Blue Paint & Red Lights

We didn't even wake up for dinner. I know it's ridiculously unhealthy and horrible on our sleep schedules, but when I came home, I just disrobed and slid in next to Antti. In his sleep, he pulled me to him and cuddled while he snored. I stifled my giggles and passed out next to him.

The next morning when I was getting ready, Antti had to mentally prepare himself for the insanity that would be the Blackhawks Convention.
"I got my schedule yesterday and I have a two hour lunch. Can I pick you up and we can go out for something?"
I nodded and smiled at him while trying to decide what shoes would go with the black pencil skirt I was wearing to work. "My lunch is at noon exactly. Where do you want to go?"

We made our plans and before I walked out the door to make it to the office on time, I saw Antti just sitting on the edge of the bed, looking dejected.
"What's wrong?" I asked, walking away from the door and towards him.
"I'm just not feeling well. You're going to be late, Sam!" His half-smile was present on the side of his face and I quickly placed my lips against his before walking out the door with a little wave and a, "Love you, Antti! See you later."

When I got to work, Suzy informed me, "Dr. Orfner is practically jumping with joy. You and him and to split a whole rugby team."
I looked at her with a funny face before asking, "What?"
"Rugby. You heard me. Two people in room three for you." I still didn't believe her until I grabbed the clipboard and read the name. Salevi- what? Where was that name from?
I stepped into the room and greeted the woman and the man who were already in there, the man, I supposed was Salevi, and the woman I had no idea who she was.
I introduced myself, shaking their hands.
"You can call me Levi." He had said with a strange accent. I suppose I still had the confused look on my face when I shook the woman's hand. Her short hair shook when she laughed and said, "I'm Rachel. I suppose you're wondering about the accents?"
I shook my head and smiled at the cheerful female.
"We're kiwis."
My head titled and my expression didn't change.
"New Zealand."
"Ooh!" I said, sitting down in the stool. "Your rugby team is a long way from home."
Levi nodded and replied, "We're having a sort of..team building trip?"
"Ah. I see." I clicked the pen and flipped a couple pages on the clipboard.
"I'm just here to make sure they behave." Rachel laughed, patting Levi on the back.

"So what brings you to my humble practice?"
Levi looked pointedly at Rachel before she replied, "Well, we- I heard a lot about it."
"How so?" I wondered how a rugby team could have ever heard of the practice- even in New Zealand.
"She's a Pittsburgh...Penguins? Yeah, Penguins fan." He replied for her.
"A journalist did a little article on your problem and I just happened to read it and sympathize." She added for my benefit.
"Journalist? Penguins?" My pen was now discarded and I stared at her in open disbelief.
"Uh- yeah. They terminated your contract, journalists find out." She said with a hint of sarcasm and I raised my eyebrows.
"I'm just surprised it reached Pittsburgh...And New Zealand."
She laughed another pleasant laugh that was laced with the 'kiwi' accent.
"It's still not mainstream. All the research I've done has turned up like, three references to it."
"Good. So what exactly are you here for?" I decided to get down to business.
"To lend a helping hand." She just smiled at me, and Levi matched her smile with one of his own.

I tended to "ailing" foreign rugby players until my lunch break came and I told Suzy, "I'm leaving for lunch today."
It was much shorter than I would have liked it to be. Antti took us to a little sandwich shop in the next neighborhood over and under the table I rested my foot on top of his and he placed his knee against mine. I could hear his nose becoming stuffy and on the way back to the practice, I had allowed myself to fret over him. Antti would deny loving it, but I know he did- so I continued with my ministrations.
"Oh poor baby." I said with a hint of humor and the corner of his mouth quirked up. I planted a brief kiss on it before he pulled into the back parking lot and put his hand on the back of my neck.
"Am I contagious?" Antti asked me, his face close to mine.
"Do I ever care?" I answered before closing the gap between him and running my hand up the back of his head, massaging his scalp.
We parted and before I slid out of the car, told him to make sure he didn't overdue it today. He agreed and I went back to the grindstone.
I met and treated four more kiwi rugby players by the name of Pesi, Roman, Keeno, and Manuel. An interesting bunch of guys, that was for sure, and all accompanied by the lovely Rachel, who proved more humorous than I had expected.

