Russian Roulette

“So uh… what was up with that?” Sidney questioned when the two of them were far enough away. He leaned against the white wall behind him, pulling Anastasia a little closer to himself.

She shook her head, not really wanting to get into it. “It was nothing,” she insisted. Her fingers brushed through her long hair, a wave of exhaustion rushing over her.

His hands found their way to her waist, his fingers wrapping lightly around her belt loops. “Then what were you going to deal with when it happened?” he repeated her earlier words.

Anastasia smiled at how close they were, despite their present topic. She didn’t want to lie to him, but what was she supposed to say to him? Her tongue wet her lips as she stood puzzled in thought. “It’s complicated,” she settled on, hoping he could just leave it at that. After a brief pause she added, “I just have some… leverage on him that he isn’t too happy it about.”

Sidney’s face lit up. “Oh and what would that be?” he spoke, clearly interested.

Her arms went up instinctively, hands landing on his upper arm as she gently rubbed up and down. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” she stood up on her tippy toes and whispered to him.

Anastasia felt as though whatever it was that was going on between her and Sidney was happening rather fast, but yet everything felt so natural with him. Talking with him, just being around him, made her feel as if she had known him for ages. She wondered briefly if part of his appeal was that being with him was so rebellious. For the most part, she was the good girl and being with her brother’s biggest rival was not exactly the thing a “good girl” would do.

A good girl would have told Sidney her last name, who her brother was; but she reasoned with herself. He never asked; she never lied. And there was just something about Sidney Crosby that made Anastasia never want to lie to him.

After saying goodbye to Sidney, which involved her kissing him lightly on his perfect, pink lips, Anastasia made her way once again to Team Russia’s temporary locker room.

By the time she entered the room several of the players had already finished changing and left. The room smelled heavily of sweat and used hockey gear, but after living with Sasha for so long, she was used to it. She could feel the excitement in the room, many of the players remaining happily chatting away with their teammates.

Anastasia waved to the guys she knew, telling them all “good game” and the like as she once again hunted down her brother. She could feel Malkin giving her a look out of the corner of her eyes as she passed by his stall, but she refused to turn and glance at him.

Alexander was talking to his teammate, Alexander Semin, when his sister approached him. Both Alexanders were all smiles as they discussed the game they had just recently finished. Too caught up in their own conversation, it took them several moments to notice her presence, with Semin elbowing his teammate when he realized she was there.

“Great game, Sasha,” Anastasia complimented in her native tongue, reaching over to kiss her big brother on the cheek.

He smiled his big grin, showing off his missing tooth. Throwing his arm around her, giving her a half hug, he muttered an enthusiastic, “thanks.”

“But no hat trick?” she rubbed in, nudging her brother slightly in the side, referencing her brother’s two goals in the game against Latvia.

Alexander ruffled her hair affectionately. “Next game,” he promised.

She shook her head harshly. “No,” she insisted, “You play Slovakia next.”

Semin looked on confused. “Why does that matter?” he questioned, his Russian coming smoothly off his tongue.

Anastasia’s face lit up at the thought, but remained silent. Her brother rolled his eyes. “She has a crush on Tomas Kopecky on the Slovakian team.”

“No! I just think he’s attractive!” she clarified. “And its not like I want them to beat you guys… I just want it to be somewhat close, I guess.”

“She has a crush on him,” Alexander Ovechkin repeated, looking at his sister. “Not like I would let her date a hockey play anyways, except maybe a select few,” he added, briefly looking over at Alexander Semin.

Catching her brother’s meaning, Anastasia had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. She knew her brother had always hoped that she would date his good friend, but she never saw him that way. Semin could be a nice guy, but there was something about him that never seemed to sit well with Anastasia.

A noticeable silence hung in the air for nearly a minute. Anastasia wanted to speak up and say something in protest to her brother’s statement was she was not sure what good it would do.

“So where were you during the game?” her brother questioned, causing her to pull away from her thoughts.

She looked at him, confused, her brows furrowed. “What do you mean?” she questioned, leaning against the wall behind her. “I was sitting in the stands.”

He shook his head, his long, brown tresses flying. “I didn’t see you with mom and dad,” he pointed out, his tongue playing with the large gap in his teeth.

“Oh,” she murmured, “I was sitting with some friends I met,” she explained, trying to keep her answer simple and truthful. “Shouldn’t we go find Mom and Dad? I’m sure they want to congratulate you on the win, Sasha,” she spoke, patting him gently on the arm.

He nodded his head and with a brief goodbye to Alexander Semin, the two siblings headed out of the near empty locker room.

--

“Good game!” Sidney complimented his Penguins teammate, Evgeni Malkin, slapping him on the back, as the two of them walked down the halls of the arena.

“Thanks,” Geno spoke, appreciably. “You hungry?”

“Starving,” he replied with a smile. “So I wanted to ask you something,” Sidney began, his hands shoved into the pocket of his jeans. He glanced over at Geno, trying to see his reaction.

“About?” Geno prompted, though Sidney was pretty sure he knew where this was going.

“Anastasia.”

Geno reached up, scratching the back of his head as he tried not to be overly surprised by his friend’s persistency. He had hoped that Anya had said enough before and Sid would just leave it as it was, but clearly that was not the case. “What ‘bout her?” he asked, his thick accent erupting through his English.

“How do you know her?” he started off. “She said she knew most of the guys on Team Russia. How does she know them all?” he asked, trying to cure his curiosity. The two of them reached the exit, Sidney opening up the door for his friend before following behind.

Geno let out a big sigh. “Look, Anya nice girl, but she not right for you. Trust me,” he insisted in broken English, not really answering his friend’s questions, the two of them reaching his rental car. “Where you want to eat?”

Sidney waved off his question, not caring to even answer it. “Why isn’t she right for me? And how exactly is it that you know her? You haven’t really answered that yet,” he insisted, climbing in to the passenger’s seat of the small SUV.

“It not my business to explain,” Geno tried to reason. “Just don’t get too attached to her.” He climbed into the driver’s seat, slamming the car door behind him before starting up the car.

Sid stretched out his legs, enjoying the spaciousness of the car. “I don’t get it though; what’s the big deal? You said it yourself—she’s a nice girl.” His thoughts were running wild as he explored the possibilities. Why was Evgeni so persistent about this? Besides being Russian, what exactly was Anastasia’s connection with the Russian team? How did she meet all the players?

The two of them sat in silence for a moment; Evgeni struggling not to say too much and Sidney struggling to get answers.

Sidney glanced over at his friend briefly, hesitating slightly. “Did you and her… were you two ever…” he tried to make out.

Evgeni shook his head back and forth. “We went out few times, but nothing there; just friends,” he explained, his eyes focused on the road ahead of him.

Sid nodded his head in understanding, a feeling of relief lifted off of his muscular shoulders. He didn’t know or understand his friend’s insistence, but at least he knew they weren’t together.