EVERYTHING TO WIN

THREE

Anya arrives at the coffee shop the next day expecting to see Dmitry, but he isn't anywhere to be found. She has no one to talk to but at the same time, he wouldn't bother her. She decides to get her breakfast and head back to the hotel room to continue researching her family's whereabouts. She steps up to the counter and orders a chai tea latte and a breakfast sandwich with egg, cheese, and bacon. She pays for her meal and then steps over to the delivery counter. A man next to her with that has dark hair, that cowers over her because she's short, and is relatively muscular notices her. Anya can feel his glance on her but continues to look straight ahead acting oblivious. She begins to feel a sense of discomfort as he continues to stare at her for longer than she had hoped. She hears him start to speak:
"I'm sorry...but do I know you?" Anya turns to look at him. His stern yet handsome face tries to scope out familiarity in hers. Anya looks at him confused. "No I think you have me confused for someone else." She says giving him a friendly smile. "I'm sorry." He pauses and then awkwardly says: "So you from around here?"
"No, I don't really live anywhere. I move around a lot. How about you?"
"I live about 5 miles from here. I work apart of the LPD."
"A police officer...well I know not to get on your bad side."
His laugh was loud and obnoxious. Anya looking at him with a startled glance. He stops laughing abruptly and embarassed. Anya laughs internally at him, she can tell he doesn't talk to women a lot. He clears his throat and says:
"So how long are you staying?"
"I don't know yet. It depends I'm doing..research here." She says hesitantly
"What kind of research scientific, historic..?"
"Kind of historic..."
"Ah I see."  He looks away and smirks.
"What?"
"You don't want to tell me the specifics."
"I...." She sighs in defeat. "Well I'm sorry I just met you...um.."
"Gleb." He says finishing her sentence. Gleb clear his throat and adds cream to his coffee.
"No I get it...uh..."
"Anya." She says finishing his sentence. Gleb smiles enjoying her playfullness.
"Anya.." He says scanning her hazel eyes. "Those eyes.." He thought. He knows that he's seen those eyes before. There so distinct and bold. He doesn't remember when or how, but he knows that he's seen them before. His memory stirs but nothing comes up. He clears his throat again and gives her an awkward smile which makes him internally cringe.
"Would you like to go to a restaurant nearby, Anya?"
"Uh...I-"
"It's not a date, I would call it more of a...friendly outing. I would love to get to know you better...as friends of course...what do you say, Anya?"
"I will have to see what's on my schedule for later today-"
"I'll tell you what." He takes a napkin, rips it in half, and grabs the pen by the register. He writes something on it and hands it to Anya. "Call me whenever you have a chance; tonight, tomorrow, next week...and we can arrange it. Have a good day Anya." He smiles at her once more, takes a few sugar packets for his coffee and heads out.
"Thanks, you as well." Anya looks down and sees Gleb's phone number written in fancy cursive and underneath it says "Call me - Gleb." Anya doesn't know whether or not to take him up on his offer. She knows he has a hopeless crush on her, which she finds adorable. No one has ever found her attractive or well worth talking too before. It would be nice for her to go somewhere and not just have to research, but to have friends, and hang out with them.
"Order for Anya!" Someone shouts. Anya grabs her food and heads out the door.
____________

Anya flops onto her hotel bed, it is freshly made. The fresh smell of it coming out of the dryer she knows so well fills her senses. She puts her hands in her pockets to find her phone but instead she finds the napkin that Gleb wrote on earlier. She re-reads the same three words over and over hoping that it will give her the answer she wants. Anya gives into her gut and decided to call Gleb. She grabs her phone from her other pocket and dials his number. It doesn't even take him a second for him to answer the phone.
"Hello."
"Gleb, it's Anya."
"Anya! I didn't think you would actually call me."
"Wow, you really had that much faith in me Gleb." Anya says sarcastically.
"No! No! I...Most women who I offer my phone number too don't call back. You're one of the only ones" Anya doesn't know how to respond to that so she doesn't.
"Sorry this got extremely personal-so you on for tonight?"
"Yes. I was thinking 7:00pm.."
"That works for me. I will meet you at Lou's diner."
"What do they usual serve at Lou's Diner?"
"Nothing fancy, just burgers, fries, milkshakes stuff like that. I tell it's worth it." Anya can hear him grinning through the phone. She chuckles and says:
"Okay great. See you then!"
"Bye." He hands up the phone and Anya sighs. She finally has something to do besides research. Her phone tells her it's 10:00am so she decides to research for the rest of the morning and the afternoon. She opens her laptop and the same article that she was looking at before was open. The title says: "A Tragedy in Leningrad" She has read this article a multitude of times. This article tells the story of how her family was murdered in there own home. How someone who believed them to be bad people killed her mother, father, sister, brother, and cousins at there annual New Years Eve Party. She couldn't believe that someone would think that her parents were bad people. She had only heard good things about them. The man that killed her parents had the last name of  Fedor Vaganov. Ever since Anya read that article she felt overwhelming hatred for the man the ruined her life and separated her from her family. She checks the status of her grandmother and finds that she is still in Leningrad. She doesn't know exactly where but she will find her, she has too. She's her only living relative that escaped the murder. She has to let her know that her beloved Anastasia is still alive. Anya sits in her bed hopelessly trying to figure out her grandmother's whereabouts.