By time I crawled into the apartment, Antti was still at the Convention, and I found myself gazing longingly at the bathtub.
Fuck it, I thought as I put the plug in the small marble tub and turned up the hot water. I scavenged for some bubble bath soap and finally found some in a small purple bottle. I dumped most of it into the tub, making the foam explode around the faucet. I let out a deep sigh once I lowered myself into the water, letting it soak into my body.
As soon as I was fully submerged (I had folded myself up to completely sink under the water) I heard noises from the front of the apartment. I then heard Antti call out, "Samantha?" as he approached the bathroom door.
Two knocks. "You in there?"
I strategically placed bubbles. "Yeah, come in."
The door slowly opened, as if he was afraid I was sitting on the toilet. When he saw me still folded over in the tub, but now with a bubble bikini, he let out a nasally laugh.
"Oh, Antti, you're getting worse, aren't you?" I asked, shifting in the tub so I was lower in the water as he approached me.
"Eh." He managed to get out and he slid down the wall close to the tub and leaned against the cold marble.
I raised my hands out of the water and tried to flick off most of the moisture before bringing them to Antti's scalp and methodically massaging it.
"Hmmm." He hummed in pleasure when I got closer to his temples and his eyes slid shut.
After fifteen minutes of this, the water was getting cold so I told him, "Antti, I'm going to need to get out of here, it's freezing."
His eyes popped open and he agreed by nodding and stood, grabbing the towel for me and wrapping it around my body when I stood, too.

The next morning when I woke up as Antti was sliding out of bed to get ready for the second day of the Convention, I realized three things. One, that my Saturday was empty. Two, that no matter how many times Antti and I made love, my hips would always be sore afterwards, and three, Angelina's wedding was in two weeks.
I slid out of bed after Antti and helped him find some dress clothes to wear. I straightened his tie before he left and he kissed me on the forehead, then said, "Have fun today without me- I love you."
I still had the stupid smile on my face after the door had closed and I heard his car start.
I went back to sleep for another two hours before I woke up again and called Angelina, desperate for something to do.
"Let's play some badminton, and do something girlie afterwards."
"Get our nails done?"
"That's nice and out of character for us, let's do it."
I couldn't help laughing at my best friend- she was my opposite and my twin, all at once. This time it was I who picked up her from her place and drove us both to the nearest open gym. It was more of a community recreation center with two tennis courts, and a badminton court, along with a baseball field and swimming pool.

It was oddly quiet at the court when we began playing- the swimming pool that was adjacent to it was usually filled with children, but today it was just a couple quick swimmers.
I served the birdie underhand at Angelina, who lobbed it back over the net at me. I smacked it back at her and she had to walk backwards to hit it out of the air. I repeated the action a couple more times before just barely tapping it over the net and it fell finally, Angelina unable to hit it back up.
"Oh you bitch." She said playfully, and I smiled before serving it again. This time she didn't lob it back over, this time she hit it so it whizzed past my face and paralyzed me.
"You're such a dirty player!" I called over the net at her while twirling my racket.
"Says the queen of dirty shots!" We bickered back and forth before starting another series of volleys that remained in the air.
"Well look who's here!" I heard a familiar voice say and after I spiked it to the side of Angelina, looked over at the intruder.
Karolina was standing there, clearly had just gotten dressed and her long hair was still wet from the pool.
Angelina looked at me with a question and I answered it quickly before serving the birdie. "A patient who is stalking me, clearly."
She hit it back over and I volleyed it to her.
"I am not stalking you! You're here where I swim, doctor."
I sighed and jumped to hit it back over the net.
"Sure." I said, tired from running side to side with Angelina's erratic hits that were designed to tire me.
"When are you going to introduce me to the guys, Dr. Niemi."
I laughed at the name and missed my shot. I was not used to being referred to as that and I kind of enjoyed it, but at the same time, it amused me.
"Karolina, this is Angelina. Angelina- Karolina, my stalker."
"I'm only using her for her contacts." Karolina added, smiling and switching her bag from one shoulder to the other.
Gina just laughed at us and said, "Pleased to meet you." Before serving the birdie overhand at me. I tapped it over the net and replied, "Well, Angelina has her contacts, too, she's engaged to Troy Brouwer."

"Please please introduce me to the guys." Karolina pleaded. We had invited her to come get her nails down with us and she declined, but wanted to accompany us anyway.
Angelina chuckled again and I replied, "We'll see. Who in particular are you wanting to meet?"
"Kopecky?"
"Married two years ago, darling." Angelina said.
"Uh- Kane?" She flipped through a magazine and sounded unsure.
I smiled and replied, "Ha, we'll see about that. I hear he's a hard one to catch."
"Doctor, I'm a pretty fast swimmer, I'm sure I can catch Patrick Kane."