto his lap. "I dream that someday you'll come to me, willingly, and it will be right. Until then, I intend to make it as difficult as possible for you not to want to love me." He whispered close in my ear.
"I won't surrender."
"Then I'll have a wonderful time teasing you."
When supper was over, the dishes done and the furniture moved, Alexi claimed to have a pressing need to return to the skate house. He helped Yelena on with her coat and would have helped me on with mine, but I begged off.
"I desperately need a long, hot bath. You don't mind taking Alexi home by yourself, do you?" Yelena looked a little sheepish, but she left with Alexi in tow. I hoped that Alexi would take the opportunity to say what needed to be said.
I actually only took a short shower. It was already 9 PM. I snagged the cordless phone from the hall stand and holed up in my bedroom. Yelena had made up the bed for me with her guest sheets, good thing too, because I didn't have sheets that size. There was only room for a chair and a nightstand in the main part of the room. The queen sized bed took up most of the floor space. The closet was a walk-in, my few clothes looked very lonely in there, even with the dresser in the closet.
I put all thoughts of Alexi out of my mind. I had to admit to myself that his declaration warmed me. I was hard up, that was for sure. I needed Sasha's touch like never before.
I dialed the phone. It rang... once... twice... thrice.
"Hello, Klukov's House of Whores, We've got a special tonight!" Music blared in the background.
"Sasha?"
"No, this is Euvgeny Dralidze." He covered the receiver... "Hey Sasha!" I heard him shout." Get off that trull and come over here, there's a girl on the phone!"
Sasha picked up the phone and spoke suavely, "Hello, babe."
"Hello, Sasha." I said flatly.
"Yelena... uh Hi! I was just... I didn't think you could call from where you're staying."
"I'm not living there anymore. Sounds like you were having a good time."
"Let me explain... "
"I was just calling to tell you how much I miss you. How lonely it is here. How empty my bed seems. I was going to say how much I've needed you, burned for you. You've got a lot of nerve, fooling around behind my back."
"It's not what you think!"
"I know what the word 'trull' means, Sasha. Ever played baseball? Strike three. Remember what I said? You're out."
"Yelena, wait." He turned from the phone and shouted "Turn down that music!" The sound level dropped. "It's not what you think, Yelena, really I... "
"Good bye, Sasha."
Text Copyright © 1998-2003 Mary E. Tyler
