Teach Me How To Love

Chapter 9 - A Few New Friends

"Honey, I'm home!" Aksana called as she let herself in.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Yelena called back. She had just returned from her trip to the gym for a much needed workout and she decided to make Lampsha, a Russian chicken soup for her best friend, who was spending the night at her place so they could ride together to the next city.

Aksana breezed into the kitchen and shrugged out of her coat. She placed the carton of Peach Ice Cream in the freezer and hopped up onto one of the stools in front of the breakfast bar.

"It smells amazing in here."

Yelena spooned some soup into a bowl and handed it to her. She took it gratefully and ate a spoonful.

"Mmmm. This is so good" she moaned.

"I'm glad you like it. Now, you eat and I'm going to go grab a quick shower" Yelena said, turning towards the door.

"No, you are going to make yourself a bowl of this fantastic soup and meet me in the living room."

"But I'm still gross from my workout." Yelena whined.

"Tough." Aksana said, exiting the kitchen before she could object.

Yelena obeyed, making herself small bowl of soup and following her into the living room. They watched the first two seasons of "Grey's Anatomy" and argued over who was hotter: McDreamy or McSteamy. They drank almost a whole bottle of wine and ate the entire carton of peach ice cream before they turned in for the night, dreading the long drive in the morning.

Yelena was up three hours earlier that she had to be and went down to the gym, where Aksana found her, running on the treadmill with her headphones in.

"Hey!" Aksana shouted, waving her hand in front of her face to catch her attention.

"Hey." Yelena huffed, pulling key from the treadmill and it slowed to a stop "I was just finishing up".

Aksana nodded as Yelena pulled the ear buds from her ears, wondering how long she had been down here. She gazed over and saw that she had already burned over two thousand calories.

"No rush. It's still early."

"It's fine" Yelena said, wiping her brow "I was finished here anyway."

Aksana made a mental note to make sure they stopped somewhere and grabbed breakfast before they got on the road as she followed her back up to her condo.

Yelena showered and got dressed, skipping the makeup. She pulled on her favorite black hoodie over her t-shirt and stuffed her feet into her boots. They got their things into the car with the help of her doorman and were off. As they we crossing the state line into Virginia, her phone rang. Glancing at it and rolling her eyes, she silenced it and tossed it back into her purse.

"Was that your mother again?" Aksana asked.

"Yes." Yelena said frostily, her hands tightening around the steering wheel.

"Are you ever going to call her back? You know she'll just keep calling until you answer."

"I'll call her back when I'm ready."

Aksana knew that was the end of that conversation and dropped it. She didn't want to push her, knowing that she didn't handle stress well. The next six hours were spent in a comfortable silence. When they arrived at the hotel, Aksana made her promise they would go for a swim in the indoor pool after they got settled and Yelena was forced to comply.

She went to the front desk and checked in and got her room key. Once in her room, she got unpacked and changed into her bathing suit: a simple cream bikini with brown polka dots.