In Your Corner | ✓

Fifteen

"You're the best, Nat."

I smile at the sincere look in Andrei's eyes as he checks Miriam's bag for the fifteenth time, to be certain that she has everything she could possibly need for the next two and a half hours.

She sighs, stomping her foot on the ground, waiting for him to give us the go-ahead. "Hai, mă, omule," she complains.

Andrei's sigh matches hers and he passes her the bag. "Să fi cu minte, copile, bine?"

She just sticks her tongue out at him and climbs into the passenger seat of my car.

I turn back to my friend and smile reassuringly. "I promise I'll bring her back in one piece."

He laughs, nodding. "I know. Thanks so much for this. It'll give me a sec to just sort some things out and do some shopping without her whining as she follows me around. I can even go to the Eastern European shop across town."

Despite having left Romania at only ten years old, I know there are many things that Andrei misses about it. Occasionally, he splashes out and buys something from there, particularly any 7 Days snacks that both he and Anita love so much.

I shrug easily. "Honestly, any time. Coach was totally chill with it, so if Miriam enjoys it, I can always take her another time, all right?"

Andrei's lips twitch as he crosses his tattooed arms over his chest. "Don't offer that until you see how this goes, all right?"

I laugh, nodding. "Sure. I'll see you later."

"Just call me if anything happens," he says as I get into the car. "I've got my phone on loud."

I wave out the window as we pull away and Miriam lets out a dramatic sigh of relief.

Laughing, I gesture to the stereo system on my car. "You can choose the music, if you want."

Despite only really speaking Romanian in their home, Miriam's English is pretty good. She was only one when they moved here, so her whole schooling experience has been in English.

She's a bilingual queen and I'm here for it.

I'm definitely an advocate for knowing as much about your culture as possible. I do kind of wish that Dad had taught me Korean when I was growing up, but it just didn't happen.

I know the odd phrase, but nothing to write home about. We're not really close with any of the family in Korea, so don't really visit either. Anyway, with Dad's garage, it would be pretty difficult to find the time to go away.

Miriam picks a radio station and hums along to the Rhianna song playing on the radio.

It doesn't take us long to get to practice, thankfully. Andrei lives in a fairly run-down area of Vancouver, not that far from campus.

When we get out of the car and head over to the field, I notice some of the guys loitering around, about to start their practice on the field next to us.

I'm clutching Miriam's hand, pulling her along with me and my other hand is making sure my duffel bag stays on my shoulder, so I just tip my head at them.

"Natty!" Carlos shouts, grinning widely. "Don't tell us you've had a kid this whole time."

I scoff, my hand tightening around Miriam's, in case she feels awkward. "Shut up, Carlos."

"Băieții ăștia," Miriam mutters under her breath, her voice dripping with disdain.

If only I could understand what she'd muttered. I imagine it's probably funny. I'll have to ask Andrei later. The only Romanian I know are the swear words he snaps when something goes wrong in the garage. I can only hope those aren't in her vocabulary yet.