|
|
Post by Angela on Mar 27, 2007 17:55:31 GMT -5
Alice and Christian were hanging out at the table for the British team. It was them, a dance couple, and two ladies singles skaters. All of them looked pretty bored, Alice picking at a roll on a plate while Christian had cleverly brought a book along for the occasion. He was paying no attention to anyone.
"I'm gonna...go...talk to someone," Alice decided, standing up. Her partner gave her an odd look, but she left, ignoring him, wandering around the banquet hall, a tiny girl who looked a bit lost in her cute dress.
Zhenya was sitting at the Russian team, beside Ekaterina Valerova, his girlfriend. They were talking with other members of the various teams who came over to them, as well as members of their own team. Katya smiled and kissed Zhenya's cheek.
"I'm going to the ladies room, I'll be back soon, honey."
Zhenya nodded.
"Don't take too long," he joked.
He decided to go around the other tables and greet everyone. He had seen the entire competition and was always interested in talking with fellow skaters.
Usually an exuberant, friendly sort, Alice wasn't exactly in the mood. She, understandably, was depressed and being at the young age of fifteen and a sheltered fifteen at that she didn't quite know how to deal with it. So she pushed it away and decided to talk to the first person who passed by, who she recognized as Evgeny Potemerenko. "Privet," she said in careful Russian, one of the only words she knew, smiling earnestly.
Zhenya smiled broadly. "Privet! Kak vas zovut? Minya zovut Potemerenko, Evgeny Alekseievich." He proceeded to rattle off a few more sentences in his native Russian, happy that someone else knew his language... of course, he was wrong.
Alice blinked. She blinked again. She understood the first sentence or two, or so she thought. "Alice," she said. "Em, kak... vy govorite po-Anglisky?" She'd hung out with enough Russians at a training camp to get that far, asking someone if they spoke English, and her words were slow, halting and accented not properly Russian but reflecting her upper-class Edinburgh Scottish brogue which would confuse anyone if she wasn't speaking, well, English.
Zhenya paused and laughed. "Sorry, I speak some," he replied in English. "Nice to meet you, Alice. Is pleasure." He shook her hand. "You skate pair, yes? You're very good. Silver yes?"
Alice bit her lip. She wanted to giggle at Zhenya's strongly accented, and not-so-grammatically correct, English. "Spasiba," she said. At least that word flew out of her mouth. "Pairs, for Great Britain," she said with a nod. "With..." She glanced round the room and pointed at Christian who was reading a book. "Him." A pause, and s he added, "You skated well too. You should have won."
Zhenya shrugged bashfully. If it had been directly after the free skate, he would have agreed with her. "I don't know. Sasha was great. Maybe he had good artistry than my 'Robin Hood,'" he said with a chuckle.
"Oh." Alice certainly didn't think she'd deserved to win. In fact, she was surprised they even got sent to Junior Worlds. They of course were beaten by a much more technically proficient Russian pair. "You Russians are good skaters. Beat everyone!"
Zhenya shrugged but his smile betrayed him. "Thank you, but not all the time," he said with a laugh.
"I won't win anything but British Nationals," said a blissfully ignorant Alice, adding, "It isn't a hard competition, everyone's very bad there. You would laugh."
"We're Junior, we have lots of time to be great," Zhenya replied.
"Oh I know. I think we'll be Senior next year," she said ponderously. "I don't know." Alice's friendliness was coming off as a bit fake by now, clearly hiding something. "My partner wants to quit now!" She pouted.
"I'm senior next year too. I went to Olympics, so I should turn senior," he said with a shrug. "Quit? You mean, stop skating? Why?"
"I'm jealous," Alice said. "The Olympics... I wish I could have gone." She tilted her head and shrugged at Zhenya's question. "He doesn't like to compete. He likes skating but not...this. I like it."
"Federation sent me. I wasn't good yet for it, wasn't ready. Sorry about your partner. I know how it feels though. When I was child, I didn't like compete either. Now I do," he said with a shrug.
"I hope we'll go to it in 2002 but I don't know. By then I'll be in university." Alice made a face. "I don't really want to, I want to just skate. It's the only thing I'm good at."
Zhenya smiled. "I want to go to university too but I don't know for what. I just like skate," he said bashfully. "Is my life. I want to go to 2002 too. Maybe we all be greater then!"
