All The Things She Said

Sweet Beginnings (Lena)

Lena Katina- Chapter 1

"Are you excited to go to the carnival later?" I asked nonchalantly, trying to distract Julia from her new temper tantrum.

"Sure, yeah, fine, whatever." she snapped.

"Do you think it will be cold? Moscow winters are no joke" I thought out loud.

"Perhaps, but I am hardly ever cold. I'll go in my t-shirt and jeans and maybe bring that new denim jacket you bought me for my birthday." She replied.

"I am always freezing! I don't know how you stand the cold." I said in partial disbelief.

We walked hand in hand to our final class of the day. Thank god senior year was ending. Julia and I planned on getting our own place together in the outskirts of Moscow because it is a bit cheaper. We won't be able to afford much more than a studio apartment, even with Julia working at her favorite clothing store, and I working at my uncle's cafe.

"When I get off work at 7 this afternoon, we will go to the carnival right? Or do we want to get dinner before?" I asked

"Heck no! I want cotton candy and popcorn. I don't want to spoil my appetite" Julia exclaimed.

"Do you think you'll get sick on the ferris wheel again? Will eating this fried and sugary food raise the stakes of you vomiting next to me?" I said, half worried, half joking.

"Oh sure, chunks everywhere" she said, rolling her eyes at me.

We entered our biology class. Julia liked this class because she enjoyed doing dissections. I, on the other hand, could not stomach it.

Julia went up to get our slides of lamb blood to analyze for white blood cells. I am good at focusing the microscope, but not good at finding the thing we are supposed to on the slide. Julia, on the other hand, does great with finding things in the slides. A perfect match we are!

I slid the slides into position and worked on focusing the slide, and Julia would find each blood cell we had to find, like Neutrophils and Basophils. We were the first to finish.

I guess our teacher was feeling particularly generous today, because he let us out early.

I raced Julia to the car, and I would have beat her had my shoe not slid off mid-stride. Julia and I take turns driving the car. It is technically Julia's car, but we share it. It is a black Skoda Rapid PA-II, a sporty car. Julia slipped into the driver's seat, and I into the passenger seat. Julia is a good driver, but always drives so stinking fast!

With Julia's expert, yet fast, driving, we arrived at my uncle's cafe in record time. I kissed her softly on the lips prior to exiting the car, my apron in one hand, her hand in the other.

The cafe was sleepy, with few people in it. I filled cups of coffee slowly, taking my time. It seemed time stopped in the cafe, with each minute dragging onward at a painfully slow pace. I hoped if I worked slowly, It would take up more time. But luckily, for my sanity's sake, the shift ended.