I Hope You Dance (Artemi Panarin)

Happiness Theory

Gabriella

"What are you doing here" Andrew asks as he lets me in his homey place.

"You're wife asked me to come" I shrug.

"Well it's good to see you again. It feels like it's been forever since you were last over. How have you been" he asks.

"I've been good, keeping busy that's for sure" I laugh. "How have you been, how are the kids" I ask.

"I'm good. I'm traveling some but I'll be home for a while. The kids keep growing up and I keep telling them to stop but they never listen" he laughs.

"Isn't that how it goes" I tease.

Her offers me some hot tea which I happily take and find Yuila in the living room. She wraps her arms around me tightly nearly causing me to spill my tea.

"Woah, hi" I laugh.

"Hey stranger" she responds.

"It's been a while huh" I ask.

"Yeah. I just wanted to see your face" she claims.

"Here I am" I giggle.

"You look really good. Have you been working out lately" she asks.

"A lot of the mornings Artemi is here he joins me and Hank on our runs. He's a lot more intense than I'm used to" I shake my head.

"So you two have been good" she asks wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

"Yeah... and don't be creepy" I laugh. I feel my phone buzz and I see I had a text message.

*(1) New Text from Artemi*
Hey baby. I'm about to head into the game but just wanted to talk a little. I hope you got some sleep last night.

I unintentionally smile knowing that he had other things to worry about but was thinking about me. I text back a quick message before joining Yuila on the couch.

I slept pretty decent considering the circumstances. Have fun out there and try not too fall too many times 😘

"So update me. What have you been up to" she asks.

"A lot of working. I've been around to some schools and institutions. Thanks to Jonathan a few other athletes reached out to me and it's been kind of cool talking with them. Business is booming I guess" I nod.

"I'm so happy for you" she smiles.

See the thing about people is that popular belief is that a happy relationship and a happy job means that I'm happy too. And they wouldn't be completely wrong. But after work and after Artemi leaves I'm still left with myself and that's the problem. I'm left with what I know and that's a lot of pain. Being by yourself is good in so many senses, you can hear everything you wanted to hear, but you also hear the things you don't want to hear.

Like how your whole life you've been searching for who you are supposed to be and you still don't know. How you help others find them self but you've been lost in the dark your whole life. Like how there's a light in your world now but you're so scared to know what it is. You want to reach out and touch it but...

"Hey... your phone went off" Yuila says snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"Oh... thanks" I says softly trying to shake off that shitty feeling I had. I open my phone and see Artemi has texted back.

Glad to hear you're getting some rest. Can't wait to come back and take naps when I'm there. Keep your head up beautiful. I just wanted to let you know you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I know you don't see it but I don't mind spending the rest of my days showing it to you. And until I can, just know that I love you so much. Talk to you after the game.