"I think you'll be better than us. I can't even land my double Axel well yet," Alice said with a long-suffering sigh. "He can jump, I'm not good at it at all!"
"It just take practice," Zhenya said with a gentle smile. "You do better with it. Is lot of fun though. But I like spins better. I try to think new ones."
Alice nodded. "We can't do a lot of the fun spins, because I have to do them side-by-side or with him. But I like odoing the NAtalia spin, you know, where the girl is in a split? That's a lot of fun! Tamara Mosvkina showed me how to do it."
"Oh, that's great move! Moskvina is great, my coach help her a lot. Natalya Romanova."
"There you are!" Katya called in Russian with a laugh, walking over to them. "Not flirting with other girls, are you, my eagle?" she teased.
"No, my rose. This is Alice, she's from Great Britain. She's pairs," Zhenya replied in Russian. He smiled at Alice. "This is Ekaterina Alexandrovna Valerova. She skate single."
"Hello, Alice, it's a pleasure," Katya said, holding out her hand. Her English, unlike Zhenya's, was perfect, and had a slightly thinner accent.
"Hello," Alice said, slowly at first. Then she realized Katya's English was faultless. "I'm from Scotland. I suppose one could tell by my accent, but it's not as bad as my partner's, his is absolutely awful," she pointed out with a snicker. "I like your necklace."
Zhenya smiled. He was content to let Katya do the talking. Her English was better by far thanks to the private tutors she had at her disposal.
"Thank you very much!" she replied, in reference to the diamond choker she wore. Everyone complimented her on this necklace, and didn't really pay attention to the simple sterling silver strand she wore in addition to it. But Katya loved the cross even more, because it was a gift from Zhenya, who worked for many months to save enough money to buy it. "I love your pearls, they're beautiful!"
AnyaAng: yeah I think so too:-)
Alice was floored by all the jewelry Katya was wearing. Not at that age would her mother let her wear anything, and Alice did have some heirloom stuff her mother had saved away. Or so Alice heard; she thought it was really all probably for her two older sisters or the future wife of her older brother. "All of your jewelry is lovely," she breathed, impressed. "You should meet my partner! He is being grumpy and anti-social and reading a book. We can irritate him!"
"Well, I should love to meet him! So would Zhenya I'm sure, right Zhenya?"
"Sure," Zhenya replied with a smile.
Yes, Katya was wearing a lot of jewelry. Diamond choker, diamond bracelet, a watch with diamond accents, diamond earrings, and of course the sterling silver necklace Zhenya got her. It all went well with her beaded gold Ralph Lauren dress. Her long hair was pinned up in her usual bun, with beaded accents in it. All of these made Katya seem a lot older than she was.
Meanwhile, Zhenya was wearing a simple black suit, which had nothing special about it. In fact, it looked dreadfully out of style, like it had been made five years earlier at least. It was amazing he wasn't self-conscious about it.
Too much diamonds, Alice thought as she looked Katya over, before turning to head back to her table. She grabbed the book Christian was reading right out of his hands.
Where any normal person probably would have been irritated and cried out something like, "Hey! What'd you do that for?" he didn't. Christian just eyed his partner, a playful glare--before setting a more confused look to the Russians.
"Say hi, this is Evgeny, and this is Ekaterina," Alice said grandly, gesturing.
He didn't say hi. He just nodded.
"Call me Katya," Katya added. "It's a pleasure!" She held out her hand to him.
"Hello, nice to meet you," Zhenya said shyly. "You can call me Zhenya, both of you can call me Zhenya," he added.
"Zhenya and Katya then," Alice corrected herself.
Christian just said, "Hello," and that was enough for him. He didn't want to embarrass himself with his harsh, strong accent that made him sound like an uneducated moron.
Katya took the lead in the conversation. "The two of you skated beautifully in the competition. You looked so sophisticated, really beyond your years. Your country should be very proud of your achievements here."
"Well, thank ye," Christian said. He spoke slowly and carefully, and anyone could see why. He was also shy, not really making eye contact.
Alice punched him in the shoulder.
"What was that for?" he asked her mildly, not smiling but his eyes were a little smiling. He felt sorry for her, and protective of her, the way he scooted his chair over a little closer.
