Gold, love and mint tea (Yuzuru Hanyu )

19 - Talassophile

Marseille (France) - December 11th 2016, 10:17

I found myself standing in the lobby of the hotel, contemplating how we were going to fit nine people into one car. It turns out everyone wanted to go visit the city and all my friends had friends of their own. I decided to bring Zhenya along because it had been a while since we actually spent time together and apparently Yuzuru decided to bring his teammate Shoma for the same reason. Javi then thought it wouldn't be right to leave their training mate Jun-hwan behind.

I spent some time jokingly arguing with Javi, who still wanted to take the van and just squish everyone into it. It's safe to say that I rejected his idea, especially considering the fact that he suggested that I go in the trunk.

"Javi! Scott just texted, Tessa is still asleep and he's tired so they might join us later but he said that we should leave without them!" I tap his shoulder to get his attention.

"See? We're 7 now so we'll fit in the mini van! If you go in the trunk..." he teases me, knowing full that it wasn't necessary.

"Whatever let's just wait for Maia and-"

"WE'RE HERE! Sorry guys, sorry! Alex forgot to charge the vlog camera so we had to wait..." Maia huffs, both of them looking like that had just run a marathon.

"I see you brought a friend..." I say, pointing to the guy trailing behind them.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you tow haven't met yet! Darianka, this is Nathan-"

"I know, I don't live under a rock! Nice to meet you!" I wave to the American skater, who just waves back, flashing me a charming smile.

"And we're back to nine... In the trunk you go!" Javi whispers playfully to me, I just roll my eyes and shove him away.

We all made our way to the van, Zhenya decided to sit in the front because she gets car sick, Maia and Alex were in the back with Nathan which left me squished between Yuzuru and Jun-hwan in the middle row with Shoma sitting next to Yuzuru. Those two were chatting about something in Japanese so I turn to the Korean skater to my left, flashing him a friendly smile. I hesitantly open my mouth before closing it again, frowning in confusion.

"I speak English, if that's what you were wondering..." he says, as if reading my mind and returns my smile.

"Yeah, actually that's exactly what I was thinking about..."

"Eh, I'm not as lazy as those two over there. I actually made an effort to learn English before coming to train in Canada" he jokes, pointing to Shoma and Yuzuru.

"Come on, Yuzuru's not that bad..."

"Yeah, he has his moments but Shoma's English is a whole new level of terrible!" he mocks, making us both laugh.

"So Darianka, will you actually tell us where we're going?" Javi inquires for the 5th time since we met up this morning, looking at me through the rear view mirror.

"Nope, I gave you the address so just follow the navigation!" I chime, determined to keep it a surprise. I was clearly not the only determined and headstrong person in the car since for remainder of the ride everyone kept trying to pry the information out of me. Then again, none of us would have come this far if we weren't all so stubborn and headstrong.

As soon we pull up to the location and Javi parks the car we all come tumbling out of it. I stretch my back while everyone else is taking in the sights, praising my choice of location. They all follow me to the restaurant that I picked for us to have brunch at and I smile as I take in the familiar surroundings.