Malkin and Me

Chapter Four

I awoke when my bed moved as Evgeni shifted his weight. Quietly, he got up and left my room. I watched him go, pretending to still be asleep when he looked back. My throat hurt as I swallowed my tears. He regretted last night. He must, or why would he sneak out like that? I decided to pretend that I didn't remember. I had had enough to drink, it was plausible. Eventually, during my sulking, I fell asleep. When I finally dragged myself out of bed in the afternoon, Evgeni was in the kitchen.

"Lida, you're up," he said, smiling, "Would you like coffee?"

"Yes, please," I rubbed my forhead, "How did I get home last night?" I could remember the cab ride perfectly well, but I didn't want him to know that. His eyebrows shot up.

"You don't remember?"

"No, nothing after we took that jagr," I said.

"Oh... Lida," he said.

"What? Did something happen?" I asked. He looked down at his hands, and I watched the left one trace shapes on the counter.

"No, nothing abnormal," Evgeni finally said. I was surprised at the surprise I felt when he didn't tell me. I don't know what I expected though, if he was embarrassed enough to sneak out of the room why would he admit to it? He passed me my coffee and I thanked him. Evgeni walked out of the room after that, and I heard the shower running. I felt like crying.

That night, I lay awake for hours. My bed didn't feel the same now that I knew what it was like to have Evgeni in it. By four thirty, I had given up. I went downstairs to make myself some tea and I heard the TV on quietly. I looked into the living room, Evgeni was on the couch watching MTV quietly. I felt suddenly aware that all I was wearing was an oversized t-shirt and panties. I realized then that he was asleep. I tip-toed around the couch, sliding the remote of his leg and clicking the TV off. I picked up a blanket, draping it across him, and he stirred. He opened his eyes halfway. Reaching out, Evgeni took me by the wrist and gentley pulled me to sit next to him. He pulled the blankets across my legs and rested his head against mine.

"Geno?" I whispered.

"Lida," He said and sighed contentedly. I felt my eyes sting with tears again as I thought about how much I wanted this to be real. I wanted him to be mine, and I wanted to be his. I wiped hastily at my face.

"Evgeni, go up to bed," I said, rubbing his shoulder, trying to wake him up.

"No," he said, clenching his eyes shut harder.

"Yes, you can't sleep here," I spoke in a firm voice.

"But you're here," he whined a little, his eyes fluttering open. When he looked at me, he seemed to wake up a little, shaking his head and standing up. The blanket fell to the floor at my feet, and he walked upstairs without another word. I picked up the blanket, clutching it to myself, and eventually, I fell asleep that way.

In the morning, I awoke to the sound of whistling. When I sat up and looked behind me, I saw Evgeni coming down the stairs. He started when he saw me.

"Lida! Did you sleep down here?" I rubbed my face. "Did I wake you up? I'm so sorry!"

"That's okay. I didn't mean to fall asleep..." I trailed off. It seemed then as if he remembered when he was half asleep but he pretended not to. We both, it turned out, had selective memories.

"Would you like to go for breakfast?" Geno suggest. I agreed, and quickly got dressed. We went to a diner called Fat Petey's, where they served all day breakfast. I had the most incredible waffles. Evgeni had bacon, sausage, three eggs, toast and hash browns. I watched him eat in fascination.

"I've never seen anyone eat so much," I said, my mouth falling open.

"I weigh over two hundred pounds, Lida. I didn't get this way eating like a little bird," he said and laughed.

"Maybe you're metabolism sucks," I said with a shrug. He looked at me as if I couldn't be serious and I laughed.

After another week, I was begginning to get bored. There is only so much TV a person can watch. Geno came and went, sometimes bringing me with him and sometimes not. Without any English, there was almost nothing for me to do. I decided to commit myself to learning English, buying a Russian-English dictionary. I read three words a day, and memorized them. It was slow progress, and didn't really help. It was something to do. One morning, I found Geno staring into his mug of coffee.

"Coffee," I said and smiled.

"What?" he looked up. I repeated myself and he laughed. "Decided to learn English?"

"There is nothing else for me to do," I said and shrugged, sitting down beside him.

"You're bored?" he asked. I shrugged again.

"I guess, a little."

"Aw, Lida, I had no idea! There are thousands more things we could do. Why didn't you say anything?" Geno looked mad at himself.

"I don't know. I figured I was just bored because my English is so crap. If I knew English, I could do anything," I said, and laughed.

"I'm so stupid. I should have known! Jesus, when's the last time you talked to someone that wasn't me?" Evgeni shook his head.

"Last night, I talked to my sister. We are really close now." I smiled.

"I should have realized," was all he said, and he got up, leaving the room. When he didn't come back, I finished his coffee.

That night he brought me bowling with Dustin Jeffrey, Marc-Andre Fluery, his girlfriend Veronique, and Ben Lovejoy. Though Veronique spoke only a little English, and I could only say fifteen words, it was fun. It was comfortable. Everyone slid between languages easily, sometimes people were left out but never for long. We laughed and we played. Dustin won, Evgeni coming in second. The boys just whiped the balls down the lane as hard as they could, while Veronique and I actually tried to knock down the pins. Somehow we still ended up in last and second last. At the end of the night, Dustin was trying to talk to me. I didn't know what he was saying, only catching a few words here and there. I could tell it finished with a question but I just smiled at him.

"Sorry, I have no idea what you want," I said. He laughed.

"Geno! Ask her for me if she wants to go to dinner sometime?" Dustin called over to him. Evgeni looked between us.

"He said you're a terrible bowler," Evgeni said. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"That's not very nice," I said. I regretted ever smiling at him, and I walked away without another word.

"Sorry, man. She hate be ask out in English. Think is it rude," Malkin shrugged.

"Thanks for the heads up." Dustin rolled his eyes and walked away. In the car ride back, we were quiet. I was confused. Dustin Jeffrey had seemed like he was being nice. I couldn't believe he chirped me outright.

"Why didn't you defend me when Dustin called me a bad bowler?" I said, finally breaking the silence.

"Because you are. You came in last place," Geno said and laughed.

"It's rude to rub it in," I said.

"I didn't mean it like that, Lida! And I doubt DJ did either..."

"Regardless of how it's meant, it was still mean."

"You don't have to be so sensitive." Evgeni rolled his eyes.

"Yes, well, if I had the choice I would be sensitive over being a stone-hearted jerk." My cheeks felt flooded red and I knew I was over reacting. I glanced at Evgeni. He looked hurt. Guilt caused my gut to spasm.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. He looked at me. We drove on in silence. Finally, when he pulled into the driveway he spoke, "You've been weird the past few days. Is everything okay?" Weird. I'm weird. Evgeni thinks I'm weird. I think he is God's gift to the world, and he thinks I'm weird. Suddenly, I was crying. I got out of the car and ran into the house without saying a word.