Higher Than Hope

Nail grumbled under his breath when he felt the sun's rays against his face, slowly opening his eyes and seeing the sun outside. He rolled over and was surprised to see it was almost noon, immediately getting out of bed and going right to the bathroom to shower, hoping Ryan didn't think he was lazy.

He emerged from the bathroom wearing black shorts and a black and yellow Sting t-shirt as he made his way to the kitchen, the aroma of brewing coffee hanging in the air. Nail was surprised to see a tiny brunette girl wearing an apron standing near the stove watching pancakes on a griddle along with some home fries and eggs.

Ryan came into the kitchen from the parlor and kissed the girl on the cheek. "Hey, I'll have to introduce you guys. Anna, this is my roommate and teammate, Nail Yakupov. Nail, this is my girlfriend Anna Emilenko", he said.

Anna turned to face him as they shook hands. She was very small, barely five feet tall and slim with glossy straight black hair and sharp green eyes in a round Slavic face with prominent cheekbones and full pink lips. "Zdrastvute, Mr. Yakupov", she said.

"Privet, Miss Emilenko. Are you Ukrainian?", he asked, switching over to English.

"My father is, my mother was Irish. What part of Russia are you from?", she asked as she flipped over the pancakes.

"I'm from Tatarstan, I'm a really long way from here", he chuckled.

"Where exactly is that in Russia, all I know is Moscow and St. Petersberg?", asked Ryan.

"I understand, I get that question a lot. It's on the Volga in south-central Russia, just look it up", chuckled Nail.

"Sorry about that, but geography isn't my thing. Anyways, Anna and I are going to the mall later, you want come?", asked Ryan.

"Da, I ought to know about Edmonton", he said with a shrug.

Anna felt her phone vibrate and saw a text as she texted back. "Who was that, babe?", asked Ryan, reaching for the spatula.

Anna giggled and snatched it back, an amused look in her green eyes. "You really need to work on your reflexes, Mr. Nugent-Hopkins. That was Larissa, I said we were going to the mall and she wants to come along. She's my sister", she explained.

Nail just nodded and watched as Anna began to serve the food. "What else is there in Edmonton, I'm not really familiar with it", he asked.

"There's the big mall of course, but there's also Old Strathcona with a lot of stores and bars and restaurants, a lot of fans go there after the games. And the capitol building and that sort of thing if you're interested", said Ryan.

After everyone finished eating and Anna loaded the dishwasher, Nail excused himself to go to his room and change. He frowned at the plain walls and made a mental note to buy some posters and prints for decoration, quickly unpacking his clothes and changing into jeans and a black tank top as he applied some gel to his hair and combed it.

Ryan and Anna were waiting for him as she had a knowing smile on her face, the keys to the truck dangling from his fingertips. "You look like Jacob from Twilight, Nail", she teased.

"Nyet, that movie is horrible. One of my teammates in Sarnia brought the over the DVD and made us watch it on the bus, horrible movie. And Edward is creepy, why does Bella think he is cute?", he retorted.

"Because Twilight was written for silly teenage girls, I think it's a toss-up over which is worse, that or Fifty Shades of Gray", said Anna.

"What is that?", he asked.

"It's a cheesy sex novel about a young chick who hooks up with this creepy billionaire dude, it's just sex. At my library, everyone keeps asking for it and we're out of copies, yet no one reads an actual book", said Anna disgustedly.

"She's a librarian", said Ryan.

"If they had books like that at the Sarnia library, I would read more books", he chuckled as Anna rolled her eyes.

"It's a librarian thing, it sucks when people read garbage instead of good books. Then again, our library is full of kids using the computers for Facebook, so it's something", said Anna as Ryan opened the door and locked it behind them before leading them towards the garage. Ryan pressed the button to open the doors, giving Anna a lift into the passenger's side as Nail got in the backseat.

"Wait until you see the West Edmonton Mall, it's the biggest mall in the world", said Anna as Ryan backed out of the space.

Ryan turned on the radio tuned to a country station which played Red Solo Cup by Toby Keith: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKZqGJONH68
"Is this all right or do you want to hear something else?", he asked.

"Nyet, that's okay. In Sarnia there was only a country station and we got Detroit stations, but all they had was rap. Can't stand that stuff, but is there any station that has Russian music?", he asked.

"There's a station that has Ukrainian news and music, my father is a volunteer there. But it's like folk music", said Anna.

"I'm fine with country station then, I don't understand Ukrainian", he replied.

"Aren't you supposed to understand each other, all I know is English and some crappy French from high school", laughed Ryan.

Anna pretended to glare at her boyfriend. "Ryan, don't let my father hear you say that. They're different languages but use the same alphabet. Dad's family is from the Carpathians and they have a very thick accent and don't speak any Russian", she chided.

Nail had to laugh, seeing the tiny girl put him in his place. "She is right, Ryan. Hopefully you won't make that mistake", he teased.

Ryan saw the exit for the West Edmonton Mall and made the turn, the enormous parking lot coming into view. Nail tried not to gape at the endless stretch of asphalt filled with cars, the buildings of the mall barely visible in the distance. "I know, I felt the same way when I first saw it too. Larissa is at the Starbucks near the H&M", said Ryan, finding a space near the entrance.

Nail was still in awe of the mammoth mall as he followed Ryan and Anna towards the entrance. It was a hot sunny cloudless day with the temperatures in the 90's, yet it was not unpleasant as there was little humidity. "Hey guys", said a teenage girl as she and Anna embraced.

