It's a long way home.

Chapter 6

As they joined their friends again, Alyaksandr sat down opposite of Ksenia, who was still in a conversation with Anton. She turned her head a little, looking him into the eyes and smiling, before waving "hello" to him and Dmitry.

Alyaksandr smiled back at her, before taking a sip from his beer. He looked around the club. The walls were lit by lights of different colour, the music was blasting loudly and people around him were dancing and enjoying themselves. Dmitry joined the conversation, as Alyaksandr got out his phone and opened snapchat. He made a video of the scene, once around the room. When he turned back, he met with Ksenia's face, who was standing in front of him, slightly bent over to be on the same level with him.

Alyaksandr swallowed loudly.

"Um.. hey." he said, not knowing what else to say.

"Hey there." Ksenia said smiling. Alyaksandr looked at her, expecting her to say something.

"Need a pretty face for your snapchat story?" Ksenia asked mockingly, smiling brightly at her friend.

Alyaksandr laughed at her question.

"Well, sure, why not." he simply said, before turning so that they were both on the camera.

They took a couple of photos, Ksenia sometimes making funny faces, resulting in photos of them laughing wholeheartedly. On one photo, Ksenia kissed Alyaksandr on the cheek, while he was smiling, flashing his white teeth.

"Now your story is worth watching." Ksenia said, laughing at her own comment.

"Loser." Alyaksandr said, joining in on the laughter.

The two turned toward their friends, who were still conversing.

"Guys, what about dancing?" Ksenia asked her group of friends.

"I'm up for that!" Irina said, jumping up from where she sat.

Aleksandra soon joined in, Dmitry not slow to follow her suit. Anton and Alyaksandr looked at each other, shrugging, before joining their friends.

"Tick-tock, can you hear me go tick tock

My heart is like a clock, I'm steady like a rock

Sch don't stop, kiss and kiss me till I drop

My heart is like a clock you wind it with your love

You wind and wind, it with your love"

They danced to a Ukrainian pop song, to which Ksenia sang along wholeheartedly, enjoying the time she had with her friends. Alyaksandr laughed as he saw how his friend stepped up her game.

Dmitry was dancing with Aleksandra.

"Seems like they are having a good time." Alyaksandr said, as he turned to Anton, who was still laughing at Ksenia's sudden outburst.

At around three o'clock in the morning, the group of friends, left the club.

"You guys taking the train back?" Aleksandra asked Ksenia and Alyaksandr.

"Yeah, it sort of became our new tradition." Alyaksandr said, smiling at Ksenia, who chuckled at his comment.

"Be careful, okay?" Aleksandra reminded her friends, before departing, with Dmitry, Anton and Irina.

They lived in the city center, not far from school and all the clubs, while Alyaksandr and Ksenia had to complete their long way from Khimki to the city center every day.

Alyaksandr and Ksenia nodded, before making their way to the train station.

As they arrived, they sat down, waiting for the train. Alyaksandr got up, looking at the board.

"Twenty minutes. Well, great." he remarked sarcastically.

He went back to sit down next to Ksenia, who was going through her phone.

"Табе вельмі спадабалася гэтая песня." Alyaksandr stated, smiling, while looking at her.

Ksenia turned her head to him, eyes opened wide.

"Did you just speak Belarusian?" she asked, surprised.

"Yup."

Ksenia was surprised. Usually Alyaksandr did everything to avoid speaking Belarusian in front of his friends, as they would start mocking him, even if it was in a lovingly manner.

"Так. Мені сподобаласья." Ksenia repeated his answer in Ukrainian.

This time it was Alyaksandr, who was surprised. Ksenia never spoke Ukrainian to anyone except her cousins from Lviv, who couldn't speak Russian. He could only recall two occasions on which he heard her using Ukrainian; once on the phone with said cousins, and the second time this very morning when she questioned him about the photo of his sister.

"Did you just—"

"Yup." Ksenia said cheekily, before laughing at Alyaksandr's reaction.

"What is it, Belaruski Milka? Is it really that surprising to you?" she asked, as she still laughed.

Alyaksandr smiled at Ksenia's laughter. He liked it a lot. It sounded genuine and beautiful. He just shook his head, smiling at his friend's reaction.

"Seriously, how can you laugh so much about your own joke? What a sad person you are." he asked her, laughing.

Ksenia hit him on the arm.

"Ouch." Alyaksandr giggled, as he rubbed his arm.

"Not funny." Ksenia said as she pouted, resulting in Alyaksandr chuckling at her.

"Just try to keep it cool." he said mockingly.

"Whatever." Ksenia replied, giggling.

Alyaksandr looked at his watch.

"Fifteen more minutes." he stated, being a little annoyed.

He sighed. He really just wanted to get home. Even though there was no school the next day, he was exhausted and needed to sleep. He thought a little to himself, before turning to face Ksenia, who was yet again on her phone, scrolling through her messages.

"Hey." he said bluntly.

"What?" Ksenia answered, before turning to face him.

"Do you want to meet up tomorrow? I have a new polaroid." Alyaksandr offered her sweetly.

"Sure, why not." Ksenia accepted the offer smiling.

"The others can join too." Alyaksandr added.

"Who knows how often we will get to do this?" Ksenia said approvingly, smiling at Alyaksandr.

"Well, we'll definitely have to do it in spring too. The place I have in mind is gorgeous in spring." he told her.

Ksenia just looked at him, smiling, before leaning her head on his shoulder, as they waited for the train together.

Alyaksandr smiled at Ksenia's actions. He put his arm around her, as Ksenia leaned against him. Not soon after, Ksenia drifted off into a little slumber. Alyaksandr woke her up when the train arrived.

"Hey, did you have a nice nap?" he asked, chuckling a little.

Ksenia smiled tiredly at him, before he helped her up and walked up to the train doors. Not many people were sat in the train, as they entered and found seats.

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TRANSLATIONS (in order)

Belarusian

"Табе вельмі спадабалася гэтая песня." ("You really liked that song.")

Ukrainian

"Так. Мені сподобалась." ("Yes. I did.")