Alice huffed. "You're being an idiot." She turned to Katya and Zhenya. "Isn't he being an idiot?"
Zhenya chuckled, not sure how to respond. He glanced to Katya, who translated the word into Russian for him. He forced a smile, but inwardly thinking that he, since he didn't know the word "idiot" was the real idiot of the bunch. "I think just shy yes?" he asked.
"Zhenya, do you think your father would object to Alice and Christian joining us all at your apartment for dinner instead of just us two? I think Alice and Christian would enjoy some Russian hospitality," Katya said in English, then quickly and effortlessly translated it to Russian. "After the banquet," she added, "naturally."
Zhenya blanched. His apartment, with the cramped space, poor heat, and furnishings that weren't very adequate or stylish in the least? He had no objection to Katya going, that was their plan, but these strangers? They'd be shocked! But Katya put him on the spot.
"I... I have to ask, but I think Papa would be okay with it," he replied reluctantly. I only hope we have enough food for everyone, with enough left over to last at least until tomorrow, he thought.
"What do you say, Alice? Christian? Are you interested?"
Seeing Zhenya's rather panicked expression, how he visibly paled, made Christian feel bad. "No, that's alright," he said, giving Zhenya a look that said he thought he understood.
"Oh, why not? It would be fun!"
Christian shook his head. "Not tonight."
"Is okay, really, just need to talk to Papa, that's all," he replied, with a small smile.
"There now. Zhenya, why don't you call him now? The banquet is technically over." She reached into her purse, encrusted with Swarovski crystals, and handed Zhenya a then state-of-the-art cell phone. "Call him," she prodded with a grin.
Zhenya bit his lip, taking the foreign object in his hand. He didn't know how to use this thing no matter how many times Katya taught him.
"Here," she said, taking it back from him. After pressing a few buttons, she handed it to him. Zhenya sighed and put the phone to his ear.
"Papa? Eta Zhenya... Ah... Papa, do we have enough food for two more guests?" he asked in Russian, feeling still more self-conscious. It seemed pathetic to others that he actually had to ask if there was enough food in the apartment for unexpected guests. "Are you sure?" he asked, surprised, after a moment. "Well... okay, great. We'll see you in a few minutes then. I love you too. Bye." Zhenya handed the phone back to Katya, and said in Russian, "You can come, it's fine-" He stopped, then gritted his teeth. In English, he said, "You can come, is okay."
"I'd rather just go back to the hotel and sleep," Christian said. At least he was being honest.
Alice, however, would have none of it. "It would be fun! We don't need anything, anyway." She was clearly not as astute as her partner (who was also older).
"But this will be your last night in Peter! Surely you won't pass up such an oppertunity," Katya said piteously. Zhenya bit his lip.
"I don't want you to be... put off, as they say, by my behavior, I would love for you to come visit my family," he said in Russian, and looked at Katya, who gladly translated. "My family speaks much good English than me," he added, "so there no problem."
"Wonderful!" Katya replied with a grin. "Shall we go then? My car can drive us, he was going to drive Zhenya and I there anyway."
Christian looked irritated. He clearly was not going to go. "No, it's alright." Just how Zhenya was acting earlier--that and his clothing--set off alarms. "We don't want to...intrude."
"But we wouldn't be," Alice whined.
"Not at all, there's no intrusion," Katya agreed with Alice. "Zhenya's parents and sister are wonderful people."
Except Mama, Zhenya reminded himself, praying that the disturbed woman would be civil. The chances were fifty-fifty.
"Well, I'll go, and you can be a numpty and stay in the hotel," Alice said. "But I will have fun."
Christian didn't take kindly to being called an idiot by Alice, though it sure as hell wasn't the first time. "I don't want ye to go," he muttered, hoping Zhenya and Katya didn't hear that. "It could be dangerous." There goes over-protective partner syndrome.
Of course, Christian's voice was too soft and his accent too thick to be understood by the two Russians.
"Suit yourself, Christian, no one is forcing you to go. But you may end up kicking yourself later when you hear how much Alice enjoyed herself," Katya said with a grin.
"I don't want her to go," Christian said, a hand on Alice's arm. She glowered at him but he ignored it. "It's dangerous, she doesn't speak the language and we don't 'ken--" He paused to correct himself. "Know ye very well."
"God! I'm not a baby!" Alice was ticked off. "And you're only two years older than me so don't tell me what I can and can't do!"
"Dangerous?" Katya asked, raising her eyebrows. "I assure you, Zhenya's family is anything but dangerous!" She laughed. She knew danger, being from a mafia family. "And Aleksei Kristianovich, Zhenya's father, can speak English fairly well." Zhenya was feeling worse now than he was before. He took it as a bad sign that Christian didn't want to meet his family. After all, if he liked him, he would feel more welcome and eagerly agree to come visit. Was it the wealth issue that bothered him so much? The language barrier between the two of them? He could hardly understand Christian, and he was sure Christian could hardly understand him, so that was a possibility.
"You don't have to go, is okay," Zhenya replied with a nod. It was probably just as well. He'd probably leave Russia with a big grin on his face as he returned home thinking of how pathetically Zhenya and his family lived.
"You're not going," Christian told Alice. His accent was even worse when he was speaking directly to her. At least with Katya and Zhenya he had been speaking slowly and enunciating more. It came out like 'yer not gooin'. "Your mum would have my head if I let ye go out here. Aye, might ken 'em, but not much and not well."
"You're not my dad. He's dead. And he'd let me go," Alice snapped.
Christian sobered at the comment. "But I take care of ye. I told your dad that," he pointed out.
"Nnngh." Alice suddenly lost a lot of the vitality. She looked drawn and sad almost immediately.
Katya paused. "Perhaps we should do this another time," she said quietly, noticing how strained things were now. "It's all right. We'll take a rain check. We're bound to see each other again sometime." She smiled.
"You just ruined everything," Alice snapped at Christian, who just looked at her with a half-stern, half-sad expression on his face, mostly in the way his brows were drawn and his eyes a bit narrowed. It was clear at least that he cared about her and was worried, even though she sure didn't want anyone's pity.
"Some other time," he concurred, nodding to Katya.
Zhenya still didn't understand but listening to the changes the voices, he added, "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to push you into it." He looked at Katya. "I'll be right back." Without saying anything more, he left to go to the men's room, to composer himself and think.
Katya looked after him, wondering what to do. She could tell he was hurt and confused, but then, so were their new friends.
"The invitation is still open but entirely up to you two... both of you," she added, looking at Alice with a small smile. She could tell that Alice was really interested in it.
Alice shook her head. "No. Not anymore." Christian's comments had made her depressed. Her shoulders drooped. Hell, she looked like she wanted to cry.
Christian, who had previously dropped hold of Alice's arm, took one of her hands. It wasn't a romantic gesture, more of a friend concerned for another friend's well-being.
Katya nodded sympathetically. "I'm sorry about all this. I didn't mean to drive a wedge between you. Please forgive me for that." She squeezed her hand. "We'll leave you alone now."
Alice's nose wrinkled at bit at Katya. Or Christian. Or both. "We'll see you guys later," she demurred, fingering with the cross necklace she was wearing (and always wore).
|
|
|
|
Post by Angela on Mar 29, 2007 1:36:11 GMT -5
Instead of going to the rest room, Zhenya simply left the room and sat in the lobby.
It's not like I was asking him to jump out of an airplane or something, Zhenya thought. It's not like my family is that bad. Same with my home! It may not be much, but it's my home, and we do the best we can! If I'm not good enough for him... then screw him! Katya loves me for who I am. The other rich snobs here can take a lesson from that.
As far as he was concerned, he didn't want them to come now anyway. For that matter, he didn't even want any company, and that included Katya. He felt that if they had to push for them to come visit, then they weren't worth having over anyway.
He walked back into the banquet area with a more confident stride, and went over to Katya, who by that time was back at the Russian table.
"They're not coming... I think we started a fight between them," she said sadly.
Zhenya bit his lip, feeling bad at first. Then he brushed his feelings aside, and said, "They're not worth having over. If we have to fight for them to come, they're not worth it. Besides, look at them. They probably have a better financial status than I do. They'd laugh at me and my family."
"I really don't think they would, Zhenya," Katya disagreed piteously. She understood how self-conscious he was about his limited means. "Christian just seems a bit overprotective of his partner, that's all. It's understandable, considering they're in a foreign land," she added with a shrug. "Maybe their chaperones are strict or would be upset, I don't know."
|
|