"Hey, Rissa. Rissa, this is Ryan's new teammate and roommate Nail Yakupov. Nail, this is my sister Larissa Emilenko", said Anna as they shook hands.

"Very glad to meet you, Miss Emilenko", he said graciously.

"You too, Mr. Yakupov. And please call me Rissa, everyone does. How do you like Edmonton so far?", she asked.

"I've just been here for less than a day, I have seen the airport and the condo and now the mall", he said with a laugh. And maybe you can be my guide, he mused. Larissa was as petite as her sister with wavy reddish-gold hair the color of burnished copper and gray eyes with a minute amount of blue, dressed in a navy blue tank top and a denim skirt that exposed her legs.

"Well, there's the capitol buildings and Old Strathcona is good, there's a lot of shops there. I'm sure you'll feel right at home soon", she replied. Larissa tried not to blush when Nail winked at her, a rakish grin on his face. He was nearly a foot taller than her with jet-black hair and almond-shaped dark eyes, his muscular arms exposed by his shirt. She watched as he moved with a grace and smoothness for a man his size, laughing at something Ryan said. And he's off-limits, she thought sadly.

Nail frowned when he saw Ryan and Anna had gone off somewhere, hoping not to get lost in his enormous mall. "They're here somewhere, she probably dragged him off to shop. Just follow me", said Larissa.

"Spasibo, Rissa. What is good here?", he asked.

Larissa tried not to blush when he spoke her name, hearing him with his heavy Russian accent. "Ah, they got every sort of store here, clothing, toys, whatever. You'll find something", she replied.

"This looks interesting", he said as he led her into an arcade near the food court. The arcade was on two levels, the lower level with the more kid-oriented games and the upper with shooter games, slot machines, and a huge glass case displaying all sorts of prizes.

Nail led her upstairs to the adult games and went right over to one of the token machines, exchanging twenty dollars worth and placing them in an orange plastic cup. "Do you know how to play poker, my grandpa taught me", said Larissa, arching an eyebrow and a confident smile on her face.

"Nyet, but perhaps you can teach me, Rissa", he drawled.

Larissa blushed and found two adjacent poker machines, both of them feeding tokens into the machine. "Press the button and you'll get a hand of cards, click on the ones you want and you'll get new ones", she said.

Nail glanced at the screen and saw he had a pair of 3's, an ace of hearts, a two of clubs and a king of clubs. "Keep the pair and the two, it's a wild card and you use it to get a better hand", said Larissa, discarding three of her cards and being left with a pair of aces.

Nail discarded the cards and was dealt a pair of kings, the screen announcing that he had a full house as the machine spit out a line of tickets. "Nice, I just got a pair of aces", she laughed.

"What is the best one?", he asked, inserting another token into the slot.

"A Royal Flush, that's the same suit of cards all in one row. It would be something like a 7,8,9,10 and a Jack of spades. They're very hard to get, unless you cheat or you're really lucky", she joked.

"Da, I understand", he replied. Nail saw the cards on the screen and discarded three as he was left with a pair of aces, frowning when he received a pair of aces, a three of hearts, a four of clubs and a king of diamonds. "You got a pair of aces, that beats mine", she replied, her screen showing a pair of eights.

They continued playing as the machines continued spitting out tickets, both of them concentrating on the game to the exclusion of everything else. The arcade was noisy with the clanging, ringing, whirring and other various sounds emitted by the games and machines, groups of children and teenagers moving from one area to another. Nail glanced down at the mound of tickets on the floor and saw that him and Larissa were about even, a smile forming on his lips as an idea came to him.

"Why are you so happy?", she retorted, frowning when her current hand was useless.

"I have an idea, Rissa", he replied, an amused note in his voice and his dark eyes merry.

Larissa raised an eyebrow, her gray eyes skeptical. "What sort of idea?", she asked.

"We have almost the same number of tickets, nyet? Let's play five more games and see who has the most points", he said.

"Then if I win, what do I get?", she asked.

"Whatever you desire, moy devushka myet", he drawled.

Larissa blushed at his words and turned to face the video screen. "I am not your copper girl, Mr. Yakupov. And what do you get if you win?", she asked.

Nail just laughed, his dark eyes full of amusement. "You'll see", he replied.

Larissa tried to steady her hands as she inserted a token into the slot and watched her hand being dealt, seeing a pair of queens, an ace of spades, a two of clubs and a ten of hearts. She kept everything except the ten and smiled when she saw the ace of clubs onscreen, thinking she had won. "I got a full house", she said triumphantly.

Nail just laughed and showed her the three kings and a two, the screen announcing he had a four of kind. "Four of a kind beats full house, nyet? I think I win", he murmured.

Larissa nodded her head, her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Relax, moy devushka myet", he said.

Nail took her small hand in his big tanned one, smiling at the startled look in her gray eyes. His calloused thumb gently rubbed circles into her palm as slight blush formed on her cheeks, leaning over and giving her a quick kiss on the lips. "That is my prize, moy devushka myet", he teased.

"You are very forward, Mr. Yakupov", she replied pertly.

"Like I said, call me Nail and of course the man makes the first move, that's the way it's supposed to be", he chuckled.

Larissa could still feel the touch of his lips on hers, a slight blush still on her cheeks. "That is a very sexist thing to say, Mr. Yakupov", she retorted.

"But it's the truth, Rissa. Don't tell me you didn't like it, moy devushka myet", he teased.

"You are too confident, Mr. Yakupov", she teased.