The Sweeper and the Ball.

Chapter One:
The streets of Rossosh, Russia were quiet as we walked through, snow crunching under our feet with every step. But being back home was nothing less then heart warming. We wrapped our jackets close to ourselves as a chilling breeze blew by.
“I-Is it ju-just me, or is it ge-getting c-colder?” I turned to look at Kristina, who teeth chattered with every word she said. “I'm s-serious! I-I feel l-like my b-body is b-becoming f-frozen s-solid.”
“Relax. We're almost there.” She let out a shaky sigh as we kept walking towards the pub down the street.
The bell chimed as we walked in and everyone greeted us. But besides the greeting, the bar was quiet and peaceful. Our group of friends was a a diverse one. We had people from different parts of the world, some local friends, and a rather large beast, named Lada, that was sort of a mascot. The beast looked like a small dinosaur with green vines and leaves wrapping and growing off the body. It had four wings that looked similar to long, large, green leaves. It slept in the corner near the booths.
Kristina rushed over to our friends sitting at the booths and started chatting up a storm. Finding out what she missed on our journey. I slipped onto a stool at the bar, and rested my arms against the counter.
“Ah, Xander!” A voice roared from the large, bulky bartender. Vladimir stood tall with his white shirt and black vest. Straightening his bow tie he walked over to me. “How was your journey? Did my tip help you out?”
“Of course.” I pulled a bundle of money out of the inside of my coat pocket, “Here's your cut.”
“Ah ha! I told you! My connections never lie!” He picked up to wad of cash and ran his finger through it. “I never get sick of that sound.”
“I know what you mean. Thanks to you, Vlad, I was able to find that target, and collect the bounty.”
“We must celebrate!” Vlad reached under the counter and pulled out a bottle of Vodka with two shot glasses. He poured in the drink and pasted on of the glasses to me. “To a job well done!” We toasted, and drank, slamming the glasses on the table. Even though this wasn't my first drink of vodka, it still burned on the way down. I let out a deep sigh, when I felt a hard smack on the back of my head.
“Alexander! What have I told you about drinking?” I turned to see Danielle glaring at me. She had on her red button up coat, black leggings and black boots.
“Dani! Come on! It was just a drink to a job well done!” I turned to look back at the group, all eyes resting on Dani and I. “Did Kristi tell you I was over here?”
“Yes! I can't believe you didn't come over to say hi!” Her eyes did not let up on her glare as she burned a hole right through me.
“I needed to give Vlad his cut of the bounty. He was the one who gave me the information on the target.” Vladimir nodded as he put the wad of cash into his pocket. “He just wanted to celebrate a job well done.”
She squinted her eyes from me then to Vladimir, and then back to me. “Fine. But I don't want you drinking around me again.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I hopped off my stool, and walked over to Dani. “I don't get why you worry so much.”
“You know how I am about drinking.” Her eyes fell to the floor, “I don't like people drinking just to drink.”
“I know, I was hoping you wouldn't see.”
“Hey.” Dani finally spoke up, “Let's take a walk.” She turned and walked out the door. I followed behind her out the door where she was waiting. “This way.” And she started down the road.