A Modern Myth

He came up to me with two bottles of beer in his hand. I noticed one of them was the exact same brand I’d been drinking all night. Had he been watching me? I ignored the thought, concentrating on my beer, trying to look like I had noticed him. I secretly hoped he was just going to walk past me, but he sat right next to me. I sighed and continued to stare at the empty beer in my hand.
“Here, you look like you need this.” I heard his voice next to me. I noticed it was heavily laced with a Russian accent. I looked back up at him. He didn’t look any older than I did. He had stubble on his chin and short, dark hair. I looked back at the beer.
“Thanks,” I said, picking up the beer bottle. It was cold to the touch and I could feel the condensation running down my hand. I took a sip and set it down on the bar. There was silence between us for a moment before I asked him, “You speak Russian, am I correct?” He looked at me with a bewildered look on his face. He nodded slowly. I took another sip and introduced myself in Russian. “Hi. My name is Eve. And you?” I saw his eyes light up, but he didn’t reply to my question.
“You’re Russian,” he asked me. I took another sip and smiled.
“I believe I asked for your name sir,” I said, twirling the bottle in my hands, avoiding his eyes.
“It’s Alex. So, you’re from Russia,” he asked. I smiled again, took a sip of the beer and slowly shook my head no. A look of confusion crossed his face.
“No, you silly Russian,” I spoke English this time, “There’s not an ounce of Russian in me, although I wish there was.” He cocked his head to the side; I took another sip of my beer.
“Then how you know Russian?” I got the feeling he didn’t believe me. Whether it was that I wasn’t Russian or I spoke Russian, I’ll never know. What I do know is that he was becoming skeptical very, very quickly.
I chuckled and took another sip of my beer. “I taught myself,” I said after a pause. I looked up at him. His mouth had fallen slightly open.
“That’s…extremely impressive,” he said. I noticed he hadn’t taken a sip of his beer at all. Instead, he had put it on the bar and hadn’t touched it. “So, where are you from anyway?” He smirked.
“I’m originally from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia,” I replied, finally turning to meet his gaze. His face fell a bit.
“Do you know Sidney Crosby,” he asked me. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I was starting to get fed up with this question. Why does everyone assume I know him? Just because I’m from his town doesn’t mean I know him personally. Sure I went to school with him, sure I knew him, but I was never friends with him. I hate that kid.
“No, no, no. I absolutely hate him.” I sighed and took another sip of my beer. Alex looked down and then back up.
“Why?” This guy was either curious because he was a fan or curious because he hated the kid too. I contemplated how to put this in words.
“He stole my spotlight, so to speak,” I said simply and took another sip of my beer. He raised an eyebrow at me and cocked his head to the side again.
“What do you mean,” he asked. I anticipated this question and quickly gave him an answer.
“I went to school with him. I’m a year older than him but we were in the same grade. Our town is relatively small, so any accomplishment made by anyone is noticed rather quickly. Anyway, I had been a straight-A student since 9th grade and I was going to graduate as Valedictorian of my class. The list of my accomplishments was rather impressive, or so I thought. I had taught myself Russian, learned French and was learning German. I guess you could say I’m an accomplished linguist,” I chuckled and took another sip of my beer, “I had just gotten accepted to Harvard University and already had been offered 3 jobs.” I stopped for a moment so Alex could take it all in.
“Wow… So what happened next,” he asked, an eager look adorning his features. Why I was telling him this, I don’t know, but at the moment I was a bit intoxicated. I sighed.
“Well, apparently no one cares about those kinds of accomplishments in that town. At graduation, the only people that congratulated me were my parents and my brother who called from California. Even my friends were too busy with Sidney to say congrats.” I chugged the rest of my beer. “You know, I used to love watching hockey and then he was on the Penguins and I dropped it all together.” I looked at Alex’s untouched beer and asked, “You gonna drink that?” He shook his head no.
“So, what happened with Harvard and all that?” I heard him ask. I took a swig of the beer.
“I graduated with honors last year.” I saw him nod as I took another swig of his beer, which was now mine.
“So what landed you here?” I smiled at the thought of my job. I was 23 and already making 6 figures. Yeah, but so was Sidney. I grimaced.
“I’m an interpreter for the FBI,” I said casually. I chugged the rest of my beer and put it back down on the bar. I looked over at Alex. He was smiling like crazy, almost as if he had thought of this great idea in which he had to make a reality.
“Hey, what do you say we get together,” he asked, pulling himself closer to me. I giggled. I new what he was asking and I, in my intoxicated and stupid state, agreed. I couldn’t resist. I hadn’t been with someone in so long.
“How about we go back to my place,” I asked. He nodded and placed a twenty on the bar. I smiled as he took my hand and led me out to his car. Before he could ask I told him where to go. He went to start the car, but stopped after I told him where I lived. He started to laugh.
“You’re my next door neighbor,” he told me. My mouth dropped. I guess I hadn’t paid attention in the last six months I lived there. My face felt warm and I’m guessing it turned a deep shade of red. Before he started the car, I stopped him. I almost forgot about my car.
“Well, why don’t I get my car and we’ll drive back to our houses and you just come over,” I suggested. It sounded a lot better than leaving my car at the bar. He hesitated and then nodded.
“See you in a few minutes.” He winked at me and the shade of red came back to my cheeks. I shut the door and ran over to my car. A few minutes later, I was on my front doorstep watching Alex park his car and walk over to me. As he approached me, I turned and went to put my key in the door. He put his hands on my hips and began to kiss my neck.
“How lucky am I to have this smart, sexy Canadian.” I laughed and finally got my key in the door.