Crazier

Author's note; All italicized phrases are spoken in Russian.

Two days later, Carson was freaking out. Her brother and Kris had come home, which meant Evgeni was also home. She had learned mostly everything she was going to say, so it wasn't the Russian that bothered her, it was just the actually telling him that bothered her.

She wondered if he would react well, kiss her and tell her he felt the same, or if he would shun her, and laugh in her face for putting so much time into learning the language. She worried about it so much, she gave herself a headache. As she took two advil, she sat down on the couch and propped her legs up on the coffee table in front of her. She sighed and put her head back, closing her eyes and folding her hands on her stomach.

"What's wrong with you?" A accented voice came from above her. Carson cracked open her right eye to see Kris standing above her, his long hair hanging in his face and a smirk attached to his lips. She closed her eye again and let out a breath of air.

"Nothing," she mumbled. Kris hopped over the back of the couch and landed next to Carson. She lifted her head up and looked towards him, a sad sort of smile on her lips.

"What's really wrong?" He asked.

"Geno," she admitted finally.

"You haven't seen him in like, three days," Kris said, clearly confused.

"I know, but the whole learning Russian thing is making me so nervous," she said.

"Why?"

"I feel like an idiot. I've known him for a week," she sighed sadly.

"So? If some girl ever went out of her way to learn French just because she wanted to get to know me more, I'd probably fall in love with her as soon as she started speaking," he told her. Carson rolled her eyes at his sort of dramatic story, but she understood the just of his story; don't worry.

There was a short knock on the door and Kris immediately bolted to it, annoucing a few of the guys were coming over to watch some game and hang around. Jordan walked slowly out into the living room as well, most likely because of hearing the knock. Carson's eyes watched as Max Talbot, Marc-Andre Fleury, Tyler Kennedy, and last but not least, Evgeni walked through the door of her brother's apartment. She quickly decided she wouldn't speak to him in Russian that night, she was too nervous to even think about that. Instead she happily hung out with the guys and stayed close to Geno most of the night.

"You watch the games?" He asked her sometime into the night.

"Yeah, of course," she smiled.

"I score for you," he smiled widely. Carson's heartbeat increased as she heard his words and she felt her cheeks heat up a considerable amount.

"Why?" She asked almost breathlessly, though she couldn't fight the huge smile that crept it's way onto her lips.

"I like when you smile," he said simply. She blushed fierecly and Evgeni placed a kiss on her cheek, pulling her close to his side. Carson lowered her eyes and looked around the room, her eyes finally landing on her brother. He was looking at her and Geno, but he didn't look angry. In fact, he looked quite the opposite- he was smiling.

When the next home game rolled around Carson decided to tell him. She stood in front of the mirror for hours speaking in Russian, practicing what she was going to say. She walked around the house before the game mumbling to herself ingorning her brother and his roommate harrassing her. She got dressed in a Letang jersey and a pair of black leggings and kept repeating the words over and over. She curled her hair and put on her make-up, still saying those words.

Jordan offered her a ride to the arena and she obliged. On the way there Jordan played his music loud enough to deafen someone, but Carson didn't mind much. She was happy that meant she didn't have to talk, that it meant she could continue repeating those words. When Jordan parked, they both got out and he smiled down at her.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm scared," Carson admitted.

"Don't be," Jordan grinned, hooking his arm around his sister's neck and pulling her into his side. Carson smiled weakly and they walked into Mellon Arena together.

Carson waited until about a half hour before the game to go talk to Evgeni. It was due in part to her nerves, and the fact she really didn't want to upset Sidney Crosby and his insane pre-game rituals. There was also the fact of she had walked into the locker room before a game once before and definitely saw more of Max Talbot than she ever wanted to see.

After taking a few (twenty) deep breaths, she pushed the doors open to the locker room and walked right over to Geno's stall. He was busy putting on his leg pads but when he saw Carson's small feet in front of him, he looked up and smiled brightly.

"Carson," he said her name and it was like music to her ears. Just the way her name rolled off his accented tounge made her want to do very bad things to him right then and there. She didn't even care her brother was a few lockers away, because when talking to Geno, that was all that mattered. That was all she thought about.

"Listen, I wanna talk to you," she said. Geno immediatley looked hurt- confused even. She knew exactly how those words sounded, and she looked over at Sergei with pleading eyes. He gave her a small smile and nodded, giving her a strange reassurance. She took one last deep breath as Geno stood up- a confused look still plastered on his face.

"I need to tell something too," he said. He turned around quickly, digging through his equipment bag and pulling out a piece of folded paper. Carson furrowed her eyebrows as he turned back around and unfolded the paper. "You first," he prompted. Carson cleared her throat and looked up into Geno's perfect brown eyes, completely ingorning the fact that most of the team was now staring at them.

"I know we don't speak the same language, and I know we don't live near eachother- but I like you a lot and I'm willing to work on it if you are. You give me butterflies and I miss you when you're not around. I've never really felt like this though, so I don't know what to do. Do you think you can give me a chance?" She asked. Her Russian wasn't the best, but it also wasn't the worst. Geno stared at her with wide eyes the entire time she spoke and Sergei smiled to himself in the corner. "Do you think I'm totally stupid now?" She asked nervously. Geno smiled widely and looked down at the piece of paper in his hands.

"Carson-" he began, his english as clear as his accent would allow. "You are beautiful and I really like you. You make me happy all the time and you make me a better player," he smiled, his english still clear. "And I wanted to ask you on another date," he finished. Carson was smiling so widely she thought her cheeks were going to fall off. Geno cupped her face with his huge hands and wiped her cheeks with his calloused thumbs. "Why you cry?" He asked her.

"I'm crying?" She asked her crying mixing with her laughter.

"Yes," he nodded.

"You learned English for me," she smiled, placing her much smaller hand on top of his.

"You learn Russian for me," he chuckled. "No one ever do that for me."

"I really like you Geno," she told him. "I just wanna make you happy; I'd probably jump off a building if you told me to."

"Don't do that," he smiled. He leaned down to her height and placed a small kiss on her lips. Cat calls and whistles could be heard from the surrounding team, but Evgeni and Carson couldn't have cared less. They hardly even noticed.

"Do you think we can do this?" Carson asked him softly as he pulled away. He smiled.

"Of course," he said brightly. "I do anything you want."

Carson let her eyes wander around the locker room and she noticed most of the guys finishing getting ready and leaving the locker room- sticks in their gloved hands. She turned her attention back to the beautiful Russian in front of her and she kissed him lightly. "Good," she smiled. "I want you to go out an win for me," she told him.

"Of course," he grinned.

"And then we can go on that date you were talking about," she winked.