Vas and Val

Chapter 4

Vasilisa's Pov:

I wake up and head to the rink. I barely got any sleep last night. I was up thinking about Valery. I can't let this happen. We are figure skating partners. No dating allowed. I hope he thinks the same. 

I am headed to go get some coffee from my favorite little shop right across the street from the rink. I see Valery's car there already. He is definitely a morning person. I laugh to myself as I head inside. I am immediately filled with the familiar smell of coffee and donuts. I order a coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Due to my strict diet I can't eat anything else. 

When I walk into the rink I am bombarded by Al. "Good morning Vas. Hurry your eating and go get stretching in the training center. We are starting with the off ice lifts for a couple hours then moving to an upper body workout, lunch, then on ice lifts for a couple hours then you are done for the day."

I smile at her. She is being very nice today. "I will. Thank you Al"

I walk to the training room and eat my breakfast while scrolling on social media. No new updates on anything since I checked last night. Normally there isn't many because figure skaters don't want anyone to know their programs before a competition. I check the time. 7:15. Time to stretch. I chug the rest of my coffee and throw it away as I make my way to the main area. I grab my roller from my section of the room and start rolling out my calves. It wasn't as bad today since we didn't do ballet.

As I am getting up I feel my ankle. It has major bruising on it right now. It doesn't feel the best but I know for a fact that it is nothing major. I decide that i'm just going to wrap some ice on it while I stretch to help the bruising a bit. 

As I am stretching I am thinking about Valery. I haven't seen him yet today but I saw his car. I shrug it off and get into the zone. I do all my stretches and feel immediately relaxed. That feeling went away the moment Valery and Al stepped through the training room doors. Valery shot me a mean look to witch I returned with a confused one.

"Okay you two lets start with the lift from yesterday. Vasilisa I expect a lot less falling today. Put your trust in Valery."

I look over at him with a death glare.  He just smirks and looks away. "I might just drop you if you keep giving me that bitch face Vasilisa." 

Wait. Is he just going to act like yesterday never happened. He is insufferable. I can't believe him right now. Al then speaks, "Valery that is no way to talk to your partner. Get set up for the lift right now!" 

I roll my eyes and get into position. We start doing the steps as usual and then it's time for the lift. As usual, Valery lifts me onto his leg effortlessly. I remember from yesterday the way I was supposed to turn my leg. But that is my hurt ankle. As soon as my foot hits Valery's leg I fall. Once again, he catches me. I hear Al take a deep breath and tell us to reset. 

I look at Val who is looking at me with dagger eyes. I don't understand him right now. First he was being my enemy then later that same day he was making out with me like his life depended on it and now he is back to being the same old Valery. I need to talk to him but I am going to wait until the competition is over because I don't want to mess anything up at the moment. 

I manage to fight through the pain of my ankle and keep doing the lifts. Then it's lunch. I finally get a break. 

Ice time. I lace up my skates. My skate with the hurt ankle I tied tighter. Today was going to be rough. I sit on the bench waiting for Al to get here. While i'm sitting I am just hyping myself up for what is to come. I make a list in my head. 

1. Don't get distracted

2. Forget about everything that happened yesterday

3. Get prepared for competition

Not a very good list but it works for the time being. I look at my watch. Al is running late so I just hop on the ice and get my ankles warmed up. So far so good on the pain. I do my warm up for lift day and get ready. I didn't even get distracted when Val got on the ice. I'm genuinely surprised.

Al comes in and apologizes for being a couple minutes late and then she tells us to get into starting positions for the big lift and to take it very slow since we are on ice now. 

Me and Val do as we are told. She starts the counts and I am just blown away. I feel so amazing like I am on top of the world. I didn't even notice the fact that Val's hand on my thigh was higher than yesterday. Val lifts me out of the lift and back on the ice. 

"That was very good you two. Remember Vasilisa, you have to pay attention to the counts instead of imagining yourself as a unicorn up there so you know when you are moving to the next step. I know the speed gives you a slight breeze but that is no excuse for your head to be headed for the clouds. Valery, good hand placement on her leg. It looks like it provides more stability in the lift." 

I glare at her then smile. I understand her words. Maybe I could be a unicorn though. Good Halloween idea. 

We reset and run thorough the lift fixing small errors on the way. Neither me or Valery has said a word to each other. I am kind of glad though, I needed to get my part of the lift right. 

After a couple hours of running the lifts and taking breaks we are finally released from the rink to go home. I'm glad.

As I was headed out of the rink I was approached by a very good looking